New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challenges through Innovations in Information Technologies
This MIT workshop looks at how information technology is reshaping international politics and global governance. Topics include new channels of communication, changing methods of education, and the potential for technology to expand or undermine democratization, weighed alongside the negative externalities that come with them. Students work through guest lectures and discussions before defining their own problem and proposing a solution in a final project and presentation. The course pushes students to imagine alternative political futures rather than simply describe current trends, treating technology policy as an open design question instead of a fixed outcome. Course materials are freely available through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate offered.