Excellent knowledge of English and/or willingness to learn new political science vocabulary as needed.
You should only register for this seminar if you have time to attend the course from September 10-13 - otherwise it would be fair to give the place to someone else.
Lernorganisation
There will be a preliminary online meeting (on Zoom) for this seminar on Monday, April 22nd from 17:30-19:00. Each student will select a topic/text for their presentation in the seminar. In addition, the reading list will be distributed. It is crucial for the success of the seminar that all participants start reading the required texts in good time before the seminar (approx. 10 demanding texts).
The seminar will take place on four consecutive days from September 10-13 from 9 am to 4 pm. As part of the seminar, all students will make a short 15-minute presentation (individually or in a small group). The lecturer will also provide input, facilitate the discussions and guide creative formats. There will also be small group work on the texts guided by questions. On the last day of the seminar, students will present the research questions for the term paper and receive feedback.
Leistungsnachweis
Suggested time commitment to earn 9 ECTS
9 ECTS equals a workload of 225 hours in total.
• Course attendance: 26 hours
• Reading: 5 hours each week for 13 weeks (65 total)
• Going through notes: 0.5 hours per week (7 total)
• Preparing your presentation and the group work task: 25 hours
• Preparing an exposé for your essay: 16 hours
• Essay writing: 86 hours (8,5 days)
Course Assessment
A) Studienleistungen (unbenotet/not marked):
Mandatory course tasks (required to pass): All students need to study the required reading in good time before the seminar and should be able to summarise the main insights upon request. Students are expected to prepare a 15-minute-presentation on a chosen topic drawing on a presentation software like Powerpoint. Moreover, students are asked to develop a task for small-group work (to last 30 minutes). This could be a role game, a case study to discuss based on a suitable newspaper article, that allows a transfer of theoretical concepts to practical cases.
Students are expected to upload a draft of the presentation slides and the preliminary ideas for the small group work on digicampus in a folder by September 5th, 2024. They will receive feedback via e-mail where needed.
B) Prüfungsart: (mode of examination): term paper (Hausarbeit)
• Bewertungsschema: benotet (RPO) (marked)
• Word Count: 4.000 words (excluding bibliography and contents)
• Abgabetermin: (due date) 01.12.2024
• Abgabeort: to be submitted in a folder in digicampus
• The research question of the exam paper should be approved by the professor before you start to write the paper in the last session of the course.
Online/Digitale Veranstaltung
Veranstaltung wird in Präsenz abgehalten.
Hauptunterrichtssprache
englisch
Literaturhinweise
Literature will be available on Digicampus at the start of summer term.
(Achtung, dies ist ein Blockseminar vom 10.-13.September in englischer Sprache.)
In this seminar, we study the nexus of digitalization and sustainable development. We ask: how (and under which conditions) can digitalization foster socio-ecological transformations?
First, the necessity of a socio-ecological transformation is explained. The "Sustainable Development Goals" of the United Nations from 2015 are presented. Using the example of climate change and the last UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai, it is shown how big the gap between goal and reality currently is. Other concepts such as Rockström's Planetary Boundaries approach, which depicts the state of the planet in a single diagram, are also presented.
Next, we develop a differentiated understanding of digitalization. There are major drivers behind the process of digitalization: the digital corporations (such as Apple, Meta, Alphabet, AirBnB, Amazon). We take a closer look at how processes of digitalization (big data, real-time data, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, social media, platform economy, etc.) are changing the operating conditions of society and politics. Digitalization changes the knowledge base on which social discourses and political decisions are based. Digital technologies are highly selective - they make certain aspects "visible" and therefore also "governable" at the expense of others. It is therefore at least questionable whether digitalization improves the quality and objectivity of data, as is often claimed. Instead, there is sometimes evidence of great selectivity in the data. The structure of the "public sphere" is also changing, as is the role of political subjects, who are often reduced to consumers and data points. Digitalization is also changing how we govern (e.g. in real time or through prediction) and how political decisions are made (partly automated). Government’s role has been reconceptualized and reduced to that of an optimizer of technical processes. Conflicts of interest and political struggles are rendered invisible, thereby hiding the highly political nature of data-driven government.
Finally, we address how knowledge about the environment and the governance of the environment is changing with increasing digitalization. The focus will be on texts from the fields of Science & Technology Studies as well as post-structuralism and discourse analysis (Michel Foucault). These approaches share the assumption that different technologies for measuring the planet also produce different "matter-realities" of planet Earth. There are multiple “matter-realities” of the forest depending on which technology is used to know and govern the forest. However, it is highly political which technology is used to bring the forest into “reality”. Digitalization therefore opens up new options for governance, but closes down others. We will read texts by Jennifer Gabrys on "smart forests" and by Ruth Machen on changing knowledge bases for climate change.
Overall, the seminar strives to (re)politicise the role of digitalization technologies. The aim of the seminar is to make “the political” in digitalization and its effects on environmental policy visible and traceable from a political science perspective.
Anmelderegeln
Diese Veranstaltung gehört zum Anmeldeset "Zeitgesteuerte Anmeldung: SoSe2024".
Folgende Regeln gelten für die Anmeldung:
Die Anmeldung ist möglich von 04.03.2024, 08:00 bis 26.04.2024, 23:59.
Anmeldemodus
Die Auswahl der Teilnehmenden wird nach der Eintragung manuell vorgenommen.
Nutzer/-innen, die sich für diese Veranstaltung eintragen möchten,
erhalten nähere Hinweise und können sich dann noch gegen eine Teilnahme entscheiden.
