The course is structured around readings, short lectures, related in-class activities, team work, discussions, and the occasional screening of film and/or video excerpts.
The following schedule provides a general overview of the topics and themes that we will cover throughout the course. Specific details and additional readings will be revealed/assigned on a weekly basis.
Please note that a Moodle Page will be used as support to share updates and news, to collect assignments, to archive readings and other course materials.
Please note that your papers may be submitted to Turnitin (plagiarism detection software).
Week 1:
Introduction: What’s ‘new’ about Digital Media?
The Process Of Remediation
Digitalization
Convergence
Readings:
Baym, N. (2010). “Personal connection in the digital age”, Polity, pp. 1 – 1
Jay David Bolter, “Remediation.” John Hopkins Dictionary of Digital Media
Week 2:
History of the Internet and the World Wide Web
Reading: Castells, M. (2002). The Internet galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, business, and society. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 1 and chapter 2)
Internet of the Things
Dueling realities, The Atlantic, 2015
Week 3:
Hypertext
Interface culture
Readings:
Johnson, S. (1997). Interface culture: How new technology transforms the way we create and communicate. Basic Books., pp. 11-25
Carl Therrien, “Interface.” John Hopkins Dictionary of Digital Media
Week 4 (3 lessons):
Participatory culture
Reading: J. Burgess and J. Green, YouTube, chapter 1: “How You Tube Matters” pp. 1-14 (2009).
The rise of networked individualism and the network society
Reading: Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman, Networked. pp. 3 -20 and 34-50 (2012)
Screening: Black Mirror
Reading: David Elson, “Artificial Intelligence.” John Hopkins Dictionary of Digital Media
Week 5:
Time and Space + group project guidelines
Reading: Castells, M., Fernández-Ardèvol, M., & Qiu, J. (2007). The Space of Flows, Timeless Time, and Mobile Networks, MIT Press.
Project work
Week 6:
Project work
Project work (in-depth interview trial)
Week 7:
Review
Midterm
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Week 8:
The Mobile society
Reading: Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman, Networked, pp. 81-108 (2012)
Identity management and self presentation
Reading: Baym, N. (2015). “Personal connection in the digital age”, Polity, pp. 112-141 (revised and updated second edition)
Suggested Reading: Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New media & society, 10(3), 393-411.
21st Oct: In depth interview due
Week 9 (3 lessons):
Socially Mediated Publicness
Reading: boyd d. (2010). Making sense of privacy and publicity – transcription of the talk.
Google and Facebook ranking Algorithms
Readings: Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. Penguin UK.
Living in the 'filter bubble'
Battelle, J. (2005). The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture (153-166) Penguin.
Week 10 (1 lesson):
Screening: Generation Like
Week 11:
Digital media and politics
Readings:
M. Castells (2007). Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society, International Journal of Communication 1, 238-266
Joss Hands, “Politics and New Media.” John Hopkins Dictionary of Digital Media
Social media and political participation
Readings: Malcom Gladwell, Small Change. Why the revolution will not be tweeted, 2010
Clay Shirky, The Political Power of Social Media, Foreign Affairs 90.1 (Jan/Feb 2011): 28-I.
Week 12:
The sharing culture
Reading:
Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom. Yale University Press, pp. 1 -16
Working and living in the sharing economy
Readings:
Trebor Scholz (2014). The Politics of the Sharing Economy
Natasha Singer (2014). In the Sharing Economy, Workers find both Freedom and Uncertainty
Suggested reading:
Axel Rosenblat, The Truth About How Uber’s App Manages Drivers, Harvard Business Review, 2016
Week 13 (1 lesson):
The Hacker culture
Readings:
Coleman, Gabriella (2013). “Hackers.” John Hopkins Dictionary of Digital Media
Week 14:
Project work presentation
Project work presentation