Democracy, Governance, and the Digital Network

This week, February 10th, we will be covering Foucault. Because of the snow cancellation we are now a week behind, but never fear there are options for catching us up which we can discuss in class on Thursday.

In the meantime you might want to familiarize yourself with what is happening in Egypt, important material related to our class discussions. ( You might begin by reading Al Jazeera and try following @acarvin, @jilliancyork, @techsoc on Twitter.)

Note: You do not need to have new blog posts for this week, as long as you updated last week.

Update: Read this article by Deen Freelon. Freelon creates a useful typography around the way people are positioning themselves in regards to the question of how the internet effects political movements.

After reading Habermas it is time to tackle a substantially different perspective: Foucault. Two Essays to read. Start with “Discipline and Punish” this is an excerpt from his book of the same name. Then, read on “Governmentality” a lecture Foucault gave that reflects his later thinking on the matter of governing. Also here is an updated .ompl file of student blogs, the prior list did not contain Ben’s blog, you can download this one, or just add his blog to your reader. Check back here for the Twitter list once Alex has created it.

As mentioned in class, next week we will be reading Habermas’s The Structurual Transformation of the Public Sphere. Although difficult, it is important that we have an understanding of this text, Habermas’s view of the public sphere, as it is foundational to how we understand public opinion and by extension, democracies to operate.

In class we will be focusing on Parts I, II, III, & V, so focus your reading efforts on these. If you are struggling with the reading, you might try consulting the Spark Notes on the book, they are actually not bad and can give you a good sense of the direction Habermas is taking, be careful though as all summaries do, they miss some crucial points.

Post to your blogs by Wednesday at noon.

Update: You can download the opml file which contains links for all the blogs for this class. This file can be imported into most RSS readers. There are three categories of blogs here. 1. Blogs for this class. 2. Blogs for EMAC6300 (Intro Class) 3. Blogs I tend to read that cover Emerging Media and Democracy. You don’t need to read all of these, or even any outside the ones for this class but I thought it might be worth giving you all of these.

For next class, January 20th, you should read Blown to Bits. As I mentioned in class you should read the appendix, especially if you are not familiar with internet architecture. You also need to set up your research blog which you will be using for the semester. Pick whatever blogging platform you prefer. No need to have a fully polished one by next week, but it should be up and you should post your first two pieces to it by Wednesday at noon. Finally once your blog is set up post a link here in the comment section along with your twitter handle.

Update: Regarding your blogs, you should write two posts this week, which together total 800 words. One post should directly address the reading. That is for one post pick one issue raised in Blown to Bits and discuss what makes that important, interesting, etc. Expand their point rather than just summarize, i.e. show how it is more complicate or there is an additional dimension the reading does not discuss. For the second post write about one specific thing that relates to the subject of this class. Find something that addresses what you are specifically interested in. For example if you are interested in democracy in foreign countries, Tunisia might be a good example, or if you are interested in local civic engagement something about how local communities are using the net to foster engagement.

I realize we have yet to meet, but with a limited number of meetings throughout the semester we need to take advantage of every meeting. So in preparation for our first meeting you should read the following articles:

• Two Pieces from Democracy and New Media-both are available on eReserve. If you did not get the eReserve password already in an email, email me to find it out.
• “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” (Again email me if you did not receive a link via email.)
• John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.”?

See you on Thursday.

If you are interested you can download a draft of the syllabus. Fair warning, I might change this before the first day of class.

Here is the list of books we will be reading for the semester. Note that the Morozov text is not yet published but will be available by the time we are scheduled to read it.

-Blown To Bits: Your Life, Liberty and Happiness After the Digital Explosion by Abelson, Ledeen, and Lewis ISBN 0137135599

-The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society by Jurgen Habermas ISBN 0262581086

-Digital Media and Democracy by Megan Bowler ISBN 0262514893

-Premediation by Richard Grusin ISBN 0230242529

-Connected: The Surprising Power of Out Social Networks and How They Shape our Lives by Nicholas Christakis and James  Fowler ISBN 0316036137

-Networks and States by Milton Mueller ISBN 0262014599

-The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker ISBN 0816650446

-The Net Delusion by Evgeny Morozov ISBN 1586488740

-Republic 2.0 by Cass Sunstein ISBN 0691143285

-Code 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig ISBN 0465039146

-Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace by Delbert, Palfrey, Rohozinski, Zittrain, Haraszti ISBN 0262514354

All the books will be available at Off Campus Books.

Other material will be made available on reserve.

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.

Spring 2011 semester is just weeks away. This blog will become the class blog for EMAC 6361: Democracy, Governance, and the Digital Network.

Classes begin. You can download the syllabus or visit the class website.