Spring 2025
COMPSCI 39 001 - SEM 001
Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Technology, Society, and Power
Lisa Yan
Class #:31076
Units: 1.5
Instruction Mode:
In-Person Instruction
Offered through
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Current Enrollment
Total Open Seats:
2
Enrolled: 13
Waitlisted: 0
Capacity: 15
Waitlist Max: 20
No Reserved Seats
Hours & Workload
2 to 3 hours of student-instructor coverage of course materials per week, and 3 hours of outside work hours per week.
Final Exam
MON, MAY 12TH
07:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Soda 606
Other classes by Lisa Yan
Course Catalog Description
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Enrollment limits are set by the faculty, but the suggested limit is 25.
Class Description
This course will focus on in-depth discussions of a set of 3-4 books at the intersection of society, data, and software: social media, language models, automation, and more. We will discuss ways that these computing technologies perpetuate inequity and bias under the guise of presumed-neutral solutions. We will critique how we ourselves participate in engineering—both here at UC Berkeley and in any future roles.
Students will keep a reading journal and do a final oral presentation.
Lisa Yan is teaching faculty in Data Science and EECS; she studies how students interact with data and computing education at scale.
Class Notes
* Course application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYQAko5N9U4hsF6JxbaqazS-Yo5Rzx6jWvNf7fMuzsPJYe1Q/viewform?usp=sf_link
* Responses will be reviewed once in late November, once in mid-December, and then afterwards on a rolling basis.
Permission codes wil.. show more
* Responses will be reviewed once in late November, once in mid-December, and then afterwards on a rolling basis.
Permission codes wil.. show more
* Course application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYQAko5N9U4hsF6JxbaqazS-Yo5Rzx6jWvNf7fMuzsPJYe1Q/viewform?usp=sf_link
* Responses will be reviewed once in late November, once in mid-December, and then afterwards on a rolling basis.
Permission codes will be distributed upon review; we reserve the right to redistribute codes that have not been used within 7 days to other students.
* If you have any questions, please email the instructor. show less
* Responses will be reviewed once in late November, once in mid-December, and then afterwards on a rolling basis.
Permission codes will be distributed upon review; we reserve the right to redistribute codes that have not been used within 7 days to other students.
* If you have any questions, please email the instructor. show less
Rules & Requirements
Requisites
- Students with 1-4 Terms in Attendance
Repeat Rules
Reserved Seats
Current Enrollment
No Reserved Seats
Textbooks & Materials
See class syllabus or https://calstudentstore.berkeley.edu/textbooks for the most current information.
Guide to Open, Free, & Affordable Course Materials
Associated Sections
None