SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 253-3

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: THE NEW MEDIA

Course Prerequisite:

CMNS 110 or CMNS 130

Other Prerequisite:

Students must have a valid email ID before the first day of classes.

Overview:

This course introduces the student to new information technologies – the new media – and the issues associated with their use in the home, the workplace, schools, government, and social relations. This course continues the tradition of introducing fresh content in keeping with the rapidly evolving nature of the subject. Through classroom discussions, assignments, projects, and teamwork, the course will build understanding, familiarity, and critical thinking about computers, computer networks, multimedia, wireless technology, the World Wide Web, and various other technologies. Topics include how these new media can be used effectively as communication, artistic, academic, business, community, and leisure media. The course builds on technologies, social issues, and daily life experiences. Examination of the issues of information technology and the new media will combine technical explanations with theoretical explanations.

Some of the topics to be covered in this course:

- What is a computer, how does it work, history and future of computing devices.
- What is a computer network, how does it work, history and future of computer networks.
- What is the new media, how does it work, history and future for new media.
- Technology and society: theoretical and critical perspectives.
- Relationships in Cyberspace: how do people communicate with one another through the new media; including employees, businesses, and students?
- Virtual communities: what are the new social forms that emerge in the new media and what is their significance?
- Demographic issues in Cyberspace: do men and women equally use the new media? By young and old alike?
- Virtual universities: how do the new media affect our educational institutions?
- Family Relations: what are the growing implications of the use of information technology and new media within the home? Growing up with information technology, what new media skills are to be expected, learned, taught, and used?

Required Readings:

Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology, Revised Edition (1999). ISBN 0-88784-531-2
Nicholas Negroponte, being digital (1996). ISBN 0-679-43919-6
Rick Levine et al., The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual (2000).
ISBN 0-7382-0244-4
In addition, students will have access to online material as well as other material put on reserve or handed out in class.
Recommended Texts:
James Brook and Iain Boal (eds.), Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information (1995).
Don Tapscott, Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation (1998).

A Note on Technology:

This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to think critically about the technology of new media, to comprehend the technology, and to be able to communicate creatively through the new media, particularly the World Wide Web. As such, this course will make intensive use of online resources and discussion forums (e.g., email, a mailing list, and web pages). We do not assume anything more than basic email competency and the ability to browse the Web at the beginning. We will provide exercises and opportunities for you to learn skills such as basic web page design. Students must have a campus computing ID before the first day of class.

Please Note: Although students will be required to eventually create a personal web page on the SFU server, such skills will be taught in class, however this is not a computing/web-design course. The creation of a web page will be a process partially done in class yet mostly done on one’s own time. The tools needed for such an exercise include: access to the Internet and the WWW (either at home or on campus), disk(s) needed to save one’s web page, and the Netscape browser or any other web publishing program, such as Microsoft Front Page. [Student’s may use Internet Explorer version n to browse the Internet, however I only suggest the Netscape browser for the creation of a web page as it has the capability to do so. One is also able to download a free copy of the Netscape browser for their personal computers if they wish and most computers on campus are equipped with Netscape].

Assignments and Exams:

Mid-term exam/paper 20%
Short assignments (Web page creation and the critical evaluation of web pages)
25%
Group project (For presentation and display on the WWW or to be presented using other forms of new media/technology such as video or audio components)
35%
Final exam/paper 20%