|
Lecturer(s)
|
|
|
|
Course content
|
1. The formation of information society and its sociocultural context 2. History of the hacker movement, first informal communities 3. The Free Software movement and its cultural influence 4. Infrastructure and materiality of the Internet culture 5. Online communities as models for deliberation 6. Online platforms and the economization of Internet culture 7. Online piracy and the politics of Internet culture 8. Legitimation strategies in the Internet culture 9. Relations of ownership and informal control in the Internet culture 10. Points of consensus and conflict in the Internet culture
|
|
Learning activities and teaching methods
|
|
Methods of Written Work
|
|
Learning outcomes
|
The course is focused on culture that formed around the Internet as a specific media infrastructure. Its content is framed by Castells? concept of culture of the Internet as represented by technical experts, hackers, communitarians and entrepreneurs. The course is conceptualized so as to account for cultural aspects produced by all its representatives. A partial aim of the course is to provide an overview of historical development of the culture from its roots in the hacker movement to mass platforms designed for ordinary users. A second partial aim is to provide analytical tools to allow for a conceptual grasp of materiality, deliberation, economization, legitimation, or property relations. The main aim of the course is to integrate the two dimensions into a single narrative providing a synthetic overview of the Internet culture.
Students will be able to: " describe historical development of the Internet as a media infrastructure associated with specific cultural forms " situate particular platforms, communities and other forms of association within the influence of the original hacker ethos " interpret Internet history by employing the introduced concepts " identify points of consensus and conflict within the Internet culture
|
|
Prerequisites
|
unspecified
|
|
Assessment methods and criteria
|
unspecified
Assigned reading will be discussed and assessed on seminars. Essay on a topic of choice will be required at the end of the course. The essay will draw upon literature discussed in the course. Credit will be awarded based on active participation in seminars and the quality of written work.
|
|
Recommended literature
|
-
Castells, M. The Internet galaxy. Reflections on the Internet, business, and society. Oxford 2001.
-
Dijck, J. van. The Culture of Connectivity: A critical history of social media.
-
S. Levy. (2001). Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
|