Explores the similarities between sociology and crime scene investigation by examining how isolated and seemingly random pieces of data are actually embedded in larger frames of social and informational significance. Considers how these larger patterns of association can provide predictive relevance and meaning. Beginning with Durkheim's foundational work on suicide, the course explores the interpretive approach called semiology, the science of reading signs. Several CSI tools, such as forensic facial reconstruction and fingerprinting, illustrate the empirical and philosophical implications of this method.