Spring 2007 IDS 803 Origins and Implications of the Knowledge Society

Dr. Art Morin, Davis Hall 206

Office hours: usually 10:30-11:30, M,W,F – or by arrangement

Office phone number: 628-5578

e-mail address: amorin@fhsu.edu

Expected learning outcomes:
A. To determine the subject matter and theme of an individual work.
B. To recognize the conclusions of a given work and determine whether the conclusions are warranted.
C. To improve the student's ability to differentiate between knowledge and data.
D. To enhance the student's ability to understand the importance and uses of knowledge in an emerging knowledge paradigm.
E. To improve the ability to read and write critically and at an advanced level.
F. To improve the ability to frame and develop an argument logically dependent on the context.
G. To increase the level of information literacy and research acumen to make informed choices and conduct lifelong learning.
H. To develop the ability to deal with ambiguity in problems which have no right or wrong answers.

There are 10,300 points possible in the course.  In order to receive an "A" in the class, you must earn at least 90% of the total possible points. If you earn less than that, but earn at least 83% of the total possible points, you will receive a "B" in the class. If you earn less than that, but earn at least 73% of the total possible points, you will receive a "C" in the class. If you earn less than that, but earn at least 63% of the total possible points, you will receive a "D" in the class. If you earn less than that, you will receive a "U" in the class.   Information about the reading schedule can be found in the Course Calendar, which will be given to you in class.  

I invite you to contact me if you have any questions about the course (or about the MLS program).  Should you begin to encounter difficulties during the semester, for whatever reason, please contact me sooner rather than later.

Required texts 

Peter F. Drucker. 1994. Post-Capitalist Society. isbn: 0-88730-661-6

Simon Head. 2005. The New Ruthless Economy:  Work and Power in the Digital Age. isbn:  0195179838

Frank Webster, ed. 2004. The Information Society Reader. isbn: 0-415-31928-5

Catherine L. Mann (with Jacob Funk Kirkegaard). 2006. Accelerating the Globalization of America  The Role for Information Technology. isbn: 0-88132-390-X

 “Prologue” of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra – which can be found at  http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/phil/specificphilosophies/ThusSpakeZarathusttra/chap1.html

Francis Fukuyama. 2002. Our Posthuman Future  Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. ISBN: 0-312-42171-0

Course Assignments

A Course Calendar listing reading assignments and assignment due dates will be handed out in class. 

FIRST ASSIGNMENT:   Worth 200 points.  Introduce yourself to the class.  Tell us:

1. Where you live
2. Your MLS concentration
3. Your profession and something about yourself
4. How your profession uses information and information technology

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Worth 1,500 points. Brief (two- to three-page, single-spaced) reports.  Each student will be assigned several segments of the assigned reading on which the student will (a) report on one subject matter or theme found in the assigned segment, and (b) provide a critique of how the author handled that subject matter or theme. The critique should involve two or more of the following:
    i. what the author got right, and why
    ii. what the author wrong, and why
    iii. an elaboration of the subject matter and/or theme of the assigned segment
    iv. a discussion of the implications of the argument set forth in the assigned segment
    v. identification and of a theme/subject related to the subject matter or theme of the assigned segment
Each student must post his or her report in the appropriate forum in the Discussion Board.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, D, E, and F.

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Worth 1,500 points.  Each student will critique all of the reports that he or she has not written.  Each critique should point out (a) what the presenter got right, (b) important points the presenter forgot to mention, and (c) flaws in the presentation.  Each critique will be both typed and presented orally in class.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, D, E, F, and H.

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT:  Worth 1,000 points.  Each student will find two recent articles related to the knowledge society.  Each article will be summarized and critiqued by the student in class.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, D, E, F, and H.

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: Worth 3,00 points. Research paper.  Using the information provided in the CIA World Factbook, and drawing on the literature pertaining to the digital divide, (a) develop a measurement of the digital divide, (b) apply the measurement, and (c) both defend and critique the measurement and your results. The research paper should be at least 15 pages in length and include at least ten (10) outside sources pertaining to the digital divide.  The student will be required to turn in a printed copy of the paper and also present the paper in class.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT:  Worth 1,500 points.  Each student will critique the research papers of the other students.  Each critique will use the Form to Evaluate Research Papers (a copy of this form is posted in the "Assigments" section of Blackboard; I also will use the form to evaluate research papers).  These critiques will be oral presentations made in the class.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

SEVENTH ASSIGNMENT:  Worth 1,000 points.  Each student will provide a response to each of the Assignment Six critiques.  The responses will be sent to the critic and to me.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

1. Submit a brief essay in which you discuss the following: how can we develop the ability to deal with ambiguity in problems which have no right or wrong answers?
2. Submit a brief essay about the four most important things you learned because of this class.
    

1. Think about how you might approach the topic. 

2. Begin research.  Find resources through
    (a) the Forsyth library's on-line catalog and online search services;
    (b) internet searches – see “Information About Online/virtual Sources,” below; and
    (c) indexes in the library, such as the Social Science Citation Index, The Reader's Guide to Periodicals, Lexus-Nexus, the index to the New York Times, the Social Science Index, and so forth.

3. Begin writing the paper.  Don't be afraid to write the middle before you write the beginning and end.   Don't be afraid to revise.  In fact, the less you revise, the more likely you are to have problems with your paper.  You might find it helpful to create an outline at some point in the process that will help you understand the direction and emphasis of your paper. See also http://www.fhsu.edu/~amorin/MLS_Writing.html

4. Research, write, revise, write, revise, think, think, think, write, revise; consult with me if you wish.

5. Write the paper.  Assume that the audience for the paper is relatively intelligent but has NOT taken IDS 803.

6. Check citations and quotes for accuracy.  When citing sources, use either in-text citation technique, end-notes, or footnotes.  Don’t plagiarize – see http://www.fhsu.edu/~amorin/MLS_Plagiarism.html. See also FHSU’s academic honesty policy at http://web.fhsu.edu/universitycatalog/gen/academichonesty.asp. Make sure to use quote marks when you are quoting.  Follow the ‘string of four’ rule (which is: use quote marks when you use four or more of the same words in the same order as found in a source you used).  Include a citation in the following instances:  whenever you quote (include the citation immediately after the quote), whenever you use information or an idea that you got from someone else, and whenever you paraphrase or summarize someone's argument.  If you use graphs or tables, place them between the body of the paper and the “References” section.  It doesn’t make sense to use graphs or tables unless you refer to them in the body of the paper. Make sure that all of your sources are cited in the paper; make sure that all of the sources cited in the paper appear in your "References" section at the back of the paper.  If you list a resoure from the Internet in the "References" section, then you must include the date that you accessed that source.  Failure to follow the instructions in this step could result in a “U” in the class.

7. Print the paper.  Read the paper, looking for spelling and other mistakes (technical and analytical).  Revise. Aim for technical perfection - I expect the paper to be free of spelling, punctuation, and other ‘technical’ errors. 

8. Re-print, re-read, re-vise. Aim for technical perfection - I expect the paper to be free of spelling, punctuation, and other ‘technical’ errors. 

9. Print final version. Aim for technical perfection.  The paper should have a title page, the body of the paper, and a “References” section that lists all of the sources cited in the paper.  Sources in the “References” section should be alphabetized, following the ‘author, date, title’ format. Beginning with the first page of the paper, pages should be numbered.  The title page should not be numbered.  The “References" section should not begin at the bottom of the last page of the body of the text.  Rather, the "References" section should start at the top of a new page.  Make two copies of the research paper: one for you and one for me.  

Your paper should be free of spelling and punctuation errors.  If there are five or more spelling or punctuation errors, then the paper may not receive an "A."  Generally speaking, the more numerous the spelling and punctuation errors, the lower the grade.  Other characteristics that are important: clarity of writing, organization, originality, analysis, and sentence and paragraph structure.  Word choice can also affect the grade on the paper.

Information About Online/virtual Sources

Here are the directions for obtaining "Off campus access to library resources" http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/offcampus.shtml 

The online search services available in FHSU library's website will give you access to FirstSearch - a very good way to locate articles.  Go to http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/alphadata.shtml  then click on FirstSearch Database.  Please note that the initial FirstSearch webpage also gives you access to Worldcat, where you can find books.  Also, check out http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/resources.shtml 

Here is the library's page with links to search engines http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/searchengine.shtml 

Here is the website for digital libraries http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/digital.shtml

Here is the website for research resources http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/resources.shtml

To access many, many, many other libraries, go to “LIBWEB Library Servers via WWW” at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/  You can use the interlibrary loan service of your local library to borrow books from other libraries. 

 See also “Blue Skyways” at http://skyways.lib.ks.us/about/sitemap.html

 
Other Books and Sources of Interest

            Philip S. Anton, Richard Silberglitt, and James Schneider. 2001. The Global Technology Revolution  Bio/Nano/Materials Trends and Their Synergies With Information Technology by 2015. isbn: 0-8330-2949-5.  Available as "downloadable PDF file" at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1307/MR1307.pdf

Baker, John C., Beth E. Lachman, Dave R. Frelinger, Kevin M. O'Connell, Alexander Hou, Michael S. Tseng, David Orletsky, Charles Yost. 2004. Mapping the Risks  Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information. Santa Monica: RAND. ISBN: 0-8330-3547-9

Balkovich, Edward, Tora K. Bikson, Gordon Bitko. 2005. 9 to 5: Do You Know If Your Boss Knows Where You Are? Case Studies of Radio Frequency Identification Usage in the Workplace. Santa Monica: RAND. ISBN: 0-8330-3719-6

             Carona, Leonel, Jerome Doutriax, and Sarfraz A. Mian. 2006. Building Knowledge Regions in North America  Emerging Technology Innovation Poles. Edward Elgar. ISBN: 1-84542-430-5

            Castells, Manuel, editor. 2005. The Network Society   A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 1-84542-435-2 (paperback).

             Chadwick, Andrew. 2006. Internet Politics  States, Citizens, and New Communication Technologies. Oxford University Press.

             Dean, Jodi, Jon Anderson, and Lovink Geert, eds. 2006. Reformatting Politics  Information Technology and Global Civil Society. Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-95298-0

             Drori, Gili. 2005. Global E-Litism: Digital Technology, Social Inequality, and Transnationality. Worth Publishers. ISBN: 0716756730 [relevant to the digital divide]

             Gorman, Sean P. 2005. Networks, Security and Complexity  The Role of Public Policy in Critical Infrastructure Protection. Edward Elgar. ISBN: 1-84376-952-2

             Drexler, Eric. 1986, 1987,  The Coming Era of Nanotechnology. Anchor Books.  Russell Baker adapted the book to the web; see http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.html

Henderson, Jason and Bridget Abraham. 2004. “Can Rural America Support a Knowledge Economy?” Economic Review, Third Quarter, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Generic Top-level Domains http://www.iana.org/gtld/gtld.htm

Naam, Ramez. 2005. More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. Broadway. ISBN: 0767918436

Norris, Pippa. February 2004. Building Knowledge Societies:  The Renewal of Democratic Practices in Knowledge Societies. UNESCO World Report. http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Acrobat/UNESCO%20Report%20Knowledge%20Societies.pdf [relevant to the digital divide]

Roco, Mihail and William Sims Bainbridge, eds. June 2002. Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance:  Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science. National Science Foundation/Department of Commerce – sponsored report. Arlington, VA. http://wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/Report/NBIC_report.pdf 

Nikolas Rose. 2006? The Politics of Life Itself  Biomedicine, Power, and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 0-691-12191-5

Rooney, David and Abraham Ninan, eds. 2005. Handbook on the Knowledge Economy. Edward Elgar. ISBN: 1-84542-684-3

            The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation. February 16, 2005.  "The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing Its Competitive Edge?" http://www.futureofinnovation.org/PDF/Benchmarks.pdf

           [Union of South Africa] Department of Trade and Ministry:  Benchmarking of Technology Trends and Technology Developments. April 2004. A report prepared by the Bluepeter Management Consulting and Access Market International (Pty) Ltd. http://www.thedti.gov.za/article/Technologydeveloptrends.pdf

            WIPO, “Online Forum on Intellectual Property in the Information Society” http://www.wipo.int/ipisforum/en/

            The World Summit on the Information Society  http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html