Spring 2026 Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) and Reader positions for ISF courses are listed below. All positions are pending budgetary approval.
Spring 2026
Reader Positions (1 available)
ISF 100J: The Social Life of Computing
Units: 4
Instructor: Shreeharsh Kelkar
Class: #24206
Time: MWF 12:00 pm – 12:59 pm
1 readers needed
We live in a time which some characterize as the “second machine age” of automation, artificial intelligence, and big data. This course introduces students to the technical, social, business, and political entanglements of computing from its late 19th century origins to the 21st century software industry. The topics covered include the intersections of computing with: calculation, capitalism, intelligence, gender, work, automation, and expertise. It satisfies the social and behavioral sciences breadth requirement as well as the Human Contexts and Ethics requirement of Berkeley’s Data Science major.
We require one (additional) reader for this course, preferably PhD or Master’s students familiar with the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the social studies of computing/information. The reader will be expected to attend lectures and help the instructor manage the classroom (take attendance, walk around while students discuss in small groups, etc.), grade two exams and weekly quizzes, perhaps an occasional group presentation. The class is expected to have roughly 100 students. Graduate students interested in STS, information studies, as well as history, anthropology, and sociology will find the topics to be useful in their own work as well. The reader position is expected to require 10 hours a week (25%) and comes with a tuition waiver. You can find the lectures for this course here: https://soundcloud.com/user-118533348/sets/the-social-life-of-computing.
If this might be of interest, please send an email to skelkar@berkeley.edu with your CV. In the CV, please be sure to describe (1) your familiarity with the topic, (2) your teaching experiences especially here at Berkeley and how they might apply to this course. If your experience includes working as a Berkeley GSI, then please also send me some of your course evaluations.
