Journalism 98: The Internet
World
Fall Semester 2002
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Drake University
Prof. Robert D. Woodward
The Internet is exploding as a communication, information, business and research environment. Thousands of new sites are opening daily around the world. One estimate puts the total number of sites at more than 1 billion. The list of participants is endless: Governments at all levels, businesses, universities, media companies, social service agencies, entertainment groups and individuals.
You have the opportunity to participate in this revolution. No one can yet see clearly where the Internet is headed, but there's no doubt it is at the center of a dramatic change in world communication. This course aims to tap into the exploding Internet community by providing you with an opportunity to study closely what is occurring.
The course will seek (1) to have students analyze and to think critically about the emergence of this new medium; (2) to explore how the Internet is being used and expanded as a new communications approach for broad segments of world society; and (3) to understand the Internet as a major influence in a mass communication revolution at the start of the 21st Century.
Required Books
Berners-Lee, Tim. Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor. New York: Harper San Francisco, 1999, or New York: HarperBusiness, 2000.
Hale, Constance, and Scanlon, Jesse. Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.
Kaye, Barbara K., and Medoff, Norman J. The World Wide Web: A Mass Communication Perspective--2001 Update. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co., 2001.
Weinberger, David. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified
Theory of the Web. Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Publishing, 2002.
Required Digital Assignments
You will be expected to visit regularly several Internet sites to keep abreast of contemporary happenings in the Internet/technological world. Some specific class assignments will use the Web sites as starting points.
Here are some of the key sites we will be using:
CNETnews is an excellent site for up-to-date information on technology. Go to http://www.cnet.com/news.
Wired news is another key site for keeping up with developments related to the Internet and the World WideWeb.
The Center for Democracy & Technology provides solid material on free speech, data privacy, digital telephony, cryptography, domain names and congressional legislation relating to the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Two Web sites supported by the Pew Research Center are important for their information and research studies relating to materials to be covered in this class. Visit the Pew Internet and American Life Project to see the many studies concerning Internet use, and see the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press for media studies.
An excellent resource for background on the Internet and the World Wide Web can be found at http://www.livinginternet.org .
Also, you will benefit from regular visits to The Washington Post and The New York Times to read their materials on technology.
Course Requirements
You will be required to attend class regularly; to participate in classroom discussions; to prepare brief credit/no credit discussion papers; and to write five analytical papers of 3 pages pages each and a major research paper. The analytical papers will center on social, political, legal and ethical questions emerging with the growth of the Internet. Topics will be assigned as the semester progresses.
The major paper will be 20 pages plus bibliography and endnotes, and you will be expected to develop a major portion of your research through your use of the Internet. The paper can assess a variety of subjects--something of interest to your major area of study; a key question surrounding the Internet (credibility on the Net, for example); a topic of mass communication (how the Internet is changing the world of print); a topic of popular culture (how the music industry has sought to use this resource), etc. Since you will be researching in a new medium, we'll have class discussions on the best way to document your use of material from sites on the Internet.
Discussion Subjects
Here are some of the possibilities for class reading and discussion:
--How the media world is responding to the Internet with digital newspapers, digital magazines, radio and television experimentation, movies and recordings via the Net.
--How the Internet is changing government at all levels. For example, a citizen can quickly access volumes of information from the federal government--be it the White House, Congress, Census Bureau, Library of Congress, Central Intelligence Agency, or an historical database of genealogical material from the National Archives.
--How the Internet is emerging as a research source for students and professors, and how scholarly journals are moving to "publish" on the Net.
--How schools at all levels are using the Internet for educational purposes. We will want to look especially at what other universities are doing.
--How the Internet is booming as a medium for business opportunities--even in the wake of the dot. com failures. You name it; you'll probably find a business Web site to stir your buying interests.
--How the Internet poses social, political, legal and ethical concerns. There are questions involving privacy, libel, plagiarism, censorship and copyright, for example. There's also an emerging concern that information and knowledge will be accessible to those persons with computers and Internet access while many of the world's citizens do not enjoy that "luxury."
--How individuals throughout the world are using the Internet as their special new way of communicating with others.
A Work in Progress
This class is a work in progress because the Internet is changing constantly. Students will be expected to be surfing the Net daily--to explore it for new ways in which individuals and institutions are appearing online. Build yourself a long list of interesting sites on the World Wide Web and share the best--and the worst--with others. Read as much as you can about the Net. Begin to build upon your understanding of the issues surrounding the Internet's emergence. You're in the middle of a revolution; perhaps in the years ahead you can tell others how you came to see the Net's potential in its early years.
Grading and Class Attendance
Your semester grade will be determined by your participation in class discussions and activities, by class attendance and by your research and writing on your required papers.
If you miss class excessively, you will be graded down. For a class meeting twice a week, you can have two unexcused absences during the semester. Additional absences will lead to a lowering of your semester grade.
Discussion Papers
To prepare for classroom discussions, you will be asked to write brief (1-2 page) papers relating to the assigned topic of discussion. The papers will receive credit/no credit grades.