Course Information
STIA 4935 + STIA 4936
3+1 Credit
Eligibility:
Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors
Dates:
March 1, 2025 to March 9, 2025
Description:
This course is co-led by Prof. Rajesh Veeraraghavan (SFS), Prof. Kate Chandler (SFS) and Prof. Sidy Ndou (President, Senegal’s Dakar American University of Science and Technology). Students from both institutions delve into the role of public interest technology in addressing global challenges from an interdisciplinary perspective. The course aims to address the impact of technology on policy and how we can design policies that reimagine technology designs to foster alternate futures. To understand and innovate technologies that respond to a public interest we will develop projects that use technology as community bridges, linking communities from the Global North and South. Technology is a driving force in transforming production, commerce, creating new industries, and shaping work dynamics. However, the perception of technology as either a utopian vision or a source of alienation that amplifies inequalities remains prevalent in the public imagination. Recent years have witnessed several technologies, such as video conferencing, artificial intelligence, drones, blockchains, mobile money, and gig work apps, fundamentally disrupting social and international relations.
Engagement in the course will primarily occur through online interactions throughout the semester, as well as a lab, complemented by in-person exchanges. Notably, SFS students will have the unique opportunity to spend their spring break in Senegal, providing first hand exposure to diverse work contexts and cultures. In a departure from other programs, we will also have Senegal students spend their spring break in Washington DC. Georgetown students are expected to fully support the Senegal students on their visit and spend as much time as they can during the week they are here.
A central focus of the course will involve developing alternate imaginations of technology infrastructures to foster community interactions. We will likely be working on a developmental project in Senegal as part of the course. Through design exercises, simulations, policy papers, site visits, and speculative fiction, students will explore creative solutions and policy frameworks to mitigate challenges while embracing the potential for new opportunities that emerging technologies bring. The class is part of the Georgetown Dialogues Initiative and aims to include students from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints.
By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this course explores innovative ways to shape public interest technologies aiming for a more equitable and inclusive society where technology supports rather than undermines the livelihoods of marginalized communities.
Professor Information
Katherine Chandler examines the intersection of technology, media, and politics through a range of scales and forms. Her first monograph, Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare, studies unmanned aircraft from 1936 – 1992. She asks how life and death are adjudicated through conditions organized as if control were ”unmanned.” Her most recent work studies how socio-politics are entangled with everyday media and technologies. This includes PowerPoint, email, and drone aircraft deployed for commercial, humanitarian, and medical purposes.
Sidy Ndao is the founder and president of the Dakar American University of Science & Technology (DAUST), a renowned scientist, a World Bank Group education expert, and a serial entrepreneur. He has published over 50 scientific papers and owns four US patents; he has been named 10 of the young scientists shaping the future by the World Economic Forum. His passion is promoting STEM education in Africa through his organization called SenEcole, which notably hosts the Pan-African Robotics Competition (PARC), which is considered today to be the largest STEM youth program in Africa.
Rajesh Veeraraghavan is an Associate Professor of Science Technology and International Affairs (STIA) Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He works at the intersection of information technology, development, and governance, with a focus on India. His research combines both the design and study of technological solutions to development and governance problems. He is currently interested in understanding the role of information and technology in making governance systems more participatory.
Itinerary Highlights
Renaissance Monument; Lagune; Workshops
Travel Details
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) will cover the costs of travel and accommodation including airfare, lodging (double occupancy hotel), transportation for the company visits, some meals, site visit entry fees, and tips for all undergraduate students accepted to this C-Lab.
Students are responsible for covering tuition & fees, books/materials for the classes, any related visa costs requirements, any immunizations, Covid-19 or other testing (if required), GU international health insurance ($65), some miscellaneous meals, laundry, phone and data charges, transportation to/from the airport to campus, and any out-of-pocket personal expenses. Past students estimated a cost of $100-300.
Visas, if required, cost $25-$125 on average for application and processing fees. Please reference relevant visa information here (U.S. Department of State). It is the student’s responsibility to research requirements and secure visas if needed.
Health insurance costs $65 per C-Lab. Travel information will be covered further in pre-departure training info sessions for accepted students.