STS 4111 Knowledge, Technology, and Property (SBA-AS)
NOT OFFERED THIS YEAR Spring. 4 credits. Prerequisite: one course in science and technology studies. Next offered 2011–2012. S. Hilgartner.
This course examines the ownership of knowledge and technology, exploring fundamental tensions that intellectual property systems express and incompletely reconcile. Perspectives from science and technology studies, sociology, law, and economics inform the course. Case studies explore the construction of property in contexts ranging from the early history of copyright to the ownership of life forms, airwaves, algorithms, artistic content, electronic databases, and the personal identities of celebrities.