Samantha Shorey

TEACHING at the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN

My teaching is dedicated to helping students understand how workplace cultures impact the design, development and diffusion of new technology. At the University of Texas, I regularly teach two undergraduate courses in the Department of Communication Studies: Communication for Innovation (CMS353-C) and Using Communication Technology at Work (CMS346).

Communication for Innovation

Watch a video clip of this class on Moody College’s instagram series In the Room!

It’s evident how powerful technology is in our daily lives — the way it reflects, shapes and disrupts our experience of the world we share with one another. Yet, technology doesn’t just appear out of thin air. It is created by engineers, designers, and communication professionals within cultures of production. It is resisted and reinvented by communities of users, audiences, and activists. This course explores the social dynamics that support creativity and innovation in the workplace: curiosity, open mindedness, a high tolerance for failure, and a sense of responsibility to the communities who are impacted by the things that we create. It opens the boundaries of design, encouraging students from a variety of backgrounds to see themselves as valued contributors to innovation processes and future participants in the technology industry. It equips students with the ability to ask specific questions that are relevant to producing ethical, equitable and socially-just technologies: What values are embedded in our cultural vision of innovation? How does innovation happen? Who gets to participate in innovation processes? And where are there opportunities for intervention? With this knowledge, it becomes clear that we aren’t powerless in this moment of rapid technological diffusion. When we work together our technological landscape is radically contingent and capable of change.

Download a previous reading list here.

Using Communication Technology at Work

How do people use communication technologies in the contemporary workplace: email, instant messaging, smart phones, social media, and video chat? In this course, we will explore the complicated relationship between organizations, employees, and their devices. We will engage with scholarly theories, empirical research and practical case studies to examine workplace technologies—asking questions about their capacity for information delivery, connection, productivity, self-expression, and control. Throughout the semester you will perform a series of independent inquiries that use scholarly and popular-press literature as a lens to examine your own experiences. You will build a skill set for assessing the potential benefits or challenges of technology in any professional environment.

Download a previous reading list here.