Weekly Schedule NCLC 348: Information in the Digital Age
Fall 2009
Please do note that the schedule may be subject to change, depending on our evolving interests and
explorations of information in the digital age
________________________________________________________________________________________________________Week One
Monday, 31 August: Introduction to Information in the Digital Age
Seminar topics: Introductions: to each other, to the learning community, to information
and creativity
Workshop: Who am we? The Digital Trace
Wednesday, 2 September: Who am We?
Seminar topic: Our information, our lives & introduction to readings & viewings
Workshop: Information autobiographies
Read & Analyze (for 10 September): Christopher Burns, Information Literacy: The Second Stage
(handout – courtesy of the author)
Complete: Digital Information Diary (handout)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Week Two
Monday, 7 September: Labor Day
No class – have a fantastic break!
Wednesday, 10 September: Information and the Human
Seminar topic: Discuss Information Literacy
Workshop: Develop guidelines for productive interactions with information
Read & Analyze (for next class): Vincent Mosco, Myth and Cyberspace
______________________________________________________________________________________________________Week Three
Monday, 14 September: The Power of Myth
Seminar topic: Discuss Myth and Cyberspace and apply Mosco’s arguments to our own concepts of
virtual space
Workshop: The alternatives to myth & Introduction to information ecologies
Read and Analyze (for next class): Bonnie Nardi & Vicki 0’Day, Information Ecologies: Using Technology
with Heart, Chapters 1 & 2
Wednesday, 16 September: Information Ecologies
Seminar topic: Discuss Chapters 1 & 2 of Information Ecologies: Introduction of major assignments
for the semester, the individual Information Ecologies project, and the group project, Teach Us
Something Digital
Workshop: Analyze a learning community as an information ecology
Read & Analyze (for next class): Peter Lunenfeld, Introduction – Screen Grabs: The Digital Dialectic and
New Media Theory & Unfinished Business (both short)
Write (for next class): Reading Response #1 (500 – 750 words)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ _________ Week Four
Monday, 21 September: Being Digital
Seminar topic: “Being” digital
Workshop: Collaboration ecologies
Read & Analyze (for next class): Bonnie Nardi & Vicki 0’Day, Information Ecologies: Using Technology
with Heart, Chapter 3
Wednesday, 23 September: Being Digital, Part 2
Seminar topic: Tool, Text, System, Ecology
Workshop: Collaboration ecologies, Part 2
Read & Analyze (for next class): William J. Mitchell, Connecting Creatures & danah boyd, Why Youth
(Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life
(http://tinyurl.com/3xqpkx)
Write (for next class): Short paper #1 (500 words)
___________________________________________________________________________ __________________ _________Week Five
Monday, 28 September: The Datum & the Network
Seminar topic: Who Am We? (revisited)
Workshop: TBA
Read and Analyze (for next class): Bonnie Nardi & Vicki 0’Day, Information Ecologies: Using Technology
with Heart, Chapter 4
Write (for next class): Proposal for Information Ecologies Project
Wednesday, 30 September: The Choice of Ecologies
Workshop: Review Information Ecologies proposals & revise individual proposal
Read & Analyze (for next class): Tim O’Reilly, What is Web 2.0? (http://tinyurl.com/743r5) &
Yochai Benkler, Chapter 3, The Wealth of Networks (http://tinyurl.com/88y4w3)
Write (for next class): Reading Response # 2 (500 – 750 words)
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________ _________ Week Six
Monday, 5 October: The Wealth of Networks?
Seminar topic: Information Unleashed?
Workshop: TBA
Read & Analyze (for next class): Bonnie Nardi & Vicki 0’Day, Information Ecologies: Using Technology
with Heart, Chapters 5 & 6
Wednesday, 7 October: Strategies for Research
Seminar topic: Next steps on Information Ecology projects & Group Projects
Workshop: Developing a functioning group information ecology
Read and Analyze (for Wednesday, 14 October): Heather A. Horst, Becky Herr-Stephenson, and
Laura Robinson, Media Ecologies (http://tinyurl.com/mo7w33)
Write (for Wednesday, 14 October): Proposal for group project, Teach Us Something Digital
Note on classes next week: As a result of the Columbus Day holiday, Monday classes, such as
ours, normally meet on Tuesday. As the Media Ecologies reading is long and quite complex, & you are
completing a group project proposal, Tuesday’s class will be a virtual class, during which you will
complete your analysis of Media Ecologies, and have time to contact me, individually or in groups, to
clarify anything that you find unclear, perplexing, or that you want to discuss in detail prior to
Wednesday’s class. I’d be delighted to read and comment on drafts of your group proposal, for
example, and you may thus want to use Tuesday’s class time, when you know everyone in our
learning community will be free, to work on that proposal.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________ _____Week Seven
Wednesday, 14 October: Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out
Seminar topic: Discuss & apply concepts drawn from Media Ecologies
Workshop: Mid-semester Self-Assessment
Read/View & Analyze (for next class): Doug Henwood, The New Economy (extracts); Trebor
Scholz, Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2 (http://tinyurl.com/5943d5), Adam Arvidsson, Crisis of
Value and the Ethical Economy (http://tinyurl.com/lp6cfc) & Richard Baraniuk, Good-bye Textbooks,
Hello, Open-Source Learning (http://tinyurl.com/lpvevy)
__________________________________________________________________________
________________ ___ _____Week eight
Monday, 19 October: The Weightless Economy?
Seminar topic: The cost and possibilities of the digital economy
Workshop: Self-study of the “new” economy
Read/View & Analyze (for next class): Articles on pedagogy TBA
Wednesday, 21 October: Group Projects Revisited
Workshop: How to Teach Us Something Digital: Pedagogy in Practice
Write (for next class): Short paper #2 (500 words)
__________________________________________________________________________
_____________Weeks Nine to Twelve
Monday topics to be chosen by the learning community as a whole with Reading Responses # 3 & 4,
and Short Paper #3 to be distributed over these weeks.
Wednesday workshops: Individual Information Ecology projects and Group Projects
Due date for draft individual Information Ecology project: Wednesday, 11 November
Due date for final individual Information Ecology project: Monday, 23 November
__________________________________________________________________________
________
_____Week thirteen
________
____ Week Fourteen
Monday, 23 November: Teach Us Something Digital
Workshop: Finalize Teach Us Something Digital
Wednesday, 25 November: Thanksgiving Break
No class. Enjoy your family & friends (& the turkey)
__________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 30 November: Teach Us Something Digital (in action)
Workshop: Peer-teaching sessions, part 1
Wednesday, 2 December: Teach Us Something Digital (in action)
Workshop: Peer-teaching sessions, part 2
Read & Analyze (for next class): Marie-Laure Ryan, The Two Faces of the Virtual (extracts) & N.
Katherine Hayles, The Condition of Virtuality (extracts)
Write (for next class): Short paper #4 (500 – 750 words): Reflection on your learning from the
Information Ecology & Teach Us Something Digital projects
__________________________________________________________________________
________
___Week Fifteen
_
Monday, 7 December: The Potential of the Virtual
Seminar topic: What does it mean to be human in a digital age?
Workshop: Learning community portfolio
Wednesday, 9 December: Learning community portfolio cont’d
Workshop: Learning community portfolio
__________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 14 December: Exam. Day
Submit: Learning Community Portfolio
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___ Exam. Week