Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Waterloo/Digital Lives (Winter 2026): Difference between revisions

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Digital technologies have irrevocably changed the ways we live and work, influencing how we communicate, express ourselves, form relationships, and even think. In our contemporary moment, what are “digital lives,” and how have digital communication technologies influenced online identities, social spaces, communities, and interactions, both on- and offline? In this course, we will explore the effects that digital technologies and new media have on our lives, our communities, and our social, environmental, and political systems. By examining digital technologies such as social media, artificial intelligence, data-driven recommendation systems, games, memes, and digital activist networks, we will consider how their technical affordances shape the ways we use them, and how they, in turn, shape us. How do we represent ourselves in digital spaces? What does it mean to live, create, protest, or build community online? Who owns the data we generate, and how is it collected, interpreted, and monetized? What divides the “virtual” from the “real”—and where might those boundaries be blurring?

Students will consider how knowledge is created and circulated online, and will use Wikipedia to contribute knowledge to the digital world.