Political and social aspects of digital interactive media

'''NB! This is only a development "sandbox"''' - the real course will be located at the Owl Academy.

Main idea - to introduce various political and social issues in the field of new media, to promote awareness of and to discuss the diverse circle of related problems.

The Course:

 * 16 weeks (one semester/term) - one 1.5-hour session (lecture or lab) weekly plus independent work.
 * 3.0 Estonian academic credits, 4.0 ECTS credits

Lectures/topics:
...
 * 1. e-Democracy, e-Elections and e-Government - social movements, participatory democracy and the Net
 * 2. Global networks in global politics
 * 3. The Big Brother on Menwith Hill (privacy and eavesdropping)
 * 4. Censors vs Cyberspace
 * 5. Social software, social engineering (not so much security but social aspects of manipulation)
 * 6. Political campaigns and new media
 * 7. The Hacker Ethic and empowerment of minorities
 * 8. Hacktivism and Cyberterror
 * 9. Gender issues off- and online (Susanna)
 * 10. New Media and culture (seminar?; Susanna)
 * 11. Play of life in the theatre of networks (Susanna).
 * 12. Narration, storytelling, non-linear media (Susanna?)

Assessment:

 * paper + slides + oral presentation
 * assignments
 * link portfolio (Technorati or similar)
 * blog

Readings:

 * Barlow, J. P. (1996) A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
 * George, J.F. (2003) Computers in Society: Privacy, Ethics and the Internet. Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey
 * Himanen, P. (2004) Challenges of the Global Information Society. report for the Committee for the Future in Parliament of Finland.
 * Himanen, P. (2001) Hacker Ethic. Random House
 * Himanen, P. (2002) Häkkerieetika ja informatsiooniajastu vaim. Kunst, Tallinn (Estonian translation of Hacker Ethic)
 * Lessig, L. (2004). Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. The Penguin Press.
 * Martin, B. (1998) Information Liberation: Challenging the Corruptions of Information Power. Freedom Press, London.
 * Smith, M.A., Kollock, P., eds (1999). Communities in Cyberspace. Routledge
 * Stallman, R. (2002). Free Software, Free Society. Ed. Joshua Gay. GNU Press
 * Wynants, M., Cornelis, J., eds (2005) How Open is the Future? Economic, Social and Cultural Scenarios inspired by Free & Open-Source Sofware. CrossTalks, VUB Brussels University Press 2005.