About the Course
The Archaeology of Hacking is meant to bring together students, researchers, and practitioners from the social sciences and engineering to examine the social and technical aspects of computer security. Its primary goal is to help students think anthropologically about digital technology and, at the same time, help students engage technically with sociocultural phenomena through hands-on practice. This course incorporates the following Integration Course Learning Goals found in the University of Notre Dame's Core Curriculum:
- Goal 1 (“Articulating aspects of different bodies of knowledge or contrasting perspectives around a complex question, problem, or issue”): Understand knowledge generated by lay experts that is typically not taught in the classroom. Many of the readings and other materials this class will engage with will be drawn not from academia, but from underground subcultures involved in computer hacking. The interpretation of this material may seem daunting at first, but strategies for understanding it will become apparent through the study of digital artifacts and the literature on the topic.
- Goal 2 (“Synthesizing knowledge and/or methods from varied disciplines or from experiential learning”): Combine sociocultural and technical methods for the study of hacking. This course brings two disciplines into dialogue throughout the semester. In particular, this involves using sociocultural analysis of digital artifacts in order to provide access to the experiential aspect of hacking for the students. By gaining hands-on experience with command lines, network protocols, and scripting, students from technical and non-technical disciplines will learn about the ethical, political, and technical implications of hacking.
- Goal 3 (“Applying integrated knowledge gained from different perspectives and/or disciplinary lenses”): Draw connections between computer hacking with contemporary social, political, and economic phenomena. Hacking isn’t merely incidental to key changes in technology, it is fed by them, and in turn influences them. A key case study will be the rise of the computer security industry out of the ashes of the original computer hacker scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This can only be understood through the application of the integrative knowledge derived from anthropology and computer science. A host of other historical examples will also be examined, including specific instances where technology development coincided with non-technical actions that had a substantial impact on the circumstances.
As an interdisciplinary course, The Archaeology of Hacking satisfies requirements in multiple major and minor programs and is offered in the following sections:
- ANTH 20110 (Anthropology Major)
- CSE 20176 (Computer Science and Engineering Major)
- CDT 20706 (Technology and Digital Studies Minor)
- MDSC 20110 (Minor in Data Science)
- STV 20111 (Science, Technology, and Values Minor)
- TEC 20111 (Technology Ethics Minor)
This course is also part of the Ethics @ Work Project and is supported by the Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society.