75074 - WEB SOCIETY AND GLOBALIZATION

Anno Accademico 2018/2019

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

By the end of this course, students will be able to distinguish and analyze the different notions of globalization, and how information technologies affecteveryday life, markets, and the process of consumption. In particular, the student will be able to: - develop an understanding of “Globalization” through a sociological lens - understand the culture of the Internet and the relationship between globalization and web society - analyze the impact on individual behaviors and society at large within Social Networks & Online Communities through the mainstreaming of private information posted to the public sphere - frame the emergence of a new rhetoric of “democratization” and participation in the web society - understand the changing relationship between producers, consumers and “prosumers” in the web society - recognize consequences and effects of the Digital Divide nationally and worldwide.

Contenuti

A printed detailed syllabus will be provided to students the first day of class, the four learning modules that structure the course are:

1. Globalizations

1.1 Definition

1.2 History

1.3 Critiques

1.4 Social Consequences

2. Web society e social media

2.1 Context analysis

2.2 Media Evolution

2.3 Social Consequences

3. Production, consumption, prosumption

3.1 Paradigm and definition

3.2 The rise of the prosumer

3.3 Prosumer capitalism

4. Digital divide and inequalities

4.1 Definition

4.2 Characteristics

4.3 Consequences


Each module will have specific reading material and planned classroom activities

Testi/Bibliografia

  • George Ritzer (2018), The McDonaldization of Society: Into the Digital Age, SAGE Publications.
  • Ed Finn (2018), What Algorithms Want. Imagination in the Age of Computing, The MIT Press.
  • Colin Campbell (2018), The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern ConsumerismNew Extended Edition, Palgrave.
  • Jeffrey Garten (2016), From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization, Amberley Publishing Limited.
  • E. Brynjolfsson, A. McAfee (2017), Machine Platform Crowd, W.W. Norton & Company.
  • D. Tapscott A. Tapscot (2016)t, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Penguin. 

During the lectures will be given mandatory specific teaching materials (book chapters, articles, papers, documents, video). All the references will be available on the University of Bologna online teaching material platform.

 

Metodi didattici

A mix of lectures, seminars, collective discussion, student's presentations, documentaries and films.
Students are expected to be prepared on the assigned readings before each class.    
Participation is expected and rewarded. 

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

  • Active participation and discussions 30%
  • Presentation and midterm exam 40%
  • Final paper 30%

Participation: Since this is a seminar, active participation in class is a crucial part of your learning. Through short essays, news articles, videos, web sites, or readings you will help the teacher to stimulate discussion during the class.

Presentation and midterm paper: This is a research-based presentation – intended as a synthesis of both the literary and political materials we have discussed during the course - that you (or your study group) will read or present to the class in whatever format you wish. Further, there is a midterm in class exam in which the students are required to answer to some questions (both open and closed).

Final Paper: This will be on a focused topic of your choice, drawing on research and careful analysis of select readings for the class. Further guidance will be given in class

To pass the course you must pass ALL assessments.

To register the final grade is necessary that you enrol in the official dates in the website Almaesami

For those students who did not pass the exam, or wish to improve their score, it is MANDATORY to write a paper of 5000 words that includes-quotes (Chicago Manual of Style) about ALL the papers and textbooks of the program.

You have to deliver it printed in my office at least 2 weeks before the data of the oral exam and then you will discuss and defend your work (and the program, see readings section) during the exam.

It is NOT POSSIBLE to do the oral exam if the paper was not delivered on time and passed. Final score will be a weighted average of the two tests.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The teaching materials will be available to the students.
The course will experiment the use of Moodle and Office 365 platforms as innovative digital collaboration tools for teaching, hosting materials and tutorials.

A Microsoft Teams group will be created to handle all the course related communication.

 

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Piergiorgio Degli Esposti