SOCIOLOGY AND THE
INTERNET
Robert E. Wood
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
Spring Semester 2000
The explosive growth of the
internet has provided sociologists with new tools for carrying out sociological research
and with a new subject for sociological investigation. This course is designed both to
increase student skills in using the resources of the internet to do sociology and also to
explore the emerging field of the sociology of cyberspace.
Course Description. This course
will combine classroom and computer lab sessions. Attendance at all classes and labs is
important; do not take this course if you are unable to attend daily. Assignments include
six exercises designed to develop internet skills; an electronic communication requirement
designed to explore different types of computer-mediated communication; a research paper
on how a social group is using the internet to bring about social change; and two quizzes
on lecture and reading materials. Students will be expected to spend at least three
hours on the internet each week outside of class, working on the assignments and the
research paper, and exploring the internet. If you do not have internet access from
home, it is incumbent on you to schedule adequate time in the computer labs on campus.
Most of the readings in this course are
available online, and can be accessed simply by clicking on the titles (hypertext links)
on the online syllabus. They then may be read online (this is recommended for those with
hypertext links built in); downloaded onto a disk or onto the hard drive of your personal
computer; or printed out directly. Assigned readings are not to be printed out
in BSB 117 during class lab time. Browsing sites
should be explored online before the class for which they are assigned. Several recommended
sites call up radio shows on the internet from PBS radio archives
(these require the RealPlayer plugin).
Requirements. The Electronic Communication Requirement involves the
use of email, listserves, WebCT bulletin boards and WebCT chat rooms. We will use
all of these types of computer-mediated communication to conduct the business of this
course, and we will analyze the pros and cons of each.
Internet exercises
designed to increase your web skills include:
 Exercise 1: Basic Internet Skills
Exercise 2:
Essay on Virtual Communities (with downloaded text and images)
Exercise 3:
Online Bibliographic and Web Searching: Preliminary Results for Your Research Papers
Exercise 4:
Sociology Virtual Tour
Exercise 5:
Doing Data Analysis and Testing Hypotheses Online
Exercise 6:
Creating Your Own Web Page
The Internet and Social Change
Research Project will involve exploring and analyzing how the internet is
being used by a specific group of people to bring about some form of social change. You
will be asked to explore the degree to which a virtual community can be said to
exist for the group you have chosen and the degree to which the group is successfully
using the internet to take collective action to bring about social change. The papers must
be prepared in HTML format, ready for uploading onto the class website.
Course grades will be determined as follows:
Electronic Communication Requirement (10%); Exercises (45%); Virtual Community Research
Paper (25%); Quizzes (10%) and class attendance and participation (10%; no more than 2
absences and regular participation showing preparedness). Inadequate class
attendance and/or inadequate participation in class discussions (both online and offline)
will result in a grade penalty. Students may earn up to five extra credit points by
presenting their research findings at the joint Sociology-Psychology poster session on
Friday, April 28th.
All students are expected to participate in the class
bulletin boards and chat rooms as specified in various class assignments. These
portions of the course are located on the New Brunswick WebCT server and require students
to set up a username and password. Keep a record of yours handy! I will be
available after class (11:00-12:00 and in the afternoon, 3:00-4:00) to discuss course
issues and to provide computer assistance for those who need it. Occasional online office
hours in one of the course's chat rooms will also be scheduled. I encourage you to
raise general issues on the class listserv and bulletin board; more specific questions may
be addressed to me via email at wood@crab.rutgers.edu
The course portal is located at http://camden-www.rutgers.edu/~wood/445syl.html
All students should check the Instructor's
Notice Board regularly for updated assignments and other course-related news.
Course Outline
check
the Instructor's Notice Board for day-by-day assignments
I. Introduction: Learning Basic Internet Skills
Browser
Skills (opening URLs; hypertext links; moving around; bookmarking;
downloading files and images and importing them into wordprocessing programs)
Using Email and Listservs (handling your
email account; organizing messages in folders; copying and moving files; subscribing and
unsubscribing to listservs; searching listserv data bases)
Using Bulletin Boards and Chat Rooms (we will
use WebCT to communicate outside of class and to familiarize ourselves with these forms of
interactivity on the internet)
On-line Bibliographic Searches (using the
internet to use libraries more effectively)
Internet Searching and Web Page Evaluation (finding
and evaluating what you want on the internet)
Browse:
 Searching and Evaluating World Wide Web
Information (Ann Scholz-Crane, Paul Robeson Library)
Internet Guides, (Milner
Library, Illinois State University), including Web Search Engine
Comparison Chart
WebTeacher
Internet Tutorials
II. The Digital Revolution: Computers, the Internet,
and Society
"The Titanic, Pizza Delivery,
Community Development, and the Internet, by Randy Stoecker
"The Internet
Wears Out Its Welcome," by Steve Lohr
"Welcome to
the Internet, the First Global Colony," by Steve Lohr
"The Future Will
Resume in 15 Days," by Frank Rich
Browse:
"Net
Timeline" (PBS Life on the Internet series)
Hobbes' Internet
Timeline
The Geography of
Cyberspace
Critical
Views of the Internet
In-Class video excerpts from the PBS
series, Triumph of the Nerds (website contains
full transcripts) Nerds 2.01: A Brief
History of the Internet (website contains a useful "glossary of geek"
and other resources)
III. Cyberculture and Virtual Communities
"A Slice
of Life in My Virtual Community," by Howard Rheingold
"A Rape
in Cyberspace: How an Evil Clown, A Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of
Dozens Turned a Database Into a Society," by Julian Dibbell
"Communities
in Cyberspace," by Peter Kollock and Marc Smith
"Is
there a there in cyberspace?" by John Perry Barlow
"Virtual
Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" by Jan Fernback and Brad Thompson
"Virtuality
and Its Discontents: Searching for Community in Cyberspace," by Sherry Turkle
"The
Economics of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace," by Peter
Kollock
"Cyberspace and
Disadvantaged Communities: The Internet as a Tool for Collective Action" by
Christopher Mele
Browse:
Rules of
"Netiquette"
Resource Center for
Cyberculture Studies (look over the Annotated Bibliography and other parts of this
valuable website; you will even find this course listed)
CyberSoc
Annotated Bibliography on Virtual Communities
Virtual
Communities (CyberStudies Resources WebRing)
"Secrets
of Successful Web Communities: 9 Timeless Design Principles for Community-Building,"
by Amy Jo Kim (note the use of screen scans)
IV. Sociological Resources on the Web I: Selected
Informational Sites
A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace
Anthropology
Resource Page
Criminal Justice
Links
The U.S. Census Bureau website,
including the 1999
Statistical Abstract of the United States
U.S. Federal
Government Social Statistics Briefing Room
Population Reference Bureau
Tool Shed
(Data Sources and Research Tools)
Recommended: Rob Kling, "The Internet for
Sociologists"
V. Identities and Relationships on the Internet
"Session with the
Cybershrink: an Interview with Sherry Turkle," by Herb Brody
"Who
Am We?" by Sherry Turkle
"The
Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet," by Hugh Miller
"Researchers
Find Sad, Lonely World in Cyberspace," by Amy Harmon
"Misunderstanding
New Media," by Howard Rheingold
Browse:
"The Net
and Netizens: The Impact the Net has on People's Lives," by Michael Hauben
Gender and Race in
Cyberspace
Recommended: WHYY Radio Times
program on "Social Relations and the Internet," discussing HomeNet study and
more (requires Real Audio or RealPlayer; skip to second hour)
VI. Sociological Resources on the Web II: Selected
Interactive Sites
Compare up to 7
countries along a variety of variables on InfoNation
Create cross-tabulations
from the General Social Survey (GSS) and other databases
Create population
pyramids and see how they change over time
Call up 1990 census
data by zipcodes, census tract, states, and other units
Get 1998
county data from the Government Information Sharing Project
Create
tables of selected international country data from the U.S. Census Bureau
VII. Privacy and the Internet:
Surveillance, Crime, Encryptation and Spamming
Browse:
New York Times
articles on Privacy in the Digital Age
Center for Democracy and
Technology
Electronic Privacy Information
Center
Americans for Computer
Privacy (mainly concerned with encryptation policy)
VIII. Censorship and the Internet: Pornography, Hate
Speech, Dissent
Public Agenda
website on Internet Speech and Privacy (explore)
"The Future of
Free Speech on the Corporate Internet," Corporate Watch website (include linked
article by McChesney)
Recommended: WHYY Radio Times
program on "Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace," with Mike Godwin, author of Cyber
Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age and WHYY Radio Times
program on privacy in the computerized workplace with attorney Mark Dichter
and author Andre Bacard (requires Real Audio or RealPlayer)
IX. HTML and Web-Page Making: Creating Your Own Web
Page
Elementary HTML Language:
creating a web page by writing your own code
Accessing HTML coding in existing web documents
Downloading and importing images and screen scans
Using Netscape Composer to construct your web page
Putting your web page on the internet
X. Politics and the Web
"Birth of a Digital Nation,"
by Jon Katz
"The
Internet Changes Dictatorship's Rules," by Barbara Crossette
"Presidential
Candidates Wage War on Internet," by Laura Meckler
 Powerpoint
presentation on the readings
Browse:
NetAction
AFLCIO Executive
Paywatch Site
Electronic Policy Network
XI. The Internet as Marketplace
Video: High Stakes in Cyberspace
"New
Rules for the New Economy," by Kevin Kelly
"The
Information Superhighway: Paving Over the Public," interview with Herbert Schiller
"The Net
Imperative," The Economist
"Surging
Number of Patents Engulfs Internet Commerce," by Saul Hansell
"Should the Web be
Tax-Free?" by Robert Kuttner
"Real
or Virtual? You Call It," by Stuart Elliott
Browse:
Corporate Watch: the
watchdog on the web
Economic
Theory on the Internet (Transaction Net)
Recommended: WHYY Fresh Air program on Netscape's
Challenge to Microsoft with Joshua Quittner and Michella Slatalla,
authors of Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged
Microsoft
XII. Education and the Internet
"Digital Diploma Mills: The
Automation of Higher Education," by David F. Noble also: part 2 and part 3
"O.K.,
Schools Are Wired. Now What?"
Browse:
"Thinking About the Internet
Pedagogically" by Robert Wood (explore)
Electronic
School online magazine
Project
VILLAGE's educational websites
Rutgers Library
Education Links
Recommended: WHYY Radio Times program
on "Academic Cheating and the Internet" with Professor Robert
Wood (requires Real Audio or RealPlayer)
XIII. The Internet and Inequality: Domestic and
International
Resources on the
Digital Divide (explore links at Eastern Sociological Society Computer Committee site)
Browse:
Praxis:
Resources for Social and Economic Development
The
Virtual Library on International Development
Project VILLAGE at
Rutgers-Camden
XIV. The Internet in Process: A Contested Future
"Where is the
Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy," by
Michell Kapor
"The
Information Highway from Hell: A Worst-Case Scenario," by Jeff Johnson
"Looking Backward and Forward at the Internet,"
by Jon Guice (The Information Society 14, 1998)
"The
Soul of the Next New Machine: Humans," by Rob Fixmer (discussion of Ray Kurzweil's The
Age of the Spiritual Machine: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence)
Recommended:
WHYY Radio Times interview
with Ray Kurzweil
Return to the Sociology and the
Internet course portal
The URL for this syllabus is:
http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/~wood/445course.html
Updated January 13, 2000
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