KEY POINTS:
- Midterm: 55 multiple choices, 2 short answers (5 marks each)
- Krystal Ted talk** On exam Week five, internet culture
- Memorize names** May ask questions, list these 5 things, which is not one of the five things
**Authors names (won’t be like a name that author)
- Week four: methods: ⅘ questions from that week, more to help with the assignment, don’t spend
too long on that week, only 4 questions
- Only readings covered in class are essential, everything is in the slides***
- **Week Eight on exam
Week One: What is Digital Society and the Digital Society?
Reading: Chapter One of the Textbook
Learning Outcomes for Week One:
1. Review course outline
2. Define the internet, digital society and course topics
3. Uncover how digitalization impacts society
4. Identify the historical and social context that led to the advent of the internet
Acronyms: *Review and memorize
CMC: Computer-mediated communication
ICTs: Information and communication technologies
IM: Instant messenger
R&D: Research and development
SNA: Social network and analysis
SNS: Social network sites
Technology Definition: human knowledge and ingenuity applied to the solution of a problem or need.
- Technology involves techniques, and material objects to produce goods and connect people.
- Technology can be a physical device like a phone, and can also be changed in knowledge.
The Scientific Revolution was a change in technology. Occurred from 1540-1700 AD. This represents a
shift when was of knowing came from research using science instead of religion. (Newton’s Laws of
Gravity). Before this, very few people believed in it.
*Scientific Revolution was really a technological revolution because it ushered in a new way of thinking.
Analog technology is the measure of the analogy of time. Analog technology is the term we use to signify
everything that is not digital. (Rodeo phones, remotes, cassette.)
Digital was used in mathematics when referring to history. Early digital technologies like computing
machines were different from analog because they used discrete digits in the forms of 0s and 1s rather
than other forms.
- This data was called digital and contrasted against analog.
,Digital technologies convert information into numbers and display the numbers. (Analog phones vs. Cell
phones.)
- Most technologies today work using digital instead of analog
**SUMMARY: Digital technologies represent all technologies that operate using ones and zeros, analog
signify everything that does not.
**Our lives, everything is digitalized and affected by digital processes and digital technologies
- Digital society compresses time and space. It makes both of these less important.
- Half of the planet (4 billion) uses the internet. This is higher in developed countries (Canada,
US.)
- The top Companies 30 years ago were Walmart, General Motors, and Exxon- Today there are
digital companies like Google, Amazon, Netflix
A society where everything is digital and paperless. This is the norm of a “digital” society.****
- Digital society emerged from the post-industrial “knowledge” society
ICTs are used everywhere. They are supported by advanced communications and wireless systems. This
indicates a Digital Era in human history.
****Internet= A large global network of computer networks that enable communication. It is NOT new
technology, the earliest internet “Arpanet” was created in 1969 for the US Military.
- They were commonly used in military and academic research
- Internet was limited by the layout of the land (dial-up internet) before wireless was invented.
Expansion of the Internet (the mid-1990s):
1. Discovery of the WWW (World Wide Web)
2. Change in management of the internet
3. Major changes in social structure, culture and social behaviour
**Internet Use During COVID-19 Around the World (Pew Research Centre)
- This was a survey of 34 countries about people turning to the internet during COVID-19
- 8 KEY FINDINGS:
- More than half of people use or own a smartphone in developed countries
- Younger people are more likely to use the Internet
- Use of the Internet varies by level of education, Internet use is rare in countries with
lower levels of education
- People with incomes higher are more likely to use the Internet
- Majorities in each of the 34 countries own a phone
- A strong relationship between smartphone ownership and gross domestic product
- A majority in most countries say they use some form of social media
- There are wide gaps in social media use between the youngest and oldest groups
**Canadian Internet Use in 2020 (Statistics Canada):
, - Internet filled a void during the pandemic
- 82% of Canadians shopped online, 21% shopped online more often, 45% shipped more
frequently for other goods, 43% aged 18 to 65 said they used the Internet more often
work from home than pre-pandemic, 64% used the Internet to communicate via online
voice calls, 76% used instant messaging apps, Internet was a tool to monitor health
related information (69%), With more time online, more felt the need to take a break
from Internet use or reduce time spent on the Internet (24%), Cyber security incidents
rose by 58%
- Lockdown loneliness: it is shown to be more prevalent in adults but has increased
among three social groups
- There is a risk for those with hearing loss, digitally excluded, disconnected from in
person connections (working from home)
The COVID-19 Pandemic Shah et. al. (2020):
- There has been an increase in digital media use and rise in new technologies that were not as
widely adopted pre COVID (Zoom)
- There were new products to make up for this new loneliness (Spill, QuarantineChat)
- Despite the benefits, there are still limitations
Week Two: Socio-Digital Theories- Theorizing Internet and Society, Explaining the Impact of the
Digital:
Reading: Chapter 3 in textbook and Alphas, betas and incels.
Learning Outcomes for Week Two:
1. Identify the optimistic and pessimistic outlooks on technology adoption and internet use
2. Assess the main arguments of those optimists who think that the internet and social media will
make the world better and the counter arguments from the sceptics and pessimists
3. Evaluate current socio digital theories that attempt to bridge the divide
Technological Determinism: The view that technology (electricity, digital media) is the crucial driver of
history and of social change. This means ALL social, cultural, political etc is caused by technological
change.
Technology= autonomous force that shapes society around it (assembly line, internet)
Internet Centrism: The belief that the internet would change the world, especially by obtaining
knowledge and establishing networks and social connections: this ignores the importance of other
technologies changing the world (telephone, television, steam engine)
**Countering technological determinism is the view that technologies are merely tools rather than
agents. Tools can be used for the good and bad. Society shapes the internet more than the other way
around. (Dot Com Bubble and Burst)
- Midterm: 55 multiple choices, 2 short answers (5 marks each)
- Krystal Ted talk** On exam Week five, internet culture
- Memorize names** May ask questions, list these 5 things, which is not one of the five things
**Authors names (won’t be like a name that author)
- Week four: methods: ⅘ questions from that week, more to help with the assignment, don’t spend
too long on that week, only 4 questions
- Only readings covered in class are essential, everything is in the slides***
- **Week Eight on exam
Week One: What is Digital Society and the Digital Society?
Reading: Chapter One of the Textbook
Learning Outcomes for Week One:
1. Review course outline
2. Define the internet, digital society and course topics
3. Uncover how digitalization impacts society
4. Identify the historical and social context that led to the advent of the internet
Acronyms: *Review and memorize
CMC: Computer-mediated communication
ICTs: Information and communication technologies
IM: Instant messenger
R&D: Research and development
SNA: Social network and analysis
SNS: Social network sites
Technology Definition: human knowledge and ingenuity applied to the solution of a problem or need.
- Technology involves techniques, and material objects to produce goods and connect people.
- Technology can be a physical device like a phone, and can also be changed in knowledge.
The Scientific Revolution was a change in technology. Occurred from 1540-1700 AD. This represents a
shift when was of knowing came from research using science instead of religion. (Newton’s Laws of
Gravity). Before this, very few people believed in it.
*Scientific Revolution was really a technological revolution because it ushered in a new way of thinking.
Analog technology is the measure of the analogy of time. Analog technology is the term we use to signify
everything that is not digital. (Rodeo phones, remotes, cassette.)
Digital was used in mathematics when referring to history. Early digital technologies like computing
machines were different from analog because they used discrete digits in the forms of 0s and 1s rather
than other forms.
- This data was called digital and contrasted against analog.
,Digital technologies convert information into numbers and display the numbers. (Analog phones vs. Cell
phones.)
- Most technologies today work using digital instead of analog
**SUMMARY: Digital technologies represent all technologies that operate using ones and zeros, analog
signify everything that does not.
**Our lives, everything is digitalized and affected by digital processes and digital technologies
- Digital society compresses time and space. It makes both of these less important.
- Half of the planet (4 billion) uses the internet. This is higher in developed countries (Canada,
US.)
- The top Companies 30 years ago were Walmart, General Motors, and Exxon- Today there are
digital companies like Google, Amazon, Netflix
A society where everything is digital and paperless. This is the norm of a “digital” society.****
- Digital society emerged from the post-industrial “knowledge” society
ICTs are used everywhere. They are supported by advanced communications and wireless systems. This
indicates a Digital Era in human history.
****Internet= A large global network of computer networks that enable communication. It is NOT new
technology, the earliest internet “Arpanet” was created in 1969 for the US Military.
- They were commonly used in military and academic research
- Internet was limited by the layout of the land (dial-up internet) before wireless was invented.
Expansion of the Internet (the mid-1990s):
1. Discovery of the WWW (World Wide Web)
2. Change in management of the internet
3. Major changes in social structure, culture and social behaviour
**Internet Use During COVID-19 Around the World (Pew Research Centre)
- This was a survey of 34 countries about people turning to the internet during COVID-19
- 8 KEY FINDINGS:
- More than half of people use or own a smartphone in developed countries
- Younger people are more likely to use the Internet
- Use of the Internet varies by level of education, Internet use is rare in countries with
lower levels of education
- People with incomes higher are more likely to use the Internet
- Majorities in each of the 34 countries own a phone
- A strong relationship between smartphone ownership and gross domestic product
- A majority in most countries say they use some form of social media
- There are wide gaps in social media use between the youngest and oldest groups
**Canadian Internet Use in 2020 (Statistics Canada):
, - Internet filled a void during the pandemic
- 82% of Canadians shopped online, 21% shopped online more often, 45% shipped more
frequently for other goods, 43% aged 18 to 65 said they used the Internet more often
work from home than pre-pandemic, 64% used the Internet to communicate via online
voice calls, 76% used instant messaging apps, Internet was a tool to monitor health
related information (69%), With more time online, more felt the need to take a break
from Internet use or reduce time spent on the Internet (24%), Cyber security incidents
rose by 58%
- Lockdown loneliness: it is shown to be more prevalent in adults but has increased
among three social groups
- There is a risk for those with hearing loss, digitally excluded, disconnected from in
person connections (working from home)
The COVID-19 Pandemic Shah et. al. (2020):
- There has been an increase in digital media use and rise in new technologies that were not as
widely adopted pre COVID (Zoom)
- There were new products to make up for this new loneliness (Spill, QuarantineChat)
- Despite the benefits, there are still limitations
Week Two: Socio-Digital Theories- Theorizing Internet and Society, Explaining the Impact of the
Digital:
Reading: Chapter 3 in textbook and Alphas, betas and incels.
Learning Outcomes for Week Two:
1. Identify the optimistic and pessimistic outlooks on technology adoption and internet use
2. Assess the main arguments of those optimists who think that the internet and social media will
make the world better and the counter arguments from the sceptics and pessimists
3. Evaluate current socio digital theories that attempt to bridge the divide
Technological Determinism: The view that technology (electricity, digital media) is the crucial driver of
history and of social change. This means ALL social, cultural, political etc is caused by technological
change.
Technology= autonomous force that shapes society around it (assembly line, internet)
Internet Centrism: The belief that the internet would change the world, especially by obtaining
knowledge and establishing networks and social connections: this ignores the importance of other
technologies changing the world (telephone, television, steam engine)
**Countering technological determinism is the view that technologies are merely tools rather than
agents. Tools can be used for the good and bad. Society shapes the internet more than the other way
around. (Dot Com Bubble and Burst)
