New Forms of Media (Aug-Dec 2007)

August – December 2007

Module outline

Lecture Notes
22nd August: Introduction: What is New Media?

29th August
Inescapable data

5th September
CMC, Internet and mobile communication
For reading & summarising: New Media History by Patrice Flichy

12th September
We are technically in the Sports Week. Please let me know if you wish to have class. I shall be on standby anyway.
The Coming of Age of IT & the New Economy

19th September
I am unable to lecture so the session is cancelled.
Next session is thus on the 256th.
Please do not forget to bring your summary of the key ideas in the paper by Patrice Flichy on New Media History…

26th September
New Media = New Theory?

3rd October
The technophilia vs Technophobia debate
We will read the introduction of the book ‘La Révolte du Pronetariat’ by Joël de Rosnay which may be freely downloaded at the following addresses:
http://www.pronetariat.com/livre/ (HTML version chapter by chapter)
http://www.agoravox.fr/pronetariat/Pronetariat.pdf (whole book in PDF version)

10th October
The Technophilia vs Technophobia debate (see lecture notes above)
Lecture will start at 1.30 p.m. today.

17th October
We’ll carry on with the Technophobia vs. Technophilia debate.
Then, we will look at some texts on the Digital Divide. These will be extracts from some online readings which can be found here:
http://www.digitaldivide.org/
http://www.digitaldivide.net/
http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=838
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide
We will also discuss assignment #1

Note on Assignment#1
Students are requested to prepare a short oral presentation (10-15 mins) and written report on a specific new media form to be done and submitted on 31st October. Though the presentation/report should provide succinct information about the technical aspects of the new media form, the focus should be more on its significance to society (social, political, economic, philosophical, etc.). There will a laptop+RGB so students are encouraged to bring some visuals (e.g. screenshots) to support their presentation. All presentations will be followed by class discussions.
Students who were not present in class or have not yet finalised their topic are required to let me know what media form they have selected as soon as possible (through the comments section).

List of students (those with a ‘?’ next to their name, please let me know about your topic)
- Pushpah Ganeshe: E-government
- Michael Jean-Louis: Vlogs and TV on the Net
- Ishtiba Meeajane: Online social networks
- Nasreen Hosseny: Mobile culture
- Dineshnee Mathuvirin: Online betting
- Greta Martial: Chat systems
- Geraldine Francois: TV-related technologies (digital TV, TiVo, etc.)
- Tanganayaki Sarojini Rama: Weblogs
- Lethiechia Ducasse: E-books
- Shivanee Augnoo: E-commerce
- Isabelle Laregain: Gaming
- Vishwadev Sooknah: Wireless networks
- Rajiv Ramsarran: Search engines
- Kareina Govinden; Peer-to-peer technologies
- Deepa Rathacharen: E-business
- Doris Hart: Free and Open movements
- Mireille Martin: Wikipedia
- Annabelle Larose: personal devices (PDAs, smartphones, etc.)
If your name does not appear on the above list, please let me know and also inform me about your topic.

24th October
We will be in the computer lab of the Faculty of Agriculture for a hands-on session on the Internet.
Activities to be conducted.

A handout about collective intelligence was given in class. It consists of two articles taken from the French magazine Sciences Humaines. An online copy of the first article can be found here and the second one here (only abstract available online, full text in hard copy version only).
Please make sure you make a copy of the handouts.

31st October
Oral presentations kickstarted

7th November
Oral presentations ongoing

14th November
Oral presentations ongoing
A handout about the Long Tail was given. Here’s the link to the Wikipedia aticle about the Long Tail. Here’s also the link to the original article by Chris Anderson in 2004. Chris Anderson also has a blog called The Long Tail.
Another handout was The Future of Media 2006 report to be read and discussed later in class.
Students were also requested to form teams of 3 in order to conduct the exploratory study of new media within the local context. It was decided that the survey would be carried out among University students. Students are expected to contribute to the draft questionnaire that will be finalised on the 21st November.

21st November
Update on the Future of Media Report. There is a latest version (2007) available here. There is also a comprehensive account/summary here.
Here’s also an article from The Economist about convergence to be read and discussed in class.

22nd November
Here is the revised questionnaire to be administered on campus to University students within the next few days.
Filled in questionnaires are to be brought in class next week, i.e. 28th november for a roundup. Each team member to survey at least 10 students (which makes a minimum of 30 per team).
Final results & analysis to be presented on the last session, i.e. 5th December. Each team to take not more than 15 minutes for presenting their findings.

Recommended reading (online resources)
La Révolte du Pronétariat by Joël de Rosnay
We The Media by Dan Gilmor
What is Web 2.0? by Tim O’Reilly