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Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over issues ranging from foreign policy, free speech, and reparations to college admissions policy and the professionalization of college athletics. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness, humility, and critical thinking seem in short supply among politicians, citizens, and other residents alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them. The course may be taken for one or two units. The basic, one-unit class is open to all Stanford students, with other members of the Stanford community welcome to audit individual classes. The requirements are to do readings in advance of each class, attend, and listen attentively and critically. Because the topics are different, students who took the course in 2023-24 may enroll this year as well. A limited number of undergraduates may take a second unit of credit. Students enrolled in the two unit course will participate in weekly small group discussion seminars about the topics discussed by guest presenters in the course that week. The discussion seminars will be led by peer facilitators, with the goals of developing critical thinking skills and discourse skills, such as active listening and curiosity. The peer facilitators are undergraduate students who have completed training in dialogue facilitation. Each discussion seminar will have a maximum of 10 students. If interest in discussion seminars exceeds the number offered, students will be chosen by lottery.

Techniques of news reporting and writing. The value and role of news in democratic societies. Gateway class to journalism. Prerequisite for all COMM 177/277 classes. Limited enrollment. Preference to COMM majors.

(Graduate students register for COMM 208. COMM 108 is offered for 5 units, COMM 208 is offered for 4 units.) The process of communication theory construction including a survey of social science paradigms and major theories of communication. Recommended: COMM 1 or PSYCH 1.

(Graduate students register for 216. COMM 116 is offered for 5 units; COMM 216 is offered for 4 units.) Laws and regulation impacting journalists. Topics include libel, privacy, news gathering, protection sources, fair trial and free press, theories of the First Amendment, and broadcast regulation. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or advanced Communication major. Email instructor for permission to enroll. Preference for enrollment will be: Communication majors and co-terms, then seniors from other disciplines. Total enrollment in COMM 116/216 combined will be limited to 20. Students pursuing a degree from the COMM department as an undergraduate or Masters student must take C116/216 and for a letter grade. All other students taking the class as an elective may also elect to take the class on either a grade or S/NC basis.

This class provides students with an introduction to dark patterns, what they are and how to find/classify them, and challenges students to propose technological and design solutions, legal interventions, and opportunities for civil society participants to act to limit the harms of dark patterns. Students will conduct targeted research on dark patterns in civil society contexts, e.g. within fundraising practices for political and charitable action, media subscription practices, and service domains focused on vulnerable populations. The class uses the Dark Patterns Tip Line as a resource for finding and classifying dark patterns. We also will explore how dark patterns are extending beyond the realm of User Experience (UX) where they have been studied most thoroughly and into the realms of algorithmic decision making, physical interactions and disparate harms.

This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age? What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.

(Graduate students enroll in 251. COMM 151 is offered for 5 units, COMM 251 is offered for 4 units.) The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press ( Law 7084): Introduction to the constitutional protections for freedom of speech, press, and expressive association. All the major Supreme Court cases dealing with issues such as incitement, libel, hate speech, obscenity, commercial speech, and campaign finance. There are no prerequisites, but a basic understanding of American government would be useful. This course is crosslisted in the university and undergraduates are eligible to take it. Elements used in grading: Law students will be evaluated based on class participation and a final exam. Non-law students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm and final exam, and nonlaw students will participate in a moot court on a hypothetical case. Non-law students will also have an additional one hour discussion section each week led by a teaching assistant. Cross-listed with Communication ( COMM 151, COMM 251) and Political Science ( POLISCI 125P).

An ensemble course with research components for making data-driven music. Improvised and composed pieces make use of large, time-based data sets chronicling humans' digital-life and real-life experiences, and explore how temporal data can be transformed into live musical performances. Data sets will include the Human Screenome Project and the music will go where it goes following the group's ears and instincts. A series of workshops with guest musicians will continue throughout the year and group members will be able to take part beyond the course.

(Graduate students enroll in 254. COMM 154 is offered for 5 units, COMM 254 is offered for 4 units.) Algorithms have become central actors in today's digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.