851-0522-00L Digital Statehood (1960-2000). Imaginaries, Experiences, Trading Zones

Semester	Spring Semester 2020
Lecturers
Periodicity	non-recurring course
Course	Does not take place this semester.
Language of instruction	German

Abstract	The seminar addresses the expectations, experiences and negotiations in which digital processes, legal regulations and administrative routines are to be harmonized in the Swiss Federal Administration (1960-2000).
Objective	Students should understand the interactions between technological processes, legal regulations and bureaucratic routines. In addition to reading research literature and conceptual work, the main focus is on studying relevant sources.
Content	Since the late 1950s, public administrations have been using computers to perform their tasks. Focusing on the use of computers in the Swiss federal administration, the seminar aims to identify how digital processes, legal regulations and administrative routines should be reconciled in public administrations. On the basis of IT projects of the Swiss Federal Administration, it will be investigated how computers were made usable and which options for action were opened up to the computer-supported federal state as a result. Last but not least, we want to ask how a (computer-) history of digital statehood can be written.