Fall 2005

University Course Number: PA 388K

Wednesdays, 6 p.m. to 9:45, Room SRH 3.102

Course instructor: Gary Chapman, gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu

Instructor telephone: 471-8326 (E-mail is better to reach the instructor.)

Office: SRH 3.211

Instructor meetings scheduled on an as-needed basis, by appointment

The LBJ School course, "Public Policy and the Internet," is a graduate-level seminar on topics about U.S. public policy related to the Internet, the global network of computers and software. The course will cover a variety of public policy controversies, including federal telecommunications legislation; state and local telecommunications policy; privacy; digital encryption; copyright; Open Source software; equity and access; the Internet and taxation; electronic commerce; how the Internet is shaping the operation of the public sector; and the role of the Internet in international security, among other topics.

Seminar Requirements

The course will have four major requirements: readings, class participation, an oral presentation in class on a regularly scheduled class topic, and a written paper on the same or a different subject. A midterm paper will simulate a short opinion-editorial article.

Readings

Students will be expected to do the readings assigned for each class and be prepared to discuss the content of the readings assigned for each class. Students must consider the major policy controversies that they find reflected in the readings and be prepared to ask or answer questions related to such controversies. The assigned readings are introductory in nature only -- for some subjects, students may need to supplement the assigned readings with material that they find on their own or with material recommended by the course instructor.

Some class sessions will feature assigned reading lists that are quite extensive. It is up to each student to determine how to manage these readings -- i.e., whether each reading should be skimmed, reviewed, or read closely. Most of the readings assigned in this course are the basic documents available on their respective subjects, which means that they are recommended not only for their content but as references for each subject.

Class Participation

The course will be run as a graduate seminar, therefore class participation by everyone in the class is imperative and required. Students will be expected to discuss, query, challenge, and agree or disagree with assigned readings, the instructor, and each other. The aim of the course is to provide lively and instructive discussion about the controversies the course will cover.

Course Presentation

Each student will be expected to choose one of the subjects scheduled in the syllabus and prepare an oral presentation on this topic, and also take responsibility for leading class discussion about that issue for that particular class session. Students can expect that their reading requirements for the subject they choose for an oral presentation will be significantly more extensive than what is assigned for that specific class session.

Students should model their presentations on an oral briefing they might give to a policymaking committee of some kind, which means that the presentation must cover the background of the issue, its history, the various developed positions around the issue, and an argument about what should be done, in terms of policy recommendations.

Mid-term paper

This course will require a mid-term paper, a short paper of about 3-4 pages written as an opinion-editorial article, or op-ed, on a topic that will be announced by the instructor in the middle of the term. All students will write on the same subject, and the paper will be due approximately one week from the time the topic is announced.

Final Course Paper

Each student will be required to write a course paper, to be turned in on the last day of the term, July 6th. All student papers are due the same day, Wednesday, December 7th. The paper should be an in-depth, graduate-level research and briefing document on an issue of interest to the student which is also included, or at least touched upon, in the planned course outline. Course papers must be far more specific than the broad topics set for each class session, and, as such, topics must be approved by the instructor no later than the class session of Wednesday, November 9th.

Student Information

All students are required to fill out an online student information form, which can be found by clicking here. This form must be filled out at the very beginning of the term.