Technology and Society Semester Project
Theme: Covid-19 and the Covid Pandemic
Choice: Paper or Presentation
You are to choose between completing a paper or a presentation on the intersection between science and technology studies and some aspect of the covid-19 pandemic. Throughout the semester, the readings, videos, and assignments revolve around two themes: the history of the subdiscipline and case studies. This material ought to provide enough of a foundation for you to choose a topic.
Examples of topics might include the development of the vaccine, laboratory politics in terms of production/contracts/distribution, the development and access to personal protective equipment, development of social media applications (whether for tracing, for social relationship development, or for entrepreneurial needs, for example), or various areas where the social world adapted and modified socio-political and economic using science and technology in some fashion.
The following are the expectations for the paper assignment and the presentation. You must choose one or the other.
Paper Assignment: You are to write an 8-page paper where you identify a theoretical concept from the readings and apply it to the topic of your choosing (given the above description). You should have the following sections in your essay: introduction where you identify topic and why, background to the theoretical concept, background to the substantive topic, a description of how the theoretical concept is applied (or can be applied) to the substantive topic, what we can learn from using science and technology studies as a method of examining your topic, and a conclusion that includes (but not limited to) identifying two areas of future research. An additional page, not counted in the page requirement for the essay, is needed for a bibliography/reference page. You will need eight sources. All eight resources must be from reputable sources and four must be from peer-reviewed, academic sources. Specific formatting instructions will be found in a different document.
I have been asked to provide ideas for the semester project. Originally, I wanted to provide a general idea of putting STS concepts and ideas into the world of the pandemic. This latter reference could be biomedical, defense-based, social media concerns, or even remote education during lockdown. Last year, a student did a fascinating (and respectful) project on the development, expansion, and regulation of “OnlyFans” social media as a form of labor within a pandemic gig-economy. While his wife wasn’t thrilled with the idea, his project turned out to very fascinating in terms of social media technology as being labor technology, a social activity, and a reflection of cultural normativity and deviance. You certainly do not have to be this creative or choose such a provocative topic. As you will hear frequently in your academic life: a good project is a done project. Here is a list of ideas:
Comparison of positivism, falsification, realism, and/or functionalism to covid vaccine development
Role of undetermination with vaccine acceptance
Vaccine production as a social activity
Kuhnian Revolution and epidemiology and/or vaccine production
CUDOS and Covid, Normative Science during a Pandemic
Stratification/discrimination within epidemiology/biotechnology/technology
SCOT and Covid-19 and perhaps incorporating a time element (contributing variables to SCOT and Covid-19 in November 2019 to November 2020 to November 2021)
ANT and vaccine production
ANT and social media
Covid and ICDs, building categories and consequences
Digital democracy during pandemics (think about stratification and access to technology, questions of trust, and regulatory functions)
Artifiical Intellignece, along with Machine Learning, applications within the world of Covid and/or social media
AI, robotics, and the growth of Amazon during the pandemic
Topic Ideas:
The above are just ideas that one can work on as a project topic. In the end, you have to write a research paper or provide a presentation with particular types of resources (see instructions in folder). If you have any questions or need help finding resources, reach out to me. I love to helps students and I love to help them with research.