Embedded Files
In recent years mobile technologies have become an integral part in the everyday lives of many people across the globe, and they have now far surpassed stationary devices in terms of sheer numbers and with regard to their adoption rate. According to a recent study there exist 1.2 billion fixed landline telephone connections and 1.5 billion television sets around the globe, while 1.3 billion people regularly use the Internet and email. In contrast, there were 4 billion mobile phone subscriptions in January 2009 (world population: 6.6 Billion). How and why did a comparatively recent technology come to play such a prominent role in the lives of so many people in such a short time? In attempting to answer this question, we will focus on the cultural, economic, and political dimensions of mobile technologies such as the cellular telephone, analyzing how they have shaped interpersonal communication as well as other facets human behavior. The course will begin with tracing the historical connections between technology and mobility (beginning in the 19th century) and then proceed to analyze contemporary manifestations.
Requirements
* Regular attendance
Students who miss more than one class will receive a lower grade.
*Final group multimedia project & presentation
*Weekly blog posts
*Leading a discussion thread on the course blog & presenting the topic in class.
*Devising question for and coordinating Twitter conversation.
*Active participation in class discussions.
*Contributing at least five comments to non-class blogs
*Editing at least two Wikipedia articles
Required Texts
Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu, Sey, eds. Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective (E-book)
David Crystal, Txtng: The Gr8 Db8
Gerard Goggin, Global Mobile Media
Davidson, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
All other class materials will be available through the course website
Blog Posts
The class blog provides a forum for discussion before and after our class sessions.
Each week you are required to contribute one or two substantive comments to one of the posts on the course blog. You can respond to any thread or start a thread yourself. Each comment should reflect what you have learned from and think about the assigned class materials. Substantive responses consist of a paragraph that takes into account previous posts and assigned readings (150-200 words).
One time during the quarter, you will be required to write a substantive blog post (500-600 words). You will need to introduce the materials assigned for the session, provide links to secondary sources that relate to the assigned materials, and post thought provoking discussion questions that shows you have completed the reading and thought about the way the particular work fits into the larger themes of the course.
Your substantive blog posts should be posted no later than 48 hours before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials. Your classmates’ responses need to be posted 24 hours before the class session.
You are also encouraged to respond in a less formal manner to the posts and comments of your classmates. These responses are in addition to your required comments. Here, you can comment less formally, provide links and/or quotes that illustrate or challenge another post, etc. Check the course blog often to engage with the ongoing discussion.
All students are required to follow CultMobileTech on Twitter http://twitter.com/CultMobileTech .
Each student will be responsible for posting questions on Twitter that relate to the readings for a particular session to which all other participants must respond before class. Send all class related tweets to @CultMobileTech.
Multimedia Group Projects
For your final project, you will work in five groups. The multimedia project can address any aspect of the course themes and take on several different formats. Your project can be based on ethnography/interviews, present and visualize data in novel ways, tell a story/narrative, or present and frame archival materials in interesting ways, to name only a few examples. You have the choice of creating a multimedia slideshow, a video, a (mobile) website, a blog, an application, or a social network; you can also combine two or more of these formats.
You will receive a work sheet for outlining and brainstorming the format, content, and aim of project. I have also provided a list of online tools that do not require advanced technical skills and will aid you in creating your projects.
Presentation & Process
All groups are required to make their work in progress available as a shared document on course Google site and submit a written assessment (1500-2000 words) of their process at the end of the quarter.
In-class presentations should be at least 15 minutes and not longer than 25 minutes and include all members of the group in some capacity. All the group projects will be made available on a public website after the end of the quarter.
Evaluation
The multimedia project, the class presentation, and the documentation/self-assessment will be evaluated by both the instructor and the other students in the course (you will receive guidelines for self and peer assessment). Since we live in a networked world in which collaborative learning & work (self-assessment, peer assessment & review, etc.) are becoming the norm, the group projects and the other course requirements are designed to put into practice these significant shifts in the way knowledge is produced and information is transmitted. While this model of networked learning grants us many privileges, we also need to take very seriously the responsibilities that come with these procedures. It means that we need to think about how to evaluate and assess both our own work and the work of others so that all those involved benefit from the exchange. Rather than judging the multimedia projects (a la American Idol, etc.), the emphasis should be on how we can contribute constructively to the process. In other words, the assessments can and should include praise but also critically examine what can be done to improve the projects.
Evaluation Criteria:
Planning, Process, Collaboration, Execution, Creativity, Utility, Originality, Self-Assessment
Schedule
Week 1
Introduction to course (Blogging, Twitter, etc.)
Davidson, Now You See It
Week 2
Shirky, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (selections)
Watkins, The Young and the Digital (selections)
Week 3
Castels, Mobile Communication and Society
Week 4
Goggin, Global Mobile Media; Fischer, “Touch Someone”
Turkle, “Always-On”; Fortunati, “Is Body-to-Body Communication Still the Prototype"
Films: Trespass (1992) & Body of Lies (2008).
Week 5
Hall, et al., Doing Cultural Studies (selections), Bull, “The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening”
May and Hearn, “Mobile Phone as Media”
Gopinath, “Ringtones, or the Auditory Logic of Globalization”
Licoppe, “The Mobile Phone’s Ring”
Week 6
David Crystal, Txtng: The Gr8 Db
Snowden, “cstng a pwr4l spll”
Week 7
Horst & Miller, “Understanding Demand: A Proposal for the Development of ICTs in Jamaica”; Horst, “The blessings and burden of communication: cell phones in Jamaican transnational social fields”; Donner & Steenson, “Modes of Mobile Phone Sharing in Urban India”; Kwami & Slater, “Embeddedness and escape: Internet and mobile use as poverty reduction strategies in Ghana”; and Lin & Tong, “Mobile Cultures of Migrant Workers in Southern China”.
Week 8
Huws, The Making of a Cybertariat? Virtual Work in a Real World (selections) &
Wu Ming, “Fetishism of Digital Commodities and Hidden Exploitation: the cases of Amazon and Apple”
Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter, Games of Empire (selections)
Everett & Watkins, “Power of Play: The Portrayal and Performance of Race in Video Games”
Week 9
One Laptop Per Child: Various articles posted on course Google site
Presentation of Final Projects
Week 10
Presentation of Final Projects
Course Synthesis
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse