/digital_psyops

Overview

This class will explore the history and present-day manifestation of "psychological operations" - campaigns designed to influence populations for specific outcomes. Our definition of "psyops" is fairly broad in this course. We'll to the military and corporate development of these influence campaigns, what techniques and tactics are used, and examine how these practices are changing with the internet and social media.

The structure of this class will be a bit experimental. Students will form small teams and identify a research question or project related to the subject of contemporary psyops. For example, it could be a network map of bot accounts on Twitter, or developing a Twitter bot to engage with other bots. These research projects should involve some amount of programming.

Students are not expected to have programming skills prior to this class. In parallel with our exploration of the history, theory, and techniques, we'll devote some class time to building these programming skills. Plenty of in-class time will be provided for students to work on these projects. I will be available to answer any questions.

A Python workshop will run in parallel at the start of the course. It is not required but strongly recommended as we will not have enough time to cover foundational programming topics in great detail. The workshop will fill in the gaps and provide an opportunity to ask questions.

In addition to these research projects, the class will involve readings and discussions.

Note that because this course is new and experimental, the syllabus may be adjusted throughout the semester.

Research project examples

Learning Python resources

If you need other materials to supplement what we cover about Python in class, here are a few:

This tool visualizes what your code is doing: http://pythontutor.com/visualize.html

Office Hours

I'm available for office hours as needed. Please email me or let me know in class in advance and we can set up a time.

Grading

Your grade will be computed as follows:

  • 20% Attendance/Participation
  • 20% Research proposal
  • 60% Research project

Syllabus

Date Topic Due
08/29 Class overview
08/31 Introduction Readings
09/05 Python: Basic concepts
09/07 Python: Basic concepts
09/12 Advertising & Public Relations Readings
09/14 Python: Basics continued
09/19 Analytics & Targeting Readings
09/21 -Rosh Hashanah-
09/26 Computational Propaganda Readings
09/28 No class
10/03 Python: continued
10/05 Focus on Cybersecurity
10/10 Human Behavior Readings
10/12 Python: Using the internet
10/17 Memes & Virality Readings
10/19 Python: Using the internet continued
10/24 Astroturfing & Political Bots Readings
10/26 Project time
10/31 The Military-Entertainment Complex Readings
11/02 Project time
11/07 Reality Warping Tech Readings
11/09 Project time
11/14 The Economics of Attention Readings
11/16 Project time
11/21 Silicon Valley Ethics Readings
11/23 -Thanksgiving-
11/28 Counter-Strategies Readings
11/30 Project time
12/05 Project time
12/07 Project Presentations Project presentations due
12/12 Project Presentations
12/14 Project Presentations

Readings

Introduction

Advertising & Public Relations

Analytics & Targeting

Computational propaganda

Optional readings:

Human behavior

Optional readings:

Memes & Virality

Astroturfing and Political Bots

Reality warping tech

Silicon Valley Ethics

The Economics of Attention

The Military-Entertainment Complex

Counter-strategies