Introduction

We live in a time where information and communication technologies are rapidly evolving and impacting our professional and personal lives.  There is no question that some lives have been dramatically altered through the evolution of these new tools while others have remained virtually untouched.  Some claim that we live in a more democratic world due to the participatory nature of 2.0 tools and social media while others argue that these environments are exclusive.   Some have argued that technology has saved us time and money, others argue to the contrary.  In short we are living in a time where the impact of technology is not only unclear but often results in a dialectic point of view.  This course critically examines the impact that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have had on identity, community, behavior and society.

Course Objectives and Organization

This course provides an overview of major themes, methods of analysis and practical implications concerning the relationship between information technology and social behavior. As a result of this course students will be able to:

• Raise Awareness of Social Issues
• Reason about Social Issues
• Investigate Social Issues
• Apply Social Issues
• Challenge Social Issues
• Educate others about Social Issues

Instructor’s objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Analyze and discuss the impact of Information and Communication technologies in various social contexts.
2. Express and critically discuss how ICTs have impacted information service environments
3. Make meaningful assessments of their participation in and use of virtual communities in personal and work related contexts.
4. Engage with core concepts and underlying theory of social and community informatics
5. Critically analyze the assets and liabilities that social media tools bring to the workplace and personal contexts

Class policies:Attendance/Participation

As stated in the Student Guide for eCollege, you are expected to access the online course material AT LEAST three times per week.  For this course, you will be required to contribute your first discussion post by Wednesday, and AT LEAST twice more on two different days after your first post.  

As a general guideline, you will want to check in on Monday to make sure that you can access all materials for the week – please notify me immediately if you have any problems with accessing readings, downloading files, etc.  Posting your first comment on the readings by Wednesday and checking in daily (or more than once a day) will ensure that you do not fall behind in the class discussion.  

It is University policy (University Regulation on Attendance, Book 2, 2.47B, formerly 60.14f) to excuse without penalty students who are absent from class because of religious observance, and to allow the make-up of work missed because of such absence. 

Vacations:  If you choose to go on vacation you are still responsible for the work due that week. 

Business trips:  If you are going on a business trip you are still responsible for the work due that week.

Death/illness in family:  Please let me know as soon as you can so that we can work out your arrangements. 

Since the class is online and asynchronous, there are few excuses for being absent from weekly participation.  If, however, you must be off-line for several days or more for work, family, or other unavoidable situations, please notify me ahead of time so that we can make arrangements.

Academic Integrity

The consequences of scholastic dishonesty are very serious. Rutgers’ academic integrity policy is at  http://ctaar.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html.
An overview of this policy may be found at  http://cat.rutgers.edu/integrity/student.html.
Multimedia presentations about academic integrity may be found at  http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/multimedia.shtml and  http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/intro.html.

Students with Disabilities

Students with documented disabilities who wish accommodations in this class must do so through the Rutgers Disabilities Services Office. See http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/ for details. Student who develop disabling medical problems or other issues during the semester that affect your ability to complete coursework should request advising from Kay Cassell (kcassell@scils.rutgers.edu), Director of the MLIS program, or Karen Novick (knovick@rutgers.edu), SCILS Associate Dean.

 

WEEKLY TIMETABLE:  Our weeks being on Monday morning and end the following Sunday at midnight:

Monday:  12:01am - Weekly unit opens	These activities typically go on throughout the week: Read; post; write in journal; work on projects.
Tuesday:	Ongoing workflow
Wednesday:	BY MIDNIGHT: Deadline for first post to class discussion
Thursday, Friday Saturday:	Ongoing workflow
Sunday:	BY MIDNIGHT: -Post journal entry reflecting on the week that is ending -Post presentations and discussion questions for the week that is beginning

 

Semester Schedule

WEEK 1 Introduction WEEK 2 Technologies and Trends WEEK 3 Sociability; identity; trends WEEK 4 Community WEEK 5 Collaboration WEEK 6 Communication: Blogging; microblogging WEEK 7 Communication: gaming; foto/file sharing; etc WEEK 8 Digital Storytelling WEEK 9 Digital Divide WEEK 10 Technology, Democracy & Politics WEEK 11 Privacy WEEK 12 Censorship WEEK 13 Organize final project WEEK 14 DRM; Copyright; Creative commons WEEK 15 Presentation of final projects

 Grading: 

Group Projects	30 points
Discussion	30 points
Journal	15 points
Digital Story/multimedia term project	25 points

Brief descriptions (more details in course): 

Group project:  You will be divided into groups.  The group member will negotiate communication/workflow strategies for the group; agree on a topic relevant to the unit to which they were assigned; and create a final product of information that can be presented in the class for the assigned week.  Each group will present twice.  The group is also responsible for creating a discussion question and a brief summary of the weeks discussions/topics.

Discussion:  You will be graded on your interaction in class discussions.  Full participation is expected (though "lectures" and "papers" are discouraged!)  Discussion should be just that -- talking to your colleagues about the subject matter in a relatively focused way.  It's a place to share ideas, discoveries, controversies and similarities.Journals: This is a space where you are allowed to let your mind go free in relation to the subject area and your own personal understanding as well professional application of the material.  You are not graded on content though journal entries like "This was an interesting week" will receive no points.  I will always respond to your journal entries and you should understand that they not shared with the class. 

Final project: Instead of writing a term paper I would like you to create a multimedia project that is web-based and incorporates some aspect of digital storytelling.  You will select a topic (either one we explored in class or others that are of interest to you).  That topic should have something to do with the general area of "social impact of technology."  This project should be based in research but presented in a way that makes the material interesting, accessible and educational -- not unlike the type of work you will soon be doing as professionals!