CSC8601 : Systems and Societies
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Clara Crivellaro
- Owning School: Computing
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 5.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This module aims to introduce students to critical perspectives on technologies and socio-technical systems’ impacts on societies. It offers conceptual and practical tools to support responsible innovation and ethical practices in the design and implementation of digital technologies that can benefits societies and planet.
Students will learn about the importance and implications of politics and values in design; the challenges and opportunities of designing for diverse contexts, communities, and users; the role that socio-economic landscapes play in the social shaping of technologies; and the role of technologies as “disrupters” of social systems and their impact on social relations. Design ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) frameworks will be introduced as theoretical and practical toolkits to engage with, and respond to, complex societal issues and challenges posed by new and emergent technologies in societies.
The module will examine the consequences of technologies in society and explore appropriate socio- technical interventions and responses through extensive discussion and in-depth analysis of a series of case studies.
The module includes both approaches and methods for present-in-person delivery, as well as blended PIP and online learning.
Outline Of Syllabus
This module will be delivered through lectures, practical activities, and seminars fostering examinations and critical discussion of critical cases of socio- technical systems and the different ways RRI and ethical practice can be enacted. Students will engage in critical reflection and debates this debate by sharing new media communication (blog posts).
Indicative topics to be addressed through lectures and seminars, include:
• Critical perspectives on technologies & socio-technical systems in societies: value and politics in design,
information infrastructures and classification systems.
• Digital innovations and societal impacts and trends: digitalization, data-driven services and digital
exclusion; social media and democratic practices; smart cities and eco-sustainability; sharing economies and
equitable digital societies.
• Critical perspectives on 'users' and agency in contexts.
• Frameworks for Responsible Research and Innovation and design ethics.
• Methods and approaches for Responsible Innovation in HCI: value-sensitive design, social-justice oriented
methodologies, speculative design, and participatory approaches.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 35:00 | 35:00 | Report preparation and writing (includes draft formative prep) and feedback from Tutors. |
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 16 | 0:30 | 8:00 | Synchronous in person and asynchronous online access of core topics in systems and societies. |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 5:00 | 5:00 | Preparation for 10-15 minutes small groups oral presentation of their RI approach to design project. |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 16 | 1:00 | 16:00 | Reflective blog preparations to support report development. |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 12 | 1:00 | 12:00 | Independent reading in prep for in person group discussions on subject topics. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 8 | 2:00 | 16:00 | Group activities (in person), guided discussions, and student-led seminars. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | In person and online via Zoom live-supported synchronous peer-to-peer discussions and tutorials on essays and critical perspectives applied to a system in society. |
| Total | 100:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
This module will provide the conceptual and practical tools required for a critical examination of socio-technical systems’ design and implementation in society. This is provided through delivery of lecture materials, which will also be available online; synchronous in person group activities and seminar sessions with mixed teaching methods, which invite students to explore, learn, discuss, and reflect on critical challenges and opportunities underpinning socio-technical innovations as well as apply concepts and tools taught in lectures. Seminars will be supported by case studies analysis, where critical perspectives can be applied. The module will draw on small group teaching such as activities and seminars to promote groups exploration of the topics, contemporary debates and to allow students’ personal perspectives to strengthen and enrich discussions and critical analysis. The teaching methods also include opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback on ideas and progress of reports as well as small group activities to develop these further in drop-in surgeries, group and one-on-one tutorials.
The students will also be required to keep a reflective blog over the course of the module and submit this to Canvas. Content for lectures materials has been broken down in smaller chunks to allow PIP and online content delivery and enable students to assimilate content.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 1 | M | 100 | Report (2000 words) Responsible Innovation in Action – describing the application of Responsible Innovation concepts and tools to a design project. |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 1 | M | Draft outline of assessment report (500 words maximum). |
| Oral Presentation | 1 | M | Students will be required to present their RI approach in class for peer-to-peer feedback (10-15 minutes group presentation). |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The module will require students to produce new media communication content (unexamined) that critically appraise and reflect upon contemporary challenges and opportunities for responsible socio-technical innovation in society. This will be built upon in an essay that will require the application of conceptual and practical tools to support responsible innovation in context at the service of specific particular user groups and communities.
Production of the essay will require background reading and the ability to critically apply such reading to a specific context/user case and related challenges and ethical issues. Students will be required to submit a draft outline of their essay for formative assessment to give them support and guidance as the essay develops.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- CSC8601's Timetable