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COURSE OVERVIEW The fall US presidential election offers an unprecedented opportunity to understand the ways networks, both electronic and social, are changing the political landscape. The electoral process has been transformed by the amount of information citizens now have, the ability of those citizens to create and distribute media, and the ease of fund-raising and vote drives. All of these changes are accompanied by a socialization of media generally, where citizens are operating not just as individual consumers of news and producers of votes, but are talking and working in formal and informal groups as well. This is not a class about politics. It is a class about media, viewed through the lens of a particular political event. Election 2008 will examine the ongoing presidential election, focusing on the way new tools from YouTube and Facebook to GovTrack and Iowa Prediction Markets are altering the way this election is proceeding. After an introduction to the oddities of American presidential politics, we will concentrate on three areas: The first is the spread of "user-generated content" (a problematic but widely used term) into the political realm, with amateur producers of media, whether weblog posts or YouTube videos, attempting to influence the outcome of the election. The second is new sources of politically relevant information, and especially open source databases. The third is new environments for citizen-to-citizen political discussion and involvement, whether Twitter or Facebook. The class will be a mix of large group lectures and small group work, both observing existing tools and media outlets and either participating in existing communities or creating new tools or media. Each of you will group will work in groups present to the class four times during the semester -- twice before the election and twice after. We will have several invited guests who are examining or working on the campaigns during the semester. Because the election takes place on November 4, the course will end with a post-mortem of the election, and predictions of future directions in electoral tools. GOALS The course has three broad goals: at the end of the semester, you should have a general understanding of the design of history of the US method for electing a president, of how user-generated content and social software are being used in 2008 to affect the electoral politics, and of what additional changes we are likely to see in the future. CONCEPTUAL MODEL The course will progress through three phases: Phase 1. Presidential Elections and the Media The first classes will focus on the design and history of the US system for electing the President, and especially the design of the Electoral College, and its unique effects on presidential elections. Phase 2. User-Generated Content and Social Media The middle of the course will concentrate on new technological forms and effects in the election. We will in particular look at user-generated content, social tools, and user-driven databases of political information. Phase 3. Post-mortem and Predictions After the election itself, we will talk about the outcome of the election, and the effect of citizen participation in media, fundraising, and getting out the vote, and we will make predictions about possible future directions for both the political process and for government as the tools of participation continue to spread. WORK The principal work of the class is understanding and synthesizing your observations from the readings, in-class exercises, and field observations. You will demonstrate your understanding with your participation in class and in your working groups, in your presentations to the class, and in two short papers. GRADING CLASSES - Phase 1: Presidential Elections and the Media Week 1. Social Contracts, Factions, and the Electoral College (Sept 5) What special problems does the election of the US President present? How has the system to accomplish this task evolved? Readings: Week 2. Electoral Strategies and 20th Century Media (Sept 12) How does the design of the Electoral College affect election strategy? How has traditional media, and especially television, been integrated into those strategies? Readings: Week 3. Electoral Strategies and 21st Century Media (Sept 19) From 1960 to 2000, television was the absolutely dominant medium for reaching voters. 2004 saw the emergence of the internet as an alternative platform for airing issues, proselytizing for or criticizing candidates, and raising money. What has happened between 2004 and 2008? Readings: Week 4. User-Generated Influence (Sept 26) The central fact of media prior to the current era was that the public could not participate, by definition. The rise of amateur participation in the media has altered that fact; what effect is this having on on politicking? Readings: Week 5. Citizen Journalism (Oct 3) One of the things users are generating is journalism -- everything from beat reporting to interviews to scoops to analysis. What effect is the mass amateurization of journalism having on the election? Readings: Week 6. Social Media (Oct 10) The change in the media landscape is not just about having more individuals involved, but more groups. The patterns of creation, distribution and conversation are being altered by the rise of social media; what effect are group-oriented tools like Facebook having on the election? Readings: Week 7. Large-scale Participation (Oct 17) Though American politics has always lauded the caucus and the kaffeklatsch as sites of political conversation, one of the principal effects of social media is to allow people to participate in very large scale systems. Now that we have these tools, how is it affecting the creation and spread of political messages? Readings: 3 by Jeff Jarvis Assignments: Second paper assigned Week 8. Social Networks and Social Networking Services (Oct 24) The change in social media is not just a change in scale, but in shape -- the social topology of social networks, whether on Facebook, Twitter, or candidate sites are altering the way communications is handled. What new topologies are in play in 2008, and what effect are they having? Readings: Assignments:
Third set of groups formed. Week 9. Predictions and the Wisdom of Crowds (Oct 31) The Wisdom of the Crowd is James Surowiecki’s phrase for the ways crowds can produce higher-quality information than even the smartest individuals in the group. What can we learn from attempts to harness the wisdom of the crowd in predicting the 2008 election. Week 10. ELECTION (Nov 4) This class will meet on the evening of the US Election. We will discuss the last hours of the campaign. Readings: Week 11. Post-mortem and Predictions #1 (Nov 14) What happened? Why? What effect did media have on the outcome, and on the perception of the outcome? Week 12. Post-mortem and Predictions #2 (Nov 21) Group presentations and discussion on the subject of what happened and why? What effect did media have on the outcome, and on the perception of the outcome? Week 13. Post-mortem and Predictions #3 (Dec 5) Group presentations and discussion: If you were advising a presidential candidate gearing up for the 2012 election, what advice would you give them about the media landscape, and why? Readings: Week 14. Open Issues (Dec 12) Group presentations and discussion: If you were advising a presidential candidate gearing up for the 2012 election, what advice would you give them about the media landscape, and why? Assignments: Third paper due Election 2008 Syllabus - Version 1.0 / Sept 5, 2008 Fridays, 12:30-3:00 19 W. 4th St, Rm. 101 |