Course Schedule
Here is a link to the updated course schedule in PDF.
Mon 8/29 Introduction to the course; review the syllabus; sign up for OpenLab Classes were cancelled – below is an updated course schedule
The Information Landscape: Media and Production
Wednesday 8/31 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
Monday 9/5 College and library closed; no classes
Monday 9/12 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
Wednesday 9/14 Alternative media: print (zines, pamphlets, etc.) and electronic (blogs, wikis, etc.)
Reading: Eland, Zine World, Wright (Part I only)
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Monday 9/19 Non-text media: sound, images, multimedia
Reading: Pavlik pp. 79-84, Malitz, Elton
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post; comment on at least one blog post
Wednesday 9/21 Web 2.0 and participatory media
Reading: Web 2.0 (Wikipedia), Baker; Viewing: Common Craft, Social media in plain English videoand Social networking in plain English video
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Issues in Information and Media
Monday 9/26 Access: personal, institutional, digital divide
Reading: Martin, Brian. The politics of research. In Information liberation: Challenging the corruptions of information power. London: Freedom Press, 1998.
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post
Wednesday 9/28 No classes; college and library open
Monday 10/3 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
Wednesday 10/5 Ethics: copyright, fair use, plagiarism, open access
Reading: Isserman; Center for Social Media sections “Code” and “Principles”
Viewing: Grey, Lessig, Faden
Assignment: Write one reading response blog post; comment on at least one blog post
Monday 10/10 College and library closed; no classes
How information and media are organized
Wednesday 10/12 Metadata: information about information, taxonomies, folksonomies; data for non-text media; metadata challenges
Reading: Badke Ch. 4, Dye, Harrod
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Monday 10/17 Search mechanics: what is a database, how does a search engine work
Reading: Badke Ch. 3, Liddy, Leibman
Assignment: One reading response blog post; Comment on at least one blog post
Wednesday 10/19 The research process: needs assessment, preliminary strategies, topic development
Reading: Badke Ch. 2
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Finding Information and Media
Monday 10/24 The research process: refining a topic, creating search strategies
Reading: Badke Appendix 1 pp. 177-195, review Badke Ch. 3 pp. 34-41
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post
Wednesday 10/26 Searching: internet
Reading: Badke Ch. 6 (all) and Ch. 7 pp. 122-124; Viewing: Common Craft web search strategies video
DUE: Research topic proposal
Monday 10/31 Searching: library catalogs
Reading: Badke Ch. 5 pp. 71-76, Library of Congress Classification Outline; LCSH game?
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post
Wednesday 11/02 Searching: article databases
Reading: Badke Ch. 5 pp. 76-95
Assignment: Comment on at least one blog post
Monday 11/7
Evaluation of sources in any format: why to evaluate; evaluation game
Reading: Fister, Grimmelman
DUE: Annotated bibliography
Using Information and Media
Wednesday 11/9
Evaluation of sources in any format: how to evaluate
Reading: UC Berkeley, Cornell
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post
DUE: Research paper outline
Monday 11/14 Writing an academic research paper
Reading: Badke Ch. 10 and Appendix 1 pp. 196-203
Assignment: Write one research journal blog post
Wednesday 11/16 Rationale for documentation and citation
Reading: Read Hauptman pp. 7-13; Howard, “Hot Type: A Modern Scholar’s Ailments: Link Rot and Footnote Flight,” The Chronicle of Higher Education
Monday 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
DUE: Research paper draft
Wednesday 11/23 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
Monday 11/28 Documentation: standards, methods and styles for practices and processes
Wednesday 11/30
DUE: Research paper final version
Monday 12/5 Introduce group project & form groups
Wednesday 12/7 Group project work
Presentation of Information and Looking to the Future
Monday 12/12 Future of information and media, wrapping up
Viewing: Sloan
Wednesday 12/14 Group project work
Monday 12/19 Student Presentations
Wednesday 12/21 Student Presentations
DUE before the beginning of class: Online documentation project