COM 633: Information and Communication Technologies
Fall 2023
Communication program
School of Communication and Information
University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa


Course Syllabus

Course Information

Meetings: Mondays, 6:00-8:30pm, George 215
Instructor: Wayne Buente
Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 9-11am or by appointment
Contact: wbuente [@] hawaii.edu
(808) 956-3360 (phone)

Course description:

The objective of this course is to help you think critically and constructively about information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its relationship to society at large.  More specifically, we will examine ICTs from various theoretical perspectives.  These perspectives provide us with intellectual tools that acknowledge how technology is embedded in a complex set of other technologies, physical surroundings, people, procedures, etc. that together make up the socio-technical system. For example, social informatics is concerned with the use and practice of ICTs in a social context. Community informatics takes a more activist orientation toward the design and development of ICTs by privileging the knowledge and expertise of community members. At their heart, both social and community informatics rely on sociotechnical principles as an effective lens of inquiry. 

We will explore the ways in which a wide range of academics, activists, policy-makers, and community members talk about the nature and uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in a number of settings.  We will focus on developing tools to critique these perspectives and propose alternatives.  The first part of the course will examine a series of concepts and analytical devices to make sense of the empirical case studies and related research that will comprise the second part of the course. The knowledge and insights developed in this seminar will help you throughout your professional, personal, and civic lives. In addition, community informatics will provide an understanding of how ICTs can be developed for meeting local community goals and needs. 

By the end of the semester, you will be able to:

Readings:

Please acquire the following books for the class. Other readings will be provided through Laulima.

Broussard, M. (2018). Artificial unintelligence: How computers misunderstand the world. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York: New York University Press.

 

Course assignments:

Readings will typically be assigned for each class period and the latest information about readings will be listed in Laulima.  Please come prepared.  Class discussions are important especially for small class sizes.  Your grade will be based upon the following:

Critical summaries of reading (5 total)

20%

Assignment

10%

Book Discussion

20%

Final Presentation

5%

Final Paper

35%

Class Participation

10%

Evaluation:

The grading criteria are taken from Appendix C in
Enerson, D. M., Johnson, R. N., Milner, S., & Plank, K. M. (1997). The Penn State Teacher II. University Park, PA: Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Retrieved August 22, 2011, from http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/PennStateTeacherII.pdf

Grading Criteria
These grading standards establish four major criteria for evaluation at each grade level: rhetorical situation, reasoning and content, organization and expression. Since papers may have some characteristics of "B" and others of "C," the final grade depends on the weight the instructor gives to each criterion. A paper grossly inadequate in one area may still receive a very low grade even if it successfully meets the other criteria. A brief summary of the grading criteria is provided below. Please consult the grading criteria in Appendix C for a more detailed explanation.

The " A" Paper: An "A" paper is clear and consistent and the content is appropriate for the assignment. It also demonstrates clear organization and expression.

The "B" Paper: The "B" paper shows an awareness of the audience and purpose. Its content is reasonably well developed with adequate evidence. The organization is clear and expression is competent.

The "C" Paper: The "C" paper has a clear purpose but lacks originality in topic selection. The content is adequately developed and supported with valid reasoning. Organization is clear with mechanical but appropriate transitions. The paper also demonstrates mastery of most conventions of edited English.

The "D" Paper: The "D" paper has a unclear purpose and an inappropriate topic for its intended audience. The content is inadequately developed and evidence is insufficient. The paper also shows flawed reasoning. Organization is deficient and the paper exhibits poor grammar.

The "F" Paper: The "F" paper has no clear purpose or remotely appropriate for its intended audience. The content is not developed nor adequately supported. The paper has no organization and serious errors with English comprehension.

Attendance:

I expect you to be at all class sessions.  Excessive absences that are not excused will lower your class participation points.


Course Schedule:
Please note readings and topics may change. I will let you know as soon as I make the change.

Week 1 (08/21) Introduction

Introduction to the course

 

Week 2 (08/28) Technological Determinism

Smith, M. R. (1994). Technological determinism in American culture. In M. R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (pp. 1-35). MIT Press.

Introduction
Beniger, J. R. (1986). The control revolution: Technological and economic origins of the information society. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Winner, L. (1980). Do artifacts have politics? Daedalus, 109(1), 121-136. https://doi.org/10.2307/20024652

Week 3 (09/04) Labor Day - No class


Week 4 (09/11) Social Shaping of Technology

MacKenzie, D. (1997). The social shaping of technology. In M. R. Smith, G. Clancey, & T. Paterson (Eds.), Major problems in the history of American technology (pp. 13-15). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Cowan, R. S. (1999). The industrial revolution in the home. In D. A. MacKenzie & J. Wajcman (Eds.), The social shaping of technology (2nd ed., pp. 281-300). Milton Keynes, Eng. ; Philadelphia, Pa.: Open University Press.

Fallows, J. (1999). The American army and the M-16 rifle. In D. A. MacKenzie & J. Wajcman (Eds.), The social shaping of technology (2nd ed., pp. 382-394). Milton Keynes, Eng. ; Philadelphia, Pa.: Open University Press.

TBD

Assignment

Week 5 (09/18) Social Construction of Technology

Dolata, M., & Schwabe, G. (2023). What is the Metaverse and who seeks to define it? Mapping the site of social construction. Journal of Information Technology, 26839622311599. https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962231159927

Pinch, T. J., & Bijker, W. E. (1989). The social construction of facts and artifacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. In W. E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes & T. J. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology (1st MIT Press paperback ed., pp. 17-50). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Sharma, A. (2020). ‘We Do Not Want Fake Energy’: The Social Shaping of a Solar Micro-grid in Rural India. Science, Technology and Society, 25(2), 308-324. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971721820903006

Week 6 (09/25) Social Informatics and Community Informatics

Read Chapter 1 and Chapters 3-8 in
Fichman, P., Sanfilippo, M. R., & Rosenbaum, H. (2015). Social informatics evolving. Springer International Publishing AG. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uhm/detail.action?docID=4006568

Selected pages in
Gurstein, M. (2007). What is community informatics (and why does it matter)? Monza, Italy: Polimetrica.
[read pages 11-24, 35-52]

Kling, R. (1994). Reading “all about” computerization: How genre conventions shape nonfiction social analysis. The Information Society, 10(3), 147-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.1994.9960166

Week 7 (10/02) Networks and Sociotechnical perspectives

 

Week 8 (10/09) Algorithms

Gillespie, T. (2014). The relevance of algorithms. In T. Gillespie, P. J. Boczkowski & K. A. Foot (Eds.), Media technologies: Essays on communication, materiality, and society (pp. 167-193). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Starosielski, N. (2015). The undersea network. Duke University Press.

Velkova, J., & Kaun, A. (2021). Algorithmic resistance: media practices and the politics of repair. Information, Communication & Society, 24(4), 523-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1657162


Week 9 (10/16) Book Discussion
- Algorithms of Oppression


 

Week 10 (10/23) Native American and Indigenous Cultures

Shay, S. (2018). Challenging political agendas through indigenous media: Hawai'i and the promotion and protection of cultural heritage. In L. Ciolfi, A. Damala, E. Hornecker, M. Lechner, & L. Maye (Eds.), Cultural heritage communities: Technologies and challenges (pp. 166-184). Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.


McMahon, R., Buente, W., Hudson, H. E., Maka’awa’awa, B., Garcia, J. K., & Kanahele, D. B. (2023). Indigenous Community Networking in Hawai’i: The Pu‘uhonua o Waimānalo Community Network. Social Inclusion, 11(3), 286-297. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i3.6638

Sandvig, C. (2011). Connection at Ewiiaapaayp Mountain: Indigenous Internet infrastructure. In L. Nakamura & P. Chow-White (Eds.), Race after the Internet (pp. 168-200). New York, NY: Routledge.

Optional:

Dyson, L. (2011). Indigenous peoples on the Internet. In M. Consalvo & C. Ess (Eds.), The handbook of internet studies (pp. 251-269). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.


Week 11 (10/30) Book Discussion - Artificial Unintelligence

 

 

Week 12 (11/06) Community, Place and Data

Mund, S., & Bergner, Y. (2023). For whom is data literacy empowering? An awareness-action typology. The Journal Of Community Informatics, 19(1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v19i1.5191

Quinn, S. D., & Condon, D. (2022). Inclusion of Latino-oriented local businesses in popular online maps. The Journal Of Community Informatics, 18(2). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v18i2.5056

Powell, A. (2019). The data walkshop and radical bottom-up data knowledge. In H. Knox & D. Nafus (Eds.), Ethnography for a data-saturated world (1 ed., pp. 212-232). Manchester University Press. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526127600.00018

Week 13 (11/13) Playlists as Sociotechnical Objects

Siles, I., Segura-Castillo, A., Sancho, M., & Solís-Quesada, R. (2019). Genres as Social Affect: Cultivating Moods and Emotions through Playlists on Spotify. Social Media + Society, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119847514

Prey, R. (2020). Locating Power in Platformization: Music Streaming Playlists and Curatorial Power. Social Media + Society, 6(2), 2056305120933291. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120933291


Week 14 Thanksgiving Break


Week 15 (11/27) Games as Sociotechnical Spaces

Behrenshausen, B. G. (2013). The active audience, again: Player-centric game studies and the problem of binarism. New Media & Society, 15(6), 872-889. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812462843

Payne, M. T. (2014). War Bytes: The Critique of Militainment in Spec Ops: The Line. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31(4), 265-282. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2014.881518


Assignment


 

 

 

Week 16 (12/04) Final Paper Presentation

Assignment


 

Last Updated: November 7, 2023