16th Street, Room d701
Tuesday 9:00 am - 11:40 am

Instructor:
Karl J Mendonca
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Students operate and maintain the on-line version of the Lang student newspaper. They explore options of online community- building, develop and exploit resources of the web for media expression, launch content prototypes or formats, and study conceptually the role of new media in promoting community identity and action. Course work includes the design of a comprehensive strategy incorporating traditional and non-traditional media and learning to harness Web applications and content-management systems to achieve these ends. Pre-requisite: 'Community Media Design' or other web design course.

 
REQUIRED READING:
All readings will be available online as links to Web pages or .pdfs on Blackboard.
 
OUR TOOLS:

Student Pages
Each student will create and maintain a personal Web page at http://cmd.thenewcampus.org.

External Hard Drive
Since we are working with video, students are required to purchase an extenal hard drive with a minimum storage capacity of 100 GB.
 
Joomla! (CMS)
The New Campus (http://www.thenewcampus.org) was developed using Joomla!, an open source Content Management System. Our task this semester is to review, maintain and further develop the site to keep up with the growing needs of the community.
 
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
Participation
The success of this class will depend on your active and thoughtful participation in class discussions, as well as your initiative and insights as members of the Eugene Lang community. Participation is worth 20% of your final grade.

Tactical Media
Tactical media can be defined as the appropriation of mass media in order to oppose and criticize a target which often occupies a certain position of power. Students will be required to design and implement an intervention at The New School based on the ideology and principles of tactical media. Tactical media projects are worth 20% of your final grade.
 
Forum Responses
Throughout the semester you must post at least 25 responses on the forums at thenewcampus.org. Forum discussions are worth 15% of you final grade.
 
Lec-Dems

This class is based on collaborative learning and depends on the effective sharing and communication of information, ideas and research. Each student will be required to put together a 30 minute lecture-demonstration in the form of a workshop for other students in the class with the option of opening up attendance to the rest of the student community. The content of the lec-dem, while open-ended, should be restricted to a media process and should include documentation. Extra credit for lec-dems that use a combination of media. 

The student lec-dem is worth 15% of your final grade.
 
Final Projects
The final project for the class will take the form of a fully functional Web portal, a "live cinema performance", and a mixed media exhibition titled "Bite Your Tongue." You will work collaboratively as a part a team towards the completion of these projects and will share credit and ownership with the class. Final projects will be worth 30% of your final grade.

Policy on Attendance and Lateness
Absences justify some grade reduction and a total of four absences mandate a reduction of one letter grade for the course. More than four absences mandate a failing grade for the course, unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as the following:
        - an extended illness requiring hospitalization or visit to a physician (with documentation)
        - a family emergency, e.g. serious illness (with written explanation)
        - observance of a religious holiday
 
The attendance and lateness policies are enforced as of the first day of classes for all registered students. If registered during the first week of the add/drop period, the student is responsible for any missed assignments and coursework. For significant lateness, the instructor may consider the tardiness as an absence for the day. Students failing a course due to attendance should consult with an academic advisor to discuss options.

For this course, more than 2 absences will limit your highest course grade to a C. For each tardiness past the second week, 5 points will be deducted from your final score. Diligent and punctual attendance is your best bet! And you will get the most out of the course. In case of personal and medical emergencies, students should contact their instructors as well as the Director of Academic Advising.
 
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's work as one's own in all forms of academic endeavor (such as essays, theses, examinations, research data, creative projects, etc), intentional or unintentional.  Plagiarized material may be derived from a variety of sources, such as books, journals, internet postings, student or faculty papers, etc.  This includes the purchase or “outsourcing” of written assignments for a course.  A detailed definition of plagiarism in research and writing can be found in the fourth edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, pages 26-29. Procedures concerning allegations of plagiarism and penalties are set forth in the Lang catalog.

Disabilities
In keeping with the University's policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student requesting accommodations must first meet with Student Disability Services. Jason Luchs or a designee from that office will meet with students requesting accommodations and related services, and if appropriate, provide an Academic Adjustment Notice for the student to provide to his or her instructors. The instructor is required to review the letter with the student and discuss the accommodations, provided the student brings the letter to the attention of the instructor. This letter is necessary in order for classroom accommodations to be provided.  Student Disability Services is located at 79 Fifth Avenue - 5th Floor. The phone number is (212) 229-5626.  Students and faculty are expected to review the Student Disability Services webpage. The webpage can be found at www.newschool.edustudentaffairsdisability&pid=30408000000002015 and the office is available to answer any questions or concerns.

OUR SCHEDULE
Week 1 

Overview of Class
Goals and Objectives

What is Community?
Ferdinand Tonnies, "On Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft"
Barry Wellman, "The Network Community"
HTML for Beginners

Additional Reading:
- A History of Social Software
- History of the Internet
- Judith Donath, "Sociable Media"

Sign up for a user account at:
http://thenewcampus.org
http://thenewcampus.org/nsfp
http://cmd.thenewcampus.org

 Week 2 

Paralell Adele : A Happamentry

Overview of Joomla!
    - What is a Content Management System?
    - Uploading content (Articles, Categories & Sections)
    - Media Management
 

Online Community
Howard Rheingold, "The Heart of the Well"
Jenny Preece, "Online Communities: Design, Theory, and Practice"  


The Networked Society
Who governs in an interconnected world?
The Rise of Personalized Networking  


Community and Social Change

John Perry Barlow, "A declaration of independence in Cyberspace"
Pieter Boeder, "Habermas Heritage: the future of the public sphere in the network society"
Howard Rheingold, "Disinformancy"

Social Capital
"Social Capital" <http://www.infed.org/biblio/social_capital.htm>

"The News"
We Media (download .pdf)

Zeina Karam, "Besieged Lebanese turn to Internet"
Sarah Ellison, "In the Midst of War, Bloggers Are Talking"

Recommended Reading:
Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents by Reporters without Borders 

The Future of Content (Quality) or: the Ineptitude of the “Crowd”
Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism by Jaron Lanier

Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse by Geert Lovink

It's on Wikipedia, So It Must Be True by Frank Ahrens

Wikipedia's Wales touts 'free culture' movement by Martin LaMonica

Growing Wikipedia Revises Its 'Anyone Can Edit' Policy by Katie Hafner

The Digital Divide Is Not What It Used To Be
Ethan Zuckerman, "Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower"  
Kevin Sullivan, "In War-Torn Congo, Going. Wireless to Reach Home"

Straits Times, "MALAYSIA: Internet users fear govt crackdown" 
Lee Hudson Teslik and Robbie Brown, "Vote 4 Me"

Online Identity
Bell, David. “Identities in Cyberspace”
John Suler, "The Psychology of Cyberspace" <http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psychspace.html>
                                           <http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/identitymanage.html>
                                           <http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/genderswap.html>

Shelly Turkle, "Who Am We?"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerC5AG2IaE>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w4_Hrwh2XI>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkSaNToDbW8>

Julian Dibbell, (1998), "A Rape in Cyberspace"

Danah Boyd, "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace."
Danah Boyd, "Friends, Friendster, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites"
"Terbo Ted" <http://www.terboted.com/txt/fiendster_story.txt>

Copyrights & Copywrongs

Johnathan Zittrain, "The Future of the Internet and how to stop it"
Snyder(s), "Embrace File Sharing or Die"

Expanded Cinema
Gene Young Blood: "Expanded Cinema"