CMNS 253 Introduction to Information Technology & Society: The New Media
Frederik Lesage School of Communication, Fall 2011 Overview & Fit ...... 1 Outline ...... 2
Prerequisites ...... 2 Overview ...... 2 Required Readings...... 2 Grading ...... 2 Syllabus ...... 3
Assignment One: Literacy ...... 3 Assignment Two: Observe & Reflect ...... 3 Assignment Three: Literature Review ...... 3 Assignment Four: Group Video Project ...... 4 Week 1 - Course overview ...... 5 Week 2 - What is New Media?...... 5 Week 3 - History...... 6 Week 4 - Theory...... 6 Week 5 - Mobility ...... 6 Week 6 - Social Networks & Participatory Culture ...... 6 Week 7 - Midterm ...... 6 Week 8 - Games ...... 6 Week 9 - Creative industries ...... 7 Week 10 - Knowledge Economy ...... 7
Week 11 - Internet policy ...... 7 Week 12 - Issues ...... 7 Week 13 - Presentations ...... 7 Week 14 - Final Exam (Exam Week) ...... 7 Assignments ...... 1
Assignment One: Literacy ...... 1 Assignment Two: Observe & Reflect ...... 3 Assignment Three: Literature Review ...... 5 Assignment Four: Group Video Project ...... 5 Attention, And Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies ...... 1 Low Stakes Writing ...... 1 Peer evaluation form ...... 1 Tetrad of media effects ...... 1 Chapter Outlines ...... 1
Questions to Consider ...... 1 Chapter Outline ...... 1 Discussion Questions ...... 1 Class Activities ...... 2 Questions to Consider ...... 2 Chapter Outline ...... 3 Discussion Questions ...... 3 Class Activities ...... 4
Questions to Consider ...... 4 Chapter Outline ...... 4 Discussion Questions ...... 5 Class Activities ...... 5 Questions to Consider ...... 6 Chapter Outline ...... 6 Discussion Questions ...... 6 Class Activities ...... 7 Questions to Consider ...... 7 Chapter Outline ...... 8 Discussion Questions ...... 8 Class Activities ...... 8 Questions to Consider ...... 9 Chapter Outline ...... 9 Discussion Questions ...... 9 Class Activities ...... 10 Questions to Consider ...... 10 Chapter Outline ...... 11 Discussion Questions ...... 11 Class Activities ...... 12 Questions to Consider ...... 12 Chapter Outline ...... 12 Discussion Questions ...... 13
Class Activities ...... 13 Questions to Consider ...... 14 Chapter Outline ...... 14 Discussion Questions ...... 14 Class Activities ...... 15 Questions to Consider ...... 15 Overview & Fit
These days, with user-generated media and “Web 2.0” figuring largely in the plans of most new media businesses, it is even more important that our students have what Howard Rheingold calls “21st Century Literacy.” In other words, that they know how to multitask when and where appropriate, in a way that doesn’t impair their studies; that they know how to collaborate efficiently and effectively; that they understand the workings of a network and network society; that they can critically evaluate material that doesn’t necessarily come from large publishing companies; and - most importantly - that they can contribute meaningfully and positively to this emerging new media world. This course - via the textbook, the tutorial exercises, the questions to consider, and the assignments that it requires - challenges you to think about new media in new ways and encourages you to ask the question, what do we want in our new media environment? Communication 253 is the “entry” course to the technology and society stream within the school of communication. Other courses include CMNS 353 and CMNS 453. CMNS 353 will expand on theories of technology and society and CMNS 453 will explore special topics such as the mobile information society or the use of technology in education. There are additional courses, such as CMNS 354, which looks at technology and work, and various 45X courses which explore applied aspects of technology and society such as emergency and disaster communication. We encourage you to explore all of these courses during your time at SFU. Chapter 1 Outline
CMNS 253-3 (W)
PREREQUISITES CMNS 110 or CMNS 130 OVERVIEW An introduction to the study of technology and society using new media as its focus. A number of approaches (theories and methods) to the study of new media and information technology will be introduced, along with an examination of the social, cultural, and economic implications of new media in our information-intensive, network-driven and social software- enhanced 21st century. Students will engage in activities designed to enhance their ability and understanding of important skills (“literacies”) in collaborative media. A full syllabus is available on the web and as an e-book for download. REQUIRED READINGS One textbook is required for this course. It is Terry Flew and Richard Smith's New Media: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780195431810. In addition, you will receive additional material via email and the web. GRADING 3 Written Assignments (10% each) 30% Group New Media Project 20% Mid-Term Exam 15% Final Exam 15% Lecture and Tutorial Participation 20% 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 S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline (note: as of May 1, 2009 the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty (T10.02) and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S10 series of policies). Chapter 2 Syllabus
The syllabus contains basic information on assignments, grades and grading, the instructor, participation, readings, the schedule, and the tutorials. Assignments
There are four assignments. The first one is an introductory assignment, done on the class wiki. The second two are paper assignments, handed in during tutorial. The final assignment is a group project and you “present” it in the final class. An overview of the assignments is provided below. Detailed descriptions for each assignment are in the Assignments section. ASSIGNMENT ONE: LITERACY Objective: The first assignment is designed to familiarize you with the class wiki and ensure you are able to contribute as well as locate information in it, as well as comment on other people’s contributions. We also ask you to provide feedback on how you rate on Rheingold’s 21st century literacies (reading assigned for week 1, and available below). Due: Complete the first part after the first lecture. Finish it off by reading other people’s submissions and commenting on those on your final paragraph, then print it out, and bring it to tutorial in week two. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT TWO: OBSERVE & REFLECT Objective: The second assignment asks you to pay attention to the differences between how people use old (broadcast, analogue) media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books and how they use new (interactive, digital) media such as instant messaging, text messages, Facebook, and Twitter. We ask that you find situations where people are using both at the same time (e.g., sending text messages while watching television). Due: The assignment is due in tutorial in week 4. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW Objective: The third assignment brings you another step closer to an actual research project. In this assignment we ask that you locate scholarly research related to the phenomenon and technologies you used in your second assignment (e.g., television and text messaging). Your objective is to write a short literature review summarizing what the research tells us is already known about the topic. Due: The assignment is due in two stages. First, you bring it in for peer review during tutorial on week six. This is mandatory and part of your grade. Second, you hand in the final version, revised based on your peer review, during tutorial on week 10. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT FOUR: GROUP VIDEO PROJECT Objective: Create a five minute digital video that incorporates sound, video, and graphic elements in a way that both helps people understand a new media technology and contributes to one (or more) of Rheingold’s 21st century literacies. Due: This assignment is due, in class, during the last lecture. We will screen all of the student videos together that day. Grade: 20 marks
Grades and Grading
A summary of the assignments and grading - taken from the outline - is reproduced below. You will note that there is a significant amount allocated to participation. Also be advised that late assignments will be subject to a two letter grade deduction (e.g., from an A to a B+) per day for each day they are handed in late. All but the last assignment are due in tutorial on the day assigned. The last assignment is due in class on the last scheduled lecture. 3 Written Assignments (10% each) 30% Group New Media Project 20% Mid-Term Exam 15% Final Exam 15% Lecture and Tutorial Participation 20% 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 S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline (note: as of May 1, 2009 the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty (T10.02) and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S10 series of policies). Instructor
The instructor for this class is Frederik Lesage, an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication. He can be found on the web as @frederiklesage on Twitter and fl[email protected] via email. Participation
Participation is an extremely important aspect of your learning experience, in this and your other CMNS courses. If you don't ask questions, respond to discussions and interact with your peers, your understanding of the material will be limited. We learn through engaging critically - in this case through spoken language - with ideas, subjecting them to a rigorous examination. Plus tutorials will be really boring if no one but the TA speaks! For these reasons we give marks for tutorial participation, 20% of your total grade. This includes: 5 marks for attendance, 5 marks for completing all of the two-minute essays - these will be submitted in person in tutorial; they are a type of low stakes writing. We also allocate 10 marks for active participation - this means you come to tutorial prepared (e.g. having done the reading), and generate or contribute to the discussion in a thoughtful and respectful manner. Readings
Terry Flew and Richard Smith. New Media: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780195431810 http://amzn.to/253-FlewSmith Howard Rheingold’s “Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies,” EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010): 14–24. You can find a copy here: http://bit.ly/253-attention. It is also included in this syllabus [Rheingold]. Schedule
WEEK 1 - COURSE OVERVIEW There are no tutorials in the first week, in keeping with School of Communication practice. In the lecture, I will introduce the course, talk about the assignments, and provide some context and background to the course. As part of today's lecture, I will ask you to read Howard Rheingold’s “Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies,” EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010): 14–24. You can find a copy here: http://bit.ly/253-attention. If you have a laptop or other internet-enabled device (smart phone, tablet), please bring it to class. We will complete the first assignment, together, in class. If you don’t have a device to bring to class, don’t worry, you can do it in the lab or at home, later. WEEK 2 - WHAT IS NEW MEDIA? Tutorials start this week. To prepare for the lecture, please read Chapter 1 of the textbook, and pay special attention to the questions for discussion at the end of the chapter. Come to class prepared to discuss one of these. In particular, familiarize yourself with the brief history of the internet and compare the difference between the early internet and so-called “Web 2.0.” In preparation for Assignment Two, the tutorials will provide an opportunity to practice observation and reflection, and the difference between them. WEEK 3 - HISTORY Read Chapter 2 of the textbook, paying special attention to the questions for discussion. If you can, speak to a parent or grandparent about the early days of some older form of new media, such as radio or television. The TAs will conduct an exercise based on the class activities at the end of the chapter, and work with you on Assignment Two. Your first assignment is due today. Hand it in during tutorial. WEEK 4 - THEORY Read Chapter 3 of the textbook on approaches (theories, methods) to new media. There are a number of different theories to cover as well as methods this week, which will require careful reading on your part. Consider some of the social implications of the internet (Table 3.1) and come prepared to provide a local (Vancouver, or your home community) example of one of them - positive or negative. Assignment Two is due today. Hand it in in tutorial. The tutorial will focus on activities from the chapter and a discussion of Assignment Three. WEEK 5 - MOBILITY Read Chapter 4 of the textbook on mobile technologies and mobile new media. Bring your cell phone to class and be prepared to talk about how you use it (other than phone calls). Tutorials will focus on the reading and lecture. The TA will also be available to help you with Assignment Three, which is due next week. WEEK 6 - SOCIAL NETWORKS & PARTICIPATORY CULTURE Read Chapter 5 of the textbook and think about your own use of social networks. Think back to the Rheingold reading at the beginning of the semester. Would you say you were “literate” in social networks in his sense of the term? We will do a review of the first half of the course in the second half of the lecture to help you prepare for the midterm. Assignment Three is due today, in tutorial, for peer review. You will do the peer review with another student by swapping papers, and then hand in your final version in Week 10. WEEK 7 - MIDTERM There is an in-class midterm this week. There are no tutorials after class. The exam is short answer, multiple choice, true-false. There will be 45 questions. WEEK 8 - GAMES Read Chapter 6 of the textbook and come to class prepared to defend your favorite computer (or console or mobile) game. Tutorials will cover the lecture, activities from the chapter, and questions about Assignment Three. WEEK 9 - CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Read Chapter 7 from the textbook and come to class prepared to discuss why you would, or would not, wish to be employed in the “creative industries” after you graduate. Tutorials will cover the lecture, activities from the chapter, and any final questions about Assignment Three. Work on your projects. WEEK 10 - KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY Read Chapter 8 from the textbook. Is British Columbia well positioned in the knowledge economy? Discuss the chapter, hand in Assignment Three, and then work on your projects in tutorial. WEEK 11 - INTERNET POLICY Read Chapter 9 from the textbook. Are you concerned about copyright or other internet- related policies? Discuss the chapter, and work on your project in tutorial. WEEK 12 - ISSUES Read Chapter 10 from the textbook. What issues are you concerned about? Do the environmental impacts of new media bother you? We will wrap up the course, review the lectures, and take questions relating to the final exam. Discuss the chapter and work on your project in tutorial. WEEK 13 - PRESENTATIONS Group presentations are today. Come to class for a “film festival” of your and your fellow students’ short videos, which comprise Assignment Four. WEEK 14 - FINAL EXAM (EXAM WEEK) The final exam is a long-answer essay style exam, mainly focused on the second half of the course. You will be asked to complete three of five questions. Tutorials
There are no tutorials in the first week of class, to provide time for the TAs to attend TA training day. After that there are tutorials each week except during the midterm (Week 7) and the last class (Week 13). Tutorials are a core part of courses at SFU and you are expected to come to tutorial prepared by reading the assigned material, and being ready to discuss it. Try to read over the Questions to Consider at the beginning of each chapter as well as the Discussion Questions at the end. Review the schedule for any additional suggestions. Teaching assistants have office hours in addition to the scheduled tutorials. Take advantage of these by scheduling at least one session with your TA. If nothing else it will give you a chance to introduce yourself. Each week during lecture there is a short (“two minute”) essay assignment. You should do that on a piece of paper after the lecture and bring it with you to tutorial. These are not graded individually but your completion of these is part of your participation mark. Chapter 3 Assignments
Detailed instructions for each assignment
ASSIGNMENT ONE: LITERACY Background: We all multitask, or think we do, but we incur serious costs when we do it in inappropriate situations. Remember the “girl who fell in the fountain while texting?” Or, much more sadly, the boy who fell from a parking garage and died while texting and walking? Sometimes it is very important that we multitask - for example we need to be aware of our surroundings while walking down the street and having a conversation - but we need to do so in a way that doesn’t impair our normal function and we need to know when and how to focus. Rheingold’s article, on “Attention and other 21st Century Literacies,” asks us to consider how we manage attention but also how we participate, collaborate, understand networks, and be critical of the vast river of information that threatens to overwhelm each of us, every day. He calls the last one “crap detection.” In a recent XKCD comic (http://xkcd.com/862/), the author notes in his tooltip (the little message the pops up when you let your mouse pointer linger over the cartoon) that he figured out a way to avoid constantly distracting himself - he added a 30 second delay to switching applications or windows. That’s one way to cope with one of Rheingold’s “literacies.” What are yours?
Objective: The first assignment is designed to familiarize you with the class wiki and ensure you are able to contribute as well as locate information in it, as well as comment on other people’s contributions. We also ask you to provide feedback on how you rate on Rheingold’s 21st century literacies (reading assigned for week 1, and available below). Rationale: Much of your success in the course will depend on you being able to quickly and easily navigate the course web site. We also want you to start to think critically about how you and others use social media, and we hope to lay the foundation for a “literate” usage of social media in the course. Instructions: Visit the course wiki, create a page for yourself, and answer the following question: “How capable are you in terms of Howard Rheingold’s five literacies for the 21st century? Provide an example from your life that illustrates either the challenge that each literacy poses or how you have coped with the challenge.” Incorporate other people’s answers into a closing paragraph. This will require that you do the first part of the assignment, then wait a few days, read others’ postings, and then complete the remainder. Do not write a lengthy answer for each literacy. A couple of sentences is sufficient. The whole thing should be about a screenful on the wiki. Step by step: Visit the course wiki: The URL changes semester by semester, but you should be able to find the latest version here: https://wiki.sfu.ca/fall11/cmns253wd100/index.php/Main_Page Create a page: Creating a page in a wiki can be confusing if you haven’t done it before. Here are some tips, based on the SFU implementation of wikimedia (the same software that runs wikipedia): 1. Visit the page for the course and navigate to the Assignment page (there should be a link on the main page of the class wiki) and click on Assignment One. From there, navigate to the example page and the list of students. Copy the questions into your clipboard (highlight the text and then choose copy from the edit menu, or press CTRL-C (Windows) / CMD-C (Mac)) and then click the button near the top that lets you edit the page. 2. Once you are editing the page with the list of students, navigate to the section for your tutorial, and insert your name under the last person in your group. The trick is to insert your name like this (I will use my SFUid, “smith”, as an example): [[User:flesage|Frederik Lesage]]. That is two square brackets, the word “User” followed by a colon and your SFUid, then a vertical bar and then your full name and then two square brackets. Click the Save button on the wiki page to save your work. The page will reload. Scroll down to your name and click the
link. You will be taken to a blank page which you can edit. 3. Paste in the template text for the answer (which asks you to introduce yourself and comment on Howard Rheingold’s five literacies for the 21st century) into the text box and then start putting your answers in between the questions. Save your work by clicking the save button on the wiki page. Do this right after class the first week. You can revisit the page any time and edit or add things. 4. Let a few days go by and then start visiting other students pages. Decide on a couple that you find interesting and create a paragraph that is based on what you read there. Return to your page, edit it, and add your concluding paragraph. Do this before the first tutorial (Week Two). If you have never edited a wiki before, you might find this a bit daunting but it is not that tough and there are plenty of tips online (since we use the same software as Wikipedia) for new users. I have also created a video that explains the steps above. You can find it on YouTube, here: Due: Complete the first part after the first lecture. Finish it off by reading other people’s submissions and commenting on those in your final paragraph, then print it out, and bring it to tutorial in week two. You will hand in a final copy in week three. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT TWO: OBSERVE & REFLECT Background: A growing number of people participate in the use of multiple media at the same time. This is related to growing rates of “multitasking” among people generally, and the way in which media are not just converging but evolving into new forms that are mutually reinforcing and integrating. Henry Jenkins calls this “transmedia” and others, such as Jason Schell call it cross-media. (See http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=13052). One of the most important sites for this overlap has been the use of mobile devices alongside old broadcast media. Two recent surveys have reported on this phenomenon: 1. http://mashable.com/2011/02/01/deloitte-survey/ 2. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ yahoo_86_use_mobile_devices_while_watching_tv.php Objective: The second assignment asks you to pay attention to the differences between how people use old (broadcast, analogue) media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books and how they use new (interactive, digital) media such as instant messaging, text messages, Facebook, and Twitter. We ask that you find situations where people are using both at the same time (e.g., sending text messages while watching television). Rationale: We have crafted the assignment as a simulation of something that social science researchers do, before starting a major research project: they observe things in the world and then reflect on what that might mean. In the third assignment we simulate the next stage - seeing what other researchers have already discovered about the topic. Instructions: This assignment is in three parts. For the first part, you are the research subject. Observe (take notes about what you are actually doing) and reflect (ask yourself why you did those things, what you might have done differently) on your use of old and new media simultaneously. This is somewhat like the “reflective essay” that you might be asked to write as part of a entrance exam for university (see http://www.ehow.com/how_7916849_write-reflection- essay.html for tips on those), but is specifically focused on this activity and is not intended to reveal your character but instead how you use two different media forms. You will find that it is easier to complete this assignment if you take use a sheet of paper divided in half for your observations and reflections. Write the observations down one side, and the reflections down the other side. Do the observations first, and then write reflections beside each observation. Obviously you will have to do both of these retrospectively - after you complete the activity. The second part of the assignment is to repeat this process but observing four other people (for a total of five people, including yourself). It is not necessary to ask them any questions or get their names. Again, take notes on a sheet of paper divided into two columns. Do one person at a time, and try to have them doing the same or very similar examples of using old media and new media at the same time. A former student has provided this example: http://bit.ly/253-observe. The third part of this assignment is to write up a short essay using these notes as the basis of your essay. Your essay should be 750 to 1000 words long and printed in APA format and handed in to your TA with the research (your two column notes) stapled to the back. Include the word count at the end of the essay. The word count does not include the research notes. Due: The assignment is due in tutorial in week 4. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW Objective: The third assignment brings you another step closer to an actual research project. In this assignment we ask that you locate scholarly research related to the phenomenon and technologies you used in your second assignment (e.g., television and text messaging). Your objective is to write a short literature review summarizing what the research tells us is already known about the topic. Rationale: Before a researcher (academic or in government or industry) goes out and spends time and money doing research, she first wants to check and see what others have already done. This can help plan the project by identifying gaps in knowledge, theories and approaches that are useful, and even sources for comparison. As a university student you will often be asked to include a literature review as part of a longer essay, so it should have applicability even if you don’t become a professor! Instructions: You should have at least three items in your literature review and they should come from academic sources. There is a resource guide on the library web site (http:// www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/communication/cmns253) and we encourage you to make use of it. Write up a short essay based on your literature review. Include an opening paragraph that explains the technologies you chose and why you chose them (presumably they are the ones from your second assignment). End with a concluding paragraph in which you speculate on what further research you would do on the topic and how you would do it. Your essay should be 750 to 1000 words long and printed in APA format and handed in to your TA. Include the word count at the end of the essay. Detailed instructions are in the Assignments section. Due: The assignment is due in two stages. First, you bring it in for peer review during tutorial in week six. This is mandatory and part of your grade. Second, you hand in the final version, revised based on your peer review, during tutorial in week 10. Grade: 10 marks ASSIGNMENT FOUR: GROUP VIDEO PROJECT Objective: Create a five minute digital video that incorporates sound, video, and graphic elements in a way that both helps people understand a new media technology and contributes to one (or more) of Rheingold’s 21st century literacies. Rationale: New media is a complex interaction of media elements (sound, images, graphics) as well as narrative elements (storytelling, interactivity). We hope to give you an appreciation of the complexity of creating something for a new media audience and have some fun explaining new media concepts to the world. This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to: conduct research on new media literacies; create something practical and professional with new media; and use the internet to coordinate and collaborate as a team. These projects are supposed to be fun, and we don't emphasize the technical side of things (too much), but we do have the requirement that you try to be "scholarly" in your project. This doesn't mean you can't use humour, or that it has to become the video version of a term paper. It does mean that you have to have an approach to the content as well as to the form/style of the project. Instructions: These projects are supposed to be fun, and we don't emphasize the technical side of things (too much), but we do have the requirement that you try to be "scholarly" in your project. This doesn't mean you can't use humour, or that it has to become the video version of a term paper. It does mean that you have to have an approach to the content as well as to the form/style of the project. We have created a series of weekly milestones to ensure success. Probably the most important thing to remember is that we are not as much interested in your production skills as your ideas. Week 8: Form Teams and Identify Topic Form a team up with at least three other students from your tutorial to create your video. Groups of five are acceptable with your TAs permission. Together, you will produce a short (5 minute) video about a specific new media and how it can be used to contribute to or used to promote one of Rheingold’s literacies. Topics should be approved by your TA. Consider your first assignments - and the research you have already done - as possible topic ideas. Remember, new media isn’t confined to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube; for other examples, see: http://mashable.com/tag/features-week-in-review/ There are many things to consider when you are choosing roles for group members: who has access to a camera, microphone, and editing software? Does anyone have experience with these? Your group members and topic need to be finalized in tutorial in week 8 and posted to the wiki. Week 9: Task Assignment/Roles, Research A project of this size needs to be done in an organized way. It requires a leader and it needs people working on specialized tasks. There will be research roles (crafting the story, the evidence, doing interviews, writing) and production roles. Research roles should be shared in the group. Production roles can be specialized. Consider the following roles as a starting point to divide up tasks and responsibilities: Director, Producer, Editor, Script/Screenwriter, Camera Operator, Graphic Artist. Each person in your group may have one or more of these roles. You can also share roles. This is intended to break up the work so all members can contribute equally. A list of roles is due on the wiki in week 9. Week 10: Consolidate your Research Once you have your topic and group members finalized, and research has begun, you should create an outline of your material. The outline should include 5-10 main points, including a description of the literacy according to Rheingold, the new media tool you’ve selected, and the way(s) in which it can be used to enhance or promote that literacy. Locate real-life examples, or create fictional uses, that show how this new media can be used professionally and responsibly. Due in week 10 on the wiki. Week 11: Bring it together, create a script. Short videos like this are made up of objects. Your story (based on research) is key, but there are the images (still and moving) as well as sound effects, graphics, titles and credits, etc. A list of the objects you intend to use is due on the wiki in week 11. In order to create a meaningful & organized video (remember, these are intended to be scholarly!) you will need to create a script for you video. You do not have to script out all the dialogue and stick exactly to it, but you do need to create an outline of how your video will flow. Doing this beforehand greatly improves the narrative structure of your video. Your script is due on the wiki in week 11. Week 12: Production Finally, it’s time to do some filming and editing. Make sure to schedule ample time for this step, as schedules and technical snags can cause serious delays. Timely completion of the previous steps gives you plenty of time to film and edit. If you are interviewing anybody, they need to sign a release form! Your video documentary should be no longer than 5 minutes in length (we will allow up to 30 seconds over, to allow for titles and such, but going beyond 5.5 minutes will be considered a day late and result in marks docked) and should be uploaded to YouTube and linked to the Wiki. You should have a link on your group page as well as on a page that I will create for the final submissions all together. All of the videos will be presented in lecture on the last day of class. To recap: • Form group, pick topic - Do in tutorial, post on the Wiki Week 8 • List of Group Roles - Week 9 via the Wiki • Outline of topic, approach, main points - Week 10 via the Wiki • List of "objects" (images, clips, animation) and script - Week 11 via the Wiki • Filming/editing/upload - Week 12 • Final Video Presentation - Week 13, in class Technical considerations: You will be expected to use editing software to turn your video into a cohesive whole rather than a series of parts. Basic editing software such as iMovie (Mac) and Movie Maker (Windows) will be fine. If you don’t know how to use these, start playing around in them now to get yourself acquainted with them! There are scores of online guides to movie making. As part of the project, you are required to read this BBC article (although your videos will be longer than one minute.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/oneminutemovies/howto/. You are going to need a camera and possibly a microphone. We depend on students using their own equipment, and base our requirements and our expectations on both the diversity of equipment that students might bring. That said, the University (especially the Surrey campus) has some resources for you. Here is a link: http://library.elinc.ca/ to both tutorials and information on borrowing. Evaluation This assignment is out of 20. The following marking scheme will be used: Preparation and research posted to the wiki: (Maximum 9 marks) up to 1 mark - List of Group Members and Resources. up to 1 mark - Outline up to 5 marks - Initial research up to 1 mark - List of Group Roles. up to 1 mark - Video Script. Video Documentary: (Maximum 10 marks) For each of the following categories, the following rating scale will be used: 0 - unacceptable ; 2.5 - poor ; 5 - satisfactory ; 7.5 - good ; 10 - excellent Basics • Within the time length. • Title, credits and graphic elements as needed. Audio/Video Quality • Audio is not too loud or too soft, not full of echo, not muddy or scratchy. • Lighting is appropriate. • People's faces are visible; people are not too far away or too close. • Edits are smooth; camera is steady. Research • Selected material supports and enhances the video. The Show • The overall success of the video - amusing, engaging, informative, etc.
The resulting mark, out of 40, will be divided by 4 to obtain a grade out of 10 marks. Bonus: (Maximum 1 mark) For exceptional work in any of the above areas. Due: This assignment is due, in class, during the last lecture. However, there are multiple components that are due prior to submitting this video. Consider this video a process! See below for various due dates. We will screen all of the student videos together that day. Grade: 20 marks Chapter 4 Attention, And Other 21st- Century Social Media Literacies Howard Rheingold
© 2010 Howard Rheingold. The text of this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0). EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010): 14–24 Howard Rheingold Howard Rheingold ([email protected]) is the author of Tools For Thought, The Virtual Community, Smart Mobs, and other books and is currently lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. If you were the only person on earth who knew how to use a fishing rod, you would be tremendously empowered. If you were the only person on earth who knew how to read and write, you would be frustrated and empowered only in tiny ways, like writing notes to yourself. When it comes to social media, knowing how to post a video or download a podcast— technology-centric encoding and decoding skills—is not enough. Access to many media empowers only those who know how to use them. We need to go beyond skills and technologies. We need to think in terms of literacies. And we need to expand our thinking of digital skills or information literacies to include social media literacies. Social media—networked digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and wikis—enable people to socialize, organize, learn, play, and engage in commerce. The part that makes social media social is that technical skills need to be exercised in concert with others: encoding, decoding, and community. I focus on five social media literacies: Attention Participation Collaboration Network awareness Critical consumption Although I consider attention to be fundamental to all the other literacies, the one that links together all the others, and although it is the one I will spend the most time discussing in this article, none of these literacies live in isolation.[1] They are interconnected. You need to learn how to exercise mindful deployment of your attention online if you are going to become a critical consumer of digital media; productive use of Twitter or YouTube requires knowledge of who your public is, how your participation meets their needs (and what you get in return), and how memes flow through networked publics. Ultimately, the most important fluency is not in mastering a particular literacy but in being able to put all five of these literacies together into a way of being in digital culture. Attention Attention is the fundamental building block for how individuals think, how humans create tools and teach each other to use them, how groups socialize, and how people transform civilizations. We share highly evolved attentional mechanisms with other species, but Homo sapiens sapiens are particularly distinguished by the way we use our attention and other cognitive faculties differently from all other creatures. Attention is also important in the classroom. This came home to me five years ago when I started teaching and saw what most teachers in the world, at least at the college level, see these days: students who are staring down, looking at their computers, not making eye contact with the teacher. In the Japanese language, one pays attention with ki, which means "life energy." Any public speech is an exchange of ki. For me, I felt this exchange was broken when students were not looking at me while I was talking to them. Yet for their part, students feel a strong sense of entitlement to the freedom to direct their attention wherever they want. For students, the classroom is a marketplace, with multiple seductive attractions from the online world competing with physical presence. If I can't compete with the Internet for their attention, that's my problem. Because I teach social media, I can neither ignore nor flatly forbid their use of laptops during class. In return for trying to live up to such a demanding standard on my own part, I ask my students to do me the favor of beginning to become aware of how they are deploying their attention, especially with regard to social media, during class. I suggest that they extend their deliberate media mindfulness beyond the classroom, just as an experiment. Multitasking, or "continuous partial attention" as Linda Stone has called another form of attention-splitting, or "hyper attention" as N. Katherine Hayles has called another contemporary variant,[2] are not necessarily bad alternatives to focused attention. It depends on what is happening in our own external and internal worlds at the moment. If we don't know enough to turn around when we hear a bicycle or automobile horn, we're not going to survive long. Clearly we have different forms of attention that are appropriate for different ways of doing things. Sometimes we need to "turn on all the lights" in order to be aware of as much as possible. Sometimes we need to be vigilant to information outside our focal area, and at other times we need to block out distractions and narrow our attention to a spotlight. To complicate the issue in my own mind, some of the multitaskers in my classes are A students and passionately defend the value of Googling me to see if I really know what I'm talking about, while other students readily admit that multitasking in the classroom means they spend less attention on the teacher and on the other students. I looked around to see what other professors were doing. Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Law School outraged students when they banned web access in classrooms. Web surfing during lectures had gotten out of control, to the point that the faculty felt an intervention was necessary.[3] Michael Bugeja, a journalism professor at Iowa State University, conducted an online survey of several hundred students and found that a majority had used their cellphones, sent or read e-mail, and gone onto social network sites during class time.[4] The kicker was that a quarter of the survey respondents admitted that they completed his survey while attending another class. So maybe it's simply that many students have not yet learned how to exercise their attention. Because of the attentional demands of wirelessly webbed always-on media, they need to learn to turn on the high-beam light of focused attention when necessary and recognize when it is truly beneficial to task-switch. I decided to conduct some ongoing probes with my students into the dynamics of the literacy of attention. The first thing I do in my class now is ask the students to turn off their cellphones, shut their laptops, and close their eyes. I tell them that I will let them know when 60 seconds have gone by, and I ask them to just do nothing but notice what happens in their minds, to observe where their attention would go without any external distractions. Of course, anybody who meditates knows that your mind is pretty much out of control. Your attention can go anywhere: to yesterday, to tomorrow. It will free-associate without any real volition on your part. I simply want the students to start from the zero state, before the seductive distractions start building up—and to begin to experience a kind of internal observer that wakes up and notices when the student's attention is wandering. After they open their eyes, I ask them to keep their laptops closed, and I add that I will upload my notes for that first lecture so they shouldn't have to worry about taking notes. But because my intention is to probe, not control, and ultimately to instill in students an experience of some reflection about their media practices, I did not outright ban the use of laptops. Another probe that I conduct with my classes involves student teaching teams, who co teach the class with me. Those three students can keep their laptops open and take notes for everyone else in the class, using the course wiki. The rest of the students can fill in the wiki after class. Many students object that they can't learn unless they are able to take notes, and I agree that taking notes is an important way to learn. But I'm not sure it's the only way. After these first probes, I don't put restrictions on whether or not their laptops are open, but I ask them to make note of where their attention goes during the class session—and I ask the co-teachers to note how it feels when their fellow students aren't looking at them while they are talking. In a third probe, I tell a class of about forty students that five of them can keep their laptops open at any one time but that when a sixth laptop opens, they all have to close their laptops for the rest of the class time. I leave it up to them to figure out how that will work. In both this and the previous type of probe, I stress to the students from the beginning that the idea is simply to develop some mindfulness about where they put their attention, about how to pay attention to what they're doing. As students become more aware of how they are directing their attention, I begin to emphasize the idea of using blogs and wikis as a means of connecting with their public voice and beginning to act with others in mind. Just because many students today are very good at learning and using online applications and at connecting and participating with friends and classmates via social media, that does not necessarily mean that they understand the implications of their participation within a much larger public. Participation Participation is a broader literacy. 1.5 billion people are on the Internet. The number of mobile phone subscriptions is expected to reach 5 billion this year, with about 100 million of those phones including cameras. We're seeing the results of this connectivity all the time. And even though many excruciatingly boring blogs and Facebook/MySpace/Twitter accounts attest to the fact that that there is something to be learned about how to participate in a way that's valuable to others as well as to yourself, I agree with Yochai Benkler, Henry Jenkins, and others that participating, even if it's no good and nobody cares, gives one a different sense of being in the world. When you participate, you become an active citizen rather than simply a passive consumer of what is sold to you, what is taught to you, and what your government wants you to believe. Simply participating is a start. (Note that I am not guaranteeing that having a sense of agency compels people to perform only true, good, and beautiful actions.) The technologies that we have in our pockets today are powerful engines for participation. My students and I carry computers that are literally millions of times more powerful than what the U.S. Department of Defense had a couple decades ago, networked at speeds millions of times faster than the first online networks. We are seeing a massive adoption of an attitude of active participation simply through the use of these technologies. According to a 2005 report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 87 percent of U.S. teenagers, across all class and ethnic boundaries, are online in some way. Over half of U.S. teenagers not only consume but also create and author online, whether that's by customizing their MySpace page, or running a blog, or running a YouTube channel.[5] That doesn't mean, however, that all forms of participation are beneficial to the participant or others. I don't believe in the myth of the digital natives who are magically empowered and fluent in the use of social media simply because they carry laptops, they're never far from their phones, they're gamers, and they know how to use technologies. We are seeing a change in their participation in society—yet this does not mean that they automatically understand the rhetorics of participation, something that is particularly important for citizens. The whole notion of the public sphere is that we have sufficiently well-educated citizens who are free to access information about workings of the state so that they will be able to govern themselves. Implicit in the notion that ordinary people can shape policies of state is the assumption that they know how to communicate their opinions in concert with other citizens in a productive manner—a literacy of participation. Today's media enable people to inform, persuade, and influence the beliefs of others and, most important, help them to organize action on all scales. In doing so, people move from the literacy of participation to the literacy of collaboration. Collaboration Using the technologies and techniques of attention and participation allows people to work together collaboratively in ways that were too difficult or expensive to attempt before the advent of social media. Though collaboration has a slightly different definition from cooperation and collective action, in general doing things together gives us more power than doing things alone. Collaboration among secondary school students in Chile in 2006 led to the "Penguin Revolution," so called because of the students' black-and-white school uniforms. What started as a relatively small walk-out and protest calling for education reform soon grew as the students, fourteen to seventeen years old, used social media such as text-messaging and YouTube to spread their message. They chained the doors of public schools in Chile and organized rallies with as many as 800,000 attendees, leading the Chilean government to increase spending on education and reexamine the country's educational system.[6] But it's not just young people who are collaborating via social media. In January 2007, Jim Gray, a computer scientist with Microsoft Research, took his sailboat out on San Francisco Bay but did not come back that evening. His friends at Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and elsewhere joined together. They got the latest photos of that area of the ocean from NASA and from Google, and Microsoft engineers divided these into half a million images, which they posted on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Approximately 12,000 volunteers searched through those half a million images in a couple of days. Although there is no "look for your missing friend at sea" infrastructure or formula, Gray's friends put together various web technologies and organized an effort involving thousands of volunteers. Sadly, they never found Jim Gray.[7] Volunteers are also collaborating in response to natural disasters. People always rush into burning buildings. People always give first aid. But now we are seeing a global emergent collective response to disasters, before the official emergency responders arrive on the scene. Within hours of the Asian tsunami, for example, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog had been set up.[8] After the Katrina hurricane in the United States dispersed people from New Orleans, their relatives didn't know where they were. The various notices posted on Craigslist, on Usenet, and on half a dozen different sources were consolidated into a uniform database through the KatrinaHelp Wiki, implemented by thousands of volunteers.[9] A final example from hundreds that I have identified is Twestival (or Twitter Festival). The first Twestival Global, held in 2009, supported the nonprofit organization charity:water. Approximately 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors raised more than $250,000—enough money to drill 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia, and India, bringing clean water to more than 17,000 people. A network of volunteers were mobilized to get things done for the social good without going through official channels—which moves us toward the next literacy.[10] Network Awareness Collaboration phases into network awareness, which is a bit more complicated.[11] Whereas we lived in an industrialized society in the 19th century and in an information society in the 20th century, we live in a networked society today in the 21st century. Social networks are an essential part of being human, but in the past there were physical limitations on which people and how many people we could include in our network. For example, if we were speaking, we could communicate only with the people who could hear us directly. Now, technological networks ranging from the telephone to the Internet have vastly expanded the number and the variety of the people we can contact. These networks multiply our innate human capacity for social networking and lower the thresholds for organizing with others, allowing us to contact people on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds. "Reed's law" explains the connection between these computer networks and our social networks. David P. Reed noted: "There are really at least three kinds of value that networks can provide: the linear value of services that are aimed at individual users, the 'square' value from facilitating transactions, and the exponential value for facilitating group affiliations. What's important is that the dominant value in a typical network tends to shift from one category to another as the scale of the network increases." As Reed explains, content (e.g., published stories and images, consumer goods) is king when a network is dominated by linear connections. As the scale of the network shifts upward, transactions (e.g., e-mail, voice-mail, securities, services) become central. Finally, at the group-forming level, the value lies in joint construction (e.g., newsgroups, virtual communities, gossip, auctions, organizing get-out-the-vote campaigns).[12] The technical networks amplify and extend the fundamental human capability of forming social networks. Understanding the nature of networks—technical and social—is essential. Doing so is not just a matter of engineering but also a question of freedom. When it comes to the underlying code that moves the bits around, the structure of the Internet is about not only programming but also the location of control. Whether you look at the issue as a citizen, an entrepreneur, a scientist, a journalist, or a cultural producer, what you know or don't know about how networks work can influence how much freedom, wealth, and participation you will have in the rest of this century. (The commercial and political debates about "net neutrality" are directed at these issues: who will control the freedom to innovate online?) I think that much of this is understood by some of the people who post on blogs and on Facebook and on Twitter. They understand how small-world and long-tail networks function. They also understand the notions of reputation and diffuse reciprocity, which are increasingly important online. Both educators and learners use these notions to tune and feed their networks, to build their personal learning networks. Online, you have to decide which people you are going to allow into your attention sphere. Who is going to take up your mind, your space? Is the person trustworthy? Entertaining? Useful? An expert? Answering these questions leads to the final literacy: critical consumption. Critical Consumption ("Crap Detection") Critical consumption, or what Ernest Hemingway called "crap detection," is the literacy of trying to figure out what and who is trustworthy—and what and who is not trustworthy—online. If you find people, whether you know them or not, who you can trust to be an authority on something or another, add them to your personal network. Consult them personally, consult what they've written, and consult their opinion about the subject. The authority of the text that goes back at least a thousand years has been overturned. In the past we could go to the library and take out a book to read; we might disagree with the book, but probably somebody, or several somebodies, had been paid to check the factual claims in the book. When we get information online today, there is no guarantee that it's accurate or even that it's not totally bogus. The authority is no longer vested in the writer and the publisher. The consumer of information has to be a critic and has to inquire about the reality of the information presented. How do we do that? The first step isn't that hard. We ask the primary questions: Who is the author, and what do other people say about that author? We put the author's name in a search engine, keeping our critical glasses on. So step one is knowing how to ask that question, knowing how to query the search engine. Next, who are the people who give opinions about the author? What are the author's sources? Who links to the author? This second step is trickier. Basically, how do we know that what we find is accurate? We all have to be detectives these days.[13] Finally, crap detection takes us back, full circle, to the literacy of attention. When I assign my students to set up an RSS reader or a Twitter account, they panic. They ask how they are supposed to keep up with the overwhelming flood of information. I explain that social media is not a queue; it's a flow. An e-mail inbox is a queue, because we have to deal with each message in one way or another, even if we simply delete them. But no one can catch up on all 5,000 or so unread feeds in their RSS reader; no one can go back through all of the hundreds (or thousands) of tweets that were posted overnight. Using Twitter, one has to ask: "Do I pay attention to this? Do I click through? Do I open a tab and check it out later today? Do I bookmark it because I might be interested in the future?" We have to learn to sample the flow, and doing so involves knowing how to focus our attention. Interconnection Just as the print technologies and literacies shaped the Enlightenment, the social media technologies and literacies will shape the cognitive, social, and cultural environments of the 21st century. As Jenkins and his colleagues have emphasized, education that acknowledges the full impact of networked publics and digital media must recognize a whole new way of looking at learning and teaching. This is not just another set of skills to be added to the curriculum. Assuming a world in which the welfare of the young people and the economic health of a society and the political health of a democracy are the true goals of education, I believe modern societies need to assess and evaluate what works and what doesn't in terms of engaging students in learning. If we want to do this, if we want to discover how we can engage students as well as ourselves in the 21st century, we must move beyond skills and technologies. We must explore also the interconnected social media literacies of attention, participation, cooperation, network awareness, and critical consumption. Notes [1] These broad outlines of digital literacies are necessarily condensed, especially network awareness. I am working on a book for MIT Press, scheduled for Spring 2012 publication, and continue to report on these issues via
Writing to Explore, Summarize or Critique a Concept
Throughout the semester students do 10 short writing assignments to help them determine whether they can explain concepts introduced in the lectures. Typically, these low-stakes activities take the form of 2-minute essays, done during or at the end of a lecture. Students may be asked to explain or define the significance or implications of ideas raised in the lecture ideas or concepts that remain unclear, a key concept from the readings, or an important point raised in the tutorials. General Learning Objectives: These writing-to-learn activities provide students an opportunity to • clarify key concepts and ideas • reflect on what they have learned • prepare for higher-stakes written assignments • practice composing concise written responses • receive feedback from the instructor Process: Students are asked to respond to key questions or prompts by handwriting short answers on index cards or other small pieces of paper. Students take 1-2 minutes to respond to the instructor’s question/prompt. The cards are handed in to the instructor or TA at the end of the session. The instructor reads all of the responses and may (if necessary) provide general feedback to students in the following session (ex: ideas discussed may be used as a point of departure for the following lecture or concepts may be revisited for further clarification). If students want specific feedback on their responses, they are asked to provide their names and email addresses for electronic feedback. Sample Activity Prompt: Take 2 minutes to explain the significance and implications of (x). Write quickly with the purpose of explaining as fully as you can but without trying to construct a formal paper – you just want to set out some ideas to show what you understand or don’t understand at this point. Your writing will not be graded. Your grammar, spelling and writing style will not be critiqued. Chapter 6 Peer evaluation form
Use as part of Assignment Four
Score your team members on three dimensions. First, how well they helped the group define and shape the questions in your project. This is where you consider their contributions in terms of critical thinking. Second, how well they helped the group come up with the answers in your project. This is where you consider their contributions to doing the work. Finally, score them on the show: how well they helped the team prepare and deliver the presentation. You have one extra mark (for each person) to give for exceptional performance in any one (or all three) of these categories. For each category score your team members on a scale from zero to three. Zero is for someone who did not contribute in that area. One is for someone who did a lackluster job in the area but did contribute. Two is for someone who did a normal job in the area. Three is for someone who did an exceptional job in the area. Print up this page and hand it to your TA on the last day of class. You have to participate in order to get your own peer grade, which is counted as part of the 20 marks for this assignment.
TEAM NAME: !! ! ! !
TEAM MEMBERʼS QUESTIONS ANSWERS SHOW EXTRA TOTAL NAME (/3) (/3) (/3) (/1) (/10) Chapter 7 Tetrad of media effects
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Generally speaking, a tetrad is any set of four things. In Laws of Media (1988) and The Global Village (1989), published posthumously, Marshall McLuhan summarized his ideas about media in a concise tetrad of media effects. The tetrad is a means of examining the effects on society of any technology/medium (put another way: a means of explaining the social processes underlying the adoption of a technology/medium [1]) by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously. McLuhan designed the tetrad as a pedagogical tool, phrasing his laws as questions with which to consider any medium: What does the medium enhance? What does the medium make obsolete? What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier? What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes? The laws of the tetrad exist simultaneously, not successively or chronologically, and allow the questioner to explore the "grammar and syntax" of the "language" of media. McLuhan departs from his mentor Harold Innis in suggesting that a medium "overheats", or reverses into an opposing form, when taken to its extreme. [2] Enhancement (figure): What the medium amplifies or intensifies. For example, radio amplifies news and music via sound. Obsolescence (ground): What the medium drives out of prominence. Radio reduces the importance of print and the visual. Retrieval (figure): What the medium recovers which was previously lost. Radio returns the spoken word to the forefront. Reversal (ground): What the medium does when pushed to its limits. Acoustic radio flips into audio-visual TV. Footnotes [1] Meta-Four-Play: McLuhan's Tetrad and Lévi-Strauss's Canonical Formula Part 2 [2] "Tetrad" in Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan, a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis- mcluhan/030003-2030-e.html. Chapter 8 Chapter Outlines
Chapter 1: Introduction
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. In what ways is communication mediated by technology? Why is this significant? 2. Why is it important to think about nuanced understandings of what ‘new media’ means? 3. How can ‘digital divide’ be variously understood and what are the causes and consequences of such divides? 4. In what ways is globalization significant when thinking about new media? 5. Why do you think the Internet and Web 2.0 have become so popular? What are some benefits and drawbacks of this popularity? CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter we consider what society finds novel in new media and what role new media plays in wider social change, as it is already deeply embedded in the debates, processes, and practicalities of our society. We explore how new media is an outcome of the digitization of content, which has enabled ‘CONVERGENCE’—the process by which media technologies, industries, and services are merging—through changes in computing, communication networks, and content. Although convergence is important, we attempt to put these changes in perspective and recognize that long-standing social, cultural, political, and economic factors remain important and mitigate and filter the impact of technological change. This chapter explains the characteristics of digital information and how those characteristics result in a particular type of communication that can be summed up as interactive. We examine the Internet as one of the most important new media forms of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and review Internet history, social implications, and recent growth into Web 2.0, focusing on the importance of search engines. We also look at the importance of online encylopedias, status updates, friend lists, and online video, in the context of a growing and globalizing technology. The chapter concludes with a deeper examination of the implications of convergence on how we create and consume media content and the role of Web 2.0 in this process. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are some key differences between what we would today refer to as ‘new media’ and the media that preceded it? 2. How is ‘convergence’ a term that is prone to confusion? In what ways are the current trends in convergence perhaps only the tip of the iceberg? 3. In what ways do new media devices affect our communication activities and practices, as well as larger social arrangements and organizations? 4. Comment on the following: ‘The quality of participation increases as the number of participating users increases, and this in turn attracts more new users to the sites.’ 5. What does it mean to describe the Internet as having graduated from being a computer network akin to a highway to a ‘place’ that can allow people to ‘understand the world around them’? 6. What are some of ‘the cultural practices that enable users to engage with the technology’ and what best describes the ‘hidden engine of the user’s interaction with the text’? 7. Give a close reading to the following: ‘Media studies as it emerged in the twentieth century understood media production, texts, and audiences as discrete forms, following a linear model of different “moments” in the media production-consumption cycle.’ What does this mean and what are the implications? 8. In what ways do trends in new media reflect trends in globalization? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. In groups of five with your classmates, discuss which websites you spend the most time at per day and the activities you engage in with those sites. Consider if those activities were the same a year ago, what changes have occurred, and why. Discuss with your group what you think about the growing use of social media. 2. Visit a website, such as Alexa, that provides a list of the ‘top ten’ sites in the world. Take a look at the sites you might not be familiar with and classify these sites into different types. 3. Given the global nature of much new media, compile a list of local, or regional, websites that you are aware of or use for news, information, entertainment, and so on. Compare these with some national or multinational sites. What are the key differentiators?
Chapter 2:The History of New Media
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What are some challenges of human communication in terms of sending and receiving messages across distances? How have these changed over time? 2. In what ways have advances in communications and connectivity been historically linked to key enabling technologies, institutional configurations, business models, and products and services? How are these links still evident today? 3. In what ways was privacy a concern in media technology of the past? How does it remain a concern today? 4. What ideological or political implications are there to consider in regard to policies, practices, and changes/advances in communications and new media? CHAPTER OUTLINE This chapter sets new media in its historical context, drawing connections between current network technologies, convergence trends, and prior inventions such as the telegraph, radio, and television. Although the path has been circuitous, ever since we have been able to send messages without moving physical objects (the first telegraph), the immediacy factor has forever changed our expectations about communication media. With new capabilities came new institutions and social arrangements and these have proven to be foundational and influential for subsequent generations of media. Journalism, politics, and business were all transformed by the use of the telegraph and the telephone. Radio, and later television, provided a testing ground for key elements of new media and in particular the business model in which content could be accessed for free, if one was willing to accept a little bit of advertising with that content. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the educational potential of earlier new media. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. In what ways has connectivity changed over time? What are some examples of communication technologies that were soon taken for granted? Why might that be the case? 2. In your view, is there a problem with over-use of communications technology and new media and, if so, with which technologies and what are the consequences? 3. To what extent is privacy a concern for you as a user of communications technology and new media? How has privacy as a concern changed over time? 4. What are some changes in how news has historically been moved from one location to another and what effects have these changes had on how news is captured, presented, and shared? What are the corollary effects on society? 5. In what ways does the value of a network increase as more people make use of it (or could the argument be made that the opposite is true in some cases)? What are some other consequences of increased network activity, in terms of points of contact as well as content? 6. How has telecommunications technology historically been used for connectivity between and among people with shared interests (whether personal, professional, political, etcetera)? 7. What are some of the implications of user expectations of free content, whether for creators of content, copyright owners, vetting of content, quality of content, access to content, searching content, etc.? Do such considerations change depending on genre and medium? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Locate a ‘how does it work’ video or website for a technology from the history of new media—using a search strategy such as ‘how does the telegraph work’—and then retell this in your own words or make a storyboard for a video of your own. 2. Choose an historical antecedent technology, such as the telegraph or the telephone, and trace the linkages between that technology and present day new media. Consider economic linkages, technological linkages, and sociocultural linkages (usage). 3. Several examples of ‘prior art’ for everyday new media activities (abbreviations and text speak found in telegrams, ‘twittering’ via the postal system) have been described in this chapter. Can you find examples of these from your own family, either memories of grand- parents or historical artifacts (old postcards, for example)? 4. Locate a piece of very early ‘new media’ (the CBC Archives on the web are good for this) and review it in class. What is similar and what is different to new media today?
Chapter 3: Approaches to New Media
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. In what ways do different approaches to new media bring with them different perspectives? 2. What hype and counter-hype has accompanied the evolution and discussion of new media? 3. What is meant by McLuhan’s phrase, ‘the medium is the message’? Why do you think it has become so widely known? 4. In what ways can the term ‘technoculture’ invite you to consider both technology and culture as multifaceted and complex? CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter we examine the notion that a well-rounded view of the role and effects of new media in society can only be gleaned by taking a number of perspectives. The different views presented in this chapter are useful in different ways. For this reason, we look at several theoretical approaches to new media while providing insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Particular emphasis is placed on a ‘social shaping’ perspective in which groups and individuals are understood as able to influence how media is used and how it evolves. We explore some of the hype that surrounds new media and we try to understand why science-driven messages are so compelling, while critically examining both the overly positive and the unnecessarily negative portrayals of the effects of new media. Both cultural context and media forms are explored as ways of understanding new media, along with social, psychological, and economic explanations. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What has been some of the hype about new media, in terms of the expectation that they are able to change everything, typically for the better? What has some of the counter-hype been? 2. In what ways can identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to and perspectives on new media bring an understanding of how multiple perspectives/approaches are helpful and when one might, in some cases, be more appropriate or useful than another? 3. What is meant by the term, ‘technological determinism’ and how is this different from a ‘social shaping of technology’ approach? 4. Discuss the three-level approach to technology and culture as presented in Table 3.2 and the ways in which such an approach can inform your understanding of new media in society and how people engage with new media (or less new media, for that matter). 5. In Being Digital, Negroponte proclaimed that ‘like a force of nature, the digital age cannot be denied or stopped and that it has four very powerful qualities that will result in its ultimate triumph: decentralizing, globalizing, harmonizing and empowering’. What is meant by these four qualities? What are your thoughts on the likening of the digital age to a force of nature that cannot be stopped? 6. Flanagan describes ‘a sense of individual empowerment achieved through enhanced agency’ derived from recent developments in new media (such as the way in which Web 2.0 users are able to take control over their configuration, use, and re-use of the Internet). Consider both ‘empowerment’ and ‘agency’ in this context and discuss. 7. In what ways does the work of Marshall McLuhan and Raymond Williams inform new media studies? Why is it useful to consider the differences between the two? 8. Consider Mosco’s description of the ‘digital sublime’ and discuss how cyberspace possesses not only technical, political, and economic properties, but also how it is a form of cultural myth. 9. What is meant by a ‘new empiricism’ for new media studies? What are some of the reasons such an approach has been called for?
CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Marshall McLuhan’s tetrad of media effects (see case study, above) is a fun way to ‘unpack’ a new media form. Divide into four groups with your fellow students—one each for obsolesce, retrieve, reverse, and enhance—and come up with an example and/or insight for a series of new media forms. Mobile rich media cellphones, or smartphones, are a good ex- ample with which to start. 2. How do you see the Internet today? Discuss how your vision relates to the following quote from Marshall McLuhan (1962): ‘The next medium, whatever it is—it may be the extension of consciousness—will include television as its content, not as its environment, and will transform television into an art form. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization, retrieve the individual’s encyclopaedic function and flip into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind.’
Chapter 4: Mobile New Media
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. In what ways can mobile devices be seen as evolving along the path of earlier technological developments? 2. How does the proliferation of mobile devices affect your personal, academic, and/or professional life? 3. What are your thoughts on the debate about whether or not dependence on mobile devices (and other new media technologies) has resulted in an unhealthy relationship to these technologies (as suggested by the term, ‘crackberry’)? 4. Are you aware of ways in which mobile phones and networks, like many tele- communication undertakings, are seen as part of the national interest of a country, taking on a national character or receiving special treatment within a home country?
CHAPTER OUTLINE Mobile technologies, including but not limited to cell phones, are a vital and important part of new media today. In this chapter we explore the mobile phone and related technologies, such as the tablet computer and netbook, from an historical, technological, and economic basis. Some of the key features of mobile phones are explained and examined with an eye to making this sometimes mysterious technology more accessible to the reader. We also look at how social software such as Facebook or Twitter is deployed on mobile devices, and the implications of location on these services. We examine, as well, some of the cultural impacts (for example on children) as well as social, health, and environmental issues, including surveillance implications.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. In what ways is path dependence evident in the development and social uses of mobile technologies? 2. How did the cellular system present a solution to the capacity problem of earlier radio and telephone systems? 3. What capabilities give mobile phones or mobile general-purpose devices a key advantage over specific-purpose technologies? 4. Several aspects of telecommunications policy are discussed in this chapter. What are these and why are they significant? 5. In what sense was the advent of short messaging service (SMS) an important turn in the evolution of mobile communication? 6. What is the significance of the way(s) in which the operators of large Internet sites such as Facebook and Twitter seized the potential of adapting their services to the sending and receiving of SMS, of reaching out to text message users, rather than asking users to reach out to the Internet? 7. What are some of the favourable and unfavourable implications of the ‘always on’ capability of mobile devices? In what ways are these becoming almost default characteristics in personal and professional life, and what are the consequences? 8. Mobile phone use is considered by some as part of a revolution in youth culture. Discuss what this means and in what ways such changes are evident in varying degrees across generational (and/or other demographic) lines. 9. This chapter notes that there are significant controversies related to health, the environment, and the social and cultural impacts of mobile technologies. Discuss these (and any others) and what could be done to address the concerns raised. CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. In small groups with other students, take out your phone and trade it to the person beside you. Take some time to reflect on, and share with the class, how you feel about giving someone else access to your phone. Discuss the implications of such a personal device. 2. Explore the various price plans and services (minutes, texts, data, voicemail, features) both for the mobile device(s) you have and (perhaps) the one you wish you had. What sacrifices do you make, if any, to afford this plan? 3. Break into small groups and create a reenactment or skit that portrays the many things that people do while they are using their mobile device (for example, consuming other media, eating dinner with family, visiting with friends, driving, etc.). Comment on the implications of this task switching or interruption.
Chapter 5: Social Networks and Participatory Culture
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. What does it mean to live in a network society? 2. What kinds of issues and questions arise when considering participatory culture? 3. In what ways are social capital and social media linked? CHAPTER OUTLINE This is a chapter in two parts. In the first half of the chapter we consider the concept of social networks and how these enable a culture of mass participation—a participatory culture. We also examine how these networks enable and enhance many other social processes. Although networks are not new phenomena, they are enhanced and extended by new media and we explore this process in more detail. Networks are economic and political as well as social phenomena. Given their importance, it is not surprising that new research methods have arisen. One of these, social network analysis, is considered in detail from both a practical and an historical point of view. We will also discuss social network theories, as well as some of the criticism of these theories. In the second part of the chapter we look at social production and the participatory culture that has emerged in social networks, boosted by information and communications technology. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are the benefits of networked organizations as identified by Podolny and Page? What examples of these can you give in terms of your knowledge or experience with organizations in your personal, academic, or professional life? 2. Social network analysis is based on the understanding that forms of self, activity, and behaviour are relational. Discuss the four key elements and seven core concepts of social network analysis identified by Wasserman and Faust. 3. What is meant by the terms ‘social production’ and ‘participatory media culture’ and why are these significant in terms of understanding new media? Discuss not only the promise but also the peril of networks, social media, and participatory media culture. 4. Within the different kinds of networks that are central to globalization there are clear dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, as well as a diverse range of oppositional movements based on resistance identities and project identities. Why is this significant and what are some possible consequences? 5. Aldridge and colleagues (2002) distinguish between three main types of social capital. Discuss these, identify examples of these in your own work and life, and consider the implications for you (and others). CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Do a ‘degrees of separation’ experiment so see how many links connect you to your classmates, and from each of you to a famous person. Discuss how you use social media to enhance or take advantage of those links (e.g., Facebook Friends or LinkedIn connections). Discuss the use of social media for professional (rather than personal) use. What are the differences? 2. As a class, compile a list of how your group both consumes and produces ‘participatory’ media (e.g., YouTube, Flickr, Facebook) using a show of hands or simple poll. Keep in mind the following statistics—that the general population typically includes 90 per cent who only consume, 9 per cent who contribute comments or stars or votes, and only one per cent who
contribute content.4 Compare your classes participation with participation more broadly.
Chapter 6: Games: Technology, Culture, Industry
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. In what ways are technology, industry, and the culture of games linked? 2. What is the significance of marketing and branding practices, immersive play, and interactive experiences in gaming? 3. In what ways do the games industry and game culture have implications for issues such as identity, the experience of childhood, and intellectual property? 4. How do the values encoded into game cultures reflect offline cultural values? Conversely, how do games offer a chance to emphasize alternative or subjugated values in the name of fantasy and play? CHAPTER OUTLINE This chapter offers a rounded and broad examination of games, game play, and the game industry as a prime example of new media in the twenty-first century. We examine games as a significant part of popular culture, extending beyond their notable economic impact. We also look at how the immersive nature and rapid pace of change places online and computer games at the centre of debates relating to gender, cultural impact, childhood experiences, and intellectual property. We then consider how the performance of games has ramped up steadily over the past several decades as game platforms compete for higher resolution, speed, and richer, more demanding game play. We take a look at the economics of the game industry including its dependence on subcontractors and its rather diffuse economic model—the need for smash ‘hits’ to finance the many ‘misses’—followed by a consideration of the value chain and the tension between the creative side of the business and the investment side, as well as the complex relationship between production and distribution. The last part of the chapter looks at some of the most significant gaming developments in the first decade of the twenty-first century, such as the role of producer-consumers ‘modding’ games, and the issues arising from that, including the question of who owns the subsequent content. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the political economy of the game industry, as well as a section on the game industry in Canada. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are the different roles (and their corresponding communities of professionals) in the games industry and what are some ways of describing the dynamics among them? 2. What are some of the shifts in the games industry described in this chapter? 3. There is an ongoing debate about whether or not digital games cause violence. Discuss both the legitimate concerns and justifiable objections in this debate. 4. What is meant by the term, ‘game culture’, and in what ways are people creating communities around their game-playing activities, much as they have done around sports, hobbies, and other pastimes? 5. This chapter draws attention to how the values encoded into game cultures reflect offline cultural values but also how games offer a chance to emphasize alternative or subjugated values in the name of fantasy and play. What are the implications of this and why are they significant? 6. Discuss the concerns related to issues of identity and gender-bias and games, as they are related to: the representations offered to players (in the forms of avatars), how players identify with or relate to their avatars, and the styles of play suggested and enabled by games. 7. Why do you think that the following distinctive features of digital games have drawn the attention of the research community: social interaction within the game, the capacity of players to become co-creators of content, and the relationship between the players and the game text? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Building on the notion of games in education (see the Whitton text, in Further Reading, above), create a game version of this course. How would points be awarded? Would the assignments be like ‘quests’ or ‘kills’, or something else? Do you think you would be more engaged by this experience? Create a paper version of the game, or discuss the rules, and then debate the expected outcome. You might take a look at the article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on Lee Sheldon’s course in which the course itself is a game: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/At-Indiana-U-a-Class-Game/21981 2. Online games, such as ‘Second Life’, frequently provide a free trial account that can be used by anyone. Hold a class discussion inside the game, with fellow students either logging in from their own laptops, from home, or from terminals at your school. Test the requirements (sometimes a game requires that software be downloaded, making it difficult to do on public computers), and if necessary, adjust to a virtual tour or demonstration by students who already have accounts. Consider a virtual tour of a particular type of game (e.g., a children’s game such as Club Penguin). See Case Study, above, for more on Club Penguin.
Chapter 7: Creative Industries
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What has been the significance of creative cities, historically? How do cities today work to remain part of this tradition of creative industry? 2. What are the creative industries? How can the dynamics of these industries be characterized? 3. In what ways are knowledge and information different from each other? Why is this relevant to understanding both the knowledge economy and creative industries? 4. In what ways do policy initiatives undertaken in Canada and different parts of the world affect cultural industries? CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter we consider the industrialization of creativity, something that was not initiated by new digital media—mechanical reproduction of works of art famously preoccupied Frankfurt School member Walter Benjamin in the first half of the twentieth century—but the process has accelerated, broadened, and deepened with digital media. We begin with an examination of the concept of creativity itself and especially the question of under what circumstances it can flourish. We next consider the notion of a creative industry and how and why this has become a policy objective of cities, provinces and states, and countries around the world. The reasons for the rise of a creative economy, creative cities, and the creative class both as realities and as visions or ideals, are considered and debated. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are some examples of historic creative cities? In what ways were they (and are they still) significant? 2. What is meant by the concepts of ‘knowledge push’ and ‘market pull’? What relevance do these have for cultural industries? 3. What new modes of cultural production and consumption in urban centres among young people (18–35 years old) are discussed in this chapter? Why is this shift significant? 4. In what ways are ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ different from each other? Why is this relevant in understanding the knowledge economy and creative industries? 5. What is the significance of the rise of the service industry sectors in the knowledge-based economy and the ‘culturalization’ of the economy? 6. What are the four models of the creative industries proposed by Cunningham and Potts? 7. In this chapter, we noted Healy’s (2002: 101) caution against ‘using new economy jargon to give a bullish defence of the arts in economic terms’. Why is this significant? 8. What is the ‘creative class’ as discussed in this chapter? In what ways has the concept been challenged? 9. What are some of the creative industries policy initiatives undertaken in Canada? How are these seen as affecting cultural industries? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Using the website for your city, locate and summarize the statement on cultural indus- tries. Most large cities, and many smaller ones as well, have such a statement. If available, look for the local cultural industries website (e.g., Culture Montréal) or the ministry of culture for the province (e.g., Ministry of Culture, Ontario). Divide into groups and identify the cultural policy in a selected city (see http://creativecity.ca for a number of useful resources, especially the ‘Making the Case’ series at www.creativecity.ca/making-the-case/index.html). Identify recent policy statements and consider them in light of the discussion of culture in this chapter. What bias or approach is being taken on the sites you visit? 2. In his March 2009 essay, ‘The Art of With’, (Available online at www.charlesleadbeater.net/cms/xstandard/The%20Art%20of%20With%20PDF.pdf) Charles Leadbeater addresses the question of whether or not the Web is creating a more open, participative, and collaborative approach to culture. Read through the article and then engage with your classmates in a debate on the proposition that ‘The web is creating a culture more inclined to thinking, working, acting with providing an alternative to the dominant principle of To and For. The principle of with can apply to art and culture as much as work, politics and learning. It would draw on a very different tradition of the avant-garde, one that has privileged participation and collaboration as the principles at the heart of modern art rather than shock and separation.’ Can you think of examples from your own lives? Can you imagine how a local cultural organization (gallery, museum, orchestra) might transform itself for the ‘art of with’?
Chapter 8: The Global Knowledge Economy
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What is meant by the term globalization? Why is it significant for new media? 2. What is the knowledge economy? In what ways is it important for new media? 3. Why is it important to understand the differences between information and knowledge when thinking about investments in research and education in a global knowledge economy? 4. How are creativity and culture relevant to understanding new media as fundamental to the knowledge economy? CHAPTER OUTLINE New media are a powerful force for globalization, as this chapter explores in detail. In Chapter 2 we saw how the telegraph first provided an early version of global communication, but digital media and networks have taken that effect to a new level. This chapter explains the complexity of globalization and reviews some of the main criticisms of these developments as part of an overall knowledge economy. We examine both technological change and its role in the economy as well as more practical matters such as e-commerce strategies and the role that new media play in ‘disintermediation’ in order to better understand the forces driving the global knowledge economy. We look at the nature of digital goods and how they have disrupted many industries that formerly relied on the expense of reproducing and transporting ideas (news, music, movies, for example) and that now find themselves without that avenue for extracting value. In this context, we return to some of the themes on creativity from Chapter 7 and examine the creative economy more closely from a business perspective, examining topics such as technological innovation and the innovator’s dilemma. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. The term globalization is defined in this chapter in terms of a series of interrelated processes. What are these processes and what evidence or examples of them can you identify in your own living, working, or educational spheres? 2. What is meant by the term ‘knowledge economy’? What are some of the features, processes, and dynamics involved? 3. What is an e-commerce strategy, what are some of its benefits, and why is it important for new media? 4. This chapter describes the global knowledge economy as arising from the confluence of three developments. What are these and what are the dynamics that link them? 5. This chapter presents both old and new paradigms of economic development. What are the characteristics of each of these paradigms? Why are they significant to new media studies? 6. What are the two examples of the innovator’s dilemma given in this chapter? What are some real world examples of this dilemma? 7. This chapter takes up some discussion of the difference between information and knowledge. For example, the notion that knowledge is embodied in persons and practices, whereas information is captured and stored in databases and is readily accessible and increasingly reproducible through the Internet. What significance does this have for understanding the knowledge economy in terms of both creative and cultural aspects? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. As a class, attempt to discover the country of origin for the collected electronic and fashion items present in the room. Try to account for raw materials and multiple points of origin for complex items with embedded components such as laptop computers. If you can, see how much—if anything—was ‘Made in Canada’. What do your conclusions suggest to you about Canada’s role in a knowledge economy? 2. Use the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology tool (see Useful Websites, above) to compare Canada to a selected other country. How do we compare? What are our strong points and what are our weak points? Chapter 9: Internet Law, Policy, and Governance
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What are some examples of the domains covered by cyberspace law? What are the complications and issues specific to this type of law? 2. How do policy initiatives or interventions taken by the Canadian government affect new media? 3. Why is it important to consider the distinctions and balance between private ownership and public use of intellectual property when thinking about new media? CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter we examine the interesting and sometimes difficult issues that have arisen in a world in which two of the foundational principals of law—property and the state—have been significantly altered by digital and global information flows. We look at some of the major domains of law as they pertain to cyberspace and some of the legal implications that have arisen as that space has changed and expanded. That digital goods are ephemeral and easily cross borders is challenge enough but a further pressure comes from the fact that there is little if any cyberspace law at all currently—the internet is self-policing but only in a loose sense and mainly at the level of technology standards. Beyond that, only national and local law can be applied— and that, as we will see, is oft-times very difficult to do. Nations have attempted to establish priorities, programs, and policies designed to boost the power and role of their own citizens and corporations in information and communication technologies—first with computers and then networks. Given the origins of the Internet in Western democracies such as the US, sometimes the laissez-faire attitude adopted online is incompatible with local standards elsewhere around the globe. We examine these issues along with implications for copyright and property rights, and the open source software movement. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are some of the domains covered by cyberspace law? 2. What are some of the policy initiatives or interventions that the Canadian government has taken in regard to new media? How are these important to understanding current new media policy in Canada? 3. What are some of the recent developments in international copyright and intellectual property law? What critical questions arise from measures to extend copyright protection and to establish a legally binding global intellectual property regime? 4. In what ways does the Internet, as it is situated in relation to existing laws and regulatory frameworks, complicate efforts to establish binding legal guidelines? 5. Copyright law seeks to make distinctions between private ownership and public use, though these have often been difficult to sustain in practice. What three areas of distinction have been particularly contentious? 6. In the case involving the US Communications Decency Act (1996), Mike Godwin, counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argued (1998: 23): ‘Give people a modem and a computer and access to the Net, and it’s far more likely that they’ll do good than otherwise’. How is this view characteristic of cyber-libertarian perspectives and why do you think such views are not now articulated as strongly as they once were? 7. Copyright law is derived from the principle of balanced interests. What are these interests and in what ways have new media and the Internet brought challenges to maintaining such balance? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Take a look at the CRTC web site (www.crtc.gc.ca), noting the recent decisions relating to new media. Pick a recent decision that has general applicability (e.g., Net Neutrality, or ISPs as carriers vs broadcasters) and consider how it fits with the concepts and analysis in this chapter. Does the approach of the commission or the tone of the decisions match with the views of this text? Does it match your own views? 2. Consider the implications of making Internet access either a human right or a fundamental right of Canadians. Are these similar to the universal service provisions adopted in Canada (and elsewhere) to ensure telephone service was made widely available outside of urban areas? If you or any of your fellow students are from rural or remote areas in your class, speak about the challenges of getting Internet access at home.
Chapter 10: Conclusion
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What are some of the negative aspects of new media? What aspects of human relations does it disrupt that we would not necessarily wish to have disrupted? 2. How can new media be used to go beyond mere entertainment to affecting real change? How can new media—and social software in particular—be used professionally and responsibly, rather than frivolously and hurtfully?