Privacy, Surveillance, and Freedom in the Digital Age
The final project has pivoted in format from a traditional written work to other forms of media due to the prevalence of generative AI.
Course Info:
- POLISCI 29N / ETHICSOC 128N: "Is Privacy Dead? Privacy, Surveillance, and Freedom in the Digital Age"
- Fall 2025
- Instructor: Lowry Pressly
Pedagogy:
This Freshman Intro Seminar focuses on exploring privacy, surveillance, and freedom in an era of technological development. Generative AI has prompted the instructor to shift some of the work for this writing-heavy course from a traditional essay to a multi-media piece, discovering in the process that the alternate project encourages student creativity.
Assignments
There are two short-writing assignments due each week, as well as a final project that builds upon the weekly written work. The goal of the final project is for the students to gain perspective on the evolution of their thoughts over the course of the semester, to note some theoretical threads that tie their thinking together, and to demonstrate development in ethical reasoning.
Final Project
Your final project is an opportunity to build upon the weekly written work in the class. The goal of this assignment is to gain some perspective on the evolution of your thought over the course of the semester, to note some theoretical threads that tie your thinking together, and to demonstrate your development in ethical reasoning over the course of the semester.
Nota Bene: More to come soon on the course's final-project requirement. In previous quarters, students were given a choice between completing a written work based on their privacy journals or creating something in one or more other media. The prevalence of generative AI has forced me to reconsider this assignment and to stipulate that the final assignment take a form other than the traditional written essay. However, a greater incentive to move away from the written final product in this class has been the incredible creativity, originality, and depth students consistently show in producing their final projects in other media or multi-media.
For instance: students in the past have integrated photographs and memes into written work and have made video essays, a series of short-form videos, websites, and podcasts. (For an example of a recent video essay produced for this class, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wg24opl8EE)
We will discuss the various requirements for the final project together in class.