CMNS 353 - D100 Social Contexts of Information Technology
Ontology and New Media: Summer, 2007
Instructor: Roman Onufrijchuk. roman@sfu.ca
TA: Darryl Cressman, dcressma@sfu.ca,
Recorded lectures, http://cgi.sfu.ca/~lectures/pub_html/cgi-bin/index.php
A. COURSE DESCRIPTION
I. This course is concerned with sketching some of the key elements of an answer to the question: How has the coming of the Information Society with its technologies and services, in its expressions, dynamics and institutions, shaped or conditioned the way we communicate, and what we think and expect of communication, as well as the technologies and media designed to facilitate it?
Beginning with a survey of key issues and themes in the current discussion of Information Society, the course employs the a history of ideas methodology as a point of departure for the inquiry. This portion of the study traces the evolution of the idea of communication in Western thought, placing particular emphasis on the two thematic case studies worked thorough in the rest of the course: processes of rationalization and domestication of new media, and the relationship between R&D, production, promotion, and reception of new media technologies and techno-utopian psycho-spiritual techniques, community histories, world-views and lifestyles.
The course, then shifting toward modified media “archeological” and “genealogical” methodologies, helps students place current and anticipated developments in IT and new media into a critical historical context. Students will acquire vocabulary as well as interpretive tools in aid facility with well-grounded critical assessment of new media industries’ motivations, promotional communications and practices, as well as to conduct research into experiential, psychosocial and cultural forces and effectors that influence new media consumers, prosumers, users, celebrants & critics.
II. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Survey assignment: 15%
Briefing and documentation, tutorial participation: 20%
In class midterm exam: 25%
Research assignment: 25%
Final assignment: 15%
III. REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Boddy, William. New Media and Popular Imagination: Launching Radio, Television, and Digital Media in the United States, Oxford Television Studies. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
2. Davis, Erik. Techgnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information. (2005) ed: New York: Five Star, 1998.
3. Peters, John Durham. Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
4. Media screened or monitored in class time is included in the required material. Media schedules will be posted in the first two weeks of classes.
IV. COURSE SCHEDULE
B. Course Requirements and Guidelines:
I. Survey assignment: 15%. The assignment is in TWO (2) PARTS:
Part ONE: 2-3 pages (750 words +/-, double-spaced; concision is an asset)
What is “Spiritualism?” What reasons does Peters give for including the ideas and practices of Spiritualists into an otherwise apparently serious discussion of the history of the idea of communication? Explain and assess his reasoning (agree/disagree; why/why not? etc).
Part TWO: Biographic sketch: 150-word biography (3rd person)
This is a statement about you serving as an introduction or a “publishable thumbnail” or bio, you write about yourself in the 3rd person, not “I,” but rather “he” or “she”. It should contain something about your past, about what you think you’d like to get out of this course and/or why you’ve enrolled in it/or what attracts you to the study of communication, and something about your plans for your future.
NOTE: Handing in the assignment:
Parts 1 and 2, in the form of an integrated document, in hard copy, are to be handed in to your TA. “Integrated” only means that the document you hand in should contain both parts rather than handing in the two parts in separate documents (“under separate covers,” or “two one room houses”). The content of the two parts should be kept separate – two rooms, but under the same roof (or staple, as the case may be).
The biographical statement, Part 2 only, is to be sent to me (roman@sfu.ca) by e-mail, not as an attachment, but in the message field. The “To” field of the e-mail should contain “CMNS 353.”
Proper academic form is expected in the first assignment, and all those thereafter. In broad terms, the following elements are factored into grading:
1. Clarity and transparency of the organization of discourse,
2. Succinctness and intelligence of writing,
3. Correct use of citations and bibliographies,
4. Executive summary/abstract
5. Robust introduction and conclusion supported by the data reported,
6. Clear point of departure, flow of argument and report
7. Fulsome reporting on research – processes, protocols, problems and re/solutions
8. Overall presentation, elegance, use of infographics and tables etc.
9. And, in addition to course-informed vocabulary and copia (depth/breadth; “erudition,” “proof of purchase”), “something extra.”
II. TUTORIALS. 20%:
Briefing: documentation and presentation, 10%; participation/attendance, 10%.
You pay, or someone does, for your opportunity to attend and participate in the tutorials. We have them so that the literature, ideas, questions and problems, that arise out of the learning process can be explored with greater depth than can be done in the lecture hall. In addition to briefings and discussion, vocabulary and concepts arising from readings and lectures are reviewed weekly. Attendance is taken.
Briefing and documentation, tutorial participation: 10%
Briefings begin in tutorials in Week 3.
Briefings involve a student-prepared handout of approximately 2 pages and a five to ten (5-10) minute oral introduction to the document and briefing on its contents.
The briefing note, or “documentation”/handout (500 +/- words: approx. 2 sides of a standard letter-size sheet of paper), should be comprised of a synopsis statement of the author’s key argument (s), supported or illustrated by a set of properly cited key quotes drawn from the reading and – the student’s assessment of the arguments or questions the article raises. The note will have a proper title, your “name & number,” the TA’s name and tutorial section, and provide correct bibliographic data on the article. Any of the academic styles is acceptable (e.g. APA, Chicago etc.), so long as it’s used consistently. Where appropriate, you’re strongly encouraged to organize the briefing around an infographic or chart. Your briefing note should end ion a conclusion that sets up some form of discussion – either a question or questions, perhaps a hypothesis (an educated hunch or guess based in the readings that you feel needs discussion or testing) or a thesis (a position you take, an assertion, a critique, or interpretation you and are willing and able to support/defend). Some time will be available for Q & A after briefings.
The briefing is not meant to be a full-blown presentation; you basically “speak to” what you’ve already written & people have before them (it is important that they have it before them. In effect, having made their reading notes on an article for them, you’re just “walking” your colleagues and TA through the material you’ve just handed out. Neither drama or show, nor production required nor desired; just effective “show and tell.”
III. In class midterm exam: (Week 8; 25%)
There will be an in-class, closed book, midterm exam. The exam will be composed of 5 questions each weighted 5%. A set of study questions, characteristically 10, will be posted a week in advance. These will be reduced to 7 by lot on the morning of the exam, and you will write on 5. Two hours will be allocated for the midterm. The midterm is based on all literature, media as well as in-class discussions up to and including Week 7.
IV. Research assignment: (Due Week 11; Maximum 3,000 words; 25%)
You will have a choice from among four topic areas for your research assignment. In broad terms, it is expected that the research assignment will include a minimum of three scholarly sources (books and learned juried publications), but may also use any number of documented web, trade press, and periodical references.
Assignment:
The purpose of the assignment is to assemble scholarly and relevant sources that can shed light on, a historical instance, a current, or well-documented foreseeable new media innovation, practice, institution, or social arrangement conditioning, influencing or affecting:
1. Ontology and/or ontogenesis (Our understanding of reality, its representations, and how we recreate it in our daily lives).
2. The expressions, cultivations, experiences, effects and consequences (social, personal, experiential, institutional, cultural, technological, in any single factor or combination as appropriate) of an “enabled” and new-media amplified irrational and/or unconscious.
3. The current or possible nature, purpose, texture, and life-world outcomes of encounter with animals, or aliens, or machines.
4. The ways in which “alternate reality” communities of interest and/or intent emerge, function, cultivate their agendas, communicate internally and externally, perpetuate themselves, expand, dissolve or are destroyed, or perish.
5. “Media Wars”: Conflict between media institutions, organizations, companies, regulatory interests, industry or economic sectors, industries for command over mission, markets, stakeholders, voters, or audiences and “benchmarks” for success.
V. Final Assignment (15%: Due Week 14th, August 8th)
The final assignment, based in the literature of Weeks 9-13, will be either made up of one question at 15% or three questions at 5% each. Specific instructions and guidelines will be posted, along with the questions, around Week 12.
PDF: CMNS 353 SUMMER
The School expects that the grades in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distributions of grades. The School follows Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see SFU Calendar, General Regulations).