The Technology and Society Gateway Seminar

North Hall 2208
Social Media and Digital Advocacy

This course will explore how current and rapidly changing technologies can be used in the context of advocacy, collaboration, and social change. Students will participate in thinking about social media in various ways, such as defining and unpacking the problems, considering unintended consequences, generating alternatives, and coming up with practical ideas about implementing solutions. Some of the questions that this course will address include:

- How can an organization capture people's attention for public causes in a world crowded with channels and messages?

- How can social media best be used to sustain people's interest in a social problem or a cause?

- What is the impact of social media in a corporate environment?

- How should "membership" be defined in the new media world?

- How does mobile computing change the equation of mobilization and organizing?

- What are the limits of new media for mobilizing?

- What organizational structures are best suited to advocacy in a world of new and rapidly changing media?