Democracy, Governance, and the Digital Network

It became clear to me as I finalized this syllabus that Wikileaks is becoming, has become, the paradigmatic (or at least one of the paradigmatic examples) of democracy in a networked age. As such we will be discussing Wikileaks a great deal in class, especially over the second half of the class. It is your responsibility to understand the case, and understand the debate surrounding Wikileaks. I realize that some of you have government jobs and therefore have been told not to download the documents onto your computer (personal or work). Do not worry, you will not be required to access the documents or download them for reading, instead focus on understanding what people are saying about Wikileaks and keeping informed about the ongoing debate.

Three things you should definitely check out in this regard:

• Podcast from the Berkman Center (start with this one).
• Article by Aaron Bady.
• Article by Zeynep Tufekci which is in response to this Lanier essay.