Intro to Digital Sociology II (February 2020)

Professors: Leticia Gomes Pereira / Enrico Roberto / Cauê Martins / Camila Crumo/ Veridiana Domingos Cordeiro Location: University of São Paulo (Brazil) This 20-hour course was hosted at the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences Extension Programs (of University of São Paulo). In this course, we advanced the debate on important topics concerning the digital era. We started with a brief history of the Internet, telecommunications, and computer devices. From this background, we began exploring the consequences of various phenomena that have emerged within the contemporary digital world, such as Machine Learning, Big Data, and algorithmic bias. With a focus on these consequences, we discussed how Sociology as a discipline should look at these transformations. A number of questions arose from this process, including: “As sociologists, what core issues do we need to consider as we confront these issues?”, and, “Do we have enough tools for analyzing these current processes?” From a theoretical standpoint, we debated how Sociology must rethink some concepts and ideas regarding a.) The interaction between mind and technology, b.) Culture (esp. music), consumption, and production in contemporary reality, and c.) The social symbolic dynamic in social media.