Courses

Fall 2007 Upper-division Course Descriptions

STS 331 - Digital Games

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46830 TTH 1100 - 1230P MEZ 2.124 Paul Toprac

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
Games and Society includes scholarly work on online economies and community building, fan cultures and their creative re-workings of game content, the role of play in human culture and the relationship between online and offline identity. Also, there are issues of representation, ideology and rhetoric as they relate to gaming. Finally, this course covers the psychological facets of games including studies of media effects and the ongoing debate about the psychological impact of games on individuals and groups. Upper-Division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when topics vary. For more information visit the course website: http://www.sts.utexas.edu/courses/Spring2006/digital_games.html

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CANCELLED STS 331 - E-Government and Society

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46832 MWF 1100 - 1200P NOA 1.116 Christoph Engemann

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
While E-Business is a widely known concept, E-Government remains underrepresented in common knowledge. Electronic Government reshapes how public administrations deliver the state’s economic and social programs, how the rule of law is implemented (e-democracy), the relationships between state and citizen as well its internal operations. In short E-Government will affect peoples life at least as much as E-Business. This seminar course will provide an overview of the development of E-Government in the USA and Europe, investigate the challenges to state and society as it moves into code-based public administration. The seminar will include elements on Internet architecture, Digital Identity and E-democracy and aims to provide knowledge for critical and informed judgment about E-Government.

Upper-division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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CANCELLED STS 331 - Emerging Communication Technologies

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46835 M 500 - 800P GSB 2.130 John Bosma

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
What role to communication technologies such as webblogs, the internet, and the blackberry play in influencing our culture and shaping our ways of thinking?  This course will focus on studying new communication practices to better understand how cultural beliefs and practices are related to the design and implementation of emerging communication technologies. 

The projects will form a basis for examining and questioning concepts discussed in lectures and readings, such as “winners” and “losers” in the introduction of emerging communication technologies, the way cultural beliefs and practices can influence change, and how key cultural assumptions and practices interact with the design and implementation of emerging communication technologies, impacts on family life and work life.  

A digital media component is included in this course; students will receive training in media production and will use this digital medium to complete some course assignments.

Instructor John Bosma (PhD) is currently a Senior IT Architect, Master Inventor at IBM.

Upper-Division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when topics vary.

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STS 331 - Information Society

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46840 MWF 100 - 200P BIO 301 TBD

Cross-listings: RTF 331N

Description: This course is designed to provide an overview of what is commonly termed the "Information Society." In addition to reviewing the characteristics defining the Information Society, we will survey fundamental economic principles accruing to information services and products, demarcating them from other conventional economic commodities in several ways. We will examine particular information industries (for example, the movie business, the insurance business, the telemarketing business, the database business, as well as others) in detail, and gauge their contribution to the economy in dollar terms as well as cultural terms. One final research paper and several homework assignments will be required, along with regular reading and class preparation.
By the end of this course you should be able to:

Upper-division standing required.  Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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CANCELLED - STS 331 - Internet Cultures

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46845 W 300 - 600P CMA 3.130 Madhavi Mallapragada

Cross-listings: RTF 331P

Description:
The Internet refers to a global network of interconnected computers. While Internet technology opened up new possibilities for communication, it was the development of the World Wide Web and the graphical browser in the nineties that made the Internet a popular and powerful tool for communication. Today, the Web is the most widely used part of the Internet and has dramatically transformed everyday life, culture, politics, business and communities.  This course will critically examine the emergence and significance of Internet cultures in our world today. It will introduce you to the technological, financial, cultural and political aspects of the digital information revolution and Internet and Web-based media and communications. The course will deal with topics such as e-commerce, governance and regulation, online communities, homepages, blogs, videogame cultures, virtual realities, cyborg identities, multi-media applications, technological convergence, digital divide and transnational politics. It will interrogate the politics of race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capital, community and technology shaping the practices of contemporary Internet cultures.  Upper-division standing required.  Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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STS 331 - Multimedia/Accessibility/Virtual Body

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46850 MW 330 - 500P FAC 9 John Slatin

Cross-listings: E 388M, PA 388K & INF 385T

Description:
Study of the properties and behavior of information; forces governing the flow and use of information; technology affecting information processing and management; information production, transmission, selection, storage, and use. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. How assumptions about the bodies of readers are coded in the design of software and hardware as the media for writing and reading.  Using principles of accessible design, international accessibility standards create web pages that are accessible, usable, and attractive. Upper-Division standing required.  Restricted Enrollment: contact the department for permission to register for this course.  Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Computer-assisted instruction; familiarity with keyboard recommended. 

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STS 331 - Multimedia Writing-W

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46855 TTH 1230 - 200P PAR 104 Lester Faigley

Cross-listings: RHE 330C

Description:
Computers now allow you to produce multimedia writing that would have required an entire staff just a decade ago. But no matter how visually attractive Web sites and print documents have become, good writing remains critical. Nothing destroys the credibility of a Web site faster than poor writing. This course gives you opportunities to write in a variety of media, including Web sites, brochures, and PowerPoint presentations. You will be introduced to the basics of Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Digital Photography  (note: required equipment – a camera – 2MB+ digital camera preferable) and PowerPoint, you will learn presentation skills, and you will become proficient in digital photography. This course does not teach advanced Web design skills. The primary emphasis is on writing.  

Contains a substantial writing component and fulfills part of the basic education requirement in writing. Upper-Division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: completion of at least 30 semester hours of course work, including E 316K or the equivalent.  Computer-assisted instruction; familiarity with keyboard recommended.

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STS 331 - Nonviolent Communication-W

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46860 TTH 200 - 330P PAR 104 Margaret Syverson

Cross-listings: RHE 330C

Description: The central issue in this course will be non-violence and power. How do we understand the uses of power? How can we learn how to use our own power with wisdom and compassion? Can nonviolent action have an impact on violence in the "real world?"

Students will read and discuss foundational work in studies of nonviolence, both online and in class discussions. They will engage in various construction projects, both individually and collaboratively, developing a richer understanding of the theories and application of nonviolent action, and they will explore the importance of place in writing. In the process they will gain greater control over their own composing. Students will experiment with creating Web pages, position statements, rhetorical analyses, and databases. Readings will be drawn from prominent experts on nonviolence and nonviolent communication.

Writing component of the course: Four major projects including topic proposal, drafts, and final revision, and completion of the Learning Record. Students will also post weekly to the class blog in response to readings and discussion.

Upper-division standing required. Contains a substantial writing component and fulfills part of the basic education requirement in writing.  Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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CANCELLED STS 331 - Online Publications: The Future of Journalism

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46862 TTH 500 - 630P PAR 104 Lou Rutigliano

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description: Towards the end of the 2005 Online Journalism Symposium at UT-Austin, the online editor for the NY Times stood up and challenged the attendees - his peers from online divisions of media companies around the world, including MSNBC, the BBC, and the Washington Post; pioneers in new forms of media, such as OhMyNews and WikiNews; and students from UT and other universities - to create the model for news in the future that would keep journalism relevant in the years to come.

This class will respond to this question by looking at the challenges the news media face today, the technological developments that led to this point, the weblogs, wikis, and other websites that are rewriting the rules of journalism, and the ways the industry is experimenting to adapt to the new media ecosystem. We'll look at the impact of these changes within journalism on beat coverage, investigative reporting, and international reporting - and beyond journalism, on politics, activism, responding to natural disasters, and resisting government repression.

Students in many fields in addition to journalism will be affected by this transformation of the media, which is creating new opportunities but also raising many questions about the relationship between media, technology, society, and democracy.
Along with discussions of these and other issues, the class will work together on a group citizens media project. The project will provide a laboratory for experimenting with the new tools and abstract concepts discussed in the class.

Upper-division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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CANCELLED STS 331 - Reimagining the User Interface

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46865 M 500 - 800P PAR 104 Tonya Browning

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
This course will ask the question: What does the future hold for User Interface Design?  We will examine how extrapolative technologies may inform our next generation of User Interface design.  Virtual interfaces are leaving the desktop and reemerging in phones, PDAs and ordinary objects like refrigerators.  What do we think the next step may be?

The first part of the course will consist of an investigation of the construct of User Interface.  It will be the definitional phase.

We'll then review User Interface technologies as proposed by a number of different visionaries in several fields: technical, literary and entertainment (such as filmmakers and game developers).  These "readings" will include items such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, which uses nanotechnology to construct the perfect immersive "primer."  Some film examples will also be used, such as the User Interface shown in Spielberg's Minority Report and games such as Halo and World of Warcraft (MMORPG).  Of course, technical readings in the field from the ACM as well as other sources will accompany these artifacts.  Discussions of scientific advances like nanotechnology will frame these analyses.

The final project will be to construct a truly "futuristic" User Interface prototype. 

Upper-Division standing required.  Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.  Design practices and evaluation techniques common in the information technology industry. Real-World web products and projects. Computer assisted instruction; familiarity with keyboard recommended. For more information visit the course website: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/sts2006/

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CANCELLED STS 331 - Surveillance and You

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46867 MWF 100 - 200P MEZ 2.124 Christoph Engemann

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
A seminar course investigating the relationship between surveillance, technologies of the gaze and the desires for visibility. The course will map out the development of media-technologies of visibility from the Panopticon to the contemporary networked world. Simultaneously texts, movies and games both from science and literature will be investigated how the configuration of who wants to see, who wants to be seen and who wants not to be seen has changed during the last 200 years. Hands on experience both with self-surveillance and privacy protection tools will be part of students assignments in the seminar.

Upper-division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

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STS 332 - Nanotechnology and Science Revolution

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46870 MWF 200 - 300P SZB 380 Marko Monteiro

Course Flyer (pdf) Cross-listings: none

Description:
This course is designed to prepare students for the societal impacts of nanotechnology.  This includes an understanding of the fundamentals of nanoscience, particularly its interdisciplinary character.  Nanotechnology stands to transform every aspect of industry and medicine, as well as aspects of work life and family life.  Current advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise to have major application that will dramatically change the ways materials and devices are manufactured, and will open new opportunities for solving complex problems, such as clean water supplies for impoverished nations, better transmission of pharmaceuticals designed to fight disease, new efficient sources of energy, and more.  The societal and ethical impacts of nanotechnology are vast, for example, in the cases of life extension or equal access to new goods and services.  This course will examine how this emerging science might transform the future of technologies, manufacturing, and innovation.  We will explore the societal, legal, and ethical implications of nanotechnology. Upper-Division standing required.  STS 331 (Topic: Impacts of Science: Nano/Tech/Life) and STS 332 may not both be counted.

SPECIAL NOTE: This course has been approved as an Area ‘C’ alternative course in the College of Liberal Arts through 2010.

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STS 367 - Conference Course in Science, Technology & Society

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46875 N/A N/A N/A Elizabeth Keating

Cross-Listings: none

Description: Hour(s) to be arranged. Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this course. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: completion of at least 36 semester hours of coursework and approval of written application by the supervising instructor.

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STS 370 - Research Internship

Course Schedule
Unique Day Hour Room Instructor
46880 N/A N/A N/A Elizabeth Keating

Cross-Listings: none

Description: Restricted enrollment; Consent of instructor must be obtained to register. Upper-division standing required. May be repeated for credit, but no more than 6 semester hours of STS 370 may be counted toward the concentration requirement. Prerequisite: STS 321 (or TLC 321). Approximately 15 to 25 hours of work a week, to be arranged with faculty member and internship supervisor.

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