Welcome to (Inter)Net Phi(losophy) at the University of Oregon...
The focus of the UO Net Phi experiment(s) is to conceptualize the internet and all the perils and promises therein. As the internet ushers in broad cultural, political, ethical, and epistemic changes at rapid velocities we find ourselves in need of new conceptual tools and intellectual instrumentalities for negotiating the worlds we are making and the selves we are becoming. The central focus of Net Phi is accordingly: the creation, analysis, and synthesis of concepts appropriate to informational cultures, data ecologies, and internetworked milieus.
The ongoing regular work of the UO Net Phi experiment(s) involves two course offerings:
- First, and most regularly, we run a course entitled "Internet, Society, & Philosophy" (PHIL 123). In PHIL 123 we explore key problem areas for inquiry in the present: politics (the public sphere), privacy (concealment, confidence, secrecy), property (ownership, intellectual property), and personhood (identity, selfhood). In the past we have also explored other topics in the course concerning the changing nature of knowledge and the ontological character of 'the internet'. In the context of the course, student collaboratories develop projects to address the social, cultural, moral, legal, political, and practical vacuums we find ourselves facing vis-a-vis the internet. This website is, among other things, an archive for those projects. In addition to browsing the student project archive here you can also visit the official Net Phi Course Website (hosted by Coursekit).
- In addition, there are occasional upper-division courses in the Philosophy Department on these topics. During the 2015-16 academic year (which quater is still TBD), an upper-division, undergrad-only offering will be made available (thanks to the support of the Oregon Humanities Center) -- this course will be titled "Information Ethics" and will offer advanced undergrads an opportunity for more sustained reflection on information ethics as a field of study as well as specific topics within the field. A graduate-level-only offering was offered in Winter of 2015 through the Comparative Literature Department under the title of "Habitual New Media". In the Winter of 2014 a course was taught for advanced undergrads and graduate students under the title "The Politics of Information". In the Winter of 2013 a course on "The Internet and Privacy" was offered to advanced undergraduates.
UO Net Phi and PHIL 123 are currently managed by Asst. Prof. Colin Koopman of the UO Philosophy Department. This project is made possible by the assistance of Nathan Schmitt, Melissa Ruhl, Jher, CAS IT, and generous funding from the Oregon Humanities Center, and the UO Williams Fund at the Office of the President.
