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Course Schedule

Winter 2005 (Fall 2004)

January 7: Term overview

MODULE 4: TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES AND SOCIO-CULTURAL RELATIONS

January 14: The Culture of Spectacle
-- Kellner, Douglas. "Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle." In Media Spectacle. London: Routledge, 2003.
-- Grindstaff, Laura. "Talk as Show (a Show of Emotion)." In The Money Shot: Trash, Class, and the Making of TV Talk Shows. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Pp. 115-147.

January 21: Communications on the Go
-- Gergen, Kenneth J. "The Challenge of Absent Presence." In James E. Katz & Mark A. Aakhus, eds. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp 227-241.
-- Nafus, Dawn and Karina Tracey. "Mobile Phone Consumption and Concepts of Personhood." In James E. Katz & Mark A. Aakhus, eds. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Talk, Public Performance. 2002, Cambridge University Press, pp 206-221.
-- Lovink, Geert. "Art in the Age of the Mobile Phone: Text Messages from Finland: An Interview with Marita Liulia." In Uncanny Networks. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004. Pp. 204-213.

January 28: The Un-Intended Use of IT
-- Packer, Jeremy. "Mobile Communications and Governing the Mobile: CBs and Truckers." The Communication Reviiew, Vol. 5. 2002, pp. 39-57.
-- Rafael, Vicente L. "The Cell Phone and the Crowd: Messianic Politics in the Contemporary Philippines." In Public Culture, Vol 15, No 3, Fall 2003. Pp. 399-425.

MODULE 5: PUBLIC SPHERE, SOCIAL SPACES, POLITICS AND IT

February 4: Virtuality and Public Sphere
-- Habermas, Jurgen. "The Public Sphere." In Jurgen Habermas on Society and Politics: A Reader. Beacon Press, 1989. Pp 231-236.
-- Poster, Mark. "CyberDemocracy: Internet as a Public Sphere?" In What's the Matter with the Internet? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. Pp 171-188.
-- Interrogate the Internet. "Contradictions in Cyberspace: Collective Response." In Rob Chields, ed. Culture of the Internet Virtual Space, Real Histories, Living Bodies. 1996: Sage Pulications. Pp 125-132.

February 11: Internet and Democracy
-- Sunstein, Cass. "Social Glue and Spreading Information" and "Citizens." In republic.com. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp 87-123.
Fruchter, Peter. "Democracy and Internet Evolution." Download DOC.

February 18: Reading week. No lecture.

February 25: Social Spaces
-- Deutsche, Rosalyn. "Agoraphobia." In Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998. Pp. 267-327.
-- Lovink, Geert. "Gated Communities, Themeparks, Youth Revolts: An Interview with Mike Davis." In Uncanny Networks. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004. Pp. 196-202.
* Annotated bibliography due at the beginning of lecture *

March 4: Surveillance
-- Foucault, Michel. "Panopticism." Excerpts from Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage Books, 2nd edition, 1995. Pp 200-228.
-- Douglas, Thomas. "Technology and Punishment: The Juridical Construction of the Hacker." In Hacker Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002. Pp 177-219.

MODULE 6: META/PHYSICS OF TECHNOLOGY

March 11: Utopias and Dystopias
-- Jordan, Tim. "The Virtual Imaginary." In Cyberpower: The Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet. New York: Routledge, 1999. Pp 179-207, 226-228.
-- Kroker, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker. "The Nanotech Future: A Digital Conversation with BC Crandall." In Kroker, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, eds. Digital Delirium. Montreal: New World Perspectives, 1997. Pp 168-173.
* Module Response (on module 5) due at the beginning of lecture *

March 18: Psychology and Technology
-- Healy, David. "Market Force." In Let Them Eat Prozac. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Ltd, 2003. Pp 169- 199.

March 25: Holiday. No lecture.

April 1: Spirituality and Technology
-- Wilson, Louise. "Cyberwar, God and Television: An interview with Paul Virilio." In Kroker, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, eds. Digital Delirium. Montreal: New World Perspectives, 1997. Pp 41-48.
-- Additional reading TBA. Check the course website for update.

April 4: The Self in the Media-Saturated World
-- De Zengotita, Thomas. "Attack of the Superzeros. Why Washington, Einstein and Madonna can't compete with you." In Harper's Magazine. New York, New York: Harper's Magazine Foundation. Vol. 309, no. 1855, December 2004. Pp35-42.
-- Term review.
* Research Essay due at the beginning of lecture *
Final exam date TBA.
Last modified: 07/FEB/2005 by Gita Hashemi