Digital Electioneering 21 October 2008 Kathy E. Gill COM597.
Media, Computers and Society Kathy E. Gill 8 November 2004.
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Transcript of Media, Computers and Society Kathy E. Gill 8 November 2004.
Media, Computers and Society
Kathy E. Gill8 November 2004
Overview Discussion Leaders Papers More diffusion theory
Discussion – Peer Group 1
Tina M Conley Michael D Gorman Piper Ross
Papers Grammar, etc Colloquial Language Citations Notes
Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation Use the tools built-into your
word processor! General rule: punctuation is
“inside” quotation marks (exception, semi-colon)
If you don’t know how to spell-check or grammar-check, please see me after class
Colloquial Language Avoid it! Examples:
nowadays (colloquial/slang) – use today, now, presently, currently
stats (an abbreviation/slang) – use statistics
It’s been a long time since … (not concrete) – give dates
Not exhaustive list, just common examples
Citations (1/2)
Why do we include citations in academic papers? (discuss)
Citations (2/2)
Document sources, for credit (ie, not plagarized)
Allow other scholars who follow you to replicate your work
Thus, citations must be specific
Notes, types
1. Cite authority for statements in the text: facts, opinions or direct quotations
2. Make cross-references3. Comment on discussion4. Make acknowledgements
Notes, how Numerical order, beginning
with 1 Arabic numbers Superscript or parens
Papers – Kathy’s soapbox (1/3)
Media is a plural noun; medium is singular.
Ditto data (datum). It’s not 1990’s or 90’s or 90s …
it’s 1990s (see Chicago Manual of Style)
Spell out numbers smaller than 10 (newspaper style) or 100 (academic style)
Papers – Kathy’s soapbox (2/3)
Don’t start sentences with a number; re-write
Active tense is preferred over passive
Use notes for detail, definitions, explanations
Explain why (tie opinions, explanations to theory)
Papers – Kathy’s soapbox (3/3)
Web sources should be reasonably authoritative (ie, named author or established publisher)
Cite should include the date visited
Follow standard format for journals, magazine articles and add the URL
Secondary Research
These papers are primarily examples of secondary research (some of you are conducting surveys and interviews that would qualify as primary research, but it is not required)
Synthesis Content should be more than a
mere collection of citations Instead, the writing should
reflect a synthesis of what you have learned from the sources
Recommended from Jessica Assembling a List of Works Cited In
Your Paper, http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/works_cited Compares APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian
Citing Sources Within Your Paper, http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/within.htm Compares APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian
Citation Style Guides for Internet and Electronic Sources, http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/citation/index.cfm
Recommended from Kathy General guides
The Elements of Style (Strunk & White) A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations (Turabian)
Specific guides (pick one) The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers, 6th ed (MLA, Gibaldi) Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 5th ed (APA) Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed (for the
detail-oriented, includes MLA)
Papers – Requirements Remember - the three papers must
include at least 15 citations from scholarly books or journals
Papers are evaluated on quality of analysis, focus, and clarity of presentation
All work must be original You must reference theory (explain
“why”)
Diffusion Revisited Rogers (recap) Bass Stages of Development
Rogers (1995) Identified four main elements of an
innovation-diffusion process Innovation Social system Time Communications channels
Bass model (1969)
dx/dt=a*x*(1-x/K)+b*(K-x)
x: cumulative number of adopters at time t,K: population of potential adopters in the social system,a: internal influence factors, and, b: external influence factors.
External influences (Bass 1969)
Vertical channel(s) of communication Centralized channel(s) of
communication A structured channel(s) of
communication A formal channel(s) of communication
Internal influences (Bass 1969)
Horizontal channels of communication
Decentralized channels of communication
Unstructured, informal channels of communication
Stages of Technological Development Innovation Imitation Competition Standardization
Innovation Characterized by
high uncertainty, trial-and-error problem solving, make-shift production
Bioengineering Nanotechnology ??
Imitation Characterized by
decreasing uncertainty as new firms enter sector and develop variants on basic innovation
Solar-collector technology
Early PC days MPEG Players? ??
Competition R&D leads to
process improvements, smaller firms find it harder to enter industry, competition weeds out those who do not make improvements
Semi-conductors RAM Hard drives?
Standardization “Ideal” product has
been found/created, R&D focuses on preserving lifecycle; shift to price competition
Pocket calculators PCs today?
Computing and Networks Technology Impacts History
Computing technology advances at exponential rates
Memory capacity quadruples every 3 years
Processor speed doubles every 3 years
Number of hosts doubles every year
Chip transistor densities double every 18 months at constant prices (Moore’s Law)
Computers and Networks Facilitate
Concentration of knowledge and control
Distribution of knowledge and control Have the power to
Amass and analyze enormous volumes of data
Process data at enormous rates for real systems and simulations
Computers and Networks Challenge:
Constitutional definitions Social structures Lifestyle options None more challenging than
“the Net”
Internet History
1964 - Rand Corporation Plan for dealing with military and government communications… in the event of a
“NUCLEAR WAR”
National Network with No Central Authority
Supervening Social Necessity?
Discuss (social, political, economic …)
ARPANET (Rand, MIT, UCLA)
1969 : 1st node on the Internet
1971 : 15 nodes 1982 : TCP/IP
Picking Up Speed 1987 : Apple’s Hypertext 1991 : Tim Berners-Lee at
European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva conceived the World Wide Web
1993 : National Center for Supercomputing Applications [NCSA] - University of Illinois created a WWW browser named Mosiac
Faster... faster... faster
April 94 : Mosaic Communications [Clark & Andreesen]
Oct 94 : Netscape Beta Released Nov 94 : Mosaic Co ==>
Netscape Aug 9, 1995 : Netscape IPO
Internet Hosts
1971 : 15 1981 : 213 1985 : 1,961 1990 : 313,000 1994 : 3,864,000 1996 : 9,472,000 2003 : 171,638,297
http://www.isc.org/ds/host-count-history.html http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/index.cfm?the
me=10&variable_ID=553&action=select_countries
What is a Host (aka Server)? A computer running software
that allows it to provide (serve) documents via the WWW.
The computer is assigned an IP address and connected to the Internet
Somewhat analogous to the “printer” of a print document.
Parts of a Society Education Transportation Private Sector Business Government Entertainment
Housing Currency
(banking) Jobs Space Medicine Anything else?
The Net and Society In recent years this one area
has affected society more than any other
How? What are the issues?