| ITRN 701.007 Spring Semester, 2001 Wednesdays, 7:05-9:35 p.m. School of Public Policy Room 238 Arlington Campus George Mason University |
Dr. Todd M. La Porte
Visiting Associate Professor Office hours: Wed., Thurs., 4-6 pm. Room 248, Arlington Campus (703) 993-3351 (202) 686-7115 (home) tlaporte *at* gmu.edu (preferred contact) |
Revised February 20, 2001
Course Description
This course will examine the concepts of the global information economy and knowledge society, and particularly their implications for developing countries.
It will provide extensive hands-on practice grappling with issues the developing world is facing, including the development of realistic strategies for developing countries to deal effectively with the networked world.
A key aspect of the course will be a team project to create a working website that could be used by a developing country, government organization, or international public or non-governmental development agency.
It will focus specifically on important policy issues that countries need to resolve in the process of integrating into the global information economy and society, as well as tensions at the global-national interface. Domestic policy and international arrangements affecting the Internet trajectories, such as economic development needs, infrastructure and telecommunications regulation, privacy, security and intellectual property protection. The development of effective public policies for governance will be emphasized.
Because the seminar covers a very wide terrain, students should be prepared to read extensively and monitor on-going Net developments. Readings and other materials will be available where possible on the class website.
Please note: students are expected to have read the first week's assignment before coming to the first class on January 17. We will discuss the overall goals and objectives of the course in concert with these readings.
Much material will be drawn from the following books, which will be available in the Arlington Campus bookstore. These books and the readings from the other texts will be on reserve in the Arlington Campus library.
The course will be conducted as a seminar with group activities. Students are expected to:
In-class and electronic discussion:
33 %
Memos or discussion papers:
33 %
Website project:
33 %
Grades for group projects will be based on group member evaluations as well as the instructor's independent judgement.
In-class and Electronic Discussion
Class and electronic discussion group participation is given a high weight to ensure both that you do all the readings and that you carefully digest and review all the material. You are expected to carefully analyze key analytic assumptions, and be prepared to discuss readings at every session. These discussions are intended to be highly interactive, open, and even irreverent (but always respectful!). WebCT can be accessed by clicking here , or by going to http://mason3.gmu.edu:8900/SCRIPT/ITRN701S00/scripts/serve_home.
Discussion Paper Presentation
Each week, seminar members, organized in small groups, will be responsible for preparing a memo or short discussion paper and leading part of the discussion of that week’s topic and readings. Memos are designed as decision or reflection papers for decisionmakers in developing countries. Accordingly, they should briefly summarize the relevant ideas from the readings, and put them in context for the leaders of a developing country.
The major project of the course is to create a website for a real public organization in a developing country, one that might plausibly be used or adopted by officials in that country. The Web is becoming an important tool in communicating and organizing information and services, and forms an increasingly important window into and expression of the Information Economy or Knowledge Society. As such, mastery of web techniques is increasingly necessary in all development activities.
The purpose of the website should be to
It is expected that the site you create will be developed in consultation with government and business officials in that country, as well as with input from international or multilateral development agencies. Organizational websites are nearly always the product of team efforts, or at a minimum depend on the cooperation of many organization members. Securing their real cooperation, or simulating it realistically, are important aspects of this task.
A website project is a relatively new approach to a major component of a course, and the genre is still very much in flux. The idea is not to make the coolest site, or one that uses the most sophisticated webpage design techniques. Rather it is to provide students with:
Structure and Format
To be effective and useful, websites or pages should also conform to some design principles. However, a consensus has not yet emerged on standards for academic website design. Work for this class should not explore the outer limits of hyptertext or computer graphics. But exploitation of the medium's special properties to convey meaning and make connections does not require mastery of the hottest new design techniques. Students are encouraged to experiment with the Web to expand their horizons to see what potential the new medium can offer.Resources to help you are noted below.
The design and contents of website especially should take into account the intended audience. Specifying who the audience is and relating the website effectively to that audience is an integral part of the project.
You are strongly encouraged to use other people's work in your writing, with appropriate citation, but all work must be your own. Plagiarism is an Honor Code violation, and students who willfully plagiarize will be failed for the course, and possibly expelled from the University.
Citation practice in American universities is to reference all sources of both direct and indirect authority, except when common knowledge. If you find a useful quote that makes an important point, then cite it. If the quote itself is quoted, indicate both the original and the intermediate source. The main idea is to permit the reader to find the source, and to understand the authority or evidence invoked as proof of an argument. Failure to provide this reference trail constitutes plagiarism.
The following websites have useful material. There are a number of news digests and electronic information sources to which you are encouraged to subscribe, or scan. They will help you to keep abreast of developments in the field, which come at a fast pace. Your suggestions are welcome!
Organizations:
Help for student web projects is available from the Student Technology Assistance and Resource (STAR) office at the Johnson Center, Rm. 311, http://media.gmu.edu/web/webstar.html
See "Page Builder," the STAR on-line presentation on student web projects at http://media.gmu.edu/pagebuilder
GMU's "Web Development" website provides a number of resources and services for university web page designers: http://www.gmu.edu/mlnavbar/webdev/findex.html
Books and Web Resources on Website Design
Tutorials and General Guides
Summa, Allyn, "Web Design Basics," an on-line tutorial of the GMU Office of University Computing and Instructional Services, is available at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ucis/webdesign/
Shiple, John, "Information Architecture Tutorial," provides a five-step guide to the basics of information architecture: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial1.html
Lynch, Patrick and Horton, Sarah, Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999). Web version: http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/ See especially the section on "Site Design" at http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/sites/site_design.html
Greenspun, Philip, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, (New York: Academic Press, 1999). Web version: http://www.photo.net/wtr/thebook/
Waters, Crystal, Web Concept & Design: A Comprehensive Guide for Creating Effective Web Sites, (New Riders Publishing, 1996).
Veen, Jeffrey, Hotwired Style: Principles for Building Smart Websites, (Hardwired, 1997). Short web version: http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/98/07/index0a.html?tw=design
Jakob Nielsen’s Website, http://www.useit.com , contains a wealth of web-related useability information, including the resources listed above. Good examples include:
Flanders, Vincent, and Willis, Michael, Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design, (Sybex, 1998). Website: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/suckframe.htm .
Rosenfeld, Louis, "A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites": http://webbusiness.cio.com/archive/closer.html
"Critique of the Week," a column in e-journal CNET Builder.com examines a variety of Web sites: e-commerce, e-journals, vertical portals, and entertainment sites, from a Web designer’s point of view: http://www.builder.com/Graphics/Critique/index.html
"The Argus Clearinghouse" provides excellent examples to follow: http://www.clearinghouse.net/
HTML and Webpage Coding Guides
Castro, Elizabeth, HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, (Berkeley: Peachpit
Press, 1998).
Talero, Eduardo and Philip Gaudette, "Harnessing Information for Development: A Proposal for a World Bank Group Strategy," infoDev Working Papers, (Washington, DC: World Bank Group, March, 1996), http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/harnessing.
Drucker, Peter F., "From Capitalism to Knowledge Society," in The Post-Capitalist Society, (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), pp.
Webster, Frank, chaps. 2 and 4, "Information and the Idea of an Information Society," and "Information, the National State and Surveillance: Anthony Giddens," in Theories of the Information Society, (London: Routledge. 1995), pp. 6-29, 52-73.
Webster, Frank, chaps. 5, 6 and 7, "Information and Advanced Capitalism: Herbert Schiller," "Information Management and Manipulation: Jürgen Habermas and the Decline of the Public Sphere," and "Information and Restructuring: Beyond Fordism?," in Theories of the Information Society, (London: Routledge. 1995), pp. 74-100, 101-134, 135-162.
Summa, Allyn, "Web Design Basics," an on-line tutorial of the GMU Office of University Computing and Instructional Services, is available at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ucis/webdesign/
Shiple, John, "Information Architecture Tutorial," provides a five-step guide to the basics of information architecture: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial1.html
Arthur, Brian, "Increasing Returns and the New World of Business," Harvard Business Review, July 1996, pp. 100-109.
Shapiro, Carl and Hal Varian, chap. 7, "Networks and Positive Feedback," Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998, pp. 173-225.
King, John L., "Where are the Payoffs from Computerization? Technology, Learning, and Organizational Change," in Rob Kling, ed., Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices, 2nd ed., (San Diego: Academic Press, 1996), pp. 239-260.
Additional reading:
Survey of the "New Economy," The Economist,23 September
2000.
Survey of "Electronic Commerce," The Economist,26 February 2000.
Association for Progressive Communications, "Using the Internet Strategically," http://www.apc.org/english/ngos/strategy/index.htm . See especially links "Real Life Strategic Uses," http://www.apc.org/english/ngos/strategy/examples/index.htm, and "Building A Web Site Together," http://womensnet.org.za/about/curric.htm .
Benton Foundation, "helping.org" (program devoted to helping non-profit organizations use technology effectively): http://www.helping.org/nonprofit/index.adp
Castells, Manuel, "Information Technology, Globalization and Social Development," paper prepared for the UNRISD Conference on Information Technologies and Social Development, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 22-24 June 1998, http://www.unrisd.org/infotech/conferen/castelp1.htm
Mansell, Robin, chaps. 1 and 2, "Building Innovative Knowledge Societies," and "Indicators of Developing Country Participation in 'Knowledge Societies'," in Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development, Robin Mansell and Uta Wehn, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 5-17, 19-44.
Optional: Castells, Manuel, Rise of the Network Society, sections of chap. 2, "The Informational Economy and the Process of Globalization," (first half of chapter), vol. I of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, (London: Blackwell, 1996), pp. 66-115, 145-147.
Demchak, Chris C., Christian Friis, and Todd M. La Porte, "Reflections on Configuring Public Agencies in Cyberspace: a Conceptual Investigation," in Public Administration in an Information Age: A Handbook, I. Th. M. Snellen and W. B. H. J. van de Donk, eds., (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 1998), pp. 225-244, http://www.cyprg.arizona.edu/publications/reflect.rtf
Demchak, Chris C., Christian Friis, and Todd M. La Porte, "Webbing Governance: National Differences in Constructing the Face of Public Organizations," in Handbook of Public Information Systems, G. David Garson, ed., (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2000), pp. 179-196, http://www.cyprg.arizona.edu/publications/webbing.rtf
Cyberspace Policy Research Group, http://www.cyprg.arizona.edu.
Talero, Eduardo, "National Information Infrastructures in Developing Countries," in National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, Brian Kahin and Ernest Wilson, eds., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 287-306.
Mansell, Robin, chaps. 5, 6, 7 and 8, "The Potential Uses of ICTs for Sustainable Development," "Implementing ICTs in the Least Developed Countries," "Assembling the Components of National Information Infrastructures," and "National Information Infrastructure Access" in Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development, Robin Mansell and Uta Wehn, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 81-98, 99-118, 119-150, 151-178.
Butcher, N., "The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Harnessing ICTs to Accelerate
Social Development: A South African Perspective," SAIDE: Johannesburg, April
1998, paper prepared for the UNRISD Conference on Information
Technologies and Social Development, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 22-24 June
1998,
http://www.saide.org.za/butcher1/unrisd.htm
Garson, G. David, "Information Systems, Politics, and Government: Leading Theoretical Perspectives," in Handbook of Public Information Systems, G. David Garson, ed., (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2000), pp. 591-609.
Heeks, Richard, "Information Systems and Public Sector Accountability," Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working Paper Series, no. 1, (Manchester: University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management, 1998), http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/isps_wp1.htm.
Heeks, Richard, "Information Age Reform of the Public Sector: The Potential and Problems of IT for India," Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working Paper Series, no. 6, (Manchester: University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management, 1998), http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/isps_wp6.htm.
Kahn, Michael and Russell Swanborough, "Information Management, IT and
Government Transformation: Innovative Approaches in the
New South Africa," Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working
Paper Series, no. 8, (Manchester: University of Manchester, Institute for
Development Policy and Management, 1999),
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/isps_wp8.htm.
Heeks, Richard, David Mundy & Angel Salazar, "Why Health Care Information Systems Succeed or Fail," Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working Paper Series, no. 9, (Manchester: University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management, 1998), http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/isps_wp9.htm.
Mansell, Robin, chaps. 3 and 4, "Innovation Systems and the Learning Process," and "Strengthening the Science and Technology Base through Education and Lifelong Learning," in Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development, Robin Mansell and Uta Wehn, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 45-63, 65-80.
Mathews, John, "Organisational Foundations of the Knowledge-Based Economy," in Employment and Growth in the Knowledge-based Economy, (Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1996), pp.
Recommended: World Bank, Global Distance EducationNet, http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/index.htm.
Di Pietro, Giorgio, "NGOs and the Internet: Use and Repercussions," IPTS Report, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, no. 48, October, 2000, pp. 23-27.
Reinicke, Wolfgang H. and Francis Deng, chaps. 1, 2 and 3, "Introduction," "A Changing External Environment," and "What Do Networks Do?", Critical Choices: The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance, (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 1999, 2000), http://www.idrc.ca/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DS_ID=2&Product_ID=534&DID=6.
Mansell, Robin, chaps. 9, 10 and 11, "Friend or Foe? Developing Countries and the International Governance System," "Institutional Innovations for the Governance of Information Services," and "National ICT Strategies for Knowledge-based Development," in Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development, Robin Mansell and Uta Wehn, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 179-202, 203-224, 225-240.
Philip E. Agre, "Yesterday's tomorrow," Times Literary Supplement, 3 July 1998, pp. 2-3. Draft version: http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/tls.html.
Rob Kling and Suzanne Iacono, "Computerization Movements and the Mobilization of Support for Computing," in Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices, 2nd ed., (New York: Academic Press, 1996), pp. 85-105.
Brown, John Seeley, and Paul Duguid, chap. 1, "The Limits to Information," from The Social Life of Information, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 2000); excerpts at FirstMonday, issue 5, no. 4, April, 2000, http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_4/brown_chapter1.html.
Philip E. Agre, "Building an Internet Culture," Telematics and Informatics, vol. 15, no. 3, 1998, pp. 231-234. Draft version: http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/internet-culture.html.
Norris, Pippa, chaps. 1-4, "Information Poverty in the Emerging Internet Age," "Understanding the Digital Divide," "The Global Divide," and "The Social Divide," Digital Divide? Civic Engagement, Information Poverty & the Internet in Democratic Societies, (New York: Cambridge University Press, publication Fall 2001), http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/people/pnorris/book1.htm#Research resources.
Term projects due