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December 24th, 2008 by admin

I’m excited about teaching a graduate course in the spring titled “Issues in New Communication Technology.” Here’s the course description:

“This course offers an opportunity to study the political, economic, social, legal and historical issues involved in the introduction and diffusion of information technologies. It includes research on the uses and potential effects of new technologies on the structure and practice of journalism and mass media and on society as a whole.”

Yes, it’s heavy on the reading (books listed below), but then, there’s lots to talk about, and for every book on the list, there were another 3 or 4 that time/space just wouldn’t allow…

Bauerlein, The Dumbest Generation
Boler, Digital Media & Democracy
Carr, The Big Switch
Deibert et al, Access Denied
Jenkins, Convergence Culture
Lessig, Code
Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
Sunstein, Infotopia
Tapscott & Williams, Wikinomics
Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous
Zittrain, The Future of the Internet

In addition to the books, I’m looking for other, even more current material to incorporate into class discussion throughout the semester. I’ve been collecting reports on net neutrality, Obama tech policy, social media as news-gathering tool, technology and political campaigns, etc…

And I have these questions:

Considering the course overall, what major themes can’t be ignored?
Where’s the most interesting thinking & writing on these issues happening?
Where are the most significant innovations taking place?
What questions aren’t yet being asked about how new communication technologies affect the world we live in?
How do I make this the most valuable, real-world-relevant class possible?
What should I be asking here that I’m not?

I welcome all suggestions!

2 Responses

Jeff writes:

December 25th, 2008 at 10:56 am

Of interest might be this paper: http://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/2005/P8014.pdf

It covers an oft overlooked historical precedent for the current “information age”: the advent of the printing press. It includes a quote that seems especially relevant today:

“…roughly during the first century after Gutenberg’s invention, print did as much to perpetuate blatant errors as it did to spread enlightened truth. Putting scribal products into print resulted in a cultural explosion. Never had scholars found so many words, images, and diagrams at their fingertips. And never before had things been so confusing with, for instance, Dante’s world view achieving prominent visibility at the same time that Copernican views were making their way into print. Nonsense and truth seemed to
move hand in hand with neither made uncomfortable by the presence of the other. Though many have discussed Renaissance culture’s playful spirit, love of many-sided accomplishment, or lighthearted indifference to historical fact, Eisenstein more
prosaically says that things simply had not yet been sorted out.”

(”Eisenstein” is the author of this book, to which the quote is referring: http://www.amazon.com/Printing-Press-Agent-Change-Volumes/dp/0521299551)

It’s worth noting that the paper that quote is pulled from was written in 1981, a decade before the World Wide Web came into existence: http://www.w3.org/History.html

I’d think an examination of the social, political and historical ramifications of the printing press as guide to what lay ahead would be great to have.

Michael Netzley writes:

January 3rd, 2009 at 8:57 pm

How far back would you like to go? One idea might be to begin with Walter Ong and oral cultures, then look at a book such as The Gutenberg Revolution for print literacy, and then move something like Hypertext (by Landow) for more recent changes. Plenty of the readings you already mention could nicely complete the course.

Just some ideas.