Class 1 – Tuesday, January 29, 2019 – Introductions
Introductions, Course Overview, Course, Expectations
What does “Communication” mean in today’s society?
Screening: The Innovation of Loneliness, Digital Kids, Together But Alone, etc…
Class 2 – Thursday, January 31, 2019 – Social Media and Web 2.0
Question: How has social media effected us as a society? Is this positive or negative?
READ:
1. Virginia Hefferman, WIRED, Who will Take Responsibility for Facebook?
2. Henry Jenkins, Taking the You out of Youtube,
http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/googtube_tv_20_or_bubble_20.html
3. Noam Cohen, “The Truth About Facebook’s Fake Quest To Connect The World”, http://bit.ly/2GXssBe, Dec 3, 2018.
Class 2.5 – Tuesday, February 5, 2019, Social Media
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 3 – Thursday, February 7, 2019 – Blogging vs Traditional News
Question: Can blogs take over traditional news sources?
READ:
Tony Rogers, http://journalism.about.com/od/trends/a/bloggersjournalists.htm Can Bloggers Replace Journalists
The Atlantic, The Rise of the Professional Blogger, by Benjamin Carlson, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/the-rise-of-the-professional-blogger/307696/
Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities: http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/369.pdf
Class 3.5 – Thursday, February 14, 2019 – Blogging vs Traditional News
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 4 – Tuesday, February 19 – Media and Political Campaigns
Question: How has media changed political campaigns? What are the positives / negatives?
READ:
Cell Phones, Social Media and Campaign 2014, http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/03/cell-phones-social-media-and-campaign-2014/
The role played by social media in political participation and electoral campaigns, http://epthinktank.eu/2014/02/12/the-role-played-by-social-media-in-political-participation-and-electoral-campaigns/
Crossing the Campaign Divide: Dean Changes the Election Game, https://depts.washington.edu/ccce/assets/documents/iozzi_bennet_crossing.pdf
Pithy, Mean and Powerful: How Donald Trump Mastered Twitter for 2016, The New York Times, Michael Barbaro, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/politics/donald-trump-twitter-use-campaign-2016.html
Class 4.5 – Thursday, February 21, 2019 – Media and Political Campaigns
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 5 – Tuesday, February 26, 2019 – Crowdsourcing and User Generated Content
Question: How is crowdsourcing changing the way that companies approach creating content?
READ:
- The Rise of Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html
2.“The Decline and Fall of Tech on Digg”, Richard MacManus, April 16, 2008: http://bit.ly/iifM
3. The Blurring Line Between Amateur and Professional, The Atlantic, 2010
Class 5.5 – Thursday, February 28, 2019 – Crowdsourcing and User Generated Content
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 6 – Tuesday, March 5, 2019 – Digital and Reality Television
QUESTION: How has reality television changed the ways in which we understand human communication?
READ:
1. “The Future of T.V.: Digital, Traditional And Something In Between”, Forbes Online, Lori Kozlowski, 3/12/2015.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorikozlowski/2014/03/12/the-future-of-digital-t-v/
2. Review: Smart We Live in Public Probes Web Genius’ Hubris, Wired,
http://www.wired.com/2009/10/review-we-live-in-public/
Video Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XSTwfdFwIY
3. “The Messy, Confusing Future of TV? It’s Here”, Kevin Roose, The New York Times, August 2017, http://nyti.ms/2EQ94Uw
Class 6.5 – Thursday, March 7, 2019 – Digital and Reality Television
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 7 – Tuesday, March 12, 2019 – Internet of Things / Locative and Physical Media
QUESTION: Write your responses to the readings and if you think that connecting physical objects to the Internet is beneficial or detrimental?
READ:
“A Manifesto for Networked Objects: Why Things Matter”,
Julian Bleeker: http://bit.ly/TeEEYH
Neil Gershenfeld and JP Vasseur, As Objects Go Online
The Promise (and Pitfalls) of the Internet of Things
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140745/neil-gershenfeld-and-jp-vasseur/as-objects-go-online
“Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse, ” Nellie Bowles, NY Times, June 23, 2018.
Link: http://bit.ly/iotabuse
Class 7.5 – Thursday, March 14, 2019 – Internet of Things / Locative and Physical Media
Class Activity Designed by Students
Screenings
Class 8 – Tuesday, March 19, 2019 – Media in a Changing Global Culture
QUESTION: How do media forms translate across cultures?
READ:
1. Elizabeth Thoman and Tessa Jolls, Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World, http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/media-literacy-national-priority-changing-world
2. Henry Jenkins, “Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape”, http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/eight_traits_of_the_new_media.html
3. BBC, Does globalization mean we will become one culture?, http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order
Class 8.5 – Thursday, March 21, 2019 – Media in a Changing Global Culture
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 9 – Tuesday, March 26, 2019 – Apps, Blockchain, and Digital Currency
QUESTION: How have apps changed the digital delivery marketplace? What will digital currency be used for in the future?
Required Reading:
1. The Mobile Browser Is Dead, Long Live The App, Forbes, 2014.
2. The Rise of Chat Apps, Wired, 2014.
3. The Fierce Battle for the Soul of Bitcoin, Wired 2014.
4. “How Bitcoin Ends: Is the cryptocurrency just going to end up reenforcing the financial system it was supposed to disrupt?”, Douglas Rushkoff, Fast Company
5. Vala Afshar, Blockchain Will Disrupt Every Industry, Huffington Post, 2017
Class 9.5 – Thursday, March 28, 2019 – Apps, Blockchain, and Digital Currency
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 10 – Tuesday, April 2, 2019 – Media Theory
QUESTION: Why is the medium so important to how we consume digital media?
READ:
The Medium is the Message, by Marshall Mcluhan
Link: http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf
Class 10.5 – Thursday, April 4, 2019 – Media Theory
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 11 – Tuesday, April 9, 2019 – Online Communities and Groups
QUESTION: Why is social software a blessing in disguise?
READ:
Michelle Kasprzak: Abundance in Scarcity: http://bit.ly/1FwEHJb
Dana Boyd: Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?
http://www.danah.org/papers/KnowledgeTree.pdf
Clay Shirky: A Group is it’s Own Worst Enemy: http://bit.ly/3sLmGz
Clay Shirky Gin, Television, and Social Surplus: https://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/gin.pdf
Class 11.5 – Thursday, April 11, 2019 – Online Communities and Groups
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 12 – Tuesday, April 16, 2019 – Piracy and Privacy
QUESTION: How is piracy hurting the case for copyright online?
READ:
Paul Tassi, Forbes, “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You”
Timothy J. Seppala, The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far)
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/16/pirate-bay-shutdown-explainer/
Zachary M. Seward, Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video
Class 12.5 – Thursday, April 18, 2019 – Piracy and Privacy
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 13 – Tuesday, April 30, 2019 – Mashups and Their Consequences.
QUESTION: How are mashups posing a potential threat to copyright laws online?
READ:
Mashups: The new breed of Web app, An introduction to mashups: http://bit.ly/6JisC
Jenkins, Henry: Taking the You Out of YouTube?: http://bit.ly/2KOh6
Grey Album Producer Danger Mouse Explains How He Did It, http://bit.ly/hEOUS
Dmytri Kleiner & Brian Wyrick – InfoEnclosure 2.0: http://bit.ly/wPVpX
Sasha Frere-Jones, 1+1+1+1=1 The New Math of Mashups, The New Yorker
Case study: YouTube, Blip, Internet Archive, OurMedia, Bittorrent, The Pirate Bay, The Pirate Party UK&US: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/, http://www.pirate-party.us/
Toolbox: Where and how should we be hosting our videos online?
Class 13.5 – Thursday, May 2, 2019 – Mashups and Their Consequences.
Class Activity Designed by Students
Class 14 – Tuesday, May 7, 2019 – No Class Prep for Finals
Class 15 – Thursday, May 9, 2019 – Final Projects Presentations Part 1
Profile a communications technology and explain it’s importance on society.
Students present their concepts to guest critics.
Class 15.5 – Tuesday, May 14th, 2019 – Final Projects Presentations Part 2
Profile a communications technology and explain it’s importance on society.
Students present their concepts to guest critics.