This page contains materials intended
to facilitate class discussion (excerpts from readings,
outlines of issues, links to resources, etc.). The
materials are not necessarily the same as the instructor's
teaching notes and are not designed to represent
a full exposition or argument. This page is subject
to revision as the instructor finalizes preparation.
(Last revised
1/7/02
)
Preliminary Class Business
Handout consists of excerpts from the course
Web site:
Current book project: The Laws of Cool:
The Culture of Information
Current technical interest: database-to-Web
development (e.g., Voice
of the Shuttle)
Teaching Assistant: Elizabeth Freudenthal
The Idea of This Course
"Information society," "information
economy," "information revolution,"
"information work," "information
literacy," "information overload,"
"information gap," "stay informed,"
"be informed," "information wants
to be free," "cybersociety,"
"cyberspace," "cyberwar,"
"cyberterrorism," "cybersex,"
"cyberpunk" . . . [and
the "virtual-" and "digital-"
words]. Today we live and breathe information.
Each of us in this room is interested in information:
for study (as scholars in various programs)
for work (as producers)
for play (as consumers)
for "interactive" mixtures of
all of the above
This course explores contemporary information
society in two ways:
Investigation of the social, economic,
political, historical, and philsophical
reasons that the late 20th-century made
"information" so important.
Investigation of the cultural impact
of information society on the way people
feel about their world and themselves in
such a world. (Specifically: investigation
of the new literatures and "new-media"
arts of information culture.)
