SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 453-4

ISSUES IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

Prerequisites:

75 credit hours, including CMNS 253 and 362.

Course overview:

In this course we examine a pressing issue in our so-called “ information society”: the surveillance of public spaces.

The course is broken into two major components. The first component is conceptual and involves readings, discussion, synthesis and analysis. We will discuss key theories and concepts from the literature on privacy, surveillance, and the public sphere. Readings will be assigned and students will be asked to make short presentations, as well as a short paper, on a topic from the readings. Students will also contribute to a shared glossary of surveillance concepts.
The second component is practical. The students will engage in an exercise of 'surveillance of surveillance' -- mapping, describing, photographing and analyzing the results of this field work. The results of the 'surveillance of surveillance' exercise will be put on a world wide web server and shared with the world. The design and implementation of this web site, including a section with technical descriptions of key surveillance technology will be part of the practical work of the course.

Readings:

Text TBA.

A reading package will be made available before the course. Readings will include material from Nock, Tapscott, Brin, Agre, and others.

Assignments/distribution of marks:

Students will be graded individually for their participation, presentations, definition of terms for the surveillance concepts glossary, their contributions to the technology of surveillance glossary, and their term paper. Students will be graded as a team on the surveillance project, including the maps, descriptions, and the web site itself.

Participation 10%
Presentation 10%
Definitions of concepts 10%
Definitions of technical terms 10%
Term paper 20%
Group project 40%

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy Tl0.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations section).