Jasper Vermeulen

Technology and the self

What I find most interesting about the master specialisation Digitalisation, Surveillance & Societies are the ways in which we explore the possible societal and human implications of interacting with new and unprecedented technologies, such as artificial intelligence. These new technologies pave the way for manipulation of data which can enable new forms of surveillance that threaten our privacy.

In class, we always have very fruitful discussions which can be rooted back in the fact that the students come from different disciplines and therefore adopt a vastly different perspective. Simply by doing the readings before class, every student, regardless of their affinity with digitalisation, surveillance or privacy, can make meaningful contributions to the class discussions.

Our class society

I always like to be situated in an international classroom and Digitalisation, Surveillance & Societies adheres to this. The classroom also feels very inclusive which can be explained by the teaching staff being largely international. Our class consists of around 22 students, which could be considered quite small. Nevertheless, it has allowed us to get to know each other through personal class discussions. But we also try to organize meetings outside of class from time to time. While doing this master you will not feel like a student moving anonymously through the crowd. In addition, everyone is very passionate about the topic and this works in contagious ways.

Although topics such as surveillance and privacy appear to be quite a niche, during the master you will discover that everyone adopts his or her angle and has a particular interest. For instance, I am particularly interested in smart home research while another student is greatly involved in policing. Both topics are ultimately related to privacy and surveillance.

Words and numbers

In our program, we must take methods classes, which teach us how to do both qualitative and quantitative research. Currently, most of the teaching staff specializes in qualitative research and therefore this is often the go-to approach. Students that are more familiar with quantitative research might struggle with this, but you will find that there are many other students, as well as the teaching staff of course, that are willing to teach you the qualitative ways of life.

As this master is more about understandings and implications, it is not necessary to have lots of prior knowledge on coding or other technical aspects. In my view, this master is for students who are concerned about the direction our world is moving towards in regard to how data is gathered, stored and manipulated, often without the consent of users.