Critical Algorithm Studies

This course will tackle algorithms – broadly understood – from an cross-disciplinary perspective, including computer science, science & technology studies, legal studies, philosophy, sociology, political sciences and more. As the name implies, algorithms take center stage, but this course will also cover data (what algorithms operate on) and what is today debated as ‘Artificial Intelligence’.

This course starts off with the question what is an algorithm. Over the course of the semester, we will tackle questions of methods to study algorithms, imaginaries of algorithmic futures, culture and algorithms, inequality and algorithms, accountability and transparency, critical data studies, and the politics of algorithms and data.

The course will involve inputs by the lecturer but a large part will be reading texts alone and/or in groups, presenting the main arguments and discussing them together. Throughout the course, we will apply the texts’ contents to concrete case studies that students have to work on in groups or as individuals, leading finally to a comprehensive study of the case.

- active participation in class

- reading of assigned texts

- preparation and conduct of presentations

- final case study report

Students from other study programs or other universities are welcome, provided the room capacity permits.