SPC 260 New Media

<Introduction to New Media>

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 cybermedia 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 week by week schedule at the right. Just click on the week to find the links to the online readings you'll need for that week's classes.