STS 316: Investigating Cyberculture Fall 2009 Course Schedule
 (tentative and subject to change – changes will be posted online) 

Topic 1: History of the Internet and Computerization in the ‘90s: the Plebianizing of
Computer Communications

Week 1
Aug 25:
Buy Books

Aug 27:
Text Chp 1 (2e and 3e) and Reader Chps 1.1, 1.2;  
Week 2
Sept 1:
PDF: Chp 1 from Castells, ed. (2001) The Internet Galaxy;
Web Review: ISOC’sBrief History of the Internet (2009), available at
 http://www.isoc.org/Internet/history/brief.shtml

Sept 3:
Film: “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” 1999, Dir. Martyn Burke
(IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/ )  

Topic 2: Self and Identity Online (including internet privacy)

Week 3
Sept 8:
Topic 1 Paper due; tour, Computer History Museum

Sept 10:
Reader Chp 2.1
Week 4
Sept 15:
Reader Chp 2.1 (Turkle)

Sept 17:
Reader Chp 2.2, 2.3 (Leary)

PDF: Weinberger (2003) Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A
Unified Theory of the Web, Chp 1;

Web Review: Read one of the articles found on The Virtual Muser 's website,
http://www.greenlloyd.com/bodyincyberspace.htm

Recommended Web Review: Reymers (2002) Identity and the Internet, available at
 http://sociology.morrisville.edu/infospace/identity.html 

Topic 3: Online Community and Cyberethnography

Week 5
Sept 22:
Topic 2 Paper due;
Read: Text Chp 7(3e) or Chp 9(2e) (specifically, the sections on Computers and Community);

Sept 24:
Reader Chp 3.2, 3.3

Week 6
Sept 29:
PDF: Connexity, Geoffrey Mulgan, Chp 1

Oct 1:
*** MIDTERM EXAM DUE;
Ethnography concept paper due (2 pg. min.)

Required Web Review: Rheingold, The Virtual Community, Chapter 1

Recommended Web Review: Reymers (2004) Communitarianism on the Internet,
Chps 1 & 2 - http://sociology.morrisville.edu/diss/index.htm

Topic 4: Cyberpower and Democratization in Computerization

Week 7
Oct 6:
Web Review: Rheingold, The Virtual Community, Chapter 1

Oct 8:
Topic 3 Paper due;
Read: Text Chp 3(3e) or Chp 5(2e); Reader Chp 2.4 (Rheingold);

Week 8
Oct 13:
NO CLASS (Fall Break)

Oct 15:
PDF: Chapter 7 from Jordan (1999) Cyberpower

Required Web Review: Barlow (1996), A Declaration of Cyberspace
Independence http://www.eff.org/Misc/Publications/John_Perry_Barlow/barlow_0296.declaration.txt

Subtopic 4a: Intellectual Property – Hackers and Crackers
Week 9
Oct 20:
Text Chp 4 (3e) or Chp 6 (2e); Reader Chp 4.1

Oct 22:
Required Web Review: Electronic Frontier Foundation P2P website, http://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

Topic 5: Religion and Technology: Belief in the Age of Information

Week 10

Oct 27:
Topic 4 Paper due;
Reader Chp 4.1.
Reader Chp 4.2. (Quiz)

Oct 29:
No Class
BUT
LISTEN: to Marvin Minsky - Computers and Consciousness - START AT 38:00 minutes into program (requires RealPlayer)
READ: Jaron Lanier's Peace through God
REPORT: be prepared on Tuesday to discuss

P.S. If anyone is interested, here is a copy of the paper that I will be presenting on October 29 at this conference. OMG LOL :-)

Week 11

Nov 3:
READ PDF: Selection from Davis (1998) Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information

Nov 5:
Ethnography outline / rough draft due (5 pg. min.)
Required Web Review: Pew Internet report, How Americans Pursue Religion Online (2001), http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/53/report_display.asp

Topic 6: Education and Cyberspace: Does Online Learning Work?

Week 12
Nov 10:
Ethnography outline / rough draft due (5 pg. min.)
PDF: Clifford Stoll (1999) High Tech Heretic

Nov 12:
Read Text Chp 7 (3e, sections 7.4 and 7.5) or Chp 9(2e, last section)
Required Web Review: NY Times, 4/5/2000, Interview with Cliff Stoll;
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/education/05education.html

Topic 7: Second Life

Week 13
Nov 17:
Second Life Account Registration due - (simply email me your Second Life name);
PDF: Making Virtual Worlds: Second Life and Linden Labs, Chapter 1, Malaby

Nov 19 (no FTF meeting) -- we will meet here at 2pm: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elucian%20Omega/163/16/38
Topic 5 – OR – Topic 6 Paper due (email to me in attached Word doc or docx format - reymersATmorrisvilleDOTedu);
Second Life Meeting 1: Review and critiques of Second Life

Week 14
Nov 24 -- we will meet here at 2pm: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elucian%20Omega/163/16/38
Second Life Meeting 2: research project discussion

Nov 26:
No Class (Thanksgiving Break)

Topic 8: Critiques of Cyberspace

Week 15
Dec 1:
PDF: Introduction from Slouka (1995) War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the High-Tech Assault on Reality
Required Web Review: Reilly(1996), A Critique of Barlow’s “A Declaration of the Independence of
Cyberspace” http://home.comcast.net/~reillyjones/critique.html
Dec 3 (no FTF meeting) -- we will meet here at 2pm: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elucian%20Omega/163/16/38
Second Life meeting 3: final thoughts on SL; reading/research project discussion
(Click here for a list of interesting science related places to go in Second Life)

Topic 9: The Ultimate Memeplex? The Future of Cyberculture

Week 16
Dec 8:
Ethnography final draft due (10 pages min.)
Text Chp 9(3e) or Chp 10(2e);
Reader Chp 5 (all selections)
Handout: "Into the Internet", Chapter 16 from The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore, pgs. 205-218 (available online here)
Web Review: The Singularity is Near, Kurzweil

Dec 10:
Quiz on Into the Internet (Chp 16, Blackmore, The Meme Machine, pgs. 205-218 ) (available online here)
Topic 7 paper due - on your Second Life experience, the Malaby article, and anything else of interest
Web Reviews: Kelly (2005), We Are The Web, Wired Magazine,
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html ; Haraway (1997),
You Are Cyborg, Wired Magazine,
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffharaway.html

*** Final Exam - take home - turn in by email or drop in my inbox next to my office door at 205 Crawford anytime before Thursday 12/17 at 4pm. You can bet back your graded ethnography on Thursday at my office as well.