Previous reviews saying he's intolerant and cocky and shit are no longer applicable. Ramesh is a homie. His lectures are awesome and the final was actually interesting (although it was a lot of writing). Grading was super chill (shoutout Carlin), and the readings overall weren't horrible (some were actually really interesting, but the longer ones suck). I would 100% recommend this class, whether you're actually interested or just looking for that ez GE. Big shoutout Bernie Sanders.

Not an easy GE! The material is super interesting but I just didn't have time to read 80 pages of dry academic papers each week. Attendance was required since class wasn't recorded, and 3 hour Zoom sessions are HARD to sit through. Also the final paper was painful (8-10 pages, 1.5 spaced). I wouldn't say the professor is self centered or cocky, but he does like when you echo his opinions. He is a cool guy though- he has tons of connections to important people in the info studies industry and he brought them into class sometimes. I would recommend this class if you have a lot of time and you know you're interested in the topic.

Honestly, not my favorite. I just took it to knock out a GE and it was the only one that fit in my schedule. I really wasn't interested in the subject but hoped maybe I would be after taking the class, but this isn't the case. Prof Srinivasan is pretty cool and has lots of good stories about his research and is really passionate about the material, I just felt that the class wasn't that organized. The readings every week didn't have much to do with each other, and were often too pedantic for a beginner to really track with. There was also a group paper, which I suppose may be better in a live format, but over zoom it was all but impossible to collaborate properly. There were lots of kids in my class that were super engaged the whole time and you could tell they really enjoy this field, so if that's you, this is gonna be a great class to take as a GE. However, for someone like myself who really isn't interested in digital literacy, cyber security, big tech, etc., there's probably a better class for you. There was also no sort of notes, powerpoint, etc--just prof talking and trying to cultivate a discussion with the same few students, so it was hard to stay engaged. Looking back, I can't really think of anything definitive that I took away from the class. So overall, it was fine, but I probably wouldn't take it again.

Although the professor is knowledgable, the workload is light, and the content of the class is interesting, I did NOT find this class easy. If you are not good at writing analytical essays, this class is going to be a bit difficult. However, if you are good at writing those types of essays, this class is for you!

Coursework: Weekly readings, 2 reflection papers, a group midterm paper, a final paper, and an oral presentation.

Overall, this class is pretty interesting, with an engaging professor and a moderate workload. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a GE about the social effects of the internet, or interested in Digital Humanities.

The grading involves attending lecture, two 2-3 page response pages anytime in the quarter, 2 tweets per week based on class material, an oral group presentation, and an in-class final.

The readings each week are about 50-100 pages, and are based on current internet topics and information theory. The information theory readings were important for the final.

The papers were graded leniently, and the TA and professor explicitly mentioned what they were looking for in the papers multiple times.

The professor himself is super interesting and passionate about the material, and really cares about students. However, attendance is mandatory and he doesn't really use slides, so you do have to pay attention. Also, he heavily improvises lectures so they can get a little rambly/ tangential at times, but other than that they were pretty engaging.

A few of the earlier reviews mention that the professor is full of himself, and that is slightly true, but he isn't unbearable by any means. Also, he was tolerant of opposing viewpoints as long as arguments were well constructed.

All in all, I recommend this class and would definitely take it again.

I absolutely loved this class. Coming in with little to no knowledge about INF STD or the fields which were discussed I can say I've learnt a lot and enjoyed every lecture in this class.

As I did take it online, it is possible the lack of a final exam may have made the class easier, but I did find the final essay prompt quite challenging (yet still interesting).

Professor Srinivasan is clear, passionate about the content and cares about his students. We had brilliant lecturers join us and both TAs, as well as the professor, were clear and helpful when we had queries.

I would strongly recommend anyone takes this class!

I agree with the reviewer below 100%. I needed a social analysis GE last quarter, and this was the only one that fit in with my schedule. I have never met a "professor" who is so in love with himself. The 2 hour lecture/discussion was basically 110 minutes of the Ramesh show and then 10 minutes of two people sucking up by repeating his words. He seems to think that having a BS in industrial engineering makes him super special... it doesn't. I felt so much second hand embarrassment for him and the class he was trying so hard to impress. Please, if you are going to talk about information theory, don't get SNR wrong and don't call it a "transitor". It is a transistor, and a MOSFET is a type of transistor. He is very young, but so are many other professors at UCLA, and I've never met such a pompous ass.

He expected way too much for a GE. There was so much reading, and honestly a lot of it was dense pointless shit. This is a lower division class, and almost everyone here is taking it because they NEED to. There was more work to this class than any of the 4 other classes I was taking that quarter (including several upper division EE). Every part of this class was to make him feel better about himself. In the first class, the waitlist was full, and there were even more people in the classroom asking to be placed in (~35 maybe?). By fourth week, enrollment was 11/20.

This guy is too full of himself; he doesn't even have tenure yet, and I just feel that he is very immature, like he needs to remind his students every meeting that he is superior to us in every aspect. If you are okay with this, have no other classes, and want to practice brownnosing, then I suppose I can recommend Ramesh. I'm really sorry I ever met this guy.

Professor Srinivasan is an excellent professor. His class was engaging and required thinking on a high level. He is very passionate about the topics we discuss and so lectures are interestig. He also runs the class in a way that allows students to learn from one another through participation. Reading might get a little excessive, but most of them are really interesting. It is also easy to get an A, just do the readings and participate. He is a very lenient grader and really cares about his students doing well. So he will do everything he can to give you a better grade!! Barely any assignments, just weekly readings, a blogpost and tweet.. Two short essays during the entire quarter and a final exam.

I really enjoyed this class. Srinivasan was very informative and passionate about what he was teaching. There were 2 short papers which you could complete at any point throughout the quarter and the final encompassed the major themes of the class in the form of three short in class responses. Would definitely recommend!

One of my favourite classes at UCLA! Ramesh is a super nice and engaging professor and generally a pretty knowledgeable guy. The class itself is super interesting as well - it's a pretty breadth-first look at how things like the internet, machine learning, social media, blockchain, etc. have affected society in the past 20 years. You don't need any experience in any of these fields, and there are people from tons of different majors taking the class, which makes the discussions fun.

It's a pretty chill class; there's one three hour "lecture" slot, but most of it is actually watching videos, discussing course topics, and doing presentations. In terms of grading, you do two reflection mini-papers, a group midterm paper, and one 10-page final paper. None of the things are graded too strictly, and our TA (shoutout Brian) was super approachable + reasonable on grading.

Some of the previous comments on being cocky are a bit unfair (though he does like talking about himself), and you can definitely disagree with him in class without any repercussions or anything. You can play a mini drinking-game on how many times he namedrops his friends though ;)

But yeah, overall, pretty great GE and class in general - would def recommend that you take it!