This is it – this will be the last brief in the semester.

Wiki Marathon

For week I would like you to work on the wiki and make sure the structure and content of the wiki together with your contribution pages reflects the hard personal and collective work you’ve been doing. I want you guys to do more work earlier and not wait for the last moment on this as collaboration is hard and the process should be given some time to take shape and materialize. Please make sure you make most of your contributions by Saturday and devote Sunday-Tuesday to edit, structure and further substantiate the collective work of the class.

Next week’s reading will focus on the potential (?) of Postnationalism presented by the networked public sphere and on the digital divide through the case study of the OLPC.

Required Reading:

• Nicolas Negroponte, “Interview with Riz Khan” Al-Jazeera October 2007
  

  Click here to view the embedded video.

  (by the way, Riz’s show is recommended in general)
• One Laptop per Child Doesn’t Change the World / John C. Dvorak
• Give me rice, but give me a laptop too / Bill Thompson
• Frost, Catherine “Internet Galaxy Meets Postnational Constellation: Prospects for Political Solidarity After the Internet” (a pdf will be emailed to you, please do not share, sorry)
• Sara’s summary + your comment

Recommended Reading:

• (optional, just to get a more updated note on the OLPC) OLPC XO-2 cancelled: tablet will be developed next / Jack Schofield, Guardian (Nov 4th, 09)
• The OLPC wikipedia page, kept pretty updated with the project’s history and current state.

Sara:

• Read the essay & articles and view the presentation
• Optionally Highlight and annotate the reading to help its accessibility for the rest of you.
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class.
• Think of questions to lead off the discussion
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

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• Building communities or creating a divide?: The Digital Divide and Postnationalism (11) |
• Concluding the 4th travelogue and this evolutionary step (0) |
• Representation, Simulation, Fun & filthy rich media (0) |

The New Media Embed Program (a manual)

This one is a group assignment. And by group I mean the whole class. We are going to write a manual for the new media researcher, based on the experiences and themes we have gathered in this class, all in wiki format. I have deliberately not structured the wiki as I want to see how will you guys work together to make the structure emerge from the group activity. What we can expect to have in a manual like this might be (just suggestions, you are welcomed to come up with other ideas):

• Topics we discussed through readings: trust, community, CBPP, open source, social software, network theory, interface, fun, the long tail, representation/simulation, control, remix culture, game theory, copyright laws, net neutrality…
• Topics we discussed in class: mash-ups, twitter, religion, Google Wave, Facebook activism, music business, crowdsourcing…
• Do’s and Don’t for conducting a networked research, posting, commenting, tagging, podcasting, vodcasting, screencasting, interviewing, using rich media, embedding yourself in a media environment, choosing a starting destination…
• Best practices for travelogues
• Recap of key travelogues conducted through the semester.
• What does “New Media” or “Digital Media” stand for anyway?
• You name it…

To get started:

• Log in with your username/password from the blog (if you’re not already logged-in, check under the ‘Personal tools’ sidebar)
• Learn the MediaWiki syntax (if you don’t already know it)
• To start a new page simply write its name after the tdm/wiki/index.php/_______ and then, when it says the page does not exist yet, edit it to bring it to life.
• Make sure to link between the pages using this syntax [[Page_Name]] or link to external links (including our blog) using [http://www.somesite.com the text you want to be linked]
• When saving, write what was the content of your change, so we can easily track it
• Use the talk pages to coordinate when it makes sense.
• Track changes through the new sidebar on the blog or through RSS feeds.
• Enjoy…

Some Tips:

• We need structure, try to work on the main page to formalize the architecture of the travelogue
• Feel free to link to currently non-existing pages like that: [[Trust]] if you think it makes sense for someone (maybe even you, but not necessarily you) to write them, and then for someone else to help edit it.
• Work on pages together, start something, make some subheadings that you think should be filled by someone, invite them to help you, even comment on their posts with something like: “Hey Gordita, I started this page on our wiki about Twitter and I thought you might have a lot to add to it” – that way the wiki will collaboratively evolve.
• Check out the History pages to see what edits have been made on a page.

* I’m expecting each of you to make at least 35 edits this week, or in other words, make sure you edit so much that you stop counting. This wiki is what we leave behind this class and will be what you take with you from it.

Required Reading:

• The Impending Demise of the University by Don Tapscott
• MyUniversity.com? Personalized Education and Personalized News by Cass Sunstein
• Melissa’s summary + your comment on it

Recommended Viewing:

• My University.com, My Government.com: Is the Internet Really a Blessing for Democracy? presentation by Cass Sunstein
  (you can play it in the background, it’s not very visual)

For Melissa:

• Read the articles and view/listen to the presentations
• Optionally Highlight and annotate the reading to help its accessibility for the rest of you.
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class.
• Think of questions to lead off the discussion
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

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• Wave Hello! (3) |
• Hi Class! (1) |

I am not giving you any general instructions this week, as you’re each doing your own thing. I do expect one post from you though, for some it would be a weekly audio / video / visual / locative post, and for some just an update on your longer (video/software…) project (ask me if you feel unsure about what’s expected from you). Either way, each of you please comment 4 times this week on your friend’s posts.

Some important tip for video & audio podcast

• Video / Audio Formats – iTunes (for both Mac & PC) has an option to ’save for ipod & iphone’ (for video) & to ‘convert to MP3′ (for audio). Both of these options will make your podcasts compatible with most podcasting devices and more accessible by all of us. By the way, to subscribe to our podcast feed use this link with iTunes (or other podcast aggregation):

  http://cultureandcommunication.org/f09/tdm/feed/podcast

• Be casual, not too casual – I found that some of you have written your text in advanced and are simply reading it out. It works for some of you (most of you actually), but less for others. On the other hand some of you were making it up as you went, which again, worked for some, not for all. I think the recommendations on this site might be relevant both for screencasts, vodcasts and for podcasts. Either way, building a bullet-pointed scenario cannot be a bad idea, as it would leave you some more freedom from the tight text while keeping you on the right track. Remember, you are not making an audio-book.
• You are beautiful – But ask yourselves, do we really need to see your faces? Maybe we do, but maybe the frame can be better used to support your content visually, screencasts are a good example for that, when they fit. If you don’t really have anything to show, maybe video is not the medium you need, maybe stick to voice only… think about it.
• Support your media – rich media is rich, but it can’t do everything, for example, it usually cannot link to a site. If you want us to get more informed, link to the relevant content in your posts.
• Share your experiences – Feel free to comment on this post, or even write a whole new one if you think there are other things you’ve learned that others can enjoy from.
• Add to the Resources page – Some of the titles there are still unpopulated, we want to document the techniques you are using so they can be shared by all. Please edit the page.

Required Listening + Reading:

• Networks – The Science-Spanning Disciplines / Anna Nagurney
  make sure to follow her presentation slides too
  
• Read Part 1 of The Principle of Notworking Geert Lovink: Multitude, Network and Culture (up to page 11)
• Sava’s summery + X >= 1 comment/s on it.

Recommended Reading:

• Review of The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (2 reviews + 1 response)

Sava:

• Read the excerpt reviews & response and listen & flip through the slides of the talk.
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class.
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

Enjoy!Similar Posts:

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You already know the drill, you choose an environment and start exploring, trying to surprise yourselves and to come up with new perspectives and understanding of the issues and debates within the new media discourse.

What do I mean by richer? We are going to extend our weapons of choice. I mean we are going to use more than text for our posts:

• Audio (podcasts)
• Videos (vodcasts)
• Slideshows
• Comic strips
• Flash animations
• Software
• Annotated Maps
• Annotated webpages
• Your (rich) medium of choice here

The post itself would use a “rich” medium as its leading medium for the post (with text used to fill in the blanks), the comments are textual.

I want YOU to be the producers of the rich-media you post.

For next week:

• Choose a subject. If you want our feedback on your ideas, post them by Saturday 4pm, so you can still create the content in time.
• Post a short introduction post to your travelogue using using the rich format. Try to present both your area of research and the choice of medium.
• refer to the how-to page to learn more about how to post different stuff. If you have questions, search the web, if the web has answers, share them with us.
• If you still do not know how to post your thing, email me, I am very open to adding plug-ins to our Wordpress. If you want me to do that, email me after researching the plugins. (I recommend you try to solve things by yourselves prior to asking me for help)
• I am open to collaborations (as before – in the price of higher expectations).
• Post 4+ comments to your fellow students posts. Try to give constructive feedback on both content and use of media.
• Please notice, there’s an interface critique assignment this week too…

Recommended Reading:

• Mushon Zer-Aviv, Interface as a Conflict of Ideologies (April, 2007)

Required reading / viewing / assignment:

• Social networking, new governing By ANDREW RASIEJ & MICAH L. SIFRY
• Read the summary.
• View this ShiftSpace presentation (it’s pretty old, and the quality isn’t great, slightly embarrassing, but still…):
  

  Click here to view the embedded video.

• Use ShiftSpace to post a critique of an interface. This could be anything from Wikipedia’s editing syntax, through Google Chrome’s Universal Search-bar to lobbying as an interface to democracy. (reading the paper or summery will help you better understand this assignment)
• Post a permalink to your shift on our blog (as a comment here, or a new post) with a paragraph about your intervention.
  Here’s how you can reach the permalink to your shift:
  

For H-Man & Jason:

• Read the article, the essay and watch the introduction
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

Enjoy, and see you next week!Similar Posts:

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Let’s conclude our 3rd travelogues and start minding the digital media around us.

By Friday the 30th:

• Post your final research post(s) based on the process you’ve been leading in the past 3 weeks.
• Try to develop some insightful conclusions / questions / critique of your explored environment.
• Comment on at least 4 posts.

By Monday the 2nd, 4pm:

• Post your concluding post for this travelogue.
• Comment on other students posts as you see fit.
• Be prepared to discuss your favorite (/most note-worthy) travelogues in class.

Recommended Reading:

• Dan Hill, The City As A Platform

Required Reading / Viewing:

• Adam Greenfield at PICNIC08: The Long Here, the Big Now, and other tales of the networked city:

  Click here to view the embedded video.

• Dan Hill, The City As A Platform – the italicized introduction and part two only (starting point: “This somewhat banal sketch of an average high street is very deliberately based on the here and now; “)
• Read and comment on the summary.

Camille & Anu:

• Read the article and watch the presentation.
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them (you can use some wiki or collaborative writing software to write the post and then publish it under one of your names).
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class.
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

EnjoySimilar Posts:

• Concluding the 4th travelogue and this evolutionary step (0) |
• Representation, Simulation, Fun & filthy rich media (0) |
• Corey Bookers Social Media Arsenal and how he uses it (0) |

For the next two weeks we will be charging directly into the third travelogue. We will also be making a serious critique of Wikipedia and the peer production and 2.0 that we just loooove so much.

By this coming Sunday:

• Based on the feedback you got, decide on your third travel destination.
• Dive into the new media environment destination through a post laying out the current events or the relevant timely reference that points into your travelogue. Title your post with the initial question you want to inquire into. Include your initial assumptions for the nature of this environment and its culture. Try to define what norms are officially or unofficially defined within this environment and what possible practices might be used to work with or against these norms to learn more about their nature.
• If you’re into Twitter (or interested to try it out), you might want to experiment with live micro-blogging as a research tool. If you come up with interesting results and methodologies, share them on our blog
• Comment on at least three posts.

By Tuesday:

• Optionally keep us in the know about your progress, this can be a short update or a longer one, or even a short reference to your recent travel (new finding based on comments you got, a new building you sketched up on Google Earth, a Google Wave account you got access to, a recent experience with FourSquare, or whatever) and where next does it direct you
  * Posting a second time this week is encouraged but remember not to over saturate your audience’s short attention span and lack of time.
• Comment a lot more (at this point I hope you don’t need numbers, numbers will always betray you, you can only trust people…)

Required listening / reading / writing / watching:

• Jaron Lanier – Digital Maoism
• Audio Inteview with Jaron Lanier by Andrew Keen (it’s going on and off between his critique of Wikipedia and Virtual Reality, but the relevant part starts 11:48 through):
  
• Read Gabriel’s summaries.
• Choose one of the responses to Jaron Lanier’s Digital Maoism or one of the 10 theses in the recommended reading
• Write your own response to the response/theses as a comment to Gabriel’s post

Very Recommended Reading:

• The Digital Given–10 Web 2.0 Theses by Ippolita, Geert Lovink & Ned Rossiter

For Gabriel:

• Read the articles responses and listen to the interview
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday at 4:00pm, run some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class. (make some notes for yourself, even share them in a post)
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.

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Very nice work on the second travelogue, I think many of you went through a really interesting journey and came up with some interesting treasures to show the folks back home. I also think we managed to develop a pretty good level of discussion and I hope this continues and even intensifies in the next travelogues.

Speaking of which, we will now launch the third travelogue in which we up the ante by adding a requirement – this time we will be doing some live reporting.

• The target destination of your next travelogue will fundamentally involve current events – meaning it will focus on a story that is evolving as we speak and through the process of you writing the posts.
• I want you to surprise us, ideally you will find a story which have had little or no coverage yet, or provide a unique perspective on an event going on right now.
• I do want you to do your own leg (eye/finger) work but if you want more inspiration there are a bunch of sites and services that cover trending topics in the field.
• More examples: I had a student cover a user strike on e-bay, following the site’s change of terms and conditions. Another student has tried to research ‘Improve Everywhere’ by becoming a member. Another one researched the ‘Don’t Date Him, Girl’ site and ended up creating a big controversy there, which was actually quite revealing (she ended up actually creating the story she was covering).
• What is New Media? I didn’t try to have us answer this question yet for a reason, but if you need some reassurance to your ideas of what falls in the scope of our research, Wikipedia provides a fair definition:
  

  New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as “new media” are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulatable, networkable, dense, compressible, and impartial.

  This means new media is more than just the websites, web-applications or the internet at large. While it’s fair to say that the web offers the widest variety of subjects within new media, it will be great if we cross to other aspects of it (mobiles, wearables, location aware, bio-computing, gaming, free and open-source software, electronics, surveillance, networked culture… so much more)

• Do not hesitate to embed yourselves in the travelogue if it makes sense – meaning, you can be more than a spectator/anthropologist you can become a part of the environment you are exploring, maybe even change it.

For next week:

• Choose a couple of options for a new media environment to explore through your third (more involved) travelogue. Post briefly about your ideas so we might help you decide.
  * I permit working in pairs on this one, but this means the expectations from your shared travelogue will be twice as high as we would expect from you individually.
• Post 3 comments (or more) to your fellow students posts.

Required viewing & reading:

• Watch: The Wealth of Networks – A presentation by Yochai Benkler.
• Read: Excerpts from The Success of Open Source – by Steven Weber.
• Read & comment on: Franklin’s summary

Recommended reading:

• Commons-based Peer Production and Virtue* – by Yochai Benkler * Helen Nissenbaum
• Property and the Problem of Open Source (The Success of Open Source, pp.1-19) – by Steven Weber. This is the extension of the excerpts above, so if you read this, there is no need to read both.

Optional extra viewing (which Franklin is not required to summarize):

• Yochai Benkler: After Selfishness – Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0 at Half Time
  

  Click here to view the embedded video.

Franklin:

• Read and watch this week’s materials
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4:00pm, including your takes on it.
• Be prepared to present the material in class (prepare bullet points, even post them as a part of your post).
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
• Enjoy.

good luck!Similar Posts:

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By Friday 4pm:

• If you got any feedback in class, summarize it in a comment on your own latest post.
• Post at least one report from your travelogue.
• Comments at least twice to other posts on the blog

By Monday 4pm (preferably earlier):

• Publish your concluding post and try to look back at your journey and the path you’ve gone through. Try to situate your experience within this media environment and ask some questions about its own culture.
• Post at least another three comments on other travelogues.

Recommended Reading:

• Jenkins, Henry: Taking the You Out of YouTube?
• Dmytri Kleiner & Brian Wyrick – InfoEnclosure 2.0

Required Viewing/Reading/Commenting:

• Steal This film 2: Trial Version
• Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture presentation:

  Click here to view the embedded video.

• Elisa’s summary

Elisa:

• Read the articles and watch the documentary & presentation.
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the articles in class.
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
• Enjoy.

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• Ask a question:
  In the next 36 hours (before 6am Thursday morning) publish a post with your main question as a title and a more detailed description in the content.
• By next class time post at least once (more) to the blog reporting from the new media environment you are researching. Please be sure to format your posts in a way that would make it accessible to scan through before reading or would make it inviting enough for the rest of the students to read and hopefully comment. Use images, titles, block-quotes, links, video embeds, audio or whatever you think would help you get your message across and might make your post more appealing to read and provoking to discuss. Foster the discussion on your post and try to learn from it. After describing your environment first, you now go further in, trying to challenge your own preconceptions about it. Do not hesitate to change your initial focus if through the process you discover a much more interesting story on your way to your initial travelogue destination. (No conclusions are necessary yet)
• Comment on at least 3 posts (at least).

* You are welcomed to post and comment whenever, it will be up to your strategic decision, depending on your reading of the blog’s dynamics (with the obvious goal of having your posts and comments contribute to a live discussion on the blog and in class)

Required reading for next week:

• Dana Boyd: Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? (available as audio as well on the same link)
• Clay Shirky Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
• Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (Event Video/Audio)
• Craig’s summary + at least one comment on the readings and analysis offered 
  

Recommended Reading for next week:

• Clay Shirky: A Group is it’s Own Worst Enemy

Craig:

• Read the three articles and watch the video
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday at 4:00pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the articles in class
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
• Enjoy.

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• Come up with a subject for your second log–your own free-formed New Media Travelogue.
  • This time you will research a media environment of your choosing. It can be a web service you use, a cellphone application, a media phenomena you are familiar with (telephony hacking, or Google Bombing for example), a social networking site, a media art movement, a mailing list, an audiovisual music scene you’re involved with, Obama’s Blackberry, The Change Congress movement, the anthropology of LOL Cats, whatever, it’s up to you.
  • You will develop a networked research, consisting of a thread running through different parts of your chosen environment. You will have to develop your own process of travel and navigation on one hand and log and report on the other.
  • This Travlogue will continue for 3 weeks (until Oct 13th)
• By Sunday 4pm: Write one short post introducing your desired ‘travel destination’. You can suggest more than one idea and have us help you choose on the comments and in class.
• Comment on at least 3 other posts, ideally giving feedback and reference to more info on your fellow student’s subject of research.
• Feel free to explore and surprise yourselves (and us).

Class Challenge:

Follow the rules for the class challenge – A week without Google

Required Reading/Listening:

• Cory Doctorow, Scroogled
• From On The Media:

  
  http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2008/09/12/segments/108969
  &
  
  http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2008/09/12/segments/108972

• Ryvka’s summary + at least one comment on the readings and analysis offered by Ryvka 
  

Recommended Reading:

Nicholas Carr, The Omnigoogle

Paul Boutin, You Are What You Search

Ryvka:

• Read the three articles and listen to the two audio segments
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
• Be prepared to present the articles in class
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
• Enjoy.

Remember! You’re not allowed to Google it! Similar Posts:

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1. Watch Adam Curtis’s The Trap: What Happened To Our Dream Of Freedom
2. Each choose one topic that stood out, intrigued, irritated, disturbed or made you tick in any way and try to discover the discourse around it through research and expand it through your own commentary.
3. Write at least one posts to the class blog before the end of Sunday. Make sure to include references and links where needed and to expose the discussion in an enticing post that would make the rest of the class interested enough to discuss it.
4. Choose at least three of the posts published by other students in the class and comment on them using the blog’s commenting interface.
5. Be prepared to present the posts you chose to react to next week to the class.
6. Additionally: Write a short comment to the Trap post about how do you see the relevancy of the trap to the new media discourse.

Required material:

• The death of the news / By Gary Kamiya
• Brooke, Clive and Ethan at Aspen / Brooke Gladstone, Clive Thompson and Ethan Zuckerman [from 'On The Media']
  
• Alison’s Summary
• Submit your comment to the text and panel and to the ideas expressed in Alison’s summary

Suggested Material:

• Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over / Jay Rosen

Alison:

• Read the two articles and listen to the On The Media segment
• Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm
• Be prepared to present the article in class
• Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
• Enjoy.

See you all next week.Similar Posts:

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I have embedded all the files here in the blog but in case you have a problem watching or prefer the option to watch it in full-screen, I have also uploaded it to my server, where you can download it as a Quicktime video.

Part I:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Part III:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And now, discuss: Why do you think I have found this video relevant to our discussion of new media? What kind of lessons / ideas did you draw from it that might extend our discussion?Similar Posts:

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