APLNG 083S: Communication and the Internet

Fall 2008

Pennsylvania State University

 

General Information

Instructor:      Xiaofei Lu

Office:            301 Sparks Building

Mailbox:        305 Sparks Building

Phone:            (814) 865-4692

Email:             xxl13 at psu dot edu

Webpage:      http://www.personal.psu.edu/xxl13/teaching/au08/083s

Lectures:        Tuesday & Thursday, 11:15am-12:30pm, 110 Borland

Office hours: Tuesday, 2-3pm, and by appointment

 

Required Textbooks

1.      Lin, Carolyn A. & Atkin, David J. (eds.) (2007). Communication Technology and Social Change: Theory and Implications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

2.      Additional readings, notes, and resources will be linked directly off the tentative schedule below.

 

Course Description

This course explores the linguistic and social changes resulting from the use of new communication and information technologies. In the first a few weeks, we will read studies examining the changing forms and use of language brought about by computer-mediated communication (CMC). We will then focus on the social changes that have occurred as a result of new communication technologies in a number of social contexts, including home, workplace, education, surveillance, entertainment, consumer, and legal settings. We will approach CMC from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including communication theory, linguistics, cultural studies, and educational theories of development as they relate to Internet communication tools, contexts, and uses.

 

Course Objectives

• To denaturalize our understanding of communication and information technologies.
• To grapple with the principal issues, concepts, and theories associated with CMC.
• To investigate the linguistic and social changes brought about by communication and information technologies.
• To develop skills for critical reading, academic writing, and professional presentations.  
• To engage with and produce research on CMC in ways that articulate with participant's interests and (future) disciplinary affiliations

 

Course Requirements

• Participation (100 points). Students are expected to read required readings, actively participate in in-class discussions, and respond to peer reviews in a timely manner. Regular attendance is important as you cannot participate if you are absent.
• Presentations (200 points). Each student will join a team of 3 people to present on a specific topic for 2 sessions (100 points each). In each session, the team will offer 3-5 trivia questions based on the readings (2-5 minutes), deliver a presentation of the required readings (20-25 minutes), provide a tutorial or demonstration of selected technologies and resources related to the topic (15-20 minutes), and lead a panel discussion or debate session with a pre-prepared list of 5-10 topics/questions (20-25 minutes). Presentations will be evaluated on content (additional research on the topic is required), organization, style, and interactivity. Each team is required to submit your list of questions for panel discussion or debate to the instructor for approval by 5pm of the day before the presentation.
• Peer Reviews (50 points). Each student will evaluate 2 other students’ presentations (25 points each). Students will be informed of an upcoming evaluation by email 1-2 weeks. Written evaluations should be submitted to the instructor through ANGEL within 48 hours after the class. The instructor will forward the evaluations to the presenters anonymously and solicit their response. Each evaluation should include 1) a score of the presentation out of 100, 2) a paragraph commenting on the content, organization, and style of the presentation and the presenter’s ability to encourage active discussions, and 3) a paragraph that includes suggestions for improvement. Evaluations will be graded based on quality and the presenters’ indication of whether they are fair and helpful.  
• Reaction Journals (200 points). Each student will write 8 reaction journals (25 points each). Each journal should be a reaction to one of the required readings assigned to that week. I will look for evidence of careful and critical reading and thinking when grading journals. Each journal should be 3-4 pages long (double-spaced; shorter journals will be penalized at a 25% rate) and should include 1) a summary of the reading (12/25, minimum one page), 2) a discussion of its strength/weakness, what you agree/disagree with, and how it is relevant to your own experience (10/25), and 3) two or more interesting questions for in-class discussion or further research (3/25).
• Internet Use Project (100 points). Each student will produce a 3-day log of Internet use: What modality do you use (web, chat, email, etc.)? How often? Indicate what purpose the note/message was for: intimate-personal, social, work related, school related, etc. Note the intended audience and the goal of the communication. More details on this project forthcoming.
• Final Project (250 points). Each student will submit a 10-page (double-spaced) research paper or review of literature paper by Thursday, 12/13/2007. The goal of the Final Project should be relevant to your interest and academic/professional development.
• Final Project Presentation (50 points). Each student will give a short presentation on the final project (10-15 minutes).
• Final Project Proposal (50 points). A 4-5 page (double-spaced, everything included) proposal is due by Thursday, 11/8, which should include the research questions, motivations, and methodology of the project as well as a bibliography.  

 

Grading Policy

• Scale: A = 940-1000; A- = 900-939; B+ = 870-899; B = 840-869; B- = 800-839; C+ = 750-799; C = 700-749; D = 600-699; and F = 599 or lower.
• Your work will be graded based on quality, effort, and how it compares with other students’ work.
• If at any time you feel that your work has been graded unfairly, please notify me immediately and I will try my best to address your concerns.
• Electronic submissions of written assignments will not be accepted unless approved by the instructor and submitted through ANGEL.

 

Make-up Policy

• Unless accompanied with official documentation of an acceptable reason, late submissions of written assignments (peer reviews, reaction journals, project proposal and reports) may be subject to a 10% penalty for each 24-hour period late (including weekends and holidays).
• If you miss a scheduled presentation without a 24-hour notice or official documentation for an acceptable reason, you may be rescheduled to present with a 25% penalty if possible, but rescheduling cannot be guaranteed.

 

Academic Misconduct

Penn State defines academic integrity as the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. All students should act with personal integrity, respect other students’ dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts (Faculty Senate Policy 49-20). Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this course. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions and will be reported to the University’s Judicial Affairs office for possible further disciplinary sanction. 

 

Tentative Schedule (Subject to change)

 

Wk	Date	Topic	Required Readings	Additional Resources	What’s Due	Presenters
1	8/26	Introduction		You’ve got mail
	8/28	A guide to presentation and research		MLA Style Crib Sheet; The CAT; Literature Reviews
2	9/2	Intro to language and linguistics
	9/4	Pragmatics		Herman Comics	Presentation sign-up
3	9/9	Pragmatics; Language in advertising	The language of advertising	Commercial
	9/11	Morphology
4	9/16	Sociolinguistics
	9/18	Computational and corpus linguistics		AntConc	Journal 1
5	9/23	Intro to CMC	L&A (2007): Ch3		Peer Review Assignments
	9/25	Emails	Danet (2002)		Journal 2
6	9/30	Instant messaging	Thurlow (2003)	NUS SMS Corpus		Billy, Emily, Scott
	10/2	Games and virtual worlds	Fetscherin & Lattemann (2007)	Second life; There	Journal 3	Ali, Attiyya, Rahim
7	10/7	Online communities and forums	Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe (2007)			Attiyya, Billy, Lia
	10/9	Blogs	Huffaker & Calvert (2005)		Internet Use Project	Dongha, Risa, Scott
8	10/14	Online videos, video blogs and chats	Lange (2007)			Camila, Jenny, Nicole
	10/16	Technology and social/global change	L&A (2007): Ch2		Journal 4
9	10/21	Online dating	Houran et al. (2004)	Madden & Lenhart (2006)		Katie, Lia, Liz
	10/23	E-cruiting	Young & Foot (2005)		Journal 5	Jana, Kamil, Mike
10	10/28	Technology and the news	L&A (2007): Ch8			Mike, Ric, Ryan
	10/30	Technology and entertainment	L&A (2007): Ch9		Journal 6	Nicole, Risa, Shane
11	11/4	E-learning	Abel (2005)			Camila, Dongha, Jenny
	11/6	Computer-assisted language learning		ESL Assistant	Final Project Proposal
12	11/11	Online advertising and shopping	L&A (2007): Ch11			Katie, Liz, Rahim
	11/13	Online gambling	Wood & Williams (2007)		Journal 7	Emily, Ric, Ryan
13	11/18	Technology and legal issues	L&A (2007): Ch13		Final project presentation sign-up	Ali, Jana, Shane
	11/20	Online fraud/miscreants	Franklin et al. (2007)		Journal 8	Kamil
14	Happy Thanksgiving! No class.
15	12/2	Final Project Presentations				Emily, Lia,  Ric, Shane
	12/4	Final Project Presentations				Ali, Jana, Jeny, Katie, Liz
16	12/9	Final Project Presentations				Attiyya, Dongha, Risa, Ryan, Scott
	12/11	Final Project Presentations			Final Project	Billy, Camila, Kamil, Michael, Rahim