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Digital technologies have fundamentally changed how people come together to make change in the world, a sphere of action commonly called 'civil society'. How did this happen, what's being done about it, and what does it mean for democratic governance and collective action in the future? This course analyzes the opportunities and challenges technology presents to associational life, free expression, individual privacy, and collective action. Year-long seminar sequence for advanced undergraduates or master's students. Each quarter may be taken independently. Spring focuses on emergent trends related to democracy and associational life, from the 2010s and into the future. Topics include the Arab Spring, global political propaganda, 'born digital' organizations, the development of electronic governments, and biotechnologies.

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.

Speaker series examining the history, theory, legal challenges, policy frameworks and economic choices that have shaped digital networks and technologies, and how those technologies have in turn changed the nature and role of civil society in democracies.

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.

All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.

In this course, students will work directly on a real-world deliberative democracy project using the method of Deliberative Polling. Students in this course will work in partnership with the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford, a research center devoted to the research in democracy and public opinion around the world. This unique practicum will allow students to work on an actual Deliberative Polling project on campus. In just one quarter, the students will prepare for, implement, and analyze the results for an Deliberative Polling project. This is a unique opportunity that allows students to take part in the entire process of a deliberative democracy project. Through this practicum, students will learn and apply quantitative and qualitative research methods. Students will explore the underlying challenges and complexities of what it means to actually do community-engaged research in the real world. As such, this course will provide students with skills and experience in research design in deliberative democracy, community and stakeholder engagement, and the practical aspects of working in local communities. This practicum is a collaboration between the Center for Deliberative Democracy and the Haas Center for Public Service. CDD website: http://cdd.stanford.edu; Hass Center website: https://haas.stanford.edu. Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center for Public Service.

In 2019, Stanford's Deliberative Democracy Lab brought together a national random sample of 523 Americans to deliberate on five major policy issues before the American electorate. We called it America in One Room (A1R). Using the methodology of a Deliberative Poll developed by Professor James Fishkin, the experiment recorded many significant changes in opinion after the participants deliberated, and a substantial decline in partisan polarization. This pattern of change in opinion and depolarization has been evidenced in two subsequent A1R's, in 2021 on Climate and Energy and in June 2023, on options for democratic reform in the US. This research practicum will expose students to the theory and methodology behind these grand experiments and offer students an opportunity to analyze and interpret data?both qualitative (the transcripts from the actual citizen deliberations) and quantitative (the statistical results of the deliberative polls). Students' research and analysis will advance the work of this vital collaborative research project and where possible, joint publications could be pursued. Note, in addition to the weekly course meetings, the teaching team highly recommends scheduling weekly office hours to have dedicated time for individual/group practicum projects.

Uses economics to examine the generation and consumption of information in communication markets. Covers concepts that play a large role in information economics, including public goods, economies of scale, product differentiation, and externalities. Looks at individuals' information demands as consumers, producers, audience members, and voters. Topics include economics of Internet, sustainability of accountability journalism, and marketplace of ideas.

Focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting communication markets. Policy issues include universal service, digital divide, Internet regulation, intellectual property, privacy, television violence, content diversity, media ownership, antitrust, and impact of news on government accountability. Examines political economy of communication policy and the evolution of policies across time.