The digital transformation of all parts of our life is constantly happening. But what does it mean in political terms? The hopeful promises of early 1990’s internet revolution have long been overtaken by questions of algorithmic control, surveillance, data ownership and privacy. Beyond those buzzwords and the implied power asymmetries there is often a lack of concepts and understanding when it comes to the political consequences.

In this course we will look at the interplay of the digital and the political approaching it as a multidirectional and entangled relationship. It is not only the political that intervenes into the digital realm (often with a time lag as it seems) but the question is even more how the digital transformation changes and should change the way we think the political in terms of deliberation, conflict, (class) struggle, participation, representation, equality, justice and so on.

In order to understand and critically analyze what is at stake we will first look at some fundamental concepts of the political to ask in what way these conceptions are changing due to technological transformations.

Second, we will look at some more concrete phenomena how to describe the actual state of the digital-political like algorithmic governmentality, “Tiktokization” of politics, digital commons, etc.

Third, the students will develop their own small practice-oriented projects which take up the ideas and questions which are being discussed in the course. The students are encouraged to bring in their own ideas.

Indicative literature:

Ruha Benjamin: Race After Technology, Benjamin Bratton: The Stack, Keller Easterling: Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space, Cathy O’Neil: Weapons of Math Destruction, Matteo Pasquinelli: The Eye of the Master. A Social History of AI, Legacy Russell: Glitch Feminism. A Manifesto, Shoshana Zuboff: Surveillance Capitalism

20% active participation, 20% short written assignment during the first half of the course, 40% small project (being developed in the second half of the course), 20% project presentation at the end

Students from other departments or universities will be given a place on the course subject to room capacities.