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This unit will offer students conceptual tools and frameworks to develop a critical understanding of human鈥搕echnology relations and the scepticism to evaluate design situations beyond functionality, form, and problem-solving. It will provide them with theoretical scaffolding to analyse why technological solutions that disregard the social and cultural dimensions of human experience often fail to genuinely improve people鈥檚 lives. Theoretically informed by approaches from Science and Technology Studies (STS), philosophy of technology, and digital ethics, the unit will enable students to understand why designing is also 鈥渄oing ethics through other means鈥�. Through practical exercises guided by speculative design, design fiction, and critical making, students will creatively apply the theoretical frameworks to make prototypes that embody critiques of the cultural and social impacts of emergent technologies. By the end of this unit, students will have a robust understanding of why technologies are also arguments about how people should lead their lives, why tools are always 鈥渨orking on our thoughts鈥�, and why designers must always cultivate an ethical stance about their practice. The unit is divided into three modules: 1 Foundational Knowledge (questioning the obvious); 2 Application and Integration (making critique tangible); and 3 Caring and learning how to learn (enacting alternatives).
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | Design Lab |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
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None |
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None |
The learning outcomes for this unit will be available two weeks before the first day of teaching.
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2027
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Semester 2 2027
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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