3 credits
Spring 2026 Lecture Upper Division
This course examines the twentieth- and twenty-first-century histories of calculating techniques, computing infrastructures, and the uses of data quantification in the United States. Students will analyze how these practices shaped the articulation of social problems and justified particular historical forms of social order through debates about democratic representation, science, technology, equality, and justice.
Learning Outcomes1Identify key historical developments in computing techniques, infrastructures, and research practices in the United States after 1900, using primary and secondary sources.
2Analyze how experts' use of quantitative methods shaped systems of socioeconomic classification and influenced debates over democratic representation, science, technology, equality, and justice.
3Apply historical and digital tools to organize, interpret, and visualize historical data within its historical technological and social contexts.
4Communicate original evidence-based historical arguments in oral and written formats, integrating qualitative and quantitative analysis to address complex historical questions.
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