NCSU Department of Communication

COM487::Internet & Society
Instructor: Dr. Adriana de Souza e Silva

 

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Part I: cyberspace and computer interfaces
(history)

 

Week Day Topic Readings due Classroom activities Assignments

0
Introduction

Th. 01.10

 

course overview      
1
Cyberspace
Tu. 01.15

 

Cyberspace vs. Internet: an introduction Couclelis, H. "Misses, near-misses and surprises in forecasting" (pp. 70-83) visit from the library
Blog post
Th. 01.17 (The utopia of) cyberspace as an immaterial and libertarian place.

Robins, K., “Cyberspace and the world we live in” (pp. 77-95)

choose working groups Blog post
2
Computers as space / history
Tu. 01.22 Interfaces -- the computer as space

Murray, J., “From additive to expressive form” (pp. 65-96)

Demos:
- Zork
- Adventure
Blog post
Th. 01.24 Early interfaces

Johnson, S. "Bitmapping: an introduction" (pp. 11-41)

  Blog post
3
Interfaces / history
Tu. 01.29

The desktop metaphor

 

Johnson, S. “The Desktop” (42-75)


Blog post
Th. 01.31

From calculations to simulations.

 

Turkle, S. “A tale of two aesthetics” (29-49)

 

 

Blog post

 

4
Internet / history
Tu. 02.05 History of the WWW

Abbatte, J. Popularizing the Internet. (pp. 181-220).

 

  Blog post
Th. 02.07 History of the WWW / Early applications

Berners-Lee, et. al. "The World Wide Web" (pp. 791-798)

 

Presentation 1: Early Internet
- Email (Ray Tomlinson)
- Usenet (Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis)
by Zach Bechtel and Bennett Bailey

Blog post

Give questions Mid-term



Part II: The Internet as a social environment: MUDs, Chats, Blogs, and Social Networking
6
MUDs
Tu. 02.12 The history of MUDs

Watch "The Thirteenth Floor"

Course Evaluation

 

MidTerm 1 due

 

Th. 02.14

MUDs as communities

Taylor, T. L., "Gaming lifeworlds" (pp. 21-66) Presentation 2: MUDs
- MUD (Richard Bartle & Roy Trubshaw)
- LambdaMOO (Pavel Curtis)
- Second Life (Linden Labs)
by John Strahan, Paul Fullmore and Kim Hartofelis

Blog post

6
Chats and MMOs
Tu. 02.19 Visualizing communication environments: 2D and 3D Chats / MMOs

 

Donath, J., & Viegas, F. “The Chat Circles Series ” (pp. 1-10)

 

Blog post

- Bring examples of chat interfaces

 

Th. 02.21 Representing the online body: Avatars

Taylor, T.L., "Intentional bodies" (pp. 25-34)

 

Blog post

- Bring examples of avatars

 

7
MUDs and Chats
Tu. 02.26

computer lab class
(class meets in Withers 131)

 

- LambdaMOO
- Second Life

 

 

Create Avatar in Second Life

 

Th. 02.28

Educational MUDs

 

Barab, S., et. al., “Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns ” (pp. 86-107)

 

  Blog post

 

 

8
Spring break
Tu. 03.04

no class. Spring break

 

 

 

 

Th. 03.06 no class. Spring break

 

 

 
9
Social networking and blogs
Tu. 03.11 Blogs / Wikis (Web 2.0) Gopal, S. "The evolving social geography of blogs" (pp. 275-293)

Wikipedia / Google video

Heavy Metal Umlaut

Blog post

 

 

Th. 03.13 Social Networking Sites (SNS)

Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe "The benefits of Facebook "friends"

Facebook videos

 

Blog post

 



Part III: Current Issues on the Internet
10
The mobile Internet
Tu. 03.18 The mobile internet: an introduction

Wilson, J., "3G to Web 2.0?" (pp. 229-242)

discuss posters

  Blog post
Th. 03.20 The mobile internet

Frattasi, S., at. al., "Defining 4G technology from the user's perspective" (pp. 35-41)

 

  Blog post
10
Ubiquitous computers

 

Tu. 03.25

WiFi

 

 

Rheingold, H.,
"Wireless Quilts" (pp. 133-156)

 

 

Blog post

Th. 03.27

WiFi

 

Schmidt, T., & Townsend, A., "Why wireless networks want to be free" (pp. 47-52).

 

Presentation 3: Wi-Fi - WiFi Hog (Johan Brucker Cohen)
- Umbrella.net (Katherine Moriwaki)
by Shanita Fulford and Emily Reass

 

Blog post

11
Ubiquitous computers
Tu. 04.01 Ubiquitous Computing

Rheingold, H. "The era of sentient things" (pp. 83-112)

 

 

 

Blog post

Th. 04.03

Ubiquitous Computing

 

Weiser, M., "The world is not a desktop"

AND

Weiser, M., & Brown, J. S., "Designing calm technology"

 

Presentation 4: UbiComp
- ParcPad and ParcTab (Mark Weiser)
- Frequency and Volume (Rafael Lozano-Hemmer)
by Justin Sharpe and Leigh Brooks

 

Blog post
12
Wearable computers
Tu. 04.08 Wearable Computers

Mann, S. "Wearable Computing" (pp. 25-32)

 

 

Film: Cyberman Blog post
Th. 04.10 Wearable computers

Rheingold, H. "Always on Panopticon (pp. 183-215)
*This text is not on e-reserves. Students need to make a copy of book chapter on reserves at the library.

 

Presentation 5: Wearables
- WiFi.Bedouin (Julian Bleecker)
- Inside/Outside (Katherine Moriwaki)
by Brian Reid and Mark Beatty

 

Blog post

 

14
LBS
Tu. 04.15 Location-based services

de Souza e Silva, A."Conceptualizing locative mobile social networks"

 

 

Blog post

Th. 04.17

Location-based services

Sui, D. "Paradoxical consequences of location-based services (LBS)" (pp. 255-271)

 

Blog post

 

 

15
Digital Divide
Tu. 04.22 Digital Divide

Manuel Castells, "The geography of the Internet " (pp. 207-246).

 

Blog post

Give questions final exam

 

Th. 04.24 Final class presentations

 

 

 

16
Finals week
Tu. 04.29 Finals week (no class)     -- final exam due
(leave exam until 1pm in my mailbox at Winston 201K)
Th. 05.01 Finals week (no class)