ENGH 202 Paper #3, Spring 2015
Is the Internet Different, OR Risk Management in Sherlock Holmes film(s)

In paper #3 you will build on your blog posts (14a or 14b) and write on one of the following  questions: 

1. Whether the internet is different from earlier information technologies and therefore exempt from what Tim Wu calls the cycle--and why this might matter; OR
2. How Wu's theories or risk management in the entertainment industry bear on the Robert Downey/Jude Law Sherlock Holmes film(s) or other recent adaptations and what this might mean for the value of the film(s).  Make sure to include examples from the film(s) as well as cover Wu’s theories.     

The paper should be 3 pages typed and double spaced.  You should bring a print copy either to our regular classroom during our scheduled exam time--Thurs May 7th anytime between 1:30 and 4:15pm--or to my office in Aquia 230 on Friday May 8th from 10am to 3pm.  You can also bring your paper to my office in the BIS Suite (Aquia 230) before the exam.  You should also send me an electronic copy of  your paper.  If you do not hand me the paper directly, make sure to email me to make sure I have received the paper.  If you want me to go over a draft, you can bring it to the scheduled exam (Thurs May 7th 1:30-4:15) and then hand the paper in Fri May 8th.  Finally, if you saw a tutor, make sure to include a typed statement on who you saw, when, what you went over and what you changed as a result. 

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.  (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.)     

If you write on question 1, begin 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.  If you write on question 2, begin with Wu's account of risk management in modern entertainment conglomerates.  Then make an argument, drawing on Wu's account--and other sources, if you would like to add to what he says--for how certain elements of the film(s) are or are not related to the risk management strategies he discusses and what this might mean for the value of the film(s).   Your paper should have detailed explanations and at least two quotes from Wu.  You should also cite where you found any other ideas. 

Our LLC tutors (Jessica, Bobby and David) are ready to help you by either discussing the issues and going over options and/or working on printed drafts with you.  You are required to have at least one session with them as you work on paper #2 or paper #3 and include a typed statement with your paper about what you went over and what you changed.  I will add two points to your final paper grade if you see Jessica, Bobby or David more than once as you work on these papers.  To receive credit, you must include a typed statement on what you went over in both sessions.

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) DISCUSSED, NOT ASSIGNED
  
  
• 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) DISCUSSED, NOT ASSIGNED
      115-124 (The Legion of Decency) DISCUSSED, NOT ASSIGNED
      217-237 (Mass Production of the Spirit) 
      The Library of Congress' History of Edison Motion Pictures DISCUSSED, NOT ASSIGNED
      The films and interviews from Edison: The Invention of the Movies WATCHED SELECTIONS INCLUDING
      The Great Train Robbery (1903).  Edison's Frankenstein (1910) DID NOT WATCH IN CLASS
  
  
• 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/you 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
      You can also study a past FCC's announcement on Net Neutrality and listen to Tim Wu's recent interview on the FCC's decision implementing Net Neutrality (3:20-15:08min).  See the FCC's Open Internet page and read about the rules adopted aon Feb 26th, 2015.        

Also see the two new Extra-Credit/Make-Up posts due May 8th at 11:59pm: 
14C Common Carrier and 14D FCC Open Internet  These posts are designed to help you partially make up missed work from earlier in the semester without this becoming "make work" unrelated to your current assignment.  Each post should be about 200+ words.