Readings
Students are asked to summarize readings to help gain cognitive understanding of material as well as to hone analytical skills. Weekly assignments are not graded, except for completeness. Be sure to check your spelling and grammar, however!
Remember to generate three discussion questions as part of your weekly reading reflection. Assignments are due at 9pm Monday each week.
Each regular weekly reading should be tagged "reading". Each extra credit reading should be tagged "extra credit".
Readings without links are located in eReserve.
-
Week 2
(1) Chapter 4, "Technologies of the Third Mediamorphosis" from Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media by Roger Fidler (1997) ;
(2) “As We May Think,” Atlantic Monthly by Vannevar Bush ( 176:1) (July 1945) w3.org/History/1945/vbush/ ;
(3) "Networks of Remediation" from Remediation: Understanding New Media by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin (1999) .
Extra-Credit: The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected from the Federal Communications Commission (2004), www.fcc.gov/omd/history/internet/-
Reading reflection (blog post) due by 9 pm Mon
Two "ah-ha's" from these readings. Plus ... how does Vannever Bush's 1945 description of "Memex" compare with today's personal computers and Internet? How do you envision the Internet of 2045? - Extra-Credit (separate blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Reading reflection (blog post) due by 9 pm Mon
-
Week 3 :
(1) " We Have the Information You Want, But Getting It Will Cost You: Being Held Hostage by Information Overload" from ACM Crossroads by Mark R. Nelson (nd) www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds1-1/mnelson.html [may need to be logged in to UW Libraries if offsite];
(2) "The Internet: Window to the World or Hall of Mirrors?" from InterNIC News by Jack Solock (1996) scout.wisc.edu/Projects/PastProjects/toolkit/enduser/archive/1996/euc-9611.html-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
Use these readings to explain how your life is affected by information (too much? too little? just enough?) -
Peer review : research proposal due 9 pm Friday
-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 4 :
(1) "Being Analog" (formerly published as Chapter 7 of The Invisible Computer) by Donald Norman (1997) www.jnd.org/dn.mss/being_analog.html ;
(2) " A Short History Of the Internet" from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (February 1993), w3.aces.uiuc.edu/AIM/scale/nethistory.html-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
How have these readings changed your view of the man-machine relationship? - Peer Group 1 Will Be Discussion Leaders
-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 5 :
(1) Chapter 4 "Markets are Conversations" from The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger (1999, 2001) cluetrain.org;
(2) "The Long Tail" from Wired by Chris Anderson (October 2004) wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
Extra Credit : "The GNU Manifesto" by Richard Stallman (1985). ../pub/gnu_manifesto.html .-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
Why should communication scholars study the open source software movement? - Extra-Credit (separate blog post) due 9 pm Mon
Peer Group 2 Will Be Discussion Leaders -
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 6 :
(1) Chapter 1, "From Tom Paine to Blogs and Beyond" from We the Media by Dan Gillmor (2004) www.oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/;
(2) “Will NPR's podcasts birth a new business model for public radio?” from Online Journalism Review (29 Nov 2005) www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051129glaser/-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
What are the implications of blogging technology on established media?
Peer Group 3 Will Be Discussion Leaders -
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 7 :
(1) "Organization Man: Joe Trippi Reinvents Campaigning" from The New Republican Online by Noem Scheiber (10 November 2003);
(2) "The Race of the Web Sites 2004" from ACM Interactions by Kathy Gill (November-December 2004) http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/gill_ACM_2004.pdf-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
How does Internet technology impact politics? Do you agree with the premise of these authors?
Peer Group 4 Will Be Discussion Leaders -
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 8 :
(1) "Wireless Revolution and Universal Access" from Trends in Telecommunications Reform 2003 by Michael L. Best, MIT (Sept 2003) cyber.law.harvard.edu/digitaldemocracy/best-wirelessrevolution-sept03.pdf-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
What is the relationship between cyberspace as a public space and accessibility standards?
Peer Group 5 Will Be Discussion Leaders -
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
-
Week 9 :
(1) "How Voice-over-IP Works" from HowStuffWorks by Jeff Tyson and Robert Valdes (nd) computer.howstuffworks.com/ip-telephony.htm/printable-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon
How do you expect VoIP to impact cable and telephone networks (both are regulated infrastructure industries)
-
Reading Reflection (blog post) due 9 pm Mon