Perspective:
What holds us together as citizens in a technology-based world?  What is the glue between the human endeavors of commerce, governance and social interaction?  What is fundamental to the work of scientists, technologist and the consumers of their efforts?  The answers, not surprisingly, are manifold, but my argument for this course is that at bottom, information and the ability to communicate it holds us to the world and to each other. 

Activity:
Three people who spend(t) their time pondering questions that arise from the substance of science, the proliferation of technology, and people’s use and abuse of the systems and devices that both ease and complicate our lives (often at the same time) are the authors of the books that we will read and discuss this semester. Embedded in their theories and discussions of applications of information and communication are the strands of STS studies: globalization, environmentalism, aesthetics, ethics and education. Your job is to locate the fundamental principles in their views of the issues they raise and find contemporary examples of them – how they manifest themselves in our world – then see if there’s a way to fix a problem or make a system faster, easier or more robust than it is now.

Assessment:
There will be three writing assignments (20% each) and a final exam (25%), each deriving from the three core texts, any additional readings assigned, and the information and examples that you bring forward in class (participation 15%).

Just in case:
A note on plagiarism: don’t do it, not in the form of “borrowing” information from the Internet or in the form of having someone else write stuff for you.  The price of plagiarism is failure for the assignment and disciplinary action by the Dean of Students.

Calendar of Readings and Writing Assignments

Week 1         January 23                   First Day of Classes: Introduction

Week 2          January 28/30           The Plenitude parts 1-3

Week 3          February 4/6          The Plenitude part 4

                  Assignment 1         Testing Gold’s Theorem, due February 15

Week 4          February 11/13          Technology Matters chapters 1 and 2

Week 5          February 18/20          Technology Matters chapters 3 and 4

Week 6          February 25/27          Technology Matters chapters 5 and 6

Week 7          March 3/5                   Technology Matters chapters 7 and 8

Week 8          March 10/12          Technology Matters chapters 9, 10 and 11

                  Assignment 2         Answering a Nye Question, due March 15
        
March 17-23               Spring Recess-University Open-No Classes

Week 9          March 24/26          Information Please Introduction to chapter 2

Week 10          March 31/April 2          Information Please chapters 3 and 4

Week 11         April 7/9                   Information Please chapters 5 and 6

Week 12          April 14/16                   Information Please chapters 7 and 8

                  Assignment 3         Defining Your Digital Self, due April 25

Week 13          April 21/23                   Information Please chapters 9 and 10

Week 14          April 28/30                   Information Please chapters 11 and 12

Week 15          May 5                   Last Day of Class; Summary and Review

May 8-14          Final Exam Period         Date to be announced