An interdepartmental program in Internet Studies

Last updated: November 11, 2010 at 11:02 a.m.

Objectives

The Internet provides powerful tools to change how we work, how we play, how we learn, how we live. Its significance may well rival that of the printing press and of writing itself, with a timetable that is enormously accelerated. By supporting rapid and cheap communication, it has fostered a truly global economic system and transformed societies throughout the world. The program in Internet studies affords opportunities for students and faculty members to study the evolution of this revolutionary technology and its pervasive political, economic, cultural, and artistic ramifications in a multidisciplinary framework. It highlights the socioeconomic forces that shape the Internet and the global response to it and helps students to frame the information revolution in critical perspective. The program's interdisciplinary approach adds an important liberal arts perspective for students whose focus is primarily technical and supplies the essential technical component for students whose primary interests lie in the realm of social, humanistic, and artistic concerns. Only students who entered Brandeis prior to the fall of 2011 are eligible to apply for this program.

How to Become a Minor

Only students who entered Brandeis prior to the fall of 2011 are eligible to apply for this program. To enroll in the program, consult with a member of the Internet Studies Program committee and fill out declaration forms. Students who complete the requirements of the program receive certificates from the Internet Studies Program and an official notation on their transcripts.

Committee

Timothy Hickey, Chair
 (Computer Science)

Richard Alterman
 (Computer Science)

Anne Carter
 (Economics)

Richard Gaskins
 (American Studies)

Benjamin Gomes-Casseres
 (International Business School)

Caren Irr
 (English and American Literature)

David Jacobson
 (Anthropology)

Requirements for the Minor

Students must complete six courses. Students may double-count only two courses toward their major and this program.

A. Two core courses: COSI 2a (Introduction to Computers) and COSI 33b (Internet and Society). Computer science majors may substitute COSI 21a for COSI 2a.

B. Three elective courses from the program listing. The list of approved elective courses will change from year to year as the departments, the Internet, and society change.

C. One senior research course: an independent study, internship, or senior honors thesis in the student's major (with an emphasis on some aspect of Internet studies as approved by a member of the program's faculty) or a senior seminar in Internet studies, if offered.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

INET 92a Internship in Internet Studies
Usually offered every year.
Staff

INET 98a Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

INET 98b Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

Core Courses

COSI 2a Introduction to Computers
[ sn ]
This is an experiential learning course. An introduction to the basic principles underlying computer hardware and software and to the implications of the wider use of computers in society. Topics will include hardware, software, Web page design, applet and servlet programming, the Internet, privacy and security issues, as well as a survey of current research directions, including artificial intelligence and parallel computing. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hickey

COSI 133b Internet and Society
[ sn ]
Prerequisite: sophomore standing. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken COSI 33b in previous years.
An interdisciplinary survey of the Internet. Taught by a team of professors from several different departments, the course content will vary from year to year. Some particular topics to be covered are the architecture of the Internet (and the implications this has on its regulation), intellectual property, privacy, censorship, e-commerce, online education, and research. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hickey

Elective Courses

The following courses approved for the program. Not all given in any one year. Please consult the Schedule of Classes each semester.

AMST 131b News on Screen
[ ss ]
An interdisciplinary course exploring how journalistic practice is mediated by the moving image--cinematic, televisual, and digital. The historical survey will span material from the late-nineteenth-century "actualities" of Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers to the viral environment of the World Wide Web, a rich tradition that includes newsreels, expeditionary films, screen magazines, combat reports, government information films, news broadcasts, live telecasts, television documentaries, amateur video, and the myriad blogs, vlogs, and webcasts of the digital age. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Doherty

AMST 134b The New Media in America
[ ss ]
Analyzes the adaptation of new media in American society and culture. Examines the ways Americans have thought about and utilized new methods of mass communication in the twentieth century. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ANTH 138a Social Relations in Cyberspace
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Provides an introduction to various forms of computer-mediated communication (e.g., instant messaging, blogging, social networking, online dating) and the ways in which people interact in these different contexts of cyberspace. Students are expected to do online research. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Jacobson

ANTH 174b Virtual Communities
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: ANTH 138a or permission of the instructor.
A research seminar dealing with a selected problem in the social organization of online communities. Possible topics include impression formation in cyberspace, social control in virtual communities, the concept of presence in computer-mediated communication, and the transition between online and offline relationships. Students will do online fieldwork. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Jacobson

COML 163a Mediums and Messages
[ hum ]
How do human beings and human bodies participate in expressive communication technology, digital or otherwise? This course looks at examples of technological mediation in history, literature, art, science, and pseudo-science. Readings include works by Pynchon, Plato, Poe, Butler, Borges, Tiptree, Bioy-Casares, Kafka, and Villiers de L'Isle-Adam. Special one-time offering, fall 2009.
Ms. Swanstrom

COSI 11a Programming in Java and C
[ sn ]
This is an experiential learning course. Open only to students with no previous programing background.
A general introduction to structured programming and problem solving using C and Java in the context of the World Wide Web. Students also learn GUI programming and advanced HTML authoring. There are weekly programming assignments. Usually offered every year.
Staff

COSI 118a Computer-Supported Cooperation
[ sn ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: COSI 125a or the permission of the instructor.
Covers basic theory and concepts of computer-supported collaborative work and learning. Laboratory work enables the student to practice a set of basic techniques as they apply to the development of computer-mediated collaboration. The content and work of the course are specifically designed for an interdisciplinary class of students from computer science and the social sciences. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Alterman

COSI 125a Human-Computer Interaction
[ sn ]
Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Covers the basic theory and concepts of human-computer interaction. Topics include methodology for designing and testing user interfaces, interaction styles and techniques, design guidelines, and adaptive systems. The laboratory work is designed to give the student practice in a set of basic techniques used in
the area of human-computer interaction. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Alterman

ECON 141b Economics of Innovation
[ ss wi ]
Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.
Technological change as the central focus of modern economies. Topics include changing industrial and international specialization, economics of research and development, innovation, diffusion and technology transfer, appropriability, patents, information markets, productivity, intersectoral effects, and global competitiveness. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Carter

ENG 48a Introducing New Media
[ hum ]
Considers important theoretical frameworks for understanding the manner in which digital technology relates to cultural production, aesthetic expression, and prior media forms. Readings by N. Katherine Hayles, Lev Manovich, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Talan Memmott, among others. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ENG 101b Media Theory
[ hum ]
How has the Internet changed the practice of writing? How can writing map cyberspace? What happens to the personnel of writing (author, reader, publisher) in context of cybernetics? Immerses students in critical and utopian theories of cyber textuality. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Irr

LGLS 129b Law, Technology, and Innovation
[ ss ]
Study of interaction of the law and technology, including how law encourages and restrains the processes of technological innovation and change, and how technological innovation and change affect the law. Topics include such issues as intellectual property rights and new information technologies, biotechnology engineering, and reproductive technologies. Shows how law balances personal, social, and economic interests. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

LGLS 150a Law and Society in Cyberspace
[ ss ]
Examines how legal practices expand and restrain the digital revolution, how legal authority itself is challenged by the Internet, forcing new strategies of response, and how social/political forces shape legal policy on copyright, privacy, harassment, libel, and free speech. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

SOC 148b Sociology of Information
[ ss ]
Examines the claim that information is a key political and economic resource in contemporary society. Considers who has access to information, and how it is used for economic gain, interpersonal advantage, and social control. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Miller