Syllabus

Read course policies, grading structure, and assignment overviews in the full syllabus. The schedule of lectures, readings, discussions and assignment due dates is below.


Reading Schedule and Course Calendar:
Be aware that all readings and activities should be completed prior to the class meeting under which they are listed in the course calendar below.  Quizzes will take place, and papers will be due, at the beginning of the indicated course meetings.

All readings are available as PDFs through Learn@UW, or as online resources. Always check to be sure you’ve read the PDFs and the linked articles, and completed any blog participation assignments.

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Unit 1 | Introduction & Internet History

Wed. 9/8: What is New Media? Introduction to critical approaches
-       Martin Lister, et al. “New Media and New Technologies”

Mon. 9/13: Computing History & Imagining Cyberspace
-       David Bell, “Storying Cyberspace”

Discussion Sections 9/13, 9/14: Introduction to assignments and in-class screening: Frontline: Digital Nation (2010)
            Blog #1: Set up your account and post an introduction that includes a picture!

Wed. 9/15: ARPANET and Origins of the Internet
-       Nancy Baym, excerpt from Personal Connections in a Digital Age
-       Janet Abbate, “Cold War and White Heat: The Origins and Meanings of Packet Switching”

Mon. 9/20: Emergence of the WWW
-       Tim Berners-Lee, "Enquire Within Upon Everything,” and "Tangles, Links, and Webs"

Discussion Sections 9/20, 9/21: Social shaping of technology: Packet switching and ARPANET (discuss Abbate reading); Finalize practicum assignments
            Blog #2: History clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIQjrMHTv4

Wed. 9/22: Dot.com Boom and Bust
-       John Cassidy, "Prologue" and "Irrational Exuberance"
-       Megan Sapnar Ankerson, “Web Industries, Economies, Aesthetics: Mapping the Look of the Web in the Dot-com Era”

Mon. 9/27: Web2.0 (2004-present)
-       Andrew Keen, “Intro” and “Chap. 1” from The Cult of the Amateur
-       Mary Madden and Susannah Fox, "Riding the Waves of Web 2.0"
** QUIZ #1 IN LECTURE
Discussion Sections 9/27, 9/28: Web 2.0 debate and discussion

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2 | Analyzing Representations and Relationships

Wed. 9/29: Software and interfaces as representations
-       Steven Johnson, “Desktop”
-       Lev Manovich “The Interface”

Mon. 10/4: Popular representations of the internet & moral panics
-       Alice Marwick, “To catch a predator? The MySpace Moral Panic” http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2152/1966
-       Burgess & Green “YouTube and the Mainstream Media” PAGES 17-21 ONLY
**MIDTERM PAPER PROMPTS AVAILABLE

Discussion Sections 10/4, 10/5: Analyze representations of the internet; Discuss Marwick reading; Introduce paper assignment
            Blog #3: Your pick: e-Dosing, ChatRoulette, or view 15 MySpace profiles at random

Wed. 10/6: Online identities
-       Nancy Baym “Identity” PAGES 105-119 ONLY
-       Lisa Nakamura, “Race In/For Cyberspace”

Mon. 10/11: Online communities (Web 1.0)
-       Nessim Watson, "Why We Argue about Virtual Community: A Case Study of the Phish.net Fan Community"
-       Steinkuehler, C. & Williams, D., “Where everybody knows your (screen) name: Online games as ‘third places’” http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/steinkuehler.html
** QUIZ #2 IN LECTURE

Discussion Sections 10/11, 10/12: Virtual community presentations

Wed. 10/13: Social networking: Web2.0 identities and communities
-       danah boyd, “Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites”
-       Nancy Baym, “The New Shape of Online Community: The Example of Swedish Independent Music Fandom” 

Mon. 10/18: Privacy, surveillance and reputation management
-       Douglas MacMillan, “Why Facebook Wants Your ID” http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WHY+FACEBOOK+WANTS+YOUR+ID-a01612100463
-       Mary Madden and Aaron Smith, “Reputation Management and Social Media” http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Reputation-Management.aspx

Discussion Sections 10/18, 10/19: Identity & Social Networking presentations
            Blog #4: Google yourself and reflect on what you find (or don’t find).

Wed. 10/20 (Guest lecturer: Lindsay Garrison): Online celebrities, they’re just like us!
-       Terri Senft, excerpt from Camgirls

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Unit 3 | Policy, Access and Democracy

Mon. 10/25 (Guest lecturer: Danny Kimball): Net Neutrality
-       Tim Wu & Christopher Yoo, “Keeping the Internet Neutral?”
-       Rachael King, “A High-Speed Race For Broadband Billions” http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_34/b4144074859673.htm
** PAPERS DUE IN LECTURE

Discussion Sections 10/25, 10/26: Internet Users and Audiences presentations

Wed. 10/27: Digital Divides
-       Gerard Goggin & Christopher Newell. “Blind Spots on the Internet”
-       Jenkins et al, “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture” Pages 12-21
-       Eszter Hargittai “Digital Na(t)ives”

Mon. 11/1: Democracy, the Press and the Transformation of News Journalism
-       Cass Sunstein, "The Daily We", Boston Review, 2000
http://bostonreview.net/BR26.3/sunstein.php
-       Henry Jenkins, "Challenging the Consensus", Boston Review, 2000
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR26.3/jenkins.html
-       Jay Rosen, “Rosen’s Flying Seminar in the Future of News”, (don’t read “After Matter” section, stop reading after “a concluding word” section)

Discussion Sections 11/1, 11/2: News Journalism: Sunstein, Jenkins debate

Wed. 11/3: Political Campaigns and Activism
-       Claire Cain Miller, “How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics”
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/%20
-       Evgeny Morozov, “Iran: Downside to the ‘Twitter Revolution’”

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Unit 4 | Participatory Culture, Intellectual Property, and Convergence

Mon. 11/8: Introduction to Participatory Culture
-       Pierre Lévy, Collective Intelligence
-       Henry Jenkins et al, Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century Pages 1-11 only
-       Burgess & Green, “YouTube and the Mainstream Media” Pages 21-37 only
**QUIZ #3 IN LECTURE

Discussion Sections 11/8, 11/9: Forms of Collective Intelligence presentations
            Blog #5: Watch 1 YouTube video and 1 Hulu video

Wed. 11/10: Aesthetics of Participatory Culture and Web 2.0
-       Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin, “Remediation" Pages 44-50 only
-       Jean Burgess, “All Your Chocolate Rain Are Belong to Us?' Viral Video, YouTube
and the Dynamics of Participatory Culture”

Mon. 11/15: Introduction to online gaming
-       James Paul Gee, "Good Games, Good Learning"
-      Jesper Juul, "A Casual Revolution"

Discussion Sections 11/15, 11/16: Networked Gaming presentations
Blog #6: Play Plants vs. Zombies - http://www.popcap.com/games/free/pvz/

Wed. 11/17: “Bad” play?
-       Mia Consalvo, from Cheaters
-       Dibbell, Julian "The Life of a Chinese Gold Farmer" http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html?_r=1
-       Hector Postigo, “Video Game Appropriation through Modifications”


Mon. 11/22: Copyright           
-       Tim Wu, “Does YouTube Really Have Legal Problems?”
-       Farhad Manjoo, “Police Your Own Damn Copyrights”
-       Siva Vaidhyanathan, “The Digital Moment”

Discussion Sections 11/22, 11/23: Discuss Postigo and copyright regimes

Wed. 11/24: Piracy, Filesharing, and Media Industries           
-       Lawrence Lessig, "Piracy"
-       Damian Kulash, Jr. “Free Viral Videos” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/opinion/20kulash.html

Mon. 11/29: Spatial convergence: virtual and physical space
-       Edward Castronova, "Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games"
-       William Mitchell, “Recombinant Architecture”

Discussion Sections 11/29, 11/30: Discuss blending of real/virtual spaces
           
Wed. 12/1: Mobile cultures
-       Howard Rheingold, “How to Recognize the Future When It Lands on You”
-       Mimi Ito et al., “Portable Objects in Three Global Cities”
**QUIZ #4 IN LECTURE

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Unit 5 | Computer and Internet Futures

Mon. 12/6: Ubiquitous computing
-       Adam Greenfield, “How is Everyware Different from What We’re Used to?” – (skim all “theses”, but choose at least three to read thoroughly)
http://madcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=7686012
-       Mark Weiser, “The Computer for the 21st Century”

Discussion Sections 12/6, 12/7: Discussion of mobile and ubiquitous computing
Do & Blog #7: Track every computerized thing that you interact with in an evening

Wed. 12/8: Embodied computing
-       Michele White, “Where Do You Want to Sit Today? Computer Programmers’ Static Bodies and Disability”

Mon. 12/13: E-waste
-       Elizabeth Grossman, “The Underside of High Tech”
-       Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic Products? http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.ht

Discussion Sections 12/13, 12/14: Final exam review; Course evaluations

Wed. 12/15: Web Showcase

Thurs. 12/23:Final Exam