Smart University

Reading Smart University is daunting as Weinberg's arguments are rooted in extensive historical and current research. She warns about many of the day-to-day things we take for granted. She also urges students to be advocates and activists around their data and privacy....Smart University asks us to ponder important questions such as: Are we trading our privacy for convenience? What are the long-term consequences of colleges and universities' access to student data? And most importantly, are institutions of higher education protecting students' interests?

Smart University is a much-needed sociohistorical analysis of how data capture, surveillance, and austerity measures govern student life in higher education. From algorithmic recruitment and neoliberal wellness apps to the punitive digital tracking of Black student-athletes and invasive exam proctoring software, Weinberg brilliantly demonstrates that rather than enhancing learning, edtech and other digital tools often reify structural inequities. This book is a crucial addition to critical information studies, with far-reaching implications for questions of privacy, education policy, and computing platforms.

Weinberg brilliantly exposes the promise of the 'smart' university as an alibi for the technological laundering of entrenched forms of bias, new forms of economic precarity, and, paradoxically, the dumbing down of higher education. Fortunately, the book also provides a blueprint for intelligently countering what passes for 'smartness' in a tech-obsessed era. Combining detailed examples with insightful analysis, Smart University provides an invaluable resource for building a better future for both digital technology and higher education.