<SPC 260 Introduction to New Media>
Spring 2008. MWF 10:40-11:50 a.m. C 113.
Instructor: Dr. Steve Macek Office Hours: MWF 2-3pm;
Campus Phone: 630-637-5369 TH 2-4 pm; and by
Home Phone: 630-718-0836 appointment.
E-mail: shmacek@noctrl.edu
Webpage: http://stephen.macek.faculty.noctrl.edu
Office: Pfeiffer Hall, Room 38
<Course Description>
For the past decade or so, we have been living through a revolution in communication, a revolution driven by the spread of cheap personal computers and the digitization of all previous forms of media. In the late 1980s it was estimated that only 10 percent of the nation’s population has even gone on online. Today, more than 75 percent of U.S. citizens have Internet access. In 1993, the World Wide Web boasted only 130 web sites; by 2003, the number of sites on the web had grown to more than 40 million. AOL’s instant messaging software today carries more than 800 million messages a day (more than the volume of mail carried daily by the entire U.S. Postal service). Millions of people pour out their souls and their minds on personal “blogs” every day and millions more read their ramblings. Listening to radio and watching TV/video via the web has become increasingly popular, so much so that existing broadcasters are having to adapt their content to the new medium despite not yet knowing how to profit from it. Virtually every aspect of life in the advanced industrialized world—education, scientific research, commerce, entertainment, politics, personal relationships—has been altered by the growing popularity of the Internet.
This course offers you a critical introduction to this emerging “wired” or “cyber” culture and to the technologies and socio-political infrastructure that makes it possible. In this class, you’ll learn about the historical development of the Internet and other forms of new media and examine the repercussion of the digital revolution for our communities, our identities, our politics, and our daily lives. You’ll also learn how to create a web page and how to blog. Through a variety of online and offline projects, you will not only develop a critical, sociologically and historically informed perspective on the web and the Internet, but you’ll also develop some of the skills you’ll need to be an active participant in the new media culture.
<Required Texts>
Katherine C. Montgomery. Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce and Childhood in the Age of the Internet MIT Press, 2007
Philip N. Howard and Steve Jones eds. Society Online: The Internet in Context Sage, 2004
In addition, you’ll be expected to read a number of online articles and reports the links for which can be found on the webpage for this course at:
http://stephen.macek.faculty.noctrl.edu/Courses/IntroNewMedia/Newmedia.html
<Procedures, Requirements and Expectations>
Course Format. This course combines lecture, discussion and some lab work in the Carnegie computer labs. I will give some prepared lectures but much of our class time will be devoted to group discussion of course readings and particular texts, sites and applications. Please note that my lectures usually supplement, rather than summarize, the readings. Sometimes I will go over the key points of the assigned readings; sometime I won’t even mention them. In either case, much of the information presented in the lectures will be new. So, if you miss class, please be sure to get the notes from a classmate. I will set aside time for structured group discussion almost every class meeting.
For class discussion to flow well, you'll have to do the required reading, complete any required discussion-generating writing assignments and make an effort to participate. In class discussions, it will be my job to pose overarching questions, facilitate and keep the conversation flowing.
A number of times over the course of the term we will be meeting in one of the labs in Carnegie and our lab meetings will involve some group work as well as occasional personalized instruction.
Blog Entries. Part of your grade for this class will be based on your SPC 260-related blogging. You will be required to blog regularly and to read and comment on the blogs of at least some of your classmates. I expect you to write at least 350 words each week, either as an entry on your own page or as a comment on someone else’s blog. Some weeks I will e-mail you “blog prompts” that I expect you to discuss. Other weeks, it will be up to you to generate topics of discussion. You are required to have made at least ten posts in your own course blog and at least four comments on your classmate’s blogs by the end of the term. Periodically, I will ask you to print off and turn in your entries and comments and will return them to you with my feedback and a grade. At the end of the term you will turn in all of your entries and receive a global score for your blog. The total “portfolio” of your blogging for the term will determine 15 % of your grade
Home Page. In this course, you will be required to build a home page that you will store on the NCC W drive. It’ll contain information about you and your interests as well as links to your other online writing projects and to your blog. You’ll update your homepage throughout the duration of the class and will receive a grade for it at the end of the term. The home page will be worth 5% of your final grade.
Web-based Writing Assignments. In addition to your blog and homepage, I’ll also ask you to complete two research-based online writing assignments: an “ethnography” of a online community and a final website devoted to a new media topic of your choosing. Writing assignments will be distributed in class and posted on the course blog at least one week before the assignment is due. Post assignments on the web by 10 a.m. on the due date, e-mail me the URL and include a link to it on your homepage. You will also be asked to briefly discuss your final web projects with the class in a “web project charrette” during the last two days of class: you’ll say a few things about your research and the design of your site and answer questions from the class. Each of the writing assignments will be worth 20% of your grade.
Tests. In addition to the writing assignments listed above, there will two tests. The first will be a “midterm” covering the content for the first five weeks of the course. The second will be in the 10th week of class and will cover the content for the last five weeks of the class. ” Both tests will include multiple choice, true/false and short answer questions. Each test will be worth 15% of your final grade.
Class Participation and Attendance. It will be extremely difficult for you to do well in this course if you don't come to class. I expect you to attend class regularly, to participate in group activities, to be on time and to stay for the entire session. I also expect you to complete the short, non-graded discussion-generating writing assignments I give you. Your record of attendance, work on non-graded writing assignments and contributions to class discussion will determine 10% of your final grade. To receive a high score for your participation, you should not only do the reading for class but also come to class prepared to say something. It might help if you came equipped with a list of questions or a passage from the readings you'd like to discuss.
Grades. Your grade for the course will be based on your blog, your homepage, the online writing projects, the midterm, the final and your attendance and class participation. To make it easier for me to calculate final grades, each assignment or grade component will receive both a letter grade and a corresponding point score. On my grading scale, an A is 93% to 100% of the possible points, 90 to 92% is an A-, 87% to 89% is a B+, 83% to 86% is a B, 80% to 82% is a B-, 77% to 79% is a C +, 73% to 76% is a C, 70% to 72% is a C-, 67% to 69% is a D+, 60% to 68% is a D and anything less than 59% is an F.
Below is a breakdown of the points for each assignment or final grade component:
Blog entries= 150 points
Homepage @ 50 points= 50 points
Online ethnography @ 200 points= 200 points
Final web project@ 200 points= 200 points
2 tests@ 150 points= 300 points
Class attendance and participation 100 points
_____________________________________________________________
1000 points
To figure out how you are doing in the course at any time during the term, simply divide the points you've earned so far by the number of points you could've earned.
Late Work. The due dates for each of the writing assignments are clearly listed on the schedule below. Grades on late work will be lowered one letter grade for each week the assignment is overdue.
<Course Schedule>
Below is a projected schedule of the readings and assignments for the course. We may fall behind schedule from time to time and if we do I’ll make an effort to get us back on track. I encourage you to keep up with the reading even if we are behind schedule and to read ahead if your workload permits.
<Week 1>
Monday, March 24. Introductions: Overview of the course
Wednesday. March 26. Setting up the course blog. Basic HTML: The Nuts and Bolts of the Web
Reading:
Blogging 101.
Try your hand at:
W3School’s HTML Tutorial (skip the sections on “HTML Frames” and “HTML Forms”; you can stop at “HTML Fonts”)
Friday, March 28. Creating Web Pages with NVU. Set up Home Pages
Reading:
Introduction to Nvu
Sitewizard’s How to Design and Publish Your Website with Nvu.
<Week 2>
Monday, March 31. The Wired World We Live In…
Reading:
Jones and Howard, Forward, Chapter 1
Net Futures Report 2008
Wednesday, April 2. …And the Reality of the Digital Divide(s).
Reading:
Jones and Howard, Chapters 4, 5, 12 & 16
Friday, April 4. Internet History: The Origins of the Web.
Reading:
FCC’s History of the Internet
The Internet Society’s Short History of the Internet
Browse:
Hobbes’ Internet Timeline
<Week 3>
Monday, April 7. Internet History: Portals, Browsers and Search Engines/ Utopian & Dystopian Views of Cyberspace
Reading:
Wikipedia entries on “Browser Wars” and “Search Engine”
John Barlow, Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace.
Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age
Browse:
Netrospective: 10 years of Yahoo
Wednesday, April 9 . Utopian/Dystopian Views of Cyberspace continued
Reading:
Sven Birkerts, excerpts from The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age.
Michael Gorman, “Web 2.0: The Sleep of Reason” and “The Siren Song of the Internet”
Friday, April 11. Introduction to Virtual Communities
Reading:
David Bell, “Chapter 5: Community and Cyberculture” in An Introduction to Cyberculture Routledge, 2001. (To Be Distributed)
Jones and Howard, Chapters 2 &3
***Turn in first set of blogs
<Week 4>
Monday, April 14. Virtual Communities
Reading:
Theresa Senft, “Baud Girls and Cargo Cults”
Danah Boyd, “Friends, Friendsters and Top 8: Writing Community into Being on Social Network Sites”
Brett Bumgarner, “You have been poked: Exploring the uses and gratifications of Facebook among emerging adults”
Jennifer Golbeck, “The dynamics of Web-based social networks: Membership, relationships and change”
Wednesday, April 16. Ethnographies of Virtual Community
Reading:
David Bell, “Researching Cybercultures” in An Introduction to Cyberculture Routledge, 2001. (To Be Distributed)
In-Exercise: Exploring Online Social Networks
Friday, April 18. Online Identity
Reading:
Julian Dribble, “A Rape in Cyberspace”
Sherry Turkle, “Who am We?”
In-Exercise: Visit Lamdamoo
<Week 5>
Monday, April 21. Test #1.
Wednesday, April 23. Generation Digital: Youth and New Media
Reading: Chapter 1 and 2 in Montgomery.
Friday, April 25. Generation Digital: Youth and New Media continued.
Reading: Chapter 3 and 4 in Montgomery.
<Week 6>
Monday, April 28. Generation Digital: Youth and New Media continued.
Reading: Chapter 5 and 6 in Montgomery.
***Online Class
Wednesday, April 30. Generation Digital: Youth and New Media continued.
Reading: Chapter 7 and 8 in Montgomery.
Friday, May2. . Wired Politics
Reading:
Mark Poster, “The Net as Public Sphere”
Cass Sunstein, “The Daily We: Is the Internet a Wonderful Development for Democracy? “
James Wolcott, “The YouTube Election”
***Online Ethnography Due.
<Week 7>
Monday, May 5. Wired Politics
Reading:
Howard and Jones, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 & 15
Wednesday, May 7. Blogging and Democracy
Reading:
Andrew O Baoill, “Weblogs and the Public Sphere”
Andrew Sullivan, “The Blogging Revolution”
Browse one or more of the following blogs:
DailyKos
Mydd
Eschaton
Wonkette
Feministing
Huffington Post
Instapundit
Little Green Footballs
AndrewSullivan.com
Friday, May 9. Government Regulation of the Internet: Privacy & Free Speech
Reading:
Howard and Jones, Chapter 17
Seth Finkelstein, “Comstock in the 90s”
Jim Tyre, “Sex, Lies and Censorware”
Jonathan Wallace, “Purchase of Censorware by Public Libraries is Unconstitutional”
Browse:
Loudoun County VA Censorware Lawsuit page
***Turn in second set of blogs
<Week 8>
Monday, May 12. Government Regulation of the Internet: Copyright
Reading:
Siva Vaidhyanathan, “Introduction,” “Chapter One: Copyright and American Culture” and “Chapter Five: The Digital Moment” from Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity.
Wednesday, May 14. Final Web Projects Workshop
Friday, May 16 . The Impact of the Digital Revolution on “Old Media” Industries: Music
Reading:
Howard and Jones, Chapter 14.
Michael Pfahl, “Giving Away Music to Make Money”
Kostas Kasaras, “Music in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3 and Society”
<Week 9>
Monday, May 19. The Impact of the Digital Revolution on “Old Media” Industries: Journalism & The News Industry
Reading:
Dan Gillmour, “Introduction”, “Chapter One: From Tom Paine to Blogs and Beyond” and “ “Chapter Two: The Read-Write Web” from We The Media:Grassroots Journalism by the People and for the People.
Gene Hyde, “Independent Media Centers: Cyber Subversion and the Alternative Press”
Explore:
Chicago Indymedia
OhMyNews
Wednesday, May 21. The Impact of the Digital Revolution on “Old Media” Industries: Journalism & The News Industry (Continued)/YouTube vs. Boob Tube
Reading:
Dan Gillmour, “Chapter Eleven: The Empire Strikes Back” from We The Media:Grassroots Journalism by the People and for the People.
Bob Garfield , “YouTube vs. Boob Tube”
Friday, May 23. The Future of the Internet.
Henry Jenkins, “The Moral Economy of Web 2.0”
Howard and Jones, Chapter 19 & 20
<Week 10>
Monday, May 26. Memorial Day (No Class)
Wednesday, May 28. Final Web Project Charrette.
***Final web projects due.
Friday, May 30. Final Web Project Charrette.
Monday, June 2. 10 a.m.- 12 noon Test #2.
<Guidelines and Standards for Online Written Work>
• All web-based writing must be posted online and a hard copy of the resulting page must be printed out, stapled together and turned in to me. It must be responsive to all aspects of the assignment, including length, and should use the Modern Language Association (MLA) system of documentation and style.
• Written work (including web copy) should be relatively free of mechanical and grammatical error.
• Document every reference, obviously including any and all references to websites. Refer to a writer’s manual for if you need guidance about how to do this.
• Support claims not common knowledge with evidence and conclusions with argument. Take time to plan your papers and devote some time to rewriting them. Always keep a second copy of your work (and a back-up of your website).
• Assume your reader has not taken this course. Define all terms whose definitions are controversial or obscure. Take time to explain the theories you are using. Include as much detail as you need to support your argument. Illustrations (diagrams, storyboards, photographs, photos of still frames, etc.) are always welcome.
• Avoid racist or sexist language and cliches.
• Grades: Failure to follow any of the above guidelines will result in a lower grade. Otherwise, here are my standards:
An "A" project demonstrates that the writer has not only mastered the concepts of the course, but has applied them in an original, imaginative and incisive manner. The project shows a command of the language that allows the writer to express ideas and observations clearly, effectively, in detail and with virtually no mechanical errors. It includes adequate documentation. "A"s are reserved for exceptional work.
A "B" project demonstrates that the writer has understood the concepts of the course and has applied them with some originality. The project shows the writer can organize a coherent essay with few errors. The project for the most part includes adequate documentation.
A "C" project demonstrates that the writer has understood most of the concepts of the course but needs to pay more attention to reading or writing. Documentation is erratic.
A "D" project demonstrates that the writer has only a minimal understanding of the concepts of the course. Significant gaps in the writer's comprehension indicate the need for more study. The project shows the writer's basic compositional skills are below satisfactory. Documentation is unsatisfactory.
A "F" project demonstrates that the writer has little, if any, understanding of the concepts of the course. Because of the writer's lack of skill or concern, the work includes gross errors as well as a lack of content. Documentation is negligible. The project may also fail to address parts of the assignment.
A web project may combine characteristics of different levels of work. In that case, the grade will depend on the paper's overall demonstration of knowledge of the material and of college writing skills.
Please see me if you have questions about my standards or about any of your grades for the course.