DSN 100 | Artful Design: How We Shape Technology and How Technology Shapes Us
A Stanford Continuing Studies Course | instructor: Ge Wang | Spring 2023
(previous offerings: Spring 2022 & Fall 2021 & Spring 2021 & Fall 2020)
Stanford Continuing Studies
Spring 2023 LECTURES
April 17, 2023 to May 22, 2023
Thursdays 5:00-6:50pm PT COURSE SCHEDULE
course schedule, syllabus,
readings, viewings, and more
“At this point in history, our lives and freedom depend largely upon the skill and imagination and courage of our managers and engineers.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano (1952)
Course Description
Why do we shape technology? What does it mean to do it well, to do it artfully and ethically? How might we fashion tools that lead to richer and more meaningful forms of life? In this course, we will unpack the role of design in human life and consider artful design as a multi-disciplinary fusion of engineering, philosophy, ethics, and art. Its underlying ethos: rather than relying on a deficits-model in which we figure out what is missing and design to fill that need, we aim to fashion tools that help us flourish, and flourish together.
In this six-week Stanford Continuing Studies course—DSN 100—students will engage with lectures, readings, and case studies that break down the craft and philosophies of artful (as well as not-so-artful) design of everyday objects: tools (from toilets to smartphones to programming languages), toys (we'll examine a strange and playful pencil case), games (from video games to virtual reality), social media (what would a virtuous social tool look like?), musical instruments (such Ocarina: a flute-like app for the iPhone), laws (yes, they can be artfully designed, too!), and artificial intelligence systems with humans in the loop. We will examine how we design these things and how they, in turn, shape our society and ourselves. Through this course, students will learn to more clearly and critically view our technology-drenched human world—and to exercise their ethical and artful imagination in search of better versions of the world we'd want to live in.
Meeting Times & Grade Options
All lectures and discussions will be delivered virtually using Zoom (customized with some bells and whistles; see video). The six-week course will meet weekly on Thursdays 5:00-6:50pm from October 15th 2020 to November 19th 2020. Students can enroll for NGR (no grade requested) or CR/NC (credit/no credit)
. No prior experience with design is necessary (just bring your brain) and the course is open to all (and all time zones).
Coursework
Coursework includes readings and discussion; those taking the course for credit are expected to attend at least five of the six online class meetings; those interested in additional coursework have the option to craft a reflective paper or a speculative design that considers the social and cultural contexts of a specific designed artifact or system (as well as the new contexts that such design creates) — again, this component is not required. Readings in this course will include Artful Design, a photo-comic textbook (and a “hidden ethics book”), as well as essays on design, technology, and way of life.
Required Textbook
Wang, Ge. Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime. Stanford University Press. 2018.
(ISBN: 978-1503600522) | order book
About the Instructor
Ge Wang is an Associate Professor of Music and, by Courtesy, of Computer Science, Stanford University. Ge researches artful design of tools, toys, games, instruments, social virtual reality experiences. He is the architect of the ChucK music programming language and the director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra. He is the co-founder of Smule and the designer of the Ocarina and Magic Piano apps for mobile phones. A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Wang is the author of the textbook in this course Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime, a photo comic book about how we shape technology—and how technology shapes us; he has taught courses on design, software, ethics, computer music, artful design, technology and society at Stanford since 2007.
Enrollment information
To enroll, please follow the button below to register and enroll at Stanford Continuing Studies.
Stanford Continuing Studies
Spring 2023 LECTURES
April 17, 2023 to May 22, 2023
Thursdays 5:00-6:50pm PT COURSE SCHEDULE
course schedule, syllabus,
readings, viewings, and more
Stay safe, artful, free. —Ge