Assignments

Basic Web Page (30 pts.)

For this assignment you must post a very simple webpage

If you want to use UT's Webspace you must type in your UTEID and password to get "in." The first thing you should do is click on "New Directory" and make a directory to put your first files into. Call it "stuff" or something like that.

You should click on "share" to permit others to view your files on the web. In the new windon you click "change" and set the READ column to "yes" for users with accounts and for the public.

Now anything you put in this directory should be accessible by the public. Try it out (but be aware that web browsers can only read certain kinds of files, mainly html, gif, and jpg). If you uploaded a file called uglypic.jpg to "stuff" the location will now be: http://webspace.utexas.edu/[your UTEID]/stuff/uglypic.jpg

For example see http://webspace.utexas.edu/adamspc3/morestuff/lac1.jpg

Here is the webspace helpdesk. There's more information about web publishing here.

Include on your page:

Your name

Something about you (an interest, activity, personal quality, group you belong to, etc.)

A picture of you

Dead links to the projects (pages you will make later): "My Life," "My Activity Space and Communication Space," "World Cities on the Internet," and "Cultural Globalization on the Internet." (If you name these links now you simply need to use the same name later when you actually create each of these web pages. Use short names with no capitalization, punctuation or spaces, like "mylife.htm".)

A link back to the class website: http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/adams/356T

As we'll discuss in class, there are several options you can use to compose web pages, but the easiest to is Microsoft's Front Page while the best software is Dreamweaver. Your Basic Web Page must be up by 8:00 am, January 31. Please email me the URL before the due date so I can make the page called "Links to Student Webpages" before class that day.
This page is like your home: a place for self expression; an extension of yourself. Aside from limits of decency, there are no limits on this component of your Website.
Before you finish this assignment, read UT Austin Web Publishing Policies and make any necessary changes. Keep these regulations in mind.

Your Places (40 pts.)

Your first assignment is to create a new page linked to your front page that introduces the places of your life, both physical and virtual. It is due at 8:00 am, February 28.

Your activity space is both physical and virtual; it includes the UT campus as well as films and TV shows, your room as well as the inside of your car (if you have one), the places where you work and study, and the destinations of your regular communications (e.g. Waco if you grew up there and regularly call home; Hong Kong if you happen to have a friend there; ...).

Your task is to make an attractive webpage that presents the most important elements of your activity space in words, images, and maps. Use a digital camera to capture images of what you can (home, hangouts, workplace) and supplement these with images of the distant places you want to include. These distant place images can be "borrowed" for the purposes of this project, although a serious long-term website should include borrowed images only if you obtain permission.

Aside from the title and images, your site should include:

picture captions

a discussion of how the depicted places/virtual places fit into your daily and/or weekly schedule (e.g. This is my room, I sleep there most nights unless I fall asleep at my friend's house or at the library).

two simple maps showing your connections through space-time at daily, weekly, or possibly monthly time cycles

a brief conclusion (200-400 words) relating your activity spaces to themes raised in the readings such as time-space convergence, risk, moral/ethical concerns, sense of place, and the construction of community (*IMPORTANT: don't skip this!*)

For inspiration follow this link. The project requirements last year were a bit different, so you must follow THIS YEAR'S directions rather than copying the format of one of last year's sites. Nonetheless, their maps and images can provide you with ideas!

Above & Below (40 pts.)

Your second assignment is to profile some example of top-down power and some example of bottom-up power, both of which employ new technologies. Due at 8:00 am, April 4.

What is top-down power?

Examples

surveillance

punishment

control

regulation

policing

propaganda

Character of this power

exerted on the weak by the powerful

used to maintain order

present at the local, national, and global scales

backed up by overwhelming force

justified by official ideologies

supported by conservative political forces

What is bottom-up power?

Examples

evasion

resistance

protest

organized crime

political art and performance

counter-propaganda

Character of this power

exerted by the weak against the powerful

often portrayed as disorderly

present at the local, national, and global scales

depends more on surprise and public opinion than on force

raises issues disregarded and denied by official ideology

supported by liberal, progressive, and radical political forces

What does it mean to profile each of these types of power?

take the time to identify several examples of each type

then pick one of each that offers you the most online material

if in doubt, choose one with lots of interesting online material that demonstrates a variety of issues, ideas, or perspectives

e.g. "new technologies used by American city police forces"

e.g. "Indymedia versus corporate news"

e.g. "worldwide protests against McDonalds"

e.g. "21st century espionage: tricks of the trade"

use images and text (several pages combining the two)

at least 6 images

at least 6 links

at least 1,500 words (roughly 5 pages) (hint: write it as a short paper on a word processor then cut and paste it into your web pages)

pay more attention to visual appeal than before

pay more attention to the clarity of your writing than before

Information Economy (40 pts.)

Your final assignment is to examine a particular facet of the information economy and how it relates to information society in a particular place. The place you choose could be a country (like Finland or Japan) or it could be a part of a country (like Hong Kong or Silicon Valley) or it could be several countries with interlocking economies (like Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). It is due at 8:00 am, May 4.

The information economy is something the US shares with other wealthy countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, countries of Western Europe and Scandinavia, Israel and certain other polities like Taiwan. Information society, as explained by Aoyama, is rather unique in every one of these cases. In studying information society many aspects of culture are of interest rather than economy. What do the Finns do with instant messaging? How have New Zealanders enjoyed being in touch with the world via Internet? What electronic toys and games are hot in Japan right now? What is the EU doing to standardize cell phones so people can talk as they cross borders? What is Australia's answer to Silicon Valley?

Requirements: 1000 words, 5-10 images including one map, 5-10 links built into your essay like I have done in this sentence.

Information Economy

computer programming

electrical engineering

pharmaceutical research

biological research

corporate headquarters

R & D

stock markets & investment services

business services

network support

web-based marketing and sales

advertising and public relations

Information Society

"people, institutions, companies, and society at large, transform technology, any technology, by appropriating it, by modifying it, by experimenting with it." (Castells 2001, 4)

peculiar forms of technological appropriation

factors contributing to the emergence of an information economy

social problems related to an information economy

top down measures (like security cameras) common in a particular place

bottom up activities (like blogs and hacking) common in a particular place

Investigate the each of these, in your chosen place, then explain the links between the two as well as you can. Do not expect to find someone else's explanation of these links; in general, you will be forging into the unknown with this project. Nonetheless, you may find some help at: GaWC

You will be graded on the ideas in your project as well as the presentation of those ideas. In other words, appearance counts more this time than before, but treat it like a mini-research paper but also try to make it look nice on the screen.

p.s. If you want to make some improvements to your web-authoring skills, cut out this free coupon [ :-) ] for 15 minutes of web-authoring advice from Prof. Adams.