DESN5006: Design, Technology, and Society

2027 unit information

This unit will offer students conceptual tools and frameworks to develop a critical understanding of human–technology 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’s 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 “doing ethics through other means”. 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 “working on our thoughts”, 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).

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning

Details

Study level	Postgraduate
Academic unit	Design Lab
Credit points	6

Enrolment rules

Prerequisites: ?	None
Corequisites: ?	None
Prohibitions: ?	None
Assumed knowledge: ?	None

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this unit will be available two weeks before the first day of teaching.

Unit availability

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There are no availabilities for this year.

Session	MoA ?	Location	Outline ?
Semester 1 2027	Normal day	Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney	Outline unavailable
Semester 2 2027	Normal day	Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney	Outline unavailable

There are no availabilities for previous years.

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Modes of attendance (MoA)

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