Communication / Information Science 3200 -- New Media and Society

COURSE BLOG
readings online via Blackboard

e-mail: tlg28@cornell.edu
office hours: Wed. 10-12, 315 Kennedy

TAs:
Megan Halpern [Comm]
Sunny Kim [Comm]
Nick Knouf [Info Sci]

synopsis   We are all immersed in a complex and pervasive media culture, which makes it particularly difficult for us to recognize the intricate relationship between media and society: how what we see, hear and read is in some ways the product of our society and its particular political, economic, and cultural shape, and how it also shapes our understanding of ourselves, our society, and our world. At the moment, that media culture is undergoing a series of transformations - as new technologies, new forms of entertainment, new venues for political debate, and new models of public discourse emerge online, and as the established producers of media struggle to adapt to the challenge. This course will interrogate how the social, political, and cultural landscape has changed in relation to digital media and information technologies. We will develop critical resources to better understand the history of these new technologies and emerging communicative forms, the economics and politics behind them, the laws and policies currently developing around them, and the sociocultural shifts from which they have emerged, and that they have engendered. Once equipped with these tools, we will discard our commonplace assumptions about these tools and phenomena, to ask deeper questions about their impact on society.   objectives   1) develop analytical tools for understand the complex information society around them; 2) understand how the cultural, political, and economic environment are changing with the emergence of new media and digital technologies; 3) encounter, understand, and speak to pressing contemporary controversies in the legal, political, and cultural realms; 4) develop a voice on these issues, in relevant new media formats. materials   There is one book for this class, available at the Cornell bookstore and through most online vendors: Kazys Varnelis, ed. Networked Publics (2008). The remaining readings are online or in the course space on Blackboard. requirements   attendance [10%] * your presence in class is required; attendance will be taken at my discretion, and counts towards your overall grade. reading * the most important assignment is to complete all of the reading, for the day it is assigned; comprehension of these materials is crucial to your success in this course. These readings will come up in class discussion, and you will be expected to have not just read them, but digested them, drawing insights, ideas, and questions from them to help fuel our conversation in class. Pop quizzes are a distinct possibility. * you are also expected to regularly read the course blog. I will be using the blog to draw your attention to relevant news, offer helpful comments about the readings, and give direction for the assignments. Develop a habit of looking at it daily to see what's new. blogging [20%] * this is not meant to be a straight lecture course; think of it is an overpopulated workshop. This means that you're job is not to sit back and listen to me, but to develop your familiarity, insight, and interests around these issues, and to do so in a way that makes possible your public voice on these pressing questions. Blogging is a key component of this work. * in week two, I will help you set up your own blog, connected to the course blog. From that point, you are expected to contribute a substantive post each week of the semester. Your substantive post for the week must be up on your blog by Wednesday at 8pm; I will provide a prompt no later than Tuesday's class, but usually earlier, on the course blog. Substantive means 1-2 paragraphs in which you thoughtfully engage with the question, connect to ideas and arguments in the course, and add something to the conversation. * you are also required to read and rate at least five of your classmates' blog posts each week. This is an important element; highly rated student posts will automatically 'graduate' to the course blog, to be read by all and be seen by the public, including, even, some of the scholars you're reading this semester. short assignments [15%] * in the first half of the semester, I will identify three specific blogging assignments that are worth 5% each of your grade, because they ask for a bit more reading and exploration in order to be completed successfully. These points are in addition to the blogging itself. midterm [20%] * a take-home midterm exam will be due before spring break. It will test your ability to understand and think through the arguments made in the assigned readings. This will be where your diligence about reading will pay off. research paper [35%] * in the end, the goal of this course is to help you to bring these intellectual tools to some aspect of new media that you want to understand better. This will culminate in a research paper that requires both additional scholarly literature and secondary research into an aspect of digital media of your choice. This assignment has several steps: proposal [5%]: first, you will choose one chapter from the book, from which you will identify (a) one specific question, debate or concern that you think you can explore and illuminate by looking closely at (b) a particular digital media company, service, technology, or cultural form. The TAs and I will give initial advice on the feasibility of your paper at this point. reference list [5%]: To develop your argument you will need to identify and read additional scholarship relevant to your argument, beyond the readings and syllabus. The TAs and I will offer additional readings or topics further explore. refined proposal [5%]: having read your chosen literature and conducted secondary research on your chosen case, you will refine your proposal, including explaining not just the concern but the argument you intend to make about it. The TAs and I will give you important advice at this stage, to help you develop your paper. final paper [20%]: the final paper, 12-15 pages in length, in which you craft, develop, and defend your argument, will be due at the end of the semester.

From the Cornell "Code of Academic Integrity": "Absolute integrity is expected of every Cornell student in all academic undertakings. Integrity entails a firm adherence to a set of values, and the values most essential to an academic community are grounded on the concept of honesty with respect to the intellectual efforts of oneself and others. Academic integrity is expected not only in formal coursework situations, but in all University relationships and interactions connected to the educational processÉ A Cornell student's submission of work for academic credit indicates that the work is the student's own. All outside assistance should be acknowledged, and the student's academic position truthfully reported at all times. In addition, Cornell students have a right to expect academic integrity from each of their peers. General responsibilities: 1. A student shall in no way misrepresent his or her work. 2. A student shall in no way fraudulently or unfairly advance his or her academic position. 3. A student shall refuse to be party to another student's failure to maintain academic integrity. 4. A student shall not in any other manner violate the principle of academic integrity." The full text of the Code of Academic Integrity can be found online.