IS 30070: Cybersociety? Technology, Culture and Communication

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1 IS 30070: Cybersociety? Technology, Culture and Communication Instructor: Lee Komito School of Information and Library studies Course Objectives The module examines anthropological perspectives on information and technology, and empirical evidence regarding the impact of new technologies on culture, community, and society. Topics will include social studies of science and technology, the sociology of information, the impact of information and communications technologies on social and cultural structures, social control of information, global culture, virtual communities, and the transformation of community. The challenge presented by postmodernism, sociology of knowledge, and social studies of technology for information and social computing fields will also be discussed, and the impact of new social networking technologies will be addressed. Learning Outcomes On completion of this module students should be able to: Discuss and evaluate the impact of ICTs on culture and community Explain social studies of science and technology and its relevance in contemporary society Critically summarise the global culture debate and role of ICTs in globalisation; Discuss the relation between postmodernism, sociology of knowledge, and information and social computing fields Evaluate the impact of new social networking technologies on individuals, organisations and society. Assessment Assessment for this course will be by continuous assessment and examination. Continuous Assessment: 40% Case Study Presentation (equivalent to 1000 words) and written submission (1,500 words) Case studies are chosen to provide an empirical example which will can test whether new technologies are having a significant impact on social life. Presentations should examine a single instance in detail, not provide a general summary of a particular technology. Data can come from direct observation (survey, interviews, participantobservation), or from secondary sources. Possible case studies include: (1) changed modes of information production and consumption (electronic publishing, access to information, selling commodities/culture, role of institution such as libraries, the professions, universities and the impact of wikis, open source and collaborative information flows); (2) impact of new technologies on local communities (residents groups, local voluntary groups, local politics);

2 (3) communities of interest (illness, sports, voluntary work, leisure, political action groups, social movements); (4) social media and social groups: combining online/offline (second and third level student, immigrant groups) (5) social media and migration: transnational links and global diasporas (including Irish abroad) (6) the online self (privacy, presentation of self, online versus offline personhood) Written version of presentation due last day of instruction. Written work submitted up to one week late will lose 10% or 2 grade points; essays up to two weeks late will lose 20% or 4 grade points. Essays later than two weeks will receive no marks. Essays should be submitted in hardcopy; electronic submission via Blackboard dropbox can be used as evidence of submission time, but not as a replacement for hard copy. Examination: 60%, end of Semester Exam Module Schedule and Required Reading Texts Barney, D. D. (2004). The network society. Cambridge, Polity. Barber, Bernard (1990). Social studies of science. New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A., Transaction Publishers. Castells, Manuel (2001). The Internet Galaxy. Oxford University Press. Dutton, William H. (1999). Society on the line: information politics in the digital age. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Jones, Steven (Ed) (1997). Virtual Culture - Identity and Communication in Cybersociety. London: Sage. Komito, Lee (2004). The Information Revolution & Ireland: prospects and challenges. Dublin, UCD Press. Lyon, David (1999). Postmodernity, 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press. May, C. (2002). The information society: a sceptical view. Cambridge, Polity Press. Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. Slevin, James (2000). The Internet and society. Cambridge, Polity Press. Stefik, Mark (1996). Internet dreams: archetypes, myths, and metaphors. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. Webster, Frank (2002). Theories of the information society. New York, Routledge. Webster, Frank (Ed) (2004). The Information Society Reader. London: Routledge. Wellman, Barry and Caroline A. Haythornthwaite, Eds. (2002). The Internet in everyday life. Malden, MA, Blackwell Pub. Woolgar, Steve (Ed) (2002). Virtual society? : technology, cyberbole, reality. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press. most readings available in the short loan collection, UCD Library Week 1: Overview Barney, Darin D. (2004). The network society. Cambridge, Polity Press, Chapter 1

3 May, Christopher (2002). The Information Society: a sceptical view. Cambridge, Polity Press, Chapter 1. Webster, Frank (2002). Theories of the information society. New York, Routledge. Chapter 2. Weeks 2-3: Postmodernism Lyon, David. Postmodernity. Buckingham: Open University Press, Slevin, James. The Internet and Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapter 1. Stehr, Nico. Knowledge Societies. London: Sage Publications, [Chapter 9] Webster, Theories of the Information Society, Chapter 8. additional readings Lash, Scott and John Urry. Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage Publications: Meyrowitz, Joshua, "No sense of place: the impact of electronic media on social behavior". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Poster, Mark. The Mode of Information: poststructuralism and social context. Cambridge: Polity Press, Thompson, John, "The media and modernity". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Social studies of science and technology Castells, Manuel, The Internet galaxy: reflections on the Internet, business, and society, chapter 2. Cowan, Ruth Schwartz, "How the refrigerator got its hum", in MacKenzie, Donald and Judy Wajcman (ed). The Social Shaping of Technology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, [see also, introductory essay in same volume] Originally in More Work for Mother: the ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave, Basic Books, Marvin, Carolyn. "When old technologies were new: implementing the future". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Winner, Langdon. "Do Artifacts have Politics?", in MacKenzie, Donald and Judy Wajcman (ed). The Social Shaping of Technology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, Bijker, Wiebe E., Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch (eds.). The Social Construction of Technological Systems. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, Flichy, Patrice. "The wireless age: radio broadcasting". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp

4 Webster, Andrew. Science, Technology and Society. London: Macmillan, 1991 Williams, Raymond. "The technology and the society". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Sociology of Knowledge Stehr, Nico. Knowledge Societies. London: Sage Publications, [Chapter 8] Woolgar, Steve. Science the very idea. London: Routledge, Barber, B. Social Studies of Science. London: Transaction Publishers, Chalmers, A. F. What is this Thing Called Science?, an assessment of the nature and status of science and its methods. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1982 Fuller, Steve. Science. Open University Press, Merton, R.K. The Sociology of Science: theoretical and empirical investigations. London: University of Chicago Press, 1973 Richards, Stewart. Philosophy and sociology of science: an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1987 chapters 6, 9 Week 4: Global Culture Herman, Edward and Robert McChesney. "The global media in the late 1990s". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Komito, Lee, Information Revolution and Ireland: prospects and challenges. Dublin, UCD Press, Chapter 10, pp Slevin, James. The Internet and Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapters 3, 6, 8. Ang, Ien. "In the realm of uncertainty: the global village and capitalist postmodernity", Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp During, Simon. "Popular culture on a global scale: a challenge for cultural studies?". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Featherstone, Mike. Global Culture, ationalism, Globalisation, Modernity. London: Sage, Featherstone, Mike. Undoing Culture: globalization, postmodernism and identity. London: Sage Publications, Hannerz, Ulf, Cultural complexity: studies in the social organization of meaning. New York: Columbia University Press, Morley, D., & Robins, K. (1995). Spaces of identity: Global media, electronic landscapes and cultural boundaries. London: Routledge. Morley, David & Robins, K. "Reimagined communities? New media, new possibilities". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp

5 Robertson, Roland. Globalization: social theory and global culture. London: Sage Publications, Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Tomlinson, John. "Cultural globalisation: placing and displacing the west". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Willis, Paul. Common Culture. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, Week 5: Communities and etworks Castells, Manuel The Internet Galaxy. Chapter 4. Komito, Lee. Information Revolution and Ireland: prospects and challenges. Dublin, UCD Press, Chapter 10, pp Komito, Lee Electronic community in the Information Society: paradise, mirage or malaise? Journal of Documentation, 57(1), Feenberg, A., & Bakardjieva, M. (2004). Virtual community: no 'killer implication'. ew Media & Society, Fernback, J. (2007). Beyond the diluted community concept: a symbolic interactionist perspective on online social relations. ew Media & Society, Slevin, James. The Internet and Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapter 4. Wellman, Barry, et. al. "The Social Affordances of the Internet for Networked Individualism" JCMC 8 (3) April Putnam, Robert D Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster. Chapter 9. PEW Internet & American Life Project: "The Strength of Internet Ties". Jeffrey Boase, University of Toronto; John B. Horrigan, Associate Director, Pew Internet Project; Barry Wellman, University of Toronto; Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet Project. January 25, Rheingold, Howard. "The virtual community: finding connection in a computerised world". Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader : continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Woolgar, Steve "Five Rules of Virtuality". Virtual Society? technology, cyberbole, reality. Steve Woolgar (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp Wyatt, Sally; Thomas, Graham; Terranova, Tiziana "They Came, They Surfed, They Went Back to the Beach: Conceptualizing Use and Non-Use of the Internet". Virtual Society? technology, cyberbole, reality. Steve Woolgar (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp

6 Week 6: Global Diversity: Transnationalism and Migration Komito, Lee Social media and migration: Virtual community 2.0, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62 (6) Madianou, Mirca and Miller, Daniel Mobile phone parenting: Reconfiguring relationships between Filipina migrant mothers and their leftbehind children ew Media & Society, v. 13 additional readings Parham, A. A. (2004). Diaspora, Community and Communication: Internet Use in Transnational Haiti. Global networks, 4(2), Hiller, H. H., & Franz, T. M. (2004). New ties, old ties and lost ties: the use of the internet in diaspora. ew Media & Society, Week 7: Politics and ew Technologies Castells, Manuel The Internet Galaxy. [SLC] Chapters 5, 6. Komito, Lee Information Revolution and Ireland: prospects and challenges. [SLC] Chapter 7. May, Christopher The Information Society: a sceptical view. [SLC] Chapters 4, 5. Street, John. "Remote Control? Politics, technology and 'electronic democracy'. Mackay, Hugh and Tim O'Sullivan (1999). The media reader: continuity and transformation. London, Sage. pp Dutton, William H. (ed) Society on the Line. [SLC] pp Howard, Philip. N.; Steve Jones (eds) Society Online: the Internet in Context. Sage. Part II, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9. Weeks 8-12: seminar presentations