DMS 528

Social Web Media

Social Web Media : DMS 528/DMS 415 : Spring 2009
Department of Media Study, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Al Larsen (alarsen [at] buffalo.edu)
home : schedule : resources : syllabus : student work : visualizations
tentative outline
Week 1: intro to course
Tues. 1/13course overview, syllabus, policies, network topologies, network protocols
The Machine is Us/ing Us
1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial
Web 2.0 in Plain English
Thurs. 1/15 packet switching
internet overview lecture slides
possible clips:
How the Internet Works
Watch part of TCP / IP - An animated discusion
Social Networking in Plain English
Week 2: social web media - where we are now
Tues. 1/20Reading: Technologies of Cooperation - Rheingold (download pdf)
Discussion
Lecture: The Political Process and the Network (Barack 2.0?) (lecture slides)
Lecture: from software to services and communities (lecture slides)
Thurs. 1/22Discussion - Technologies of Cooperation
Week 3: the public sphere & communication technologies
Tues. 1/27Read:
The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article - Jurgen Habermas
Constituents of a Theory of the Media - Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Thurs. 1/29Enzensberger
also read: NY Times magazine - "Revolution, Facebook-Style"
Lecture: Constituents of a Theory of the Media - Hans Magnus Enzensberger - slides as pdf
possible clips:
public sphere w/ your host karl marx
lyrics by Enzensberger
Rheingold on collaboration
Week 4: "the commons"
Tues. 2/3Smart Mobs - introduction + chapters 1-4
Mark Pesce clip
Thurs. 2/5lecture - Smart Mobs lecture slides as pdf
Mark Pesce - Hyperpolitics, American Style (VIDEO)
Week 5: identity and participation
Tues. 2/10finish reading Smart Mobs
Finish watching Mark Pesce lecture....
Mark Pesce - Hyperpolitics, American Style (VIDEO)
Mark Pesce - Hyperpolitics, American Style (TEXT)

Lecture... Smart Mobs, Flash Mobs, Snap Mobs...
slides as PDF
networked organzing, political activism

FLASH MOBS FOR FUN & PROFIT
FROZEN GRAND CENTRAL (Improv Everywhere)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo

BEST BUY (Improv Everywhere)
http://vimeo.com/68614

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/09/uk.station.flashmob/index.html
FLASH MOBS FOR POLITICAL PROTESTS
examples from Smart Mobs
Phillipines
STUDENT ACTIVISM AND PROTEST RIGHT NOW
BACKGROUND/CONTEXT: MAY 1968
La Contestation

MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY OCCUPATION - SOLIDARITY WITH GAZA

MAN UNI - organizer video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UI_NsKOmr0

ROCHESTER NY http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com/2009/02/victory-for-rochester-university-in- usa.html

FACEBOOK GROUPS
SEARCH: "Support to Sussex University Occupation"
"Manchester University Occupation - Solidarity with Gaza"
"Support the Occupation at Queen Mary University"

THE NEW SCHOOL IN EXILE (NYC)

GREECE, DECEMBER 2008 FACEBOOK GROUP - SEARCH "Support the Greek Struggle"
GREECE OFFICIALLY IN WAR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzvfSPWzw&feature=related
GREECE RIOTS - BBC clip
FROM PROTEST TO RIOT... HYPERCONNECTIVITY... THE INFORMATION BOMB...

GREEK RIOTS SMS http://irevolution.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/greek-riots-facebook-twitter-and-sms/

GREECE TWITTER http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/113389/letter_from_athens:_greek_riots_and_the_news_media_in_the_age_of_twitter/

THE ECONOMIST - RIOTERS OF THE WORLD UNITE - WEB CAMS - http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12815678

SNAP MOBS?
Patrick Meier PATRICK PHILIPPE MEIER http://irevolution.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/snap-mobs-of-the-world-unite-a-better-taxonomy/

Thurs. 2/12first assignment due
Week 6: Property and Production: peer production / open source / copyright / intellectual property
Tues. 2/17Quiz #1
READING ASSIGNMENT: Yochai Benkler - The Wealth of Networks, Chapter 3 (up until the heading "Peer Production of Information, Knowledge, and Culture Generally ") [note - this book is available online in several formats. Here are links to Chapter 3 in HTML format and PDF format.]
Thurs. 2/19 possible topics include: history of copyright, remix culture, Napster, bit torrent, DMCA, DRM. fair use, Creative Commons
Week 7:
Tues. 2/24Discuss: Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky (chapters 1 -4)
email a suggested discussion topic to me by Monday evening
2nd Assignment handed out
Thurs. 2/26NO CLASS
Week 8: work: amateur or professional?
Tues. 3/3second assignment due
In-class discussion focusing on Shirky Chapters 5 - 7.

Flash Mob - "managing participation"

final paper example topics...
  1. Facebook terms of service
    "Facebook Doesn't Get it: Users Want Control, Not Voting Privileges"
  2. Fair Use on the Web: NY Times article: Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt
  3. Paparazzi - amateurization/ sousveillance? see nytimes article
  4. cell phones, mapping
  5. newspapers closing
    Denver, etc.
    online news readership
    "Key News Audiences Now Blend Online and Traditional Sources Audience Segments in a Changing News Environment" PEW Research
  6. Election: candidates use of social web tools
  7. Election: user-generated content + the election (blogs, spoof videos, etc)


lecture/discusssion: professionalsim / "mass amateurization" / crowdsourcing
role of the professional
Clip: I'm going to let you do this one on spec...
"the people formerly known as the audience"
the people formerly known as employees...?
crowdsourcing models:
Shirky discuses crowdsourcing on pg. 75 (Shirky)
Discussion Topics
WBFO fundraising
design the mug, vote on it and buy it???
Listener-Designed t-shirt contest

99designs

iStockPhoto [[audio & video too]]
pays 20-40% of download price [[$20 price = $4 to $8 payment to contributor]]


uShip


Thurs. 3/5In-class discussion focusing on Shirky Chapters 8 - 9.
also:
REVISITING THE WEB IS USING US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
HTML to XML

NET VIBES

http://www.netvibes.com/#General
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netvibes

"xml faciliates automated data exchange"
"WE ARE THE WEB" = KEVIN KELLY = WIRED

PDF of slides from social web mashup lecture
spring break
Finish reading Here Comes Everybody and start reading The Information Bomb - Virilio
Tues. 3/10NO CLASS
Thurs. 3/12NO CLASS
Week 9: media consolidation / who owns what
Tues. 3/17 defining final projects... some example topics and articles to get you started...
  1. censorship / filtered internet:
    "Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens" (NY Times 2/5/2009)
  2. Sousveillance (and/or inverse surveillance):
    "When Official Truth Meets Cheap Digital Technologys" (NY Times 7/30/2008å)
  3. Fair Use / Digital Millenium Copyright Act
    "McCain in Fight Over YouTube"
    (article also applies if you are researching the use of social web tools by candidates in the election)
Lecture: who owns what / media consolidation
Thurs. 3/19 Discuss Trebor Scholz: What the MySpace generation should know about working for free
Quiz 2
Week 10:
Tues. 3/24Discuss: The Interconnected Web: Media Consolidation, Corporate Ownership, and the World Wide Web
Assign 3 due
(discuss consolidation, and Scholz article)
Andrew Keen on CNN: YouTube is Ruining America
Thurs. 3/26 (class cancelled)
Week 11: critique
Tues. 3/31discussing Andrew Keen excerpt
lecture: The Information Bomb
Thurs. 4/2 bring in a definition of cybernetics
Virilio, cybernetics, Holmes
Week 12: privacy, data-mining, tracking
Tues. 4/7guest speaker - Sarah Kolberg - data-mining in politics, marketing
Assignment 4
Thurs. 4/9 guest speaker - Teri Rueb -Network Landscapes: Shifting Frontiers
Week 13: digital divide, taming the internet/net neutrality, moral panics, stalking and cyberbullying (as time permits)
Tues. 4/14digital divide
Virilio - discussing chapters 5 -14
QUIZ 3
Thurs. 4/16barriers to participation and "digital divides"
Week 14: wrapping up - looking forward
Tues. 4/21 net neutrality
Thurs. 4/23 tbd
Tues. 4/28papers due by 5:00 pm - I will be in (or near) my office 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm