Free speech, free software, MOOS, MUDs, anime and cyberpunk. All of these are elements of a broad set of social, technical and political phenom- ena generally associated with the emergence of a nascent “cyberculture.” In this seminar we explore the ways in which recent developments in information technology – the computer and the Internet in particular – relate to changing contemporary notions of community, identity, property, and gender. By looking at an eclectic collection of popular and scholarly resources, including film, fiction and the World Wide Web, we will situate the development of “cyberculture” into the larger history of the complex relationship between technology and Western society.

STSC 260 Syllabus