ENGH 201 Paper #3
Is the Internet Different?
Spring 2012

Paper #3, on whether the internet is different from earlier information technologies and therefore exempt from what Tim Wu calls the cycle is due on Tues May 15th.  You can hand the paper in either at the end of section 201-14's scheduled exam time in our regular classroom (9-10am in Innovation 318) or in my English Department box (Robinson A 487) by 5pm that day. If you take the later option, make sure to stop by my office (Robinson A 353G) or email me to make sure I have received your paper.  Your paper should be 3 pages, typed and double spaced, and include in-text citations (MLA or APA) and a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page or Chicago style footnotes/endnotes. You can see sample papers and check your citations by studying the companion website to your ENGH101 writing handbook. For my students last semester, that would be Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online. 

Begin the paper with a brief account of what Wu means by the cycle and how it may or may not apply to the Internet.  Then make an argument, drawing on Wu's account--and other sources, if you would like to add to what he says--for why the Internet will be subject to the same forces as information industries like telecommunications and entertainment, or will escape consolidation and central control and remain open.  Your paper should have detailed explanations and at least two quotes from Wu.  You should also cite where you found any other ideas.  You should at least mention technical points like packet vs. centralized switching and/or TCP/IP (pp. 172-4 & 197-199) but can emphasize business issues more than technical explanations if you feel better equipped to work on that level.  See the end of his Harvard talk (before he takes questions) for a fuller account of the business side of the issue. 

(Note:  see Hacker's online site for how to cite books (MLA and APA) and online sources (MLA and APA) at the end of your paper.  Note that video talks like Wu's at Harvard are more akin to a Lecture or Public Address in terms of MLA categories than they are like an Online video clip. But such hybrid or blurry cases are inevitable when new technologies of communication (disruptive or sustaining) are regularly introduced. APA is slower to adjust to such technologies than MLA, most likely because of its focus on social science research, but it does have rules for Lecture, speech or address and Online audio or video file. Also see the Chicago format for citing Online audio or video.  For the Charlie Rose interview, see the entries for TV interviews/programs in MLA or APA.)     

Our LLC tutors--Brian and Dylan--have been specially trained to help you with your writing as well as to work with you on peer review. I will add two points to your final paper grade if you see Brian or Dylan (or a Writing Center tutor) to go over a draft.  To receive this credit, you must include the draft with your final paper as well as a typed statement on what you went over in your session and what you changed based on the feedback you received. Put your final paper on top and either staple/clip the packet together or put it in a folder with your name on the cover. 

Below is a listing of the reading in Wu for this semester and the ancillary materials we went over in class you should  use in writing your paper:   

• Bell, Vail, and the Cycle in telecommunications and the information industries:   
      3-14 (Introduction)
      17-32 (The Disruptive Founder)
      45-60 (Mr. Vail is a Big Man) 
      101-114 (The Foreign Attachment)   
  
  
• Edison and the Trust, Zukor and Studios, Hodkinson and the Independents, the Legion of Decency and the Hays' Code, and the breakup of the studios in 1948 and the rise of entertainment and conglomerates and risk management in the 1970s: 
      61-73 (The Time Is Not Right For Feature Films)
      86-98 (The Paramount Ideal)
      115-124 (The Legion of Decency)    
      217-237 (Mass Production of the Spirit) 
      The Library of Congress' History of Edison Motion Pictures
      The films and interviews from Edison: The Invention of the Movies
      The Great Train Robbery (1903)
      Edison's Frankenstein (1910) 
  
  
• Licklider, Cerf and the development of the Internet, packet switching, and TCP/IP: 
      68-175 (The Radicalism of the Internet Revolution)
      196-216 (Esperanto for Machines)
  You can also consult the Internet Society's Brief History of the Internet if you want to supplement the reading in Wu. 
    
•  Apple and Google
      255-6 (The Internet Against Everyone) 
     269-299 (Father and Son)   
  
  
• We also watched three talks/interviews: 
      Tim Wu's talk at the New America Foundation, How Tinkerers Invented the Information Age
      Tim Wu's talk at Harvard on The Master Switch
      Tim Wu on Charlie Rose