Course Schedule
All readings and assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date listed below. Please write down and bring at least one question about one of the readings to every class, and come to class prepared to discuss all of the day’s assigned readings.
Wednesday 1/28 Review syllabus, sign up for OpenLab and join course site; introductions
Mon 2/2 Brief history of media; the lifecycle of information; traditional print media: journalism, academic/government/research agency publications
Reading: Read Badke: Ch. 1, Reinhold, “Study says Technology could Transform Society”
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 2/4 Digital text: online versions of print media, “born digital” content
Reading: Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age,” Lepore, “The Cobweb”
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 2/9 Non-text media: sound, images, multimedia
Reading: Meikle & Young pp. 13-27, Brna, “Vinyl vs. CD/MP3”
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 2/11 Alternative media: print (zines, pamphlets, etc.) and electronic (blogs, wikis, etc.)
Reading: Eland, “Critical Thinking, Deviant Knowledge, and the Alternative Press,” Wright, “The History and Characteristics of Zines” (Part I only), Barnard College, About zines: Definition, Genres, How to Make a Zine
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 2/16 College & Library closed
Wed 2/18 participatory media; big data Classes follow Monday schedule!
Reading: Cohen, Wikipedia on Open Data, Tufte
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post OR create a zine, scan or photograph & post to course site
Mon 2/23 Copyright and fair use; open access
Reading: Center for Social Media sections “Code” and “Principles”; Jeanty; Viewing: Grey, Lessig, Faden
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Issues in Information and Media
Wed 2/25 Privacy: changing definitions; challenges of digital media
Reading: Price, Big Data and Privacy. Rainey & Anderson, The Future of Privacy; Wu, Why Monopolies Make Spying Easier
Assignment: comment on at least one blog post
Mon 3/2 Ethics: Plagiarism
Reading: Martin, J., Widdicombe
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 3/4 Access: personal, institutional, digital divide
Reading: Martin, B. The Politics of Research
Samuelson, Aaron Swartz: Opening Access to Knowledge
Ruiz and Lohr, FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
How Information and Media Are Organized
Mon 3/9 Metadata: information about information, taxonomies, folksonomies
Reading: Badke, Research Strategies, Ch. 4
Dye, Folksonomy: A game of high-tech (and high-stakes) tag;
Crockford, Graphs by MIT Students Show the Enormously Intrusive Nature of MetadataAssignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 3/11 Search mechanics: what is a database, how does a search engine work
Reading: Badke Ch. 3; Liddy, How a Search Engine Works
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 3/16 The research process: needs assessment, preliminary strategies, topic development
Reading: Badke Ch. 2 & 8
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Finding Information and Media
Wed 3/18 The research process: refining a topic, creating search strategies
Reading: Badke Appendix I, pp. 250-260, review Badke Ch. 3 pp. 60-66
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post; see blog for prompt
Mon 3/23 Searching: internet
Reading: Badke Ch. 6 (all) and Ch. 7 pp. 163-172
DUE: Research topic proposal draft
Wed 3/25 Searching: library catalogs & databases Guest lecture: Prof. Nora Almeida
Reading: Badke Ch. 5; Library of Congress Classification Outline
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post; see blog for prompt
Mon 3/30 Evaluation of sources in any format: how to evaluate
Reading: Berkeley, Cornell
DUE: Research topic proposal final
Using Information and Media
Wed 4/1 Field activity, Mapping Brooklyn, BRIC House Gallery, 647 Fulton Street
NEW DUE DATE: The Annotated bibliography is due by 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 as an email attachment.
Monday 4/6 & Wednesday 4/8 – Spring Break – No classes, but the library is open 9-5 Monday through Friday!
Mon 4/13 Evaluation of sources in any format: why to evaluate; evaluation game
Reading: Fister, Grimmelman
Assignment: Write one field activity reflection blog post; see blog for prompt
Wed 4/15 Writing an academic research paper
Reading: Badke Ch. 10 and Appendix 1 pp. 260-280
DUE: Research paper outline
Mon 4/20 Rationale for documentation and citation
Reading: Hauptman pp. 7-13; Bugeja & Dimitrova pp. 33-39
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 4/22 Documentation: practical applications
Reading: Edge, Robinson
Assignment: comment on one or 2 blog posts
Mon 4/27 Documentation: standards, methods and styles for citing text and non-text media
DUE: Research paper draft
Wed 4/29 Documentation: standards, methods and styles for practices and processes
Reading: Badke Ch. 9, browse Purdue OWL’s APA and MLA Style sections
Assignment: Find one example of process documentation in any format, read it, and write one blog post in which you describe, summarize and critique it. Be prepared to discuss your example in class!
Mon 5/4 Introduce group project & form groups; group project work
DUE: Research paper final version is due by 10 a.m. on Monday, May 11 emailed to me as an attachment
Wed 5/6 Group project work
Mon 5/11 Group project work
Wed 5/13 Group project work
Presentation of Information
Mon 5/18 Group project work ( 20-30 minutes if necessary); Student Presentations
Wed 5/20 Student Presentations
DUE before the beginning of class: Online documentation project
DUE by the end of the day: self and group evaluation
