Research & Creative
A liberal arts lens: technology’s role in society past, present, and future
We’re aware of the role technology plays in shaping our individual lives, but how does technology affect and influence our society and our future? The specific skills and tools unique to the liberal arts can provide understanding as well as a way to navigate the ways technology does (or doesn’t) advance the human experience.
This Content Is Not Available in Your Country (Yet)
Getting locked out can happen not just from your car or your home. Getting locked out can happen online when you’re not able to view certain films or media. Geoblocking, or regional lockout, is a way that media distribution companies protect their films. While we may think that the internet and other technologies have created a global village, media distribution practices and other uses of technology have prevented that global interconnection.
Artificial Intelligence, the Future of Work, and Inequality
One of the most spectacular facts of the last two centuries of economic history is the exponential growth in GDP per capita in most of the world. This economic progress, unprecedented in human history, would be impossible without major breakthroughs in technology. Many believe we are on the verge of a new technological revolution that will see Artificial Intelligence (AI) automating a majority of tasks that are currently performed by humans. Should we see AI as liberating or as a destructive force?
Understanding identity in online worlds
What is the difference between ‘real life’ and ‘virtual life’? How do we construct identity? How do we create social norms? For many years, experts have studied how social norms are created, and with the advent of the internet and online gaming, researchers are now exploring the way people interact with, use, and respond to technology as they perform and craft those identities.
Winter 2018
Should I Stay or Should I Go? How people make decisions about disasters
When a disaster threatens, how do people decide whether to stay or to evacuate? To rebuild or relocate? How to restore their lives? Prof. Kate Browne’s work with survivors of Hurricane Harvey explores the decisions people make using a novel “assemblage” technique.
Unusual Spanish connection brings together the humanities and sciences
A mutual friend, a beer, and a river — all in Spain, 5,000 miles from Colorado — have brought together two CSU faculty members from very different fields, as well as a couple of their students. Jonathan Carlyon, who teaches Spanish language, literature, and culture, and Steve Fassnacht, who teaches watershed science, have come together to provide a comprehensive look at the history and environment of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Sociologists ensure water equity flows near and far
Water equity is one of the 21st century’s key environmental justice issues. Sociologists work directly with water stakeholders, including farmers, engineers, urban developers, conservationists, lawmakers, and more to bridge communication gaps and ensure that legal, economic and social barriers are considered when policies and collaborative efforts are designed and implemented.