Mon 8/27 Introduction to the course; review syllabus; sign up for OpenLab
The Information Landscape: Media and Production
Wed 8/29 Brief history of media; the lifecycle of information; traditional print media: journalism, academic/government/research agency publications
Reading: Read Badke: Preface, Ch. 1 and Ch. 8
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 9/3 No class – college and library are closed
Wed 9/5 Digital text: online versions of print media, “born digital” content
Reading: Pavlik pp. 1-8, Harrington and Meade pp. 6-9;
Viewing: Common Craft blogs and wikis videos
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 9/10 Non-text media: sound, images, multimedia
Reading: Pavlik pp. 79-84, Sisario, Elton
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 9/12 Alternative media: print (zines, pamphlets, etc.) and electronic (blogs, wikis, etc.)
Guest lecture from Prof. Susan Thomas of Long Island University on zines
Reading: Eland, Zine World, Wright (Part I only)
Assignment: One reading response blog post
Mon 9/17 Classes are cancelled; college and library are OPEN
Wed 9/19 Web 2.0 and participatory media
Reading: Web 2.0 (Wikipedia), Baker, Fischetti; Viewing: Common Craft social media video
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Issues in Information and Media
Mon 9/24 Access: personal, institutional, digital divide
Reading: Martin Ch. 7
Assignment: One comment of at least 100 words or 2 comments of 50 words each on a classmate’s blog post(s).
Wed 9/26 Classes are cancelled; college and library are OPEN
Mon 10/1 Privacy: changing definitions; challenges of digital media
Reading: Marshall, P. (2009, November 6). Online privacy. CQ Researcher, 19, 933-956.
boyd, d. (2008). Facebook’s privacy trainwreck.
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wed 10/3 Ethics: Plagiarism
Reading: Isserman, Widdicombe
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Mon 10/8 No class – college and library are closed
Wed 10/10 College runs on a Monday Schedule
Copyright and fair use; open access
Reading:, Center for Social Media sections “Code” and “Principles”; Viewing: Grey, Lessig, Faden
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
How Information and Media Are Organized
Mon 10/15
Metadata: information about information, taxonomies, folksonomies
Reading: Badke Ch. 4, Dye, Harrod
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Wed 10/17 Search mechanics: what is a database, how does a search engine work
Reading: Badke Ch. 3, Liddy, Sohn, LeibmanAssignment: Write one reading response blog post
Finding Information and Media
Mon 10/22 The research process: needs assessment, preliminary strategies, topic development
Reading: Badke Ch. 2
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Wed 10/24 The research process: refining a topic, creating search strategies
Reading: Badke Appendix 1 pp. 223-257, review Badke Ch. 3 pp. 42-48
DUE: Research topic proposal
Mon 10/29 Searching: internet
Reading: Badke Ch. 6 (all) and Ch. 7 part 7.7 (pp.161-162);
Viewing: Common Craft web search strategies video
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post; see blog for prompt
Wed 10/31 Searching: library catalogs
Reading: Badke Ch. 5 pp. 71-76, Library of Congress Classification Outline
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post; see blog for prompt
Mon 11/5 Searching: article databases
Reading: Badke Ch. 5 pp. 76-95
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
DUE: Annotated bibliography
Using Information and Media
Wed 11/7 Evaluation of sources in any format: how to evaluate
Reading: UC Berkeley, Cornell
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post; see blog for prompt
Mon 11/12 Evaluation of sources in any format: why to evaluate; evaluation game
Reading: Fister, Grimmelman
DUE: Research paper outline
Wed 11/14 Writing an academic research paper
Reading: Badke Ch. 10 and Appendix 1 pp. 196-203
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post
Mon 11/19 Rationale for documentation and citation
Reading: Hauptman pp. 7-13
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
DUE: Research paper draft
Wed 11/21 Documentation: standards, methods and styles for citing text and non-text media
Reading: Badke Ch. 9, browse Purdue OWL’s APA and MLA Style sections
Mon 11/26 Documentation: practical applications
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!
Reading: Edge, Robinson
Wed 11/28 Documentation: standards, methods and styles for practices and processes
Mon 12/3 Introduce group project & form groups
DUE: Research paper final version
Presentation of Information and Looking to the Future
Wed 12/5 Group project work
Mon 12/10 Group project work
Wed 12/12 Group project work
Mon 12/17 Student Presentations
Wed 12/19 Student Presentations
DUE before the beginning of class: Online documentation project