DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION
Media, Technology and Society
MCC-UE 1034
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OVERVIEW
This course will introduce you to a range of theories and approaches to the study of technology so as to provide
various perspectives on the co-construction of society and technology, and the role of media in that dynamic.
Technology is not merely a set of material artifacts with a straightforward impact on our world. Instead,
technology represents a complex set of practices, norms, and values that both reflect and shape our convictions
about personhood, time, class, gender, space, labor, race, and politics. Further, because technology often
depends on the broader socio-economic, legal, and political context from which it is invented, adopted and
stabilized, ample attention will be placed on these contextual conditions and the hidden assumptions that drive
its popular understandings. Overall we will look at how different scholars have examined the following broad
questions:
How does technology interact with different systems of power? (economic, political, social, etc)
How does technology interact with systems of meaning? (identity, tradition, culture & subculture)
How does technology interact with systems of authority and knowledge?
The course primarily concentrates on communication technologies of the last 150 years (telegraph, telephone,
radio, computers, Internet) and is roughly chronological, starting with the telegraph and ending with our digital
present. However, we will consider other technologies that will help sharpen our theoretical frameworks and will
provide a comparative touchstone to discuss the intersection of communication technologies with other
technological systems as well as what may be unique about communication technologies.
COURSE GOALS
The goal is not to arrive at the “right” theory of technology, but have students come away with a firm
understanding of methods and approaches by which to assess technology in various social and political terms.
As such, we will be studying the ways in which scholars from different disciplines—history, sociology,
philosophy, media studies, anthropology, for example—have approached questions about technology, society,
and politics. This means that we will also learn about the different ways in which different disciplines weigh the
value of different types of data. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand various ways
by which to assess the mutual relationship between society and technology; to identify different theoretical
approaches to the study of technology; and finally, begin to decide which questions and approaches they find
most useful for analyzing contemporary issues and debates as they concern technology and society.
COURSE FORMAT, GENERAL REQUIREMENTS, ATTENDANCE & ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
I will begin each class with a short introductory lecture that examines the themes and readings for the week, on
occasion adding supplemental information not available in the readings. The rest of the class will be class
discussion, exercises and student-led conversation about the various readings. Because active participation in
discussion is the cornerstone of the class, you must come prepared for discussion and with copies of the
reading.
To aid our discussion, each week, you are required to post a reading response on Blackboard the midnight before
the relevant class. I will divide the class into two sections, each one responsible primarily for writing on
Sunday night or Wednesday night. You can always write on both if you wish, the more the merrier.
In addition, four times over the semester (twice in the first half and twice in the second), you will be required to
write a blog post for the class blog:
In this piece you will both provide a summary of the thesis and argument of one reading and post an example
of a news article, advertisement, youtube video, or other item of media that illustrates, contradicts, or otherwise
engages with the week’s readings, and write at least two paragraphs explaining how the piece does this.
A 5-page mid-term paper and a 10-page final research paper will also be given. More information on these
assignments and grading criteria will be provided.
Regular class attendance is required. Three missed classes without prior notices or excuse will result in your
grade being dropped by one half letter.
Plagiarism or cheating on any assignment will not be tolerated under any circumstances and will result in a
failure of the assignment and possibly failure of this class. For further information, please consult the Steinhardt
policy on academic integrity:
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/dcc/undergraduate/Statement_On_Academic_Integrity.php
GRADING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Attendance and Class Participation (including discussion questions): 20%
Blog post: 10%
Writing Assignments: 15%
Mid-Term paper: 25%
Final paper: 30%
READINGS AND OTHER MATERIALS:
Most readings are available on Blackboard. The following texts are required and are available for purchase at
the NYU Bookstore:
Standage, Tom. (1996) The Victorian Internet
Dibbel, Julian. (2006) Play Money, Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot.
New York: Basic Books
ON CLASS PARTICIPATION
Please turn off your cell phones before class, and do not text or tweet in class. We will discuss and set a laptop
policy together in the first week. I respect that different students have different means of taking notes, and also
that some find laptops distracting (whether theirs or other people’s). Although internet use can occasionally
enrich class participation, if I find you writing personal emails, playing games, shopping or conducting other
non-class-related activity on an electronic device I will ask that you stop, and repeated occurrences will affect
your participation grade. In-class participation and active engagement with the readings is very important, and
we will work together to find a way to facilitate these activities whether mediated by technology or not.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1:
1. (Weds) 9/5: Introduction
Film Clips: “The Gorilla Detector” “Modern Times”
During the first meeting we will discuss the syllabus, goals and requirements of the course.
Week 2:
1. (Mon) 9/10: Thinking Historically and Conceptually
Williams, Rosalind.
(2005) Excerpt from Afterword to Castell's The Network Society: A Crosscultural Perspective: An Historian's View. http://web.mit.edu/~rhwill/www/writing/castellsafterword.html
(Start reading at Technology and Presentism).
Marx, Leo
(1993) “Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?” In Technology and the Future.
Albert H. Teich, ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 3-14.
Suggested Reading
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz (1997) “American Ideas about Technology.” Chapter 9 in A Social History of
American Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 201-219.
2. (Weds) 9/12: How Can Technology Communicate and Reshape our World?
Winner, Langdon.
(1986) “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” Chapter 2 In The Whale and the Reactor: a
Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 19-39.
Week 3:
1. 9/17: Space-Time Compression: The Railway and the Telegraph
Schivelbush, Wolfgang (1977) “Railroad Space and Railroad Time.” Chapter 3 in The Railway Journey:
The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century. Berkeley: The University of California
Press, pp. 33-44.
Standage, Tom (1999) The Victorian Internet. New York: Berkley Trade Book, first 4 chapters plus one
later chapter of your choice.
Suggested Reading
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz (1997) “Industrial Society and Technological Systems.” Chapter 7 in A Social
History of American Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 149-171.
2.
9/19: Layers of Development: The News by Telegraph and Mail
Kielbowicz, Richard (987) News Gathering by Mail in the Age of the Telegraph: Adapting to a New
Technology. Technology and Culture. 289(1): 26-41.
Week 4:
1.
Other Side of Technology/ Telephone pt. 1
9/24: The other side of new technology, pt. 1
MacDougall
(2006) “The Wire Devils: Pulp Thrillers, the Telephone, and Action at a Distance in the
Wiring of a Nation” American Quarterly 58 (3)
Suggested reading
Gillmore. Paul (2002) The Telegraph in Black and White ELH 69(3) 805-833
2.
9/26: Sounds that Travel 1: The Telephone
Fischer, Claude. (1988) Gender and the Residential Telephone, 1890-1940: Technologies of Sociability.
Sociological Forum. 3(2): 211-233.
Week 5:
1.
Telephone, cont’d
10/1: Working the technology : the telephone and labor
Green, Venus. (1991) “African American Women in the Bell System, 1945-1980” Technology and
Culture, Vol. 36, No. 2. Read pp. S101-S120
[
2. The Cellular Telephone and global networks
Your Own Wireless Telephone (Washington Post, 1910):
http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/05/your-own-wireless-telephone-1910.html
Vicente L. Rafael.
2003 The Cell Phone and the Crowd: Messianic Politics in the Contemporary
Philippines. Public Culture 15(3): 399-425.
OR
Horst, Heather and Daniel Miller
2005 From Kinship to Link-up: Cell Phones and Social Networking in Jamaica. Current Anthropology
46(5): 755-764.
Week 6:
1.
radio and music
10/8: Technology and Culture case study – music technology
Chanan.
(1995) Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music Excerpts
TBD
Manuel, Peter. “Cassette Culture Technology and popular music in North India”
2. 10/10: Sounds That Travel 2: Radio
Larsen, Steeg. (2000) “Radio as Ritual: An Approach to Everyday Use of Radio” Nordicom Review
Crisell, A. “Radio Signs” (2000) in Bassett, Thornham and Marris, eds., Media Studies: A Reader p. 210219
Suggested reading
Podber, Jacob. (2003) Radio’s Arrival in Appalachia: A Harbinger of The Global Society? in Murphy &
Kraidy, Eds., Global Media Studies: Ethnographic perspectives p. 183-207
Week 7:
1.
Computers
10/15: NO Class, read for wednesday- Computers: Omissions and Unforeseen Applications
Light, Jennifer (1999) “When Computers Were Women.” Technology and Culture. 40(3): 455-483.
Ceruzzi, Paul
2007 [1993] “An Unforeseen Revolution: Computers and Expectations, 1935-1985.” In Technology
and the Future. Albert H. Teich, ed. pp. 117-131.
Suggested Reading
Edwards, Paul. (1995) “From 'Impact' to Social Process: Computers in Society and Culture.” In
Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Shiela Jasanoff, Gerald Markle, James Petersen and
Trevor Pinch, eds. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, pp. 257-285.
2.
10/17: Computers discussion + Workshop midterm paper drafts
Week 8:
1.
Hacking
10/22: MIDTERM DUE Technological Tinkering: hackers
In Class Film: Necrocam
2.
10/24: Back to the Telephone: Phreakers and Hackers
Rosenbaum, Ron 1971 “Secrets of the Little Blue Box.” Esquire Magazine
An early Phreaker made a comic of his life, read some here: http://www.edpiskor.com/wizzy.html
Week 9:
3.
Networking.
10/29: Society Seeps into Networking, Networking Seeps into Society
Turner, Fred (2005)
Where the Counterculture Met the New Economy: The WELL and the Origins of
Virtual Community. Technology and Culture. 46: 485-512.
Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1996)
If I Want It, It’s OKº : Usenet and the (Outer) Limits of Free Speech.
The Information Society. 12: 365-386.
4. 10/31: Anxiety in Networked societies
Film : The Conversation & Enemy of the state
Watch one before class, one we will watch part of in class (TBD)
Week 10:
1.
11/5: Technology, Imperialism, and Colonialism
Kristen Lucas, Dongjing Kang and Zhou Li.
(2012) “Workplace Dignity in a Total Institution:
Examining the Experiences of Foxconn’s Migrant Workforce” Journal of Business Ethics
Salvatore, Ricardo Donato
(2006) “Imperial Mechanics: South America's Hemispheric Integration
in the Machine Age” American Quarterly. 58(3): 662-691.
2. 11/7: Is Technology White?
Fouche, Rayvon
(2006) “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud: African Americans, American
Artifactual Culture, and Black Vernacular Technological Creativity” American Quarterly 639-643;648-658
Week 11:
1.
11/12: Technical Politics of Autonomy
Kunreuther, Laura (2006)
Technologies of the Voice: FM Radio, Telephone, and the Nepali
Diaspora in Kathmandu. Cultural Anthropology. (21) 3: 323-353.
2. 11/14 If not autonomy, integration/independence
Reading on Ushahidi and Kenyan politics/ disaster response tech and its failures TBC
Week 12:
Tech, law and ownership: IP and Open Source
law governing the creation and use of computer software affects the distribution of wealth, power, and freedom
in society.
1.
11/19: Intellectual Property and Technology
Boyle, James (2003)
Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain
Mann, Charles (1998) “Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea.” Atlantic Monthly, pp 57-82.
Further reading TBA
Suggested Reading
Hess, Carla (2002)
Daedalus: 6-45.
2.
The Rise of Intellectual Property, 700 B.C.-A.D. 2000: An Idea in the Balance.
11/21: Cultures of new technology: The Case of Free and Open Source Software
Meet the Geeks: Q & A with F/OSS Developers
Readings:
Debian Social Contract: http://www.debian.org/social_contract
Debian Free Software Guidelines:
Floss is not just Good for your Teeth: http://www.sarai.net/publications/occasional/floss-is-not-justgood-for-teeth
Week 13:
1.
Technology and Authority
11/26: Technology and the crowd: Wiki Politics
Schiff, Stacey (2006) Know it All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise? New Yorker. July 31, 2006.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/31/060731fa_fact
Lemann, Nicholas
(2006) Amateur Hour: Journalism without Journalists. New Yorker. August 7.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/07/060807fa_fact1?printable=true
Bossewitch, Jonah
(2007) The Zyprexa Kills campaign: Peer production and the frontiers of radical
pedagogy. Re-public: Reimagining Democracy. http://www.re-public.gr/en/wp-print.php?p=144
2.
11/28: Blogs, Genre and Medium
Cohn, Kris
(2005) What Does the PhotoBlog Want? Media, Culture & Society 27 (6): 883-901.
boyd, danah (2006)
A Blogger's Blog: Exploring the Definition of a Medium. Reconstruction.
http://reconstruction.eserver.org/064/boyd.shtml.
Week 14:
1.
Technology Mediating Politics
12/3: Independence and political mobilization
Barlow, John Perry. “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”
https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
Susstein, Cass (2001) The Daily We: Is the Internet really a blessing for Democracy?
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR26.3/sunstein.html
2.
12/5: The Politics of Web-Artifacts
http://www.sarahdopp.com/blog/2008/genders-and-drop-down-menus/
Bring to class an example of a choice a website forced you to make about identifying yourself that you
felt did not reflect you or were unhappy with.
Week 15:
Games
1. 12/10: Games
Levy, Steven (2006)
Living a Virtual Life: Is World of Warcraft a game, or is it a harbinger of virtual
realities that we all might inhabit. Only a Night Elf knows for sure. September.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2006/09/17/living-a-virtual-life.html (short)
Grimmelmann, James (2003) “Virtual Power Politics.” In The State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual
Worlds. Jack M. Balkin & Beth S. Noveck, eds. New York: N.Y.U. Press.
http://james.grimmelmann.net/files/VirtualPowerPolitics.pdf
Dibbel 2006
Play Money, Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. New
York: Basic Books. (selections, TBD)
2. 12/12: Games, Continued
Dibbel, Julian
(2006) Play Money, Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot.
New York: Basic Books. (selections, TBD)
Doctorow - listen to excerpt from For The Win
http://ia600301.us.archive.org/25/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_181/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_181_For
_the_Win_excerpt.mp3
Suggested reading : Anda's Game http://www.salon.com/2004/11/15/andas_game/