COM418 / IDT 518, course syllabus, Jankowski

1. Nicholas W. Jankowski
SUNY IT Adjunct Instructor
Visiting Fellow, Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl
Email: nickjan@xs4all.nl
SUNY Institute of Technology
IDT 518 / COM418: New Media Theory & Digital Culture
Fall Semester 2009
Draft 3: 23 August 2009
New Media Theory & Digital Culture
General Information
This course examines a broad panorama of theoretical concepts and media developments related to what is
generally known as new media studies. Some of the concepts involved in this emerging field include: community
and identity in a virtual world, globalization, transformations in public discourse and changing notions of news
production and consumption. These concepts are juxtaposed with a range of media developments, including
social network sites (e.g., Friendster, MySpace), open source software developments (e.g., Mozilla Firefox, wikis),
and alternative venues for news and information (e.g., Indymedia, blogs). Further, the radical reformulation of
scholarship and education is explored through examination of new tool developments (e.g., OneNote, Zotero),
virtual learning environments (e.g., Second Life, Blackboard), and through consideration of developments related
to e-science, cyberinfrastructure, and e-research.
During this course students will read and comment on draft chapters of a textbook being prepared by the
instructor about digital media. A large amount of literature will be addressed related to themes in that book.
Students will become familiar with digital communication initiatives such as social network sites, blogs and news
sources; sessions will be devoted to becoming acquainted with new tools for individual and collaborative
scholarship, such as software for virtual meetings, co-authoring, and electronic publishing. Much of the course
material will be made available at the online environment maintained by SUNY-IT (called ANGEL, which is similar
to the learning environment Blackboard); in addition, students will be expected to actively maintain a course-
related blog.
The course will involve frequent homework assignments, a written exam, and completion of a term paper that
explores concepts and developments introduced in the readings and the course meetings. Twice-weekly
meetings will take place with the aid of Internet-based tools; in addition, students will be encouraged to consult
with the instructor individually and with other students enrolled in the course as part of online assignments.
Upper division students (juniors, seniors) and graduate students are eligible to enroll in the course; graduate
students will be expected to perform at a level commensurate with such standing.
Online venue
This is an online course that is part of the SUNY Learning Network (SNL) and makes use of the ANGEL system, also
called SLN ANGEL; introductory information on ANGEL is available here. This system is supplemented by a range
of additional online tools, synchronous and asynchronous, to facilitate course activities: blogs, instant messaging,
Skype, video conferencing. These will be elaborated during the first sessions of the course. Most meetings will be
conducted asynchronously, but there will be some synchronous sessions. During these weekly online meetings
the instructor will deliver presentations related to the topics selected per week; homework and reading
assignments will also be discussed. Students will be invited to give presentations at various points in the course.
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2. Weekly activities
In addition to the literature assignments noted above, this seminar involves exploration of a wide array of digital
tools for mediated communication, learning, and scholarship. Students will establish blogs for the purpose of
regular reflection on materials read and tools examined. Social network sites (e.g., Friendster, MySpace, Linkedln)
will be considered for both social and professional applications; other sharing and exchange sites (e.g., YouTube,
Flickr, Picasa, Slideshare) will be experimented with; gaming sites will be explored and students are also
encouraged to explore various virtual environments (e.g., Second Life) as venues for learning and exchange.
Finally, various tools for collaborative work and scholarship (e.g., Blackboard, Zotero wikis, OneNote, Endnote,
MediaCommons, MyNetResearch, Instant Messaging, Skype, virtual meeting software, RSS, social bookmarking,
tagging) will be examined and integrated into term paper projects.
This course is predicated on active participation, albeit in virtual environments, and the grading procedure
reflects this principle. Both online discussions and assignments provide opportunity for such participation on a
weekly basis. Students will prepare a term paper on a topic related to new media developments and a selection
of theoretical concerns. This paper will be primarily based on a literature review and a limited personal
exploration of an online venue or of digital tools. The paper will not involve formal social science empirical
investigation, but will address topics and research questions in an exploratory fashion. Suggestions for paper
topics will be discussed during the first meetings. Preliminary drafts of these papers are to be presented during
online synchronous meetings; completed papers are to be submitted at the end of the semester.
Collaborative learning environment. A wiki may be constructed in order to facilitate collaborate learning; a
decision about this will be taken at the end of the second week of class. Basic information on wikis can be found
at a site prepared for a course on participatory media at the University of California, Berkeley; other information
on working with wikis can be found at an embedded link.
As mentioned above, a personal blog is to be established for this course by each student and serves, in fact, as a
journal with which students are expected to reflect on the topics of the course. Posts may be short and address a
wide range of issues in an equally wide range of styles: opinions, reflections, reviews, and synopses of readings.
These blogs are designed to share ideas in rough, unpolished form and to serve as indicators of attending to the
weekly literature assignments and topics. Frequent posts should reflect ‘discoveries’ made during Web searches
and include the URLs of sites found. Comments are also expected on a weekly basis to the postings of the other
students in the seminar. Basic information for initiation a blog may be found at: starting a blog. It is
recommended that blogs maintained by the instructor as part of graduate-level seminars taught in Ljubljana,
Slovenia, be consulted here and here.
Literature
Two books, indicated below, serve as the basic texts for the course. Please note: although the first edition (2003)
of the Lister textbook is no longer available from the publisher, it may be used for the course; possible
differences between the two editions will be indicated during class sessions.
• Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., & Kelly, K. (2009). New Media: A Critical Introduction. Second
edition. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22378-4 (pbk). Text website:
http://www.routledge.com/9780415431613.
• Walker Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogging. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-4134-8 (pbk). Book
series website: http://www.polity.co.uk/digitalmediaandsociety/about.aspx
Both of these texts should be purchased. In addition, students will be expected to read drafts of chapters being
prepared for the book Digital Media: Concepts and Issues, Research and Resources. These chapters will be made
available at the online venue for the course. Finally, a wide variety of materials – journal articles, trade magazine
publications, online audio and video presentations – will be assigned per week. Some of these additional
assignments are indicated in the weekly schedule below.
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3. Term paper
The term paper is an exercise intended to reflect quality academic work. The papers should consider an explicitly
formulated problem and research question(s) that are related to theories/concepts relevant to new media
studies. The papers will present reviews of literature and may include relatively informal
experiences/observations of relevant online venues and/or digital tools. The papers may conclude with
suggestions for theoretical or conceptual refinement and suggestions for more formal empirical study. Although
length is not a criterion of quality, it is recommended that papers be prepared in the range 5-7000 words and
that they not exceed 8000 words all-in (abstract, text, notes, references and illustrations). Students are
encouraged to utilize hyperlinks in the papers and to consider multimedia components and forms of Web-based
publication.
Below is a list of possible seminar paper topics; this list is illustrative and is not intended to be restrictive.
• Second Life as learning environment: What are the issues, problems, and experiences in incorporating
Second Life into university learning situations?
• Blogs as mode for creative expression: How are blogs used in secondary and higher education writing
courses, with what objectives, limitations and successes?
• Collaborative scholarship: What venues and tools are available for distant collaboration among scientists
and scholars; what are the experiences with research groups that have utilized such tools?
• Transformations in academic publishing: How are journals in communications and other disciplines
reacting to the new possibilities for Internet-based multimedia publication, with what problems and
accomplishments?
• Online communities: in what manner do virtual communities reflect and relate to ‘real life’
communities?
• Identity exploration and construction: How are game and social networking environments utilized for
the purposes of exploration of self identity?
• Digital activism: How and with what problems / successes are new media incorporated into social
movement actions?
• Online news & information: what contribution do blogs and other forms of ‘citizen journalism’ make to
public awareness and action? How are traditional media reacting to and incorporating the Internet into
their ‘products’?
• Digital libraries & resources: How are the objectives and operating procedures of depositories of
knowledge and culture (research and national libraries, museums) changing in a digital environment?
• Globalization & commercialization: what are the tensions and societal concerns regarding the
globalization of information and the increasingly commercial exploitation of the Web?
Grading
The course grade will be based on the following components of the course:
• contributions to class discussions 20%
• homework assignments 40%
• presentations 10%
• seminar paper 30%
Preparation for initial online meetings during Week 1 (24-30 August)
The online asynchronous meetings to be held during the first week of class are opportunities to share
experiences some students may already have had with new media and digital tools, to consider individual and
collective learning objectives, and to informally explore ideas for term papers. Please consider the following
topics and questions as you prepare for the two online meetings planned for Week 1:
• What is your academic and professional background and what are your personal learning objectives
with regard to this seminar?
• What experiences have you had with digital communication environments and online learning tools
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4. such as: social network sites, peer-to-peer communication, collaborative tools, digital libraries, online
literature resources, and social science databases?
• What tentative ideas do you have for a seminar paper?
Please prepare short (maximum one page) statements on these and any other introductory topics/concerns you
may have. At the end of the week, these statements will be posted on one or more online venues: individual
personal blogs, the course blog, or a folder created on the ANGEL site.
Planning: tentative; subject to revision
The following overview indicates the topics to be addressed each week. Please note that two ‘intermezzos’ have
been included that allow for student ‘attendance’ of presentations by Jankowski at a professional conference and
a research project in Korea.
Week Activity
1 (24 Aug. -30 Aug.) Introduction to course
2 (31 Aug. - 6 Sept.) Introduction: digital media; key concepts
3 (31 Aug. - 6 Sept.) History: digital media
Monday, 7 Sept. Labor Day holiday: no class
4 (12 Sept.) Intermezzo: e-publishing
4 (7 Sept. - 13 Sept.) Technologies of digitalization
5 (14 Sep.-20 Sept.) Community & digital media
6 (21 Sept. - 27 Sept.) Intermezzo: e-research
6 (21 Sept. - 27 Sept.) Identity & digital media
7 (28 Sept. - 4 Oct.) Politics, Policy & Regulation
8 (5 Oct. - 11 Oct.) News & Information, Public Discourse
9 (12 Oct. - 18 Oct.) Literary & Artistic Expression
10 (19 Oct.-25 Oct.) Entertainment industry
11 (26 Oct. - 61 Nov.) Commercial interests
12 (2 Nov. - 8 Nov.) Education & scholarship
14 (9 Nov. - 15 Nov.) Review: digital resources
15 (16 Nov. - 22 Nov.) Review: concepts & developments, areas for research
16 (23 Nov. - 24 Nov.) Presentations of student projects
25-29 Nov. Thanksgiving Holiday Recess
17 (30 Nov. - 5 Dec.) Presentation of student projects
7-10 Dec. Final Exam period
Course overview by week
In this overview abstracts are provided for the topics to be covered, usually through presentations by the
instructor. Active participation of students is expected during these meetings and this will be facilitated through
homework and in-class activities (not indicated in overview). For some sessions extensive lists of supplementary
resources are noted, which may be useful in preparing individual term papers.
Week 1 (24 Aug. -30 Aug.)
Informal Introduction
The meetings during week 1 are devoted to ‘getting acquainted’ and clarifying the course objectives and
activities to be undertaken during the course (see assignment above). There will not be a formal
presentation, but synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for exchange. There will be no reading
assignment for the meetings in Week 1.
Week 2 (31 Aug. - 6 Sept.)
Presentation: Panorama of an Emerging Field
This presentation, based on the introductory chapter to Digital Media, sets the stage for the book and
provides an overview of developments, characteristics and issues related to digital studies. A definition is
offered for digital studies and digital media, and comparisons made with related developments including
new media, multimedia and Internet studies. Through this definitional exercise, the importance and
centrality of digitalization is indicated as well as the rationale for a new field of study. This chapter outlines
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5. how the book is organized and its relation to a Web site complementing the text.
Presentation: Key Concepts
The main features and characteristics of digital media are elaborated in this presentation, including the
distinction between: digital and analogue forms of information; the place of computers and electronic
networks in digital media; the notions information highway, information society, interactivity and
convergence; reformulations of being and virtuality, space and time.
Reading
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 1-43
• Silver, D. (2006). Introduction, where is Internet Studies? Critical Cyberculture Studies, 1-14. New York:
New York University Press. Available at: http://www.nyupress.org/webchapters/0814740235intro.pdf
Supplementary resources
• Gauntlett, D. (2004). Introduction. Web.Studies, 2nd ed. Available at:
http://www.newmediastudies.com/intro2004p.htm
• Cover, R. Audience inter/active: Interactive media, narrative control and reconceiving audience history.
New Media & Society, 8(1):139–158.
• Web site maintained by David Gauntlett, co-author of Web.Studies:
http://www.newmediastudies.com/index.htm
• Lallana, E. C., & Uy, M. N. (2003). The Information Age. UNDP-APDIP. Available at:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/The_Information_Age.
• Yochai Benkler . The Wealth of Networks. Available at:
http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Download_PDFs_of_the_book
Week 3 (31 Aug. - 6 Sept.)
Presentation: Evolution of Digital Media
The development of digital media and digital forms of communication has been an ongoing process across
decades and has been situated within social, cultural and political contexts as well as technological
constraints. This complex interplay of contexts, technologies and actors is examined in this chapter. Major
landmarks are identified and related to social and cultural ramifications regarding media and
communication. Some of the key actors in this process are profiled. The chapter concludes with a sketch of
the contemporary landscape of digital media and communication.
Readings
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 44-58
• Leiner, B. M. et al. (2003). A Brief History of the Internet. version 3.32
Last revised 10 Dec 2003. Available at: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml
Supplementary resources
• Crawford, S. (1983). The origin and development of a concept: the information society. Bull Med Libr
Assoc. October; 71(4): 380–385. Available at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?
artid=227258&pageindex=5#page
• See various Wikipedia articles, including:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_World_Wide_Web
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_berners-lee
- WWW History Project: http://1997.webhistory.org/home.html
Week 4 (7 Sept. - 13 Sept.)
Presentation: Technologies of Digitalization
Technology, as related to digital media, involves the hardware and software of computers, electronic
networks, telephony, information storage and retrieval devices, and other information and communication
innovations. The military origins of the Internet, for example, are noted as are the “browser wars” and the
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6. subsequent emergence of the open source movement. The development and conflicts between rival
computer operating systems are profiled as well as some of the economic struggles of major players. Some
of the technologies under consideration for presentation in this chapter include Web browsers and search
engines, mobile telephony, electronic networks, data and text processing, and data storage devices.
Intermezzo: Jankowski will be giving a keynote lecture at the annual conference of the Association of
Learned and Professional Society Publishers, Friday 11 September, entitled “The Enhanced Journal Article:
Illustrations of, and Challenges to, Web-based Innovations.” The lecture will be recorded and available as a
‘webinar’ for students in the course.
Presentation abstract: Publishers, editors, and authors have been exploring ways to utilize the potentials of
Web-based publishing for many years, but concern has accelerated, partly because of the current crisis in
scholarly publishing. This presentation reviews some of the rationales for Web-based journal publishing and
describes initiatives from publishers and editors, primarily in the social sciences and humanities. Although
most initiatives seem to accentuate only a few of the possible Web functionalities, a handful of journals are
experimenting with a wide range of Web features. These innovative titles are illustrated in this presentation,
along with consideration of the many challenges facing journal publishers and editors interested in
developing opportunities for the enhanced article. One of the innovations examined closely is International
Journal of Learning and Media, a title recently launched by MIT Press.
Reading
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 59-92
• Additional readings to be announced
Supplementary resources
• Internet and World Wide Web History, http://www.elsop.com/wrc/h_web.htm
• The World Wide Web History Project, http://1997.webhistory.org/home.html
• Wikipedia: Web Browser, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser
• Matisse Enzer. (1994-2006). Glossary of Internet Terms. http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html#W
• Getting the Best out of Cyberspace. The Information Society Library.
http://textus.diplomacy.edu/portals/isl/Default.asp?FilterTopic=/44594/44670
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_society
Week 5 (14 Sep.-20 Sept.)
Presentation: Community & Digital Media
One of the central foci of Internet studies, and by default digital studies, relates to the sociological concept
community. Since the early social experiments with computers and the Internet in the 1960s, scholars have
been examining online environments and their detrimental as well as liberating potential. Similarly with
community: academics have debated the possibility of regaining ‘lost’ community through Internet-based
constructions and have coined a term especially for this situation: virtual community. Much empirically-
grounded study has been undertaken around the claims and characteristics of these online communities.
This presentation reviews this work and, at the same time, introduces the wide range of online communities,
encompassing online games and dating sites, specialized discussion groups and digital cities, learning and
work environments. Both geographically-based communities and communities of interest are included in this
review of related literature. The chapter concludes with indication of expected developments in online
communities and suggestions for further study.
Readings
• Jankowski, N. W. (2007). Community & Identity Online. Distance Learning Division, Centre for Mass
Communication Research, University of Leicester.
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 164-180
Supplementary resources
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7. • Amy Bruckman, (2006), "A New Perspective on "Community" and its Implications for Computer-
Mediated Communication Systems," In Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems, Extended Abstracts (pp. 616-621). Montréal, Québec, 22-27 April, 2006.
available online.
• Ronald E. Rice, James E. Katz, Sophia Acord, Kiku Dasgupta, Kalpana David, (2004) "Personal Mediated
Communication and the Concept of Community in Theory and Practice," in P. Kalbfleisch (ed),
Communication and Community, Communication Yearbook 28, Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp 1-10.
• Robin Hamman, Introduction to Virtual Communities Research and Cybersociology Magazine Issue Two,
available online.
• Amy Bruckman, (2006), "A New Perspective on "Community" and its Implications for Computer-
Mediated Communication Systems," In Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems, Extended Abstracts (pp. 616-621). Montréal, Québec, 22-27 April, 2006.
Available online.
• Video on What defines community?
• Wikipedia on Sense of community
• Wikipedia on Community
Week 6 (21 Sept. - 27 Sept.)
Presentation: Culture, Identity & Social Relations
As with the concept community, the notion of identity has been central in scholarly discourse since arrival of
the Internet and has spurned a wide range of ideas as to how the notion of identity is undergoing
transformation. Some consider online environments as providing opportunity for identity experimentation,
liberation and, in the process, self-realization. Online communities, others argue, provide the bedrock for
regaining a quality of life missing from much of modern society: a sense of collective feeling and appreciation
for the other. At the same time, others point to a potentially dark site to these developments. Online settings
seem to permit lack of accountability and responsibility for actions taken, particularly through ability to
engage anonymously. Online relations tend to take on a fluid and fleeting character and, as such, lose
permanence and lasting value – characteristics of the postmodern condition. These issues are presented in
this chapter and illustrated with social networking sites and other identity-oriented sites (e.g., personal Web
pages, YouTube, Facebook, Friendster). Where applicable, these illustrations are related to empirically-based
studies.
Intermezzo: e-research & social media. Jankowski will be taking part in the World Class University (WCU)
project at YeungNam University in the Republic of Korea, 21-25 September. Two of the planned activities are
relevant to students taking this class: a lecture on e-research and a master class on social media. The lecture
will be made available online; arrangements are being made for students in the SUNY-IT course to attend the
master class via web seminar technologies. Abstracts of these activities are noted below. More detailed
information is available at the WCU Project Group Blog.
Lecture: Social Science Research Practice in the Digital Age (21 September)
Abstract: No less than a revolutionary transformation of the scientific enterprise is claimed to be underway.
This transformation extends beyond the natural sciences, where ‘e-science’ has become the modus operandi,
and is penetrating the domain of the social sciences and humanities, sometimes with differences in accent
and label. A plethora of phrases have been coined to describe this transformation: e-science, e-social science,
e-research, cyberinfrastructure, cyberscience, Internet-mediated research. Some observers suggest that the
very essence of scholarship is changing, particularly through employment of electronic networks and high-
speed computers – two of the conventionally noted components of e-science. The everyday procedures and
practices of traditional forms of scholarship are said to be affected by these and other features of e-science.
Especially affected are the following aspects: internationally-oriented collaboration among researchers
separated by distance and using high-speed computers and Internet-based tools for managing the research
enterprise; for performing data collection, archiving and analysis; and for disseminating findings. This
presentation reviews these developments, and accentuates changes in scholarly communication and
publishing.
Master Class: Social Media in Korea (21 September)
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8. Abstract: This workshop is held in “master class style” and involves discussion among advanced
undergraduate and graduate students interested in the study of social network sites and other social media.
The two-hour seminar will begin with a relatively short presentation (ca. 20 minutes) by the WCU project
visiting scholar (Jankowski). The presentation will be based on a draft chapter for a forthcoming textbook on
digital media. Participants in this master class will be expected to read the draft text prior to the meeting and
submit commentary on the work. Additional preliminary readings will be assigned related to social network
sites and other social media. Most of the seminar will be devoted to discussion of these texts and to reflection
on the meaning of social media for Korean youth and possibilities for empirical research. Information on this
workshop is available here, part of the WCU Project YeungNam University blog.
Readings
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 219-259
• Jankowski, N. (2009). The contours and challenges of e-research. In N. W. Jankowski (ed.) e-Research:
Transformations in Scholarly Practice, pp. 3-34. New York: Routledge.
• boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
Supplementary resources
• Jankowski, N. W. (2007). Exploring e-science: An introduction. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 12(2), article 10. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue2/janakowski.html
• Schroeder, R., and Fry, J. (2007). Social science approaches to e-Science: Framing an agenda. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(2), article 11.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue2/schroeder.html
• Edwards, P. et al. (2007). Understanding Infrastructure: Dynamics, Tensions, and Design. Available at:
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/49353
• Issue First Monday devoted to exploration of concept ‘cyberinfrastructure’:
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/240
• Our Cultural Commonwealth: Final Report of the American Council of Learned Societies Commission on
Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
http://www.acls.org/cyberinfrastructure/OurCulturalCommonwealth.pdf
• Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 14.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/hargittai.html
• Kennedy, H. (2006). Beyond anonymity, or future directions for internet identity research.
New Media & Society, 8 (6): 859 - 876.
• McMillan, S. J., & Morrison, M. (2006). Coming of age with the internet: A qualitative exploration of how
the internet has become an integral part of young people’s lives. New Media & Society, 8 (2): 73 - 95.
• Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community Judith S. Donath MIT Media Lab Prepared for: Kollock,
P. and Smith M. (Eds.). Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge. Available at:
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
• boyd, danah. 2006. "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace." American
Association for the Advancement of Science, St. Louis, MO. February 19. http://www.danah.org/papers/
AAAS2006.html
• See other publications by danah boyd: http://www.danah.org/papers/
• "Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual Reality." Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1, 3, Summer
1994. (Reprinted in Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation, Timothy Druckrey (ed.)
Aperture Foundation, 1996 and Culture of the Internet, Sara Kiesler (ed.). Hilldale, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1997.)
• Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on the Internet
http://www.cyberpsychology.eu/index.php
• psychology of cyberspace http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html
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9. • Moinian, F. (2006). The Construction of Identity on the Internet: Oops! I’ve left my diary open to the
whole world! Childhood, 13 (2): 49 - 68.
• Miah, A. (2005). Book Review: Virtual Worlds: Culture and Politics in the Age of Cybertechnology.
Media, Culture & Society, 27 (7): 626 - 630.
Week 7 (28 Sept. - 4 Oct.)
Presentation: Politics, Policy & Regulation
A broad range of issues and developments in digital studies are related to politics, political action,
government and regulation. New terms have been coined (e.g., e-democracy, e-governance, e-voting), new
initiatives and political movements developed (e.g., Creative Commons, cyberactivism, Indymedia), and new
concepts formulated (e.g., digital divide, copyleft). Policy and regulation of Internet-based content, at the
national and international level, is a booming area of concern and scholarship, and ranges from concern for
child molesting on Internet sites, pornography, terrorist recruitment, and copyright infringement, and
Internet governance. This presentation introduces the central issues and innovations related to political life
and government policy and regulation.
Readings
• Bentivegna , S. (2006). Rethinking Politics in the World of ICTs. European Journal of Communication, 21
(9): 331 - 343.
• Additional readings to be announced
Supplementary resources
• Joke Hermes, J. (2006). Citizenship in the Age of the Internet. European Journal of Communication, (9):
295 - 309.
• See seminar project on cyberactivism: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/02-03-
wt1/www/S_Andrychuk/index.htm
• See review of: Martha McCaughey & Michael D. Ayers (2003) (eds.). Cyberactivism: Online Activism in
Theory and Practice, Edited by New York: Routledge, available at: http://www.cjc-
online.ca/printarticle.php?id=954&layout=html
• See information on seminars being given by Howard Rheingold at Stanford and Berkeley:
http://www.eu.socialtext.net/pmca/index.cgi?participatory_media_collective_action
• Kuipers, G. (2006). The social construction of digital danger: debating, defusing and inflating the moral
dangers of online humor and pornography in the Netherlands and the United States.
New Media & Society, 8 (6): 379 - 400.
• Itsuko Yamaguchi Cyberlaw. Theory, Culture & Society, 5 2006; vol. 23: pp. 529 - 531.
• Halavais, A. (2005). Book Review: net.seXXX: Readings on Sex, Pornography and the Internet. New
Media & Society, 7 (10): 727 - 728.
• Mark D. Griffiths, M., & Parke, J. (2002). The Social Impact of Internet Gambling.
Social Science Computer Review, 20 (8): 312 - 320.
Week 8 (5 Oct. - 11 Oct.)
Presentation: News & Information, Public Discourse
Presentation topics include: Indymedia, citizens journalism, online media (e.g., newspapers, radio and TV
stations), alternative media, community media, OurMedia, blogs.
Readings
• Walker Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogging, pp. 84-110; 155-160.
• Salter, L. (2006). Democracy & Online News: Indymedia and the Limits of Participatory Media. Scan
Journal 3 (1). Available at: http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/display.php?journal_id=70
Supplementary resources
• Pickard, V. W. (2006). Assessing the Radical Democracy of Indymedia: Discursive, Technical, and
Institutional Constructions. Critical Studies in Media Communication. 23(1): 19-38. Available at:
http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf
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10. • Herring, S. C., Kouper, I., Paolillo, J. C., Scheidt, L. A., Tyworth, M., Welsch, P., Wright, E., and Yu, N.
(2005). Conversations in the blogosphere: An analysis "from the bottom up." Proceedings of the Thirty-
Eighth Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-38). Los Alamitos: IEEE Press. http://
ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/blogconv.pdf
• Lasica, J. D. What is Participatory Journalism? Online Journalism Review. Available at:
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1060217106.php
• Bibliographies on Weblogs: http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=Topical_Bibliographies,
http://loisscheidt.com/linked/bibliographies/Weblog_and_Blog_Bibliography.pdf
• Ward, R. (2006). Blogs and wikis: A personal journey. Business Information Review, 23 (12): 235 - 240.
• Quiggin, J. (2006). Blogs, wikis and creative innovation. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 9 (12):
481 - 496.
• Raghavan, S. (2006). Blogs and Business Conversations. Journal of Creative Communications, 1 (11): pp.
285 - 295.
• Bromley, M. (2006). Journalism and Democracy: An Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere. European
Journal of Communication, 21 (3)) 108 - 110.
• Graves, L. (2007). The Affordances of Blogging: A Case Study in Culture and Technological Effects.
Journal of Communication Inquiry, 31 (10): pp. 331 - 346.
• OURMedia resources: http://www.ourmedianet.org/
• Overview article citizens journalism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism
• Viegas, F. B. (2005). Bloggers' expectations of privacy and accountability: An initial survey. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3), article 12. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/viegas.html
• Bowers, C., & Stoller, M. (2005). Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere: A New Force in American
Politics. August 10th. Available at: http://www.newpolitics.net/node/87?full_report=1
• Halavais, A. (2005). Book Review: net.seXXX: Readings on Sex, Pornography and the Internet. New
Media & Societ, 7 (10): 727 - 728.
Week 9 (12 Oct. - 18 Oct.)
Presentation: Literary & Artistic Expression
The Internet and the Web are often associated with opportunities for expression – personal, artistic and
literary. In some respects, these opportunities are seen as a rebirth of the Enlightenment; the Wikipedia
project is perhaps the main initiative in this area, which is further grounded in idealistic notions of collective
engagement. At the same time, postmodernist notions are prominent in the dissolution of conventional
narrative structure through hyperlinking, providing opportunities for readers to create their own beginning,
middle and end to texts, and in that respect to embrace functions traditionally reserved for authors: readers
become, quite literally, authors. This chapter explores these aspects, the related concepts, and provides
illustrations of cyber writing (e.g., cyberpunk, e-zines). Some of the classics of cyber literature are introduced
as well as literary studies on these and other works.
Readings
• Walker Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogging, pp. 1-54.
Supplementary readings and resources
• Cresser, F., Gunn, L., & Balme, L. (2001). Women's experiences of on-line e-zine publication. Media,
Culture & Society, 7; vol. 23: pp. 457 - 473.
• Thomas, S. (2006). The End of Cyberspace and Other Surprises. Convergence, 12 (11): 383 - 391.
Week 10 (19 Oct.-25 Oct.)
Presentation: online games & entertainment
One of the core areas of business, engagement and societal concern is computer and online games. Some
online games have hundreds of thousands of players often engaged simultaneously; some, like Neopets,
cater to the very young; others, like Second Life, are designed mainly for young adults and provide, as the
name implies, simulation of alternate environments and life styles. The development of these games are
sketched in this chapter, tracing their emergence from the early stand alone computer games like Pac-Man,
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11. through the period of Multi User Dungeons (MUDs), to the present generation of multimedia virtual reality
arenas. Concerns associated with these developments are also discussed, including use bordering on
addiction and preponderance of violence-oriented and sexist games. Recent studies exploring the worlds of
gamers are presented.
A second important topic in this chapter discusses how initially innocuous recreational exchange of
materials – mainly music but also, software, texts and films – led to the emergence of commercial
enterprises that challenged the ownership rights of established industries – software developers, music and
film companies, publishing houses. This struggle between individual right to receive and share information,
on the one hand, and intellectual rights of ownership represented by publishing companies is portrayed in
this chapter through presentation of case histories. Some of these histories involve policy and regulation and
are related to issues elaborated in Chapter 6.
Readings
• Lister et al., (pages refer to 1st edition), pp. 97-159
Supplementary readings and resources
[To be announced]
Week 11 (26 Oct. - 61 Nov.)
Presentation: Commerce & Industry
The commercial importance of the Internet is difficult to underestimate and has been considered
comparable to the industrial era of the 19th century. At the same time, that importance has been considered
a dot-com bubble, bound to burst – as it, indeed, did in the late 1990s. Market developments in the
mid-2000s suggest an economic rebound, signaled by recent large sum acquisitions. Economic interest in
information and communication technologies more generally, including computer hardware and software,
mobile telephony, and the technologies and services associated with telephony via landlines and cable,
constitute the backbone of the Information Age. Some of the largest computer and Internet-oriented
corporations are considered the centerpieces of the global information economy. These developments are
presented in this chapter through a sketch of the evolutionary development of e-commerce over the past
decades. Some of the problems associated with this development are also discussed: monopoly forming and
industrial imperialism, secure online transactions and development of profitable business models for online
enterprises.
Readings
• Walker Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogging, pp. 127-154.
• Additional readings to be announced
Supplementary resources
• Tredinnick, L. (2006). Web 2.0 and Business: A pointer to the intranets of the future? Business
Information Review, 23 (12): 228 - 234.
• Additional resources to be announced
Week 12, (2 Nov. - 8 Nov.)
Presentation: Education & Scholarship
New courses and degree programs are being introduced with terms like “new media,” “cyberculture,” and
“Internet studies” in the titles and specially tailored research institutions are emerging around the world
(e.g., Center for Digital Media). Although very much in flux, these changes in academia tend to follow the
pre-existing contours of institutions and disciplines, and are, as a consequence, seldom revolutionary in
nature. Still, the degree of change remains substantial: online-only courses are being developed, digital
library resources and becoming commonplace, forms of student engagement and collaboration are
multiplying with creation of online environments (e.g., Blackboard). Alongside these education-oriented
developments, scholarship is increasingly dependent on computers and electronic networks, and academics
are embracing new terminology to describe the research enterprise: e-science, e-research,
cyberinfrastructure. This chapter introduces these transformations, extending them from early initiatives
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12. with Internet studies to more general programs about digital studies. New methodologies and practices for
performing scholarship in virtually all sectors of academia – the natural sciences, social sciences and the
humanities – are affected and some of these are illustrated in this chapter. A few of the more developed
research tools (e.g., online surveys) and approaches to research (e.g. virtual ethnography) are considered,
along with some of the problematic challenges, including ethical considerations in conducting online
research and Web archiving problems.
Readings
[To be announced]
Supplementary readings and resources
[To be announced]
Week 13 (9 Nov. - 15 Nov.)
Review: Digital Resources
This material, arranged in a series of book appendices, is practical in nature and provides information helpful
in making use of digital libraries, electronic resources, educational and research institutions on the Web;
online sources of data; resources for collecting, archiving and analyzing data; and online publishing
opportunities. Illustrations are provided of exemplary resources (e.g., Digital Scholarship, Pew Internet &
American Life Project). Some of the more prominent scholarly journals relevant to digital studies are
presented and a list is included in Appendix B.
• Appendix A: Educational and research institutions with programs in digital studies;
• Appendix B: Periodicals related to digital studies (online & print-based);
• Appendix C: Special depots of materials for study (e.g., RCCR, databases, study-oriented Web sites).
Readings
[To be announced]
Supplementary resources
[To be announced]
Week 14 & 15 (23 Nov. - 29 Nov., 30 Nov. - 5 Dec.)
Online presentations of student projects
[Procedures to be announced]
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