JUS 394
Information
Technology and Social Justice
Beyond
First World Discourse
Instructor:
Dr. Merlyna Lim
Office: Wilson 250 or SS 203A
Email: Merlyna.Lim at asu.edu
Office hours: T/Th: 10:30am-12:30pm or
by appointment (by email).
Course description:
This course will discuss the
applicability and usefulness of major theoretical concepts of political
communication in the era when the Internet is emerging as a mass information
and communication medium. This course provides an overview of contemporary debates
surrounding the relationship between (1) new media and information and
communication technology (ICT), particularly the Internet, and (2)
socio-political changes.
We will review both utopian and
dystopian views on the Internet-politics relationship and the concepts of the
public sphere. The course will explore theoretical and empirical problems
related to the socio-political use of new media and information and
communication technology (ICT), particularly the Internet. Here we will discuss
media convergence, viral politics, social mobilization, political participation
and deliberation online and other relevant concepts.
Particular attention is given to the
multiple ways in which new media & ICT and individuals/groups/institutions
-- mutually shape one another to the benefit and/or disadvantage of society and
various social groups. It will include cases on
cyberactivism (democratic and
undemocratic), online un/deliberation, online global movement, networked
publics, citizen journalism (e.g. blogging, podcasting), peer-to-peer
production (e.g., YouTube), and remix culture/politics, derived not only from
the United States, but also from other countries in both Global North as well
as Global South.
Grading:
Weekly reflection/essay, 250-300 words
(each essay = 1%) (12%)
Individual mid-term “position” paper,
7-8 pages, double space (24%)
Individual term paper – final project,
15-20 pages, double space (40%)
Group project + poster presentation
(24%)
There will be no final exam for this
course.
Reading
Complete all readings (and other
assignments) prior to the class meeting for which they are scheduled. The
required (and
recommended/additional) readings are derived from various books and journals
(scanned version of these are available online on blackboard, under “Course documents”, folder
“Reading”) and Internet web pages (links included in this syllabus). You must bring required readings (or
copies of them) to class for the dates they are assigned. In some cases, I may
distribute photocopied readings to you in class. See the course outline below
for details.
Writing
Weekly essays should be posted on
Blackboard (under “assignment” not “digital
dropbox”) before Monday 11:59pm and it
is recommended to bring the print/hard copy version on the next Tuesday morning
(during the lecture). All other papers should be submitted electronically on
blackboard and in print/hard-copy (doublespace line, 12 point font, 1” margin,
stapled). No late or emailed writing assignments will be accepted.
Weekly reflection
Starting in Week 2 (first weekly
assignment due Monday,
Jan 30th Jan 29th 11:59pm), each student is required to submit one page (250-300 words)
weekly essay of personal reflection on the topic, reading, lecture and
discussion of the week.
Mid-term paper
The midterm paper will be a 7-8 page
paper due Saturday
noon, March 3rd March 8th. For this paper, you will
write an essay on (potential) social/political uses of the IT/Internet based on
one specific dimension of online politics. The mid-term position paper may be
expanded into the term paper.
Term paper
A term paper proposal is to be
submitted before/on Thursday, April 5th. This proposal should be 2-3 pages (double space). It should
include the proposed topic; main questions or hypotheses; the methods of
inquiry; a working bibliography; and the availability of primary and secondary
literature and other sources. For this term paper, any topic related to
socio-political dimensions of the IT/Internet, focusing on justice issues, is
acceptable. The paper should consist of empirical dimension and based on
library/online research. Papers based on a single or comparative case study are
encouraged. The paper is expected to be 15-20 pages long (double space),
excluding bibliography and figures, due on Saturday noon, May 5th.
Group blogging project
The class will be divided into groups, 5-6
4 students each. Each group will
publish a blog with any topic related to social justice (defined broadly). All
group members are expected to actively participate in blogging on the topic and
finding ways to mobilize participation from blog readers. Further information
about project will be explained in the class. Please use only blogger
(blogspot.com) or wordpress (wordpress.com) as a platform for your blogs.
Plagiarism
I will not tolerate plagiarism in your
written work. Your papers must provide full citations for all references:
direct quotes, summaries, or ideas, to avoid plagiarism. Work submitted for
other courses will not be accepted in this course. Whether intentional or
unintentional, claiming another’s work as your own is plagiarism. Intentional
plagiarism will result in a failing grade and expulsion from the course or even
expulsion from the university. For more on what constitutes plagiarism, please
see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Citations.html.
Please review the Student Code of Conduct for complete guidelines on academic
honesty. For more information on the ASU Student Academic Integrity Policy,
see: http://www.asu.edu/studentaffairs/studentlife/judicial/academic_integrity.htm#sanctions
INTRODUCTION
January 16: Course Introduction
January 18:
History of the Internet
Cert, Vint, A Brief
History of the Internet and Related Networks,
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml
Cringley, Robert
“Nerds 2.0.1” http://www.pbs.org/opb/nerds2.0.1/
Abbate, Janet (1996) Inventing
the Internet, Cambridge: MIT Press, Chapter 1 and 2
available online from:
http://www.netlibrary.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/
(search: Abbate).
Additional:
Internet’s World
Statistics http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
NTIA, “Online
Activities,” in A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age (2004).
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/NationOnlineBroadband04.pdf
SOCIO-POLITICAL LANDSCAPE OF
THE INTERNET
January 23: The Internet
Ideals
Rheingold, Howard
(1993) (edited version: 2000), “Introduction,” in The Virtual Community, Cambridge: MIT
Press, available online from: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/
Barlow, John Perry, “A
Declaration Of Independence of Cyberspace”,
http://www.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
John Perry Barlow,
“The Economy of Ideas: Selling Wine Without Bottles on the Global Net”
http://www.eff.org/~barlow/EconomyOfIdeas.html
Ester Dyson et.al.
Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/futureinsights/fi1.2magnacarta.html
January 25: Utopian vs
Dystopian
Katz, Jon (1997). The
Birth of Digital Nation. http://www.wired.com/wired/5.04/netizen.html
Winner, Langdon.
(1995) Who will be in Cyberspace?
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/tno/september-1995.html#who
Additional:
Kelly, K. (1996)
Electronic Hive: Embrace It. In Kling, R. Computerization and Controversy, San Diego:
Academic Press.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9wlN9eOomacC&oi=fnd&pg=PA40&sig=mOQV
HGflPW21Nl-ZyOMv63m1hqQ&dq=Birkerts,+S.+(1996)+The+electronic+hive+-
Birkerts. (1994)
Electronic Hive: Refuse It. In Kling, R. Computerization and Controversy, San Diego:
Academic Press.
January 30: Internet as
Convivial Medium
Lim, Merlyna (2005)
“Conviviality of the Internet”, In @rchipelago Online: The Internet
and
Political
Activism in Indonesia (blackboard: Lim_2005)
Additional:
Galloway, Alex. (2005)
Global Networks and the Effect on Culture, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science, Vol. 597, No. 1, 19-31 (blackboard: Galloway).
February 1: Politics of the
Internet
Castells. Manuel
(2002) Politics of the Internet (I) in The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on
the Internet, Business and Society, Oxford University Press (blackboard:
Castells).
February 6: Internet and the
Public Sphere
Poster, Mark (1995)
“Cyberdemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere.”
http://www.hnet.uci.edu/mposter/writings/democ.html.
Underwood, Mick.
(2000) “The Internet as Public Sphere.”
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/internet4.html.
February 8: The Internet and
(Self) Empowerment
Yochai Benkler, (2006)
Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yale University Press
(pp 225-237)
http://www.congo-education.net/wealth-of-networks/ch-07.htm#7-2 until http://www.congo-education.net/wealth-of-networks/ch-07.htm#7-4
James Moore, (2003)
The Second Superpower Rears Its Beautiful Head,
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html
Additional:
Fred Turner, Hackers
Conference http://www.stanford.edu/~fturner/Turner
Hackers Conference Chapter.pdf.
POLITICS ONLINE
February 13: Politics moves
online
Bentivegna, Sara
(1998) Talking Politics on the Net. Press and Politics Research Paper 3-20,
The Joan Shorenstein Center Harvard University.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/papers/Research_Papers/R20.pdf
Norris, Pippa, (2000)
“Political Communications and Democratic Politics.” in John Bartle and
Dylan Griffiths (eds),
Political
Communications Transformed: From Morrison to Mandelson, Basingtoke: Macmillan.
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~.pnorris.shorenstein.ksg/acrobat/bartle.pdf
February 15: Mobilization vs
Deliberation
Lim, M and Kann, M
(forth.) Mobilization and Deliberation Online in Varnelis, K, Networked
Publics,
Cambridge: MIT Press (blackboard: Lim_Kann).
February 20: Viral network,
p2p
Fox, Kate (2001) Evolution,
Alienation and Gossip – The Role of Mobile Telecommunications in the 21st Century, commissioned by BT
Cellnet. http://www.sirc.org/publik/gossip.shtml
Coleman, Stephen
(2001) “E-Politics: democracy or marketing?” Voxpolitics.com
http://www.voxpolitics.com/news/voxfpub/story266.shtml
Fromartz, Samuel
(2000). Viral Politics. http://www.fromartz.com/Pages/b2.html
February 22: Global networks,
global civil society
Pickard, VW (2006)
United yet autonomous: Indymedia and the struggle to sustain a radical
democratic network, Media,
Culture & Society, Vol. 28, No. 3, 315-336 (blackboard: Pickard).
Indymedia. http://www.indymedia.org
Hyde, Gene. (2002)
Independent Media Centers: Cyber-subversion and the Alternative Press.
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hyde/
TheYesMen. http://www.theyesmen.org
February 27: Digital cultural
production & the resistance/protest culture
Klinenberg &
Benzecry (2005) Cultural production in a Digital Age, The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 597, No. 1,
6-18 (blackboard: Klinenberg).
March 1: E-voting
Solop, F. (2001)
Digital Democracy Comes of Age in Arizona, Political Science & Politics, v34 no2 p289-93
(blackboard: Solop).
Fitrakis, Bob (2004).
Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
CYBER-REVOLUTION/EMPOWERMENT
March 6: Zapatista Movement
http://www.zapatistarevolution.com/
Cleaver, H. (1996)
Zapatistas in Cyberspace: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~hmcleave/zapsincyber.html
Cleaver, H. (1994) The
Zapatistas and the Electronic of Struggles:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~hmcleave/zaps.html
Russell, A. (2005)
Myth and the Zapatista movement: exploring a network identity, New Media
& Society, Vol. 7, No. 4, 559-577 (blackboard:
Russell.pdf)
March 8: Indonesia: the First
Net-Revolution?
Basuki, Tedjabayu
(1998) “Indonesia: The Web as a weapon” Development Dialogue 2: The
Southeast
Asian Media in a Time of Crisis.
http://www.n5m.org/n5m3/pages/programme/articles/basuki.html
Marcus, D. L. (1998)
“Indonesia revolt was Net driven” in E. Aspinall, G. Klinken, and Herbert
van Feith (eds) (1999)
The
Last Days of President Suharto, Australia: Monash Asia Institute, p. 73-75. http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9806/msg00001.html
Lim, M. (2003),
"The Internet, Social Network and Reform in Indonesia" in N. Couldry
and J.
Curran (eds.), Contesting
Media Power: Alternative Media in A Networked World, Lanham:
Rowan &
Littlefield. (blackboard: Lim_2003.pdf).
--------SPRING BREAK, no
lectures on March 13th and
15th------
March 20: Philippines & Serbia
Pantic, Drezen (1997)
“Internet in Serbia: From Dark Side of the Moon to the Internet
Revolution”, First
Monday, http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue2_4/pantic/.
Rafael, Vicente L. (2003)
“The Cell Phone and the Crowd: Messianic Politics in Recent Philippine History”
Public
Culture, Volume 15 #3.
http://communication.ucsd.edu/people/f_rafael_cellphonerev_files.htm.
March 22: African Internet
John Abdul Kargbo
(1997) Internet in Sierra Leone: The Way Forward?
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue2_2/kargbo/
Dana Ott (1998) Power
to the People: The Role of Electronic Media in Promoting Democracy in Africa http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_4/ott/
AUTHORITARIANISM, CENSORSHIP & SURVEILLANCE
March 27:
The 15 enemies of the
Internet and other countries to watch
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15613
http://www.opennetinitiative.org (pick one or two country reports)
March 29: China
Zittrain and Edelman
(2003) Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China,
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ read also:
http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/china/
Hachigian, Nina (2002)
“The Internet and One-Party East Asian States” Washington Quarterly vol. 25 n. 3 (Summer,)
pp. 41-58.
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/01636600260046226
Yang, Guobin (2003)
The Co-Evolution of the Internet and Civil Society in China (blackboard: Yang).
April 3: Vietnam, Singapore,
and other countries in Asia
Internet Filtering in
Vietnam in 2005-2006: A Country Study
http://www.opennet.net/studies/vietnam/
Gomez, James (2005)
“Dumbing Down Democracy: Trends in Internet Regulation, Surveillance
and Control in Asia” http://www.jamesgomeznews.com/article.php?AID=12&Page=2
Singapore: Online
Media and Civil Society in the ‘New’ Singapore
http://wwwarc.murdoch.edu.au/wp/wp123.pdf
Additional:
Lim, M. (2004).
“Voices Rise: The Internet and the rise of civil society in Southeast Asia”
(blackboard:
Lim_2004.pdf)
van Koert, Robin
(2004) “The Internet in Vietnam: party propaganda or infotainment?” in Gan,
Gomes and Johannen, Asian
Cyberactivism: freedom of expression & media censorship. (blackboard:
vankoert.pdf).
April 5: Arab countries
Internet Annual Report
2006 http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/middle_east_report.pdf
Zitrain and Edelman
(2005), Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia/
CYBER-RADICALISM, CYBERTERRORISM
April 10: Netwar, Networking
terrorist
Arquilla &
Ronfeldt (1996) The Advent of Netwar, in Arquilla & Ronfeldt, Networks
and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, RAND. (blackboard:
arquilla_ronfeldt)
Zanini & Edwards
(1996) The Networking of Terror in the Information Age in Arquilla &
Ronfeldt, Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, RAND. (blackboard: zanini_edwards)
April 12: Radicalism
Lim, M. (2005)
Islamic Radicalism and Anti Americanism in Indonesia: The Role of the Internet, Policy Studies Series
#18, Washington DC: East West Center.
http://www.eastwestcenterwashington.org/Publications/psseriespdf18.htm
Lim, M. (2002)
“Cyber-civic space in Indonesia” IDPR, 24(4), 383-400
(blackboard:
Lim_2002.pdf).
CITIZEN/NETIZEN DEMOCRACY & SOCIAL NETWORKING
April 17: Blogging Politics
(US)
Drezner & Farrell
(2004) The Power and Politics of Blogs.
http://www.danieldrezner.com/research/blogpaperfinal.pdf
Adamic et.al. (2005)
The Political Blogosphere and 2004 Election: Divided They Blog.
http://www.blogpulse.com/papers/2005/AdamicGlanceBlogWWW.pdf.
How the Internet
Invented Howard Dean http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.01/dean.html
http://www.blogofamerica.com
Additional:
Hindman et al. (2004)
Googlearchy. www.cs.princeton.edu/~kt/mpsa03.pdf.
April 19: Korean Netizen
Democracy
Hauben (2006) The Rise
of Netizen Democracy. http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/misc/korean-democracy.txt
Korea: Political
Parodies: Free expression or law violations? (2004)
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=9788
Korean Netizens Change
Journalism and Politics (2004)
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=8&no=201423&rel_no=1
Japan Internet execs
shy away from politics (2005) http://www.physorg.com/news6687.html
April 24: Youtube & Remix
politics
SFgate (2006) A new
bargain: Youtube politics. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/31/EDG6PKE0NR1.DTL
Allen and Macaca
incident (2006) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI
Revisit subsection of
“Remix politics” in Lim & Kann (forth).
See: http://merlyna.org/politicalremix.htm
(please
add some pro-Bush or pro-IraqWar videos to the list, if you find any).
SUMMING UP AND FINAL POSTER PRESENTATIONS
April 26 & May 1
May 5 noon: Final/term paper due.