This course is writing-intensive.  You are not likely to succeed in this course unless you devote several hours each day to the course.  Please familiarize yourself with the Course Calendar, which is posted in the "Assignments" section of Blackboard.  The Course Calendar lists due dates for all of the assignments.  Completion of the assignments are meant to help you achieve the course's expected learning outcomes.  The expected learning outcomes of this class are:
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.
These learning outcomes are a subset of the expected learning outcomes of the MLS program.

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.
My e-mail address: amorin@fhsu.edu
My phone number: 785 628-5578

Required texts 

Vannevar Bush. April 1945. "As We May Think." The Atlantic Monthly http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush 

Theodore Kaczynski. 1995.*  The Unabomber (or Unabomber's) Manifesto http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt
*The date comes from Wikipedia's article, "Theodore Kacynski"  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unabomber

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 

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

Recorded Lectures (required)

There are 23 recorded lectures, or modules, available on DVD.  The schedule for viewing these lectures is listed in the Course Calendar, which is posted in the "Assignments" section of the course's Blackboard website.

Suggested articles 

Yo Takatsuki. December 27, 2006. "Dealing with toxic computer waste." BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6110018.stm

Mark Ward. January 2, 2008. "Boom times for hi-tech criminals." BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7154187.stm

Steven McKenzie. July 30, 2008. "Wull-E: Robots doing dirty work [cleaning up nuclear sites]." BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7531632.stm

Course Assignments

A Course Calendar listing assignment due dates can be found as an attachment in the “Assignments” section of the course’s Blackboard website.  Each assignment must be submitted no later than midnight Central Daylight Time of its due date.  No assignment will be accepted after its due date, unless circumstances warrant it.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
Worth 200 points.   Check the Course Calendar for the due date.
You must complete this assignment in order to pass the class. This assignment should be at least one page (single-spaced)  in length.  Post your introduction in the "introduction" forum in the "Discussion Board" section of the course's Blackboard site to introduce yourself to others in 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 how it uses information technology

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS POSTED ON BLACKBOARD
Worth 1,000 points.  Due dates will be given during the semester.
Questions will be posted on blackboard throughout the semester.  You are required to respond to each question, and you are required 'dialog' with at least two other students who have posted a response to a particular question.  Here is an example of a 'dialog:' (a) Student One posts a response to a question; (b) you comment; (c) Student One responds; (d) you respond.  Your initial comment (part "b" of the example) must focus on (i) what you have learned from the response and (ii) an elaboration or criticism of what Student One has written.
Related to learning outcomes A, B, E, F, and H.

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: CRITIQUES OF THREE OF THE ASSIGNED BOOKS
Worth 900 points.  Check the Course calendar for due dates.
Critique each of the following books:  Drucker, Head, and Mann.  In each critique, include a consideration of (a) the author's argument and conclusion(s); (b) whether the evidence substantiated the author's argument and conclusion(s); (c) implications of the author's argument and conclusions; and (d) the quality of the writing. (The preceding list draws upon the list presented by Dr. Paul Faber in IDS 801.)  Each critique must be two pages in length; no longer and no shorter than two pages (single-spaced, 12-point New Times Roman font; one-inch margins).  For each of these three books, students will be required to post a comment on the critiques of at least two other students.  Each comment must consider the following: (a) what the student learned from the critique, and (b) weaknesses of the critique, such as: important insights were missing, quality of analysis was poor, and quality of writing was poor. 
Related to learning outcomes A, B, E, F. and H.

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: MINI-RESEARCH PAPER ON THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Worth 3,000 points.  Check the Course Calendar for the due date of the mini-research paper.
Resources you are required to use for this paper are: the lecture by professor Mark Bannister, Chapter 18 in Webster's book, and information from the CIA's World Factbook (which can be found on the CIA's webpage: https://www.cia.gov). This research paper must have ten sources not used in the class and must be at least ten pages in length, not including the title page and "References" section (double-spaced, 12-point New Times Roman font, one-inch margins). Follow the APA guidelines and the guidelines listed below when writing your paper.  If there is a conflict between APA guidelines and the guidelines below, follow the guidelines below.  Whenever APA guidelines conflict with guidelines that I provide, follow my guidelines.  You are required to submit a first draft no later than Friday, November 19, 2008.  You should treat the first draft as if it is the final version of the paper - in other words, it should be your best work.  I will provide comments, as will other students.  You are required to submit a revised version of the paper after considering these comments. (You are responsible for correcting all errors in the first draft, even those I miss.)  It is the revised version that will receive a grade:  failure to turn in a revised version will result in the grade of zero on the paper.   The due date for the revised version of the paper is December 10, 2008.  More information about this paper will be given to you once the fall semester has started. 
Related to learning outcomes C, D, E. F, G, and H.
    Sources related to the Sixth Assignment
       Dena Taylor and Margaret Proctor. Site last modified May 27, 2008. The literature review: A few tips on how to conduct it. Accessed July 31, 2008 http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: CRITIQUES OF MINI-RESEARCH PAPERS
Worth 600 points (200 points each).  Check the Course Calendar for the due date of the critiques.
You will be assigned three mini-research papers that you will be required to critique.  Base each critique on the evaluation form posted in the "Assignments" section of Blackboard (if you use the form, also include commentary). Post each critique under the mini-research paper about which the critique was written.  Related to learning outcomes A, B, D, E, G, and H.

SEVENTH ASSIGNMENT: RESPONDING TO CRITIQUES  OF YOUR  MINI-RESEARCH PAPER.
Worth 600 points (200 points each).  Check the Course Calendar for the due date of the responses.
Respond to each of the three critiques of your mini-research paper.
Related to learning outcomes E, F, and H.

1. How should a person deal with ambiguity? Answers such as "Gosh, I don't know" are not acceptable. 
2. How are the changes being experienced in the information society shaping how we know, learn, and grow - and how will they?
3. What are the four most important things you learned because of this class?
   
   Instructions for a Formal Research Paper 

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, information, etc.  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.  

Guidelines for Written Work

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.

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

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

Abramson, Bruce D. October 2007. The Secret Circuit:  The Little-Known Court Where the Rules of the Information Age Unfold. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 0-7425-5281

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

Cammaerts, Bart and Leo Van Audenhove. 2003. ICT-Usage among Trans-national Social Movements in the Networked Society: To Organize, to Mediate & to Influence, Key Deliverable The European Media and Technology in Everyday Life Network, 2000-2003. http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EMTEL/reports/cammaerts_2003_emtel.pdf

Cammaerts, Bart and Nico Carpentier, eds. 2007. Reclaiming the Media: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles. European Communication Research and Education Association Research Series.  Bristol, UK and Chicago: Intellect.

Caplan, Arthur L. December 2007. Smart Mice, Not so Smart People: An Interesting and Amusing Guide to Bioethics. Rowman & Litlefield. ISBN: 0-7425-4175-x

             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

             Cammaerts. Bart and Nico Carpentier, eds. 2007. Reclaiming the Media: Communication rights and democratic media roles. Bristol, UK and Chicago: Intellect.. ISBN: 978--84150-163-5

            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.

             Christou, George and Seamus Simpson. 2007. The New Electronic Marketplace: European Governance Strategies in a Globalizing Economy. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-84542-274-5. $100.00

             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]

             Etc group. January 2007. "Extreme Genetic Engineering  An Introduction to Synthetic Biology." http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/602/01/synbioreportweb.pdf 

             Florini, Ann, ed.. 2007. The Right to Know:  Transparency for an Open World. Columbia University Press. ISBN: 978-0-231-14158-1

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

 Hafkin, Nancy and Sphia Huyer. 2006. Cinderalla or Cyberella?  Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society. Kumarian Press. ISBN 978-1-56549-219-6

Hern, Greg and David Rooney, eds. January 2008. Knowledge Policy: Challenges for the 21st Century. Edward Elgar Publishing. SIBN: 978-1-84542-186-1. $90.00

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

Humphreys, Peter and Seamus Simpson. 2005. Globalisation, Convergence and European Telecommuications Regulation. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-85278-931-2. $100.00

.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]

Phillips, Peter W.B. 2007. Governing Transformative Technological Innovation: Who's in Charge? Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-84720-237-6. $135.00

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

Servaes, Jan and Nico Carpentier, eds. Towards a Sustainable Information Society: Deconstructing WSIS. European Consortium for Communications Research Series.  Bristol, UK and Portland: Intellect.  The acronym "WSIS" stands for "World Summit on the Information Society."  Reviewed at http://rccs.usfca.edu/bookinfo.asp?ReviewID=435&BookID=315 

            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

            UNESCO World Report. 2005. Towards Knowledge Societies. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001418/141843e.pdf 

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

            The World Social Forum http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/index.php?cd_language=2

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

Notes on other books.

    Andrew A. Adams and Rachel J. McCrindle. 2008. Pandora's Box: Social and Professional Issues in the Information Age. Chichester,  England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.  [Comment: This book is targeted at undergraduate students in computing.  However, given the breadth of topics covered in the book, it may nevertheless be a good choice.  Plus it is a 2008 publication]

    Manuel Castells, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Jack Linchuan Qiu, and Araba Sey. 2007.  Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective. A Project of the Annenberg Research Network on International Communication. Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press. ISBN: 0-262-03355-0. [The last chapter would be good to include in an edited volume.]

    Aaron Barlow. 2007. The Rise of the Blogosphere. Westport, CN and London: Praeger. ISBN: 0-278-98996-8 [Comment: this book's historical perspective makes it a good candidate for IDS 803.]

    Robin Mansell and Brian S. Collins, eds. 2005. Trust and Crime in Information Societies. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. ISBN: 1-84542-177-9

    Catherine McKercher and Vincent Mosco, eds.2007. Knowledge Workers in the Information Society. Critical Media Studies series editor Andrew Calabrese. Lanham and Boulder: Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. [The focus on 'labor' - as in 'labor unions' - makes this book too narrowly focused for IDS 803]

    Mark Poster. 2006. Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of the Digital Machines. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press. ISBN: 0-8223-3839-4 [the very beginning is promising - but then drops off precipitously]

     Sverker Sörlin and Hebe Vessuri, eds. 2007. Knowledge Society vs. Knowledge Economy: Knowledge, Power, and Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  [not for IDS 803]