Topic : The Individual, Identity and Ethics (2018/19)
Who makes the rules? Are we responsible for our digital past? Is there anything such as privacy anymore?
This is an archived version of a page from Digital Society 2018/9, to preserve content for past participants. See the main page for the latest materials.
Manchester students: work through this page and leave a comment before Mon week 8 (18th Mar).
Citizenship is becoming increasingly linked to the online. This topic will ask you to explore the ways in which the internet influences the way we, as individuals, are governed, interact and behave. We will consider the extent to which our online interactions can affect or shape our personal identity. We will also look at the ethical implications of living in a surveillance based society, and think about the future steps we might take, in order to live in a more balanced online space.
Reading
Please read the following 3 articles before attending the session. It would be helpful if you could think about some of the following issues as we will be discussing these in class.
Topic 1: As our personal and social lives are increasingly lived online, how does our online behaviour define our present and future selves.
Key reading: We enjoyed reading Mhairi Black’s NSFW tweets as a teenager:
Questions to think about?
- What do our past, present and future online interactions say about our own identity? Does this ever concern you?
- How does the behaviour of others online affect you? Have your behaviours or beliefs ever been affected / changed by information you have encountered online?
- How might the internet look to design out toxic behaviour online? Is trolling a necessary trade-off we accept when using the internet, or can we do something about it?
Topic 2: In a digital space that does not see national borders, who makes the rules and to whom are we responsible?
Key watching: The Congressional hearings with Google, Facebook and Twitter:
Who decides what we see?
Do our leaders understand us?
Questions to think about:
- Do major tech companies have too much influence over the information that we as individuals view and use to make decisions as citizens?
- What are the implications of the evident lack of understanding of the issues from our elected leaders?
Topic 3: What are the relationships between our freedoms of expression, our privacy and our protection from harm?
Key reading: Pew Research Centre: Digital Life in 2025
Questions to think about:
- Do the current levels of online government surveillance concern you? Are they a price worth paying to prevent terrorism?
- How secure is our data? Is the continual monitoring of our online interactions a price worth paying for our convenience, or does it expose us to unnecessary levels of personal risk?
Access the full reading list (all topics in one place plus optional reading)
Leave a comment
After accessing and thinking about the above, leave a comment below to share an idea, a question, or a response.
