University of Pennsylvania Department of History and Sociology of Science

STSC 160/SOCI 161 (FALL 2011)

THE INFORMATION AGE

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00pm1:30pm Instructor: Dr. Matthew H. Hersch (mhersch@sas.upenn.edu) Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2:00pm4:00pm (Cohen Hall, Room 335) Teaching Assistant: Jason L. Schwartz (jlschwa2@sas.upenn.edu) Office Hours: Mondays, 2:00pm4:00pm (Cohen Hall, 3rd Floor Lounge)

We are often told that we are living in an Information Age, and indeed, this is a truth that seems self-evident: communications and information technologies increasingly pervade our homes, our workplaces, our schools, even our own bodies. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about the Information Age? If we are living in an Information Age, when did it begin? What developmentssocial, economic, political, or technologicalmade it possible? How does it differ from earlier eras? And finally, and most significantly: what does it all mean? This course will explore the ways in Western, industrialized societies, over the course of the previous two centuries, came to see information as a crucial scientific, organizational, political, and commercial asset. Although at the center of our story will be the development of new information technologiesfrom printing press to telephone to computer to Internetour focus will not be on machines, but on people, and on the ways in which average individuals contributed to, made sense of, and came to terms with, the many social, technological, and political developments that have shaped the contours of our modern Information Society. Our goal is to use these historical perspectives to inform our discussions of contemporary issues in information technology. Class Meetings: The course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays; our meetings will be a mixed lecture-discussion format. Since exams will draw heavily upon material covered only in class, it is absolutely essential that you attend. Readings: The textbook for this course is Martin Campbell-Kellys and William Asprays Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York: Westview Press, 2004), which is available for sale in the Penn Book Center and on reserve in Van Pelt

STSC 160/SOCI 161 (Fall 2011)

M. H. Hersch

Library. All other course readings are available on the Blackboard site for this course, and should be read by the dates listed. Assignments: During the term, students will complete three short papers assigned by the instructor. Exams: Students will take two in-class exams; these exams are non-cumulative. The exams will each consist of several objective questions (matching, true/false, etc.) and one essay question. Grading: Grading will be based upon: the three assignments (15%, 15%, 15%) and the two exams (25%, 30%). Written work in the course will be graded with emphasis on: (1) insightful, original argument and analysis; (2) mastery of the assigned readings and class material; and (3) writing that is clear, concise and free of error. Course Organization: PART I. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MODERN September 8: Information, Data, and Knowledge (1) The End of Mass Media: Coming Full Circle, The Economist, July 9, 2011, 16. September 13: Gutenberg, Galileo, and Google (2) Robert Darnton, 5 Myths About the Information Age, The Chronicle of Higher Education (Chronicle Review), April 17, 2011, 15. Assignment #1 Distributed September 15: Read All About It! (3) Scott D.N. Cook, Technological Revolutions and the Gutenberg Myth, in Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths, and Metaphors, edited by Mark Stefik (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997), 6782. September 20: The Politics of the Post Office (4) David Henkin, Embracing Opportunities: The Construction of the Personal Letter, in The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 93118. September 22: What Hath God Wrought? (5) Richard John, Recasting the Information Infrastructure for the Industrial Age, in A Nation Transformed by Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from Colonial Times to the Present, edited by Alfred Chandler and James Cortada (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 55105.

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STSC 160/SOCI 161 (Fall 2011) September 27: When Computers Were Human (6)

M. H. Hersch

Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York: Westview Press, 2004), 928. Mary Croarken, Tabulating the Heavens: Computing the Nautical Almanac in 18th-Century England, Annals of the History of Computing 25 (2003): 4861. September 29: The Information Economy (7) Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York: Westview Press, 2004), 5378. Assignment #1 Due Assignment #2 Distributed PART II. INFORMATION IS POWER October 4: Advertising the American Dream (8) Malcolm Gladwell, The Science of Shopping, The New Yorker, Nov. 4, 1996: 114. October 6: Ministry of Truth and Information (9) Susan Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), 187215. October 13: Film, Music, and Intellectual Property (10) No reading. October 18: Exam #1 No reading. October 20: Giant Brains; or, Machines that Think (11) Paul Edwards, The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), 4373. October 25: Build Your Own Computer! (12) Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York: Westview Press, 2004), 105130. October 27: IBM and the Seven Dwarves (13) Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York: Westview Press, 2004), 131153.

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STSC 160/SOCI 161 (Fall 2011) November 1: Wizards, Hackers, and Poets (14)

M. H. Hersch

Steve Levy, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution (Garden City: Anchor Press, 1984), 1749. November 3: No ClassWork on Assignment #2! No reading. November 8: The Valley of Hearts Delight (15) Stuart Leslie and Robert Kargon Selling Silicon Valley: Frederick Termans Model for Regional Advantage, Business History Review 70 (1996): 435472. Assignment #2 Due Assignment #3 Distributed PART III. COMPUTERS, CODES, AND DNA November 10: Great Myths of the Personal Computer, I (16) Justine De Lacy, The Sexy Computer, in Computers in the Human Context, edited by Tom Forrester (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989), 228236. November 15: Great Myths of the Personal Computer, II (17) Sherry Turkle, The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (Simon & Schuster, 1984), 196238. In-class film excerpt: Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) November 17: Great Myths of the Personal Computer, III (18) Robert X. Cringely, Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Cant Get a Date (Reading: AddisonWesley, 1992), 119181. November 22: Origins of the Internet (19) Janet Abbate, Inventing the Internet (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999), 742. November 29: Code is Law (20) Janet Abbate, Inventing the Internet (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999), 4381. December 1: Regulating the Internet (21) Jack Goldsmith and Timothy Wu, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World (Oxford University Press, 2006), excerpts.

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STSC 160/SOCI 161 (Fall 2011) December 6: Living in Cyberspace (22)

M. H. Hersch

Danah Boyd, Viewing American Class Divisions through Facebook and MySpace, Apophenia Blog Essay, June 24, 2007. Langdon Winner, The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 98117. Assignment #3 Due December 8: Exam #2 No reading.

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