week_3

Kanye West, performing "Stronger" in the "Good Life Party" Fantasy Suite
during the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, held at the Palms Casino Resort
in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 2007 September 9. The decentralized format
for this year's VMAs, plus their on-line, on-demand availability, signals
a major change from past years. One might ask of this performance:
where, exactly, did it take place?

agenda

tour of digital media lab @ clemons library

discussion: is 'cyberspace' a place?

project resource site at a glance

group preparation for one-sentence project proposals

for next week

questions from readings

julie cohen, "cyberspace as/and space"

1. how different is cyberspace from real space? does the 'cyberspace' metaphor work?
2. do you feel that cyberspace is indeed a separate place from reality and the physical world, or is it just a portion of this physical world, guided and operated in the same time, space, and technique as the material world?

susan p. crawford, "the radio and the internet"

1. how did the 700 Mhz wireless spectrum auction come about, and why is the spectrum so highly sought after? what's at stake?
2. should the fcc have given more or less spectrum for 'public use'?
3. the date for the transition to digital television has been set for 2/19/09. do you feel consumers are ready for the transition?

tim wu and christopher s. yoo, "keeping the internet neutral?: tim wu and christopher yoo debate"

1. what does internet neutrality mean? who should be responsible for maintaining it?
2. do you think that telecommunications innovation is driven by large firms, as per yoo, or by market entry, as per wu?

additional questions

1. Are you a cyberspace exceptionalist or unexceptionalist and why?
2. Is cyberspace a "civilization of the mind"? And if so, do legal concepts apply to it?
3. mind as computer? what do you think?