Information Age: Internet & Society

Information Age: Internet & Society

GSOC 5115/ Fall 2012

Prof. Eiko Ikegami

Wednesday, 6-8pm

Course Description:

The Internet has critically altered our ways of connecting with otherpeople. This course intends to explore how the ongoing developmentof communication and information technologies is embedded in myriadsocial/cultural institutions and social processes. The topics include; theories of networked society, internet and socialcapital, civil society and democracy, cyber-economy and globalization, and 3D virtual worlds. The goal of this seminar is to helpstudents to create their own research projects in this increasinglyimportant site of sociological research.

Course Requirements

• Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions
• Class presentations (2 per person)
• Four memos on weekly topics, based on the readings for each session; they should be submitted before the assigned class. (2 pages max)
• A Final paper on Social Networking

Social Networking Analysis:

It is assumed that most students are already users of social networking sites (SNS) and media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and the like. In order to capitalize on this existing SNS familiarity, while also creating opportunities for productive sociological analysis, students in this course are encouraged to join other SNS outlets, particularly those that differ in form or function from sites you already belong to. For example, if you are an avid Twitter user, creating a Tumblr account focused on images and video may provide a different SNS experience. Suggestions for potential SNS resources are listed below.

The goal of this exercise is to push students to develop the ability to critically engage with social networking resources and behaviors that are becoming increasingly routine. Students will be asked to submit a short (5-7 page) in-depth analysis of their experiences with ONE SNS in light of the discussions and readings of the course. Students are encouraged to keep a journal of their experiences to make this end-of-semester reflection easier.

Important: All students are also expected to create personal accounts in Second Life.

SNS Suggestions/Examples:

Tumblr - General. Micro-blogging, RSS, Highly Customizable

deviantART – Art Community

Facebook – General

Flickr - Photo Sharing, Commenting, Photography Related Networking

Twitter - General. Micro-blogging, RSS

LinkedIn – Business and Professional Networking Similar to Facebook

Delicious -Social Bookmarking

Google Earth community

NOTE: In the interest of protecting students’ privacy and encouraging SNS exploration that is personally relevant and stimulating, students will not be required to share SNS content or information beyond what they are comfortable sharing. However, they will be expected to share their experiences by way of reflection and analysis.

Readings and Class Schedule

Week 1, August 29 – First Class, Introductions

Week 2, September 5 – Open source and Wikipedia

Konieczny, P. 2009. “Wikipedia: Community or Social Movement?”. Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements 1(2):212–232.

Raymond, E. 2001. The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary.

Lovink, G. 2007. Zero Comments: Kernels of Critical Internet Culture. New York: Routledge. “Introduction”

Suggested reading:

Torvalds, L. and Diamond, D. 2001. Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary. Haper Collins

Week 3, September 12 – Occupy movement and the Arab spring

Gladwell, M. 2010. “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted” The New Yorker 86(30). (

Van Stekelenburg, J. 2012. “The occupy movement : product of this time” Development Vol. 55(2): 224-231

Farrell, H. "The Consequences of the Internet for Politics"Annual Review of Political ScienceVol. 15: 35-52 (Volume publication date June 2012)

Morozov, E. 2009. “Iran: Downside to the ‘Twitter Revolution’.” Dissent 56(4):10–14.

Week 4, September 19 – Internet and Network Analysis

DiMaggio, P., et al. “Social implications of the Internet.” Annual Review of Sociology (2001) vol. 27 pp. 307-336

Lin, N. “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital.” Connections. (1999) vol. 22 (1). pp. 28-51

Pachucki and Breiger. “Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture.” Annual Review of Sociology (2010).

Week 5, September 26 (No class)

Week 6, October 3– Internet and Social Change

Walder, Andrew. 2009. “Political Sociology and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 35: Pp. 393-412.

Rolfe, B. “Building an Electronic Repertoire of Contention.”Social Movement Studies (2005) vol. 4 (1) pp. 65-74.

Breindl, Y. “Critique of the Democratic Potentials of the Internet: A Review of Current Theory and Practice.”tripleC-Cognition (2010) vol. 8 (1) pp. 43-59.

Kahn And Kellner. “New Media And Internet Activism: From The 'Battle Of Seattle' To Blogging.”New Media & Society (2004) Vol. 6 (1) Pp. 87

Suggested Further Reading:

Van Laer and Van Aelst. “Cyber-protest and civil society: the Internet and action repertoires in social movements.”In Yvonne Jewkes and Majid Yar (Eds.) Handbook of Internet Crime. London: Willan Publishing. (2010)

Earl. “Pursuing Social Change Online: The Use Of Four Protest Tactics On The Internet.”Social Science Computer Review (2006) vol. 24 (3) pp. 362

Ducheneaut et al. “Virtual “Third Places”: A Case Study Of Sociability In Massively Multiplayer Games.”Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) (2007) vol. 16 (1) pp. 129-166

Walker. “Digital Design In Social Action Settings: A Review Through A Sociotechnical Lens.” Paper presented at Prato CIRN 2008 Community Informatics Conference(2008)

Carroll and Hackett. “Democratic Media Activism Through The Lens Of Social Movement Theory.”Media, Culture & Society (2006) vol. 28 (1) pp. 83-104

Russell. “Myth And The Zapatista Movement: Exploring A Network Identity.”New Media & Society (2005) Vol. 7 (4) Pp. 559

Neumayer and Raffl. “Facebook for Global Protest. The Potential and Limits of Social Software for Grassroots Activism.”Paper presented at Prato CIRN 2008 Community Informatics Conference.(2008).

Underwood and Welser. “'The Internet is Here': Emergent Coordination and Innovation of Protest Forms in Digital Culture.” Paper presented at iConferece 2011.

Maynor, J. W. (2009). "Blogging for democracy: deliberation, autonomy, and reasonableness in the blogosphere." Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP) 12(3): 443-468.

Blodgett. “And The Ringleaders Were Banned: An Examination Of Protest In Virtual Worlds.” Proceedings Of The Fourth International Conference On Communities And Technologies (2009) Pp. 135-144

Hollenbeck And Zinkhan. “Consumer Activism On The Internet: The Role Of Anti-Brand Communities.”Advances In Consumer Research. Vol. 33. (2006)

Wall. “Social Movements And Email: Expressions Of Online Identity In The Globalization Protests.”New Media & Society (2007) Vol. 9 (2) Pp. 258

Carty And Onyett. “Protest, Cyberactivism And New Social Movements: The Reemergence Of The Peace Movement Post 9/11.”Social Movement Studies (2006) Vol. 5 (3) Pp. 229-249

Clark And Themudo. “Linking The Web And The Street: Internet-Based.”World Development (2006) Vol. 34 (1) Pp. 50-74

Stein. “Social Movement Web Use In Theory And Practice: A Content Analysis Of US Movement Websites.”New Media & Society (2009) Vol. 11 (5) Pp. 749-771

Week 7, October 10 – Guest Speaker: Goubin Yang

Yang, Guobin. 2009. The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online. New York, NY: Columbia University Press

Week 8, October 17– MMORPGs and 3D Worlds: Beyond Gaming

Bray and Konsynski. “Virtual Worlds: Multi-Disciplinary Research Opportunities.”ACM SIGMIS Database (2007) vol. 38 (4) pp. 25

Moore et al. “From 3D Space to Third Place: The Social Life of Small Virtual Spaces.”Human Organization (2009) vol. 68 (2) pp. 230-240

Harris et al. “The Evolution Of Social Behavior Over Time In Second Life.”Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments (2009) vol. 18 (6) pp. 434-448

Stromer-Galley and Martey. “Visual Spaces, Norm Governed Places: The Influence Of Spatial Context Online.”New Media & Society (2009) vol. 11 (6) pp. 1041

Suggested Further Reading:

Ducheneaut and Moore. “The Social Side Of Gaming: A Study Of Interaction Patterns In A Massively Multiplayer Online Game.” Proceedings Of The 2004 ACM Conference On Computer Supported Cooperative Work (2004) pp. 360-369

Steinkuehler. “The New Third Place: Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming In American Youth Culture.”Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning nr 3 2005 årgång 12 pp. 17

Bradley and Froomkin. “Virtual Worlds, Real Rules.”New York Law School Law Review (2004) vol. 49 pp. 103

Lehdonvirta, V. (2010). "Online Spaces Have Material Culture: Goodbye To Digital Postmaterialism And Hello To Virtual Consumption." Media, Culture & Society 32(6): 883–889

Week 9, October 24- Identity on the Internet and virtual worlds

Ikegami, E. 2011. “Visualizing the networked self” Social Research: An International Quarterly Vol. 78(4): 1155-1184

T. Boellstorff. Coming of Age in Second Life. (selections)

Brown, J. J., Jr. (2008). "From Friday To Sunday: The Hacker Ethic And Shifting Notions Of Labour, Leisure And Intellectual Property." Leisure Studies 27(4): 395-409.

Westlake, E. J. (2008). "Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance." TDR: The Drama Review52(20): 21-40.

Hardey, M. (2002). "Life Beyond The Screen: Embodiment And Identity Through The Internet." The Sociological Review50(4): 570-585.

Zhao, S., S. Grasmuck, et al. (2008). "Identity Construction on Facebook: Digital Empowerment in Anchored Relationships." Computers in Human Behavior24(5): 1816-1836.

Boyd, d. a. J. H. (2006). "Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity Performance on Friendster." Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences(Persistent Conversation Track,).

Suggested further reading

Bainbridge, W. S. The Warcraft Civilization (p. 1-79)

Week 10, October 31– Inequality and the Internet

Susan Halford and Mike Savage. Reconceptualizing digital social inequality. Information, Communication & Society, 13(7):937-955, 2010.

Selwyn. “Reconsidering Political and Popular Understandings of the Digital Divide.”New Media & Society (2004) vol. 6 (3) pp. 341-362

van Deursen and van Dijk. “Internet Skills and the Digital Divide.”New Media & Society (2010)

Rodino-Colocino. Laboring under the digital divide. New Media & Society (2006) vol. 8 (3) pp. 487

Sassi. “Cultural differentiation or social segregation? Four approaches to the digital divide.”New Media & Society (2005) vol. 7 (5) pp. 684

Gunkel. “Second thoughts: toward a critique of the digital divide.”New Media & Society (2003) vol. 5 (4) pp. 499

Week 11, November 7- Subcultures and Digital Cultures

Wilson and Atkinson. “Rave And Straightedge, The Virtual And The Real: Exploring Online And Offline Experiences In Canadian Youth Subcultures.”Youth & Society (2005) vol. 36 (3) pp. 276

McArthur, J. A. (2009). "Digital Subculture: A Geek Meaning of Style." Journal of Communication Inquiry33(1): 58-70.

Schultz, S. (2008). "Anonymous vs. Scientology: A Case Study of Digital Media." Idea Lab: Community News for the Digital Age. Retrieved 11 December 2010, 2010, from

Singel, R. (2010) Pro-WikiLeaks Attacks Sputter After Counterattacks, Dissent Overt Tactics. Wired Magazine (12 December, 2010). From:

Katayama, L. (2010). "Meet Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Bad Boy of the Japanese Internet." Wired Magazine16(6): 1-7. URL:

Week 12, November 14 – The Internet in Local Contexts: Case Study of Japan and East Asia

Ishii, K. (2006). "Implications of Mobility: The Uses of Personal Communication Media in Everyday Life." 365.

Ishii, K. and M. Ogasahara (2007). "Links between Real and Virtual Networks: A Comparative Study of Online Communities in Japan and Korea." CyberPsychology & Behavior 10(2): 252-257.

Kobayashi, T. (2010). "Bridging Social Capital in Online Communities: Heterogeneity and Social Tolerance of Online Game Players in Japan." Human Communication Research 36(4): 546-569.

Chang, W.-Y. (2005). "Online Civic Participation, and Political Empowerment: Online Media and Public Opinion Formation in Korea." Media, Culture & Society27(6): 925-935.

Herz, J. (2002). "The bandwidth capital of the world." Wired Magazine10(08).

Suggested further reading:

Takahashi, T. (2010). "MySpace or Mixi? Japanese engagement with SNS (social networking sites) in the global age." New Media & Society 12(3): 453-475.

Ozawa-De Silva, C. (2010). "Shared Death: Self, Sociality and Internet Group Suicide in Japan." Transcultural psychiatry.

Salzberg, C. (2008). "Caught in the Web." J@pan Inc.(82): 37-40.

Fulford, B. (2003). "Korea's Weird Wired World." Forbes172(2): 92-94.

Jung, J.-Y., Y.-C. Kim, et al. (2005). "The Influence of Social Environment on Internet Connectedness of Adolescents in Seoul, Singapore and Taipei." New Media & Society7(1): 64-88.

Chung, J. (2008). "Comparing Online Activities in China and South Korea: The Internet and the Political Regime." Asian Survey 48(5)727-751.

Week 13, November 21 (Holiday, no class)

Week 14, November 28- Student presentations

Week 15, December 5- Student presentations

Week 16, December 12- No class: Final paper due