-
- Q&A
- Ethics
and the Internet (E&I) is
seven years old. What's changed
since 1996?
- As a
culture we are
"mobilizing." Computing
is moving beyond the desktop to
something we do "on the
fly," 24/7. Some pundits
claim that computing is becoming
ubiquitous or pervasive, meaning
online is merging with offline,
networked computing taking place
around us nearly constantly.
- A
cyborg is a human being who
relies on cybernetic mechanisms
for his or her survival and has
at least somewhat merged, or
bonded, with the interface or
artifice. As a concept, the
cyborg has become a way of
reflecting on the
"posthuman"
computer-mediated condition or
augmented humanity.
- With
the support of an instructional
technology grant for 2001-02 from
the Center for Instructional
Technology (CIT), we have
handheld devices for use for in-
and outside the classroom. You
are encouraged to use the
Personal Digital Assistants
(PDAs) as often in as many
aspects of your life as possible
over the semester.
- Overall
evaluation depends on the quality
of your four essays and your
ability to articulate how the
Internet, digital media and/or
wearable or handheld devices . .
. are affecting society and our
values.
Assignments:
Three
essays, roughly ten days apart:
Due Thurs, July 11; Mon,
July 22; & Tues, July 30
(4-6 pages) |
15% each =
60% total
|
Final essay
on chosen topic and course
subject matter:
Due Sun, Aug 11, 3 pm
(8-10 pages) |
30% |
Attendance,
participation and abstract:
Due Fri, Aug 2, lunchtime
(one paragraph description
abstract on email) Note
that absolutely no
student work may be
submitted as attached files
— failure to honor this
request counts against
participation.
|
10% |
Texts:
(purchase at the Regulator Bookshop on Ninth Street)
The reading load is about 75 pages per
night, which is the equivalent of one
book or slightly less per week.
As noted, some readings
may be skimmed or surfed: With these
articles and sites, the intent is for you
to comprehend the gist and be able to
discuss what they represent in class and
in your essays without necessarily having
to read closely. Getting a sense of
the issues in advance may be necessary
for class activities. Therefore,
skim means skim, not skip over.
- » Bolter,
Jay David & Richard
Grusin (B&G):
- Remediation:
Understanding New Media (1999)
- » Halbert,
Terry & Elaine Ingulli
(H&I):
- CyberEthics (2002)
- » Hester,
D. Micah & Paul J. Ford,
eds (H&F):
- Computers
and Ethics in the Cyberage
(2001)
- » Johnson,
Deborah (J):
- Computer
Ethics, 3rd
ed (2000)
- » Trend,
David (T):
- Reading
Digital Culture (2001)
. . . plus selected online
readings and handouts TBA
- Be
sure to see and use the
online coursepak on Backflip
Schedule:
| Week |
Mon |
Tues |
Thurs |
| Wk |
Section of
Course |
Date/Topic |
Readings/
Assignment |
Date/Topic |
Readings/
Assignment |
Date/Topic |
Readings/
Assignment |
- 1
|
Introduction:
Real,
Virtual, Mobility & Other
Class Terminology, Luddism,
Mechanization
|
July 1 » Please
fill out
the intro
form — we'll
take
photos in class
|
The below
are four articles from the New
York Times (free password
required): Gleick:
"Inescapably
Connected: Life in the Wireless
Age" (April 2001)
Pogue:
"Gadgets for
a More Sober World"
(Sept 20, 2001)
Romero:
"The Simple
BlackBerry Allowed Contact When
Phones Failed"
(Sept 20, 2001)
Romero:
"What Now
for Wireless?" (Oct
8, 2001)
Biersdorfer:
"Religion
Finds Technology" (May
16, 2002)
|
July 2 »
Pervasive
Computing
Presentation
on Writing Studio and
distribution of PDAs
View
part of a TLC tape on cyberspace
|
B&G:
Introduction, chaps 12, 13 &
14 Tristam:
"Handhelds
of Tomorrow"
(2002)
Note: large file size
See
Apple's "digital
lifestyle" ad
|
July 4 » Hypermedia,
Multimedia, Convergence,
Digitization, Virtual Community,
Cyberculture
See
Wendy's Why
the Digital Age?
Listen
to an excerpt of
Negroponte: Being
Digital (1995)
Kurzweil: The Age
of Spiritual Machines (1999)
|
Negroponte:
"Bits and
Atoms" (1995)
- Rheingold:
"Introduction
to the
Virtual Community"
(1993)
- (also in
H&F, chap 3)
Silver:
"Looking
Backwards
Looking Forward:
Cyberculture
Studies 1990-2000"
(2000)
Skim
Bush: "As We May
Think" (1945)
- (also in T,
part I)
Norman:
From The Invisible Computer:
"Being
Analog" (1998)
|
| 2 |
Context:
Cyber
Life, Ethical Framework, and
Social Computing
|
July 8 » Back
to the future videos
Watch
excerpts of
Lang: Metropolis (1926)
PBS:
The
1900 House (2000)
|
- Salkever:
"The
Future According to Ray
Kurzweil"
(2000)
-
- Joy:
"Why
the Future Doesn't Need
Us"
(2000)
- Rheingold:
"Look
Who's Talking"
(1999)
H&F, chap 3,
- Dorbolo:
"Social Strategies
for Software" (1999)
Skim
H&F, chap 1,
Mumford:
"Assimilation of the
Machine" (1934)
Barbour:
"Views of Technology"
(1992)
Robinson:
"Technological
Futures and Determinisms"
(2001)
|
July 9 »
Virtuality
and Cyberspace
See
models of telepresence
Robinson: Mediated
Bubble (2001)
Steuer:
Vividness
and Interactivity (1995)
Listen
to an excerpt of
Gibson: Neuromancer (1984)
|
H&F,
chap 3,
Barlow: "Is
There a There in
Cyberspace?" (1995) B&G:
chaps 4 & 10: "Computer
Games" and "Mediated
Spaces"
T:
parts II & IV
Laurel:
"Computers as Theatre"
Turkle: "Who Am We?"
(1996)
Skim
Norman: From The Invisible
Computer: "Growing Up:
Moving from Technology-Centered
to Human-Centered Products"
(1998)
|
July 11 »
Networked
Information
» First
essay due: Techno-
selection
|
B&G:
section I,
chaps 1-3, particularly 3:
"Networks of
Remediation" (won't make
sense without the first two) T: parts
III & V
Aronowitz:
"Technology and the Future
of Work" (1994)
Castells: "The
Information Economy" (1993)
Zuboff:
"Dilemmas of
Transformation" (1988)
Lévy:
"Collective
Intelligence" (1997)
|
| 3 |
Norms I:
Ethical,
Democratic and Policy
Considerations
|
July 15 »
Ethical
Theory and Is Digital Media
"Different"?
Watch
excerpts of
Cringely: Nerds
2.0.1 (1998)
|
- J,
Preface, chaps 1 & 2:
Intro & Philo
Ethics
- (thru
p 53)
|
July 16 »
Social
Computing and Democracy
Catch-up
|
J, chap
8: E&I II H&F,
chaps 2, 4, 7 & 12,
Dertouzos: "Creating the
People's Computer" (1997)
Gore:
"Remarks on the Internet and
Information Technologies"
(1994-99)
Ogden:
"Electronic Power to the
People" (1996)
H&I:
chap 6: "Democracy
and the Internet," pp.
229-43
|
July 18 »
Regulation,
Demographics and Digital Divides
Lecture
on Internet
policy & usage trends
|
Barlow:
"Declaration
of the Independence
of
Cyberspace"
(1996) H&I: chap 5: "Ethics
Case," "Distance
Learning," "The Digital
Divide" & "Business
and Education," pp. 167-86
T,
part V: Poster:
"Cyberdemocracy" (1997)
Skim
Plant: "On the
Mobile"
WhiteHouse.gov
Falling
through
the Net (summary, 2000), 4th
installment of the Dept of
Commerce's Digital
Divide reports
Bridges.org:
"Spanning the International
Digital Divide"
- Web sites of
the FCC, FTC, EFF, CDT
& EPIC
- Including
FCC: Parents,
Kids & Communications
- FTC: Kidz
Privacy
|
| 4 |
Norms II:
Criminal,
Ethical and Legal
Considerations
|
July 22 »
Online
Plagiarism and Crime, including
Hacking & Viruses, Identity
Theft & Passwords
» Second
essay due: Cyber democracy
|
J, chap
4:
E&I I H&F,
chap 9: Hacking & Viruses
(all)
H&I:
chap 4: "Online
Gambling," "Marketing
in Kidspace" &
"Dot-Cons," pp. 139-54;
and
H&I:
chap 5: "Academic
Honesty in Cyberspace," pp.
187-99
|
July 23 »
Intellectual
Property, including Copyright,
Patents, Trademarks & Trade
Secrets
Group
discussion on Net
economics
|
J: Chap
6: IP H&F: Chap 8, Nissenbaum,
"Should I Copy My Neighbor's
Software?" (1992)
Barlow:
"Economy"
(1994) & "Next
Economy" (2000)
H&I,
chap 1: IP (all)
Also testimony
given by Don Henley and Alanis
Morissette to the Senate
Judiciary Committee on digital
music and current news reports on
the "cyber commons"
will be distributed on email
Skim
U.S. Copyright Office's Copyright
Basics & Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (summary,
1998)
|
July 25 »
First
Amendment, including Minors
Online, Hate Speech, Decency
& Obscenity (Pornography) and
Censorship — Also Online
Dating and Sexuality
|
Brown:
"The
Internet's Public Enema No. 1"
(2001) Chaudhry: "Who
Owns the N-Word
Dot Com?" (1999)
H&I,
chap 3: Cyberspeech (all)
H&F,
chap 12:
Dibbell: "A Rape in
Cyberspace"
(1993)
Gilbert:
"On Space,
Sex, and Being
Stalked" (1996)
Also current
news reports on the Supreme
Court's recent decisions on
minors online will be distributed
on email
Skim
EFF's Blue Ribbon
Campaign
Net Decency
& Sexuality links on
Backflip
|
| 5 |
Finish Legal
and Cyberculture:
Cyber
Theory, Portable Devices and the
Dystopian Backlash
|
July 29 »
Privacy,
Confidentiality, Surveillance
& Related Issues
Watch
excerpts of
TLC tape on privacy, security
& political freedom and
another on our digital future
You
may be interested in
Ridley Scott's celebrated
television commercial that
launched the Macintosh
in 1984 and that aired only
once nationally at the Super Bowl
|
J, chap
5: Privacy H&I,
chap 2: Privacy
Also current
news reports on threats to
national security, ID cards and
related issues will be
distributed on email
Skim
H&F, chap 7,
Markey: "Remarks at CFP
Conf" (1999)
Elgesem:
"Privacy, Respect for
Persons, and Risk" (1996)
|
July 30 »
Remediation,
Wireless & Wearables and the
Dystopian Backlash
Overview
of cultural studies & related
theory
» Third
essay due: Legal topic
|
Rheingold:
"Disinformacy"
(1993) Norman: "Cyborgs of
the New Millennium"
(2001)
B&G:
section 2, chaps 5-8 & 11
The
files below are all PDFs
Chambers: "The Aural
Walk" (1994)
du
Gay & Hall: "Regulating
the Walkman"
(1997)
Note: large file size
|
Aug 1 »
Cyberspace,
Cyborgs and Post-
modernism and related theory
» Abstract
due on Fri, Aug 2, lunchtime
|
B&G:
section 3,
chap 15: "The
Remediated Self" H&F,
chap 4
Maguire & McGee:
"Implantable Brain
Chips?" (1999)
T:
part VI,
chaps 31-35:
Hayles: "The Seductions of
Cyberspace" (1993)
Sobchack:
"New Age Mutant Ninja
Hackers" (1994)
Bailey:
"Virtual Skin" (1996)
Jackson:
"Towards a New Media
Aesthetic" (1996?)
Ross:
"The New Smartness"
(1998)
|
| 6 |
Our
Technofuture and Course
Conclusion |
Aug 5 » Virtual
Reality, Artificial Intelligence,
Progressive Embodiment and
Digital Identity & Soul
View
tape on RoboCup
|
B&G:
sections 2 & 3, chaps 9 &
16-18: VR,
"The Virtual Self,"
"The Networked Self"
and Conclusion Tan:
"Robotic Toys Stir
Unease" (2001) — will
be distributed on email
H&F,
chaps 10 & 12,
Dreyfus, "Misrepresenting
Human Intelligence" (1986)
Kellner
& Groothuis:
"Losing Our Souls in
Cyberspace" (1997)
Turkle:
"What Are We
Thinking About?"
(2000)
|
Aug 6 »
Catch-Up,
Review & Assessment
Student
volunteers present
Farewell party
Evaluations
and return PDAs
|
Discussion
of advanced readings and essay
topics Duke
Computer Policies (1996-99)
Skim
J, chap 7: Accountability
|
» Final essay
due:
Sun, Aug 11, 3 pm |
|
|