Revised 1/6/00 (PR).
Meets Thursdays 6-7:30PM in 409 West Hall
Class home page
Project listings
Schedule
Discussion Questions
Be sure to check Course Tools for announcements and other nice features. The URL is: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2000/winter/si/si/597/001.nsf
This 1-credit seminar course offers reading, reflection, and social networking experiences for students who are engaged in projects or considering careers that put information to work for community and public purposes. Most students will enroll concurrently in some kind of project work, either through a Directed Field Experience (DFE), an independent study, a course such as 635, 695, or 699, or a professor-led project (see project examples).
In this seminar, students will read about and discuss theories of community, civil society, and the role of the non-profit sector, and draw connections with their project work (reading and reflection). There will also be frequent opportunities to learn about other students' projects and to meet some of the national leaders of the community information movement (social networking) and possibly travel to relevant conferences and workshops. At the end of this course, students who are interested in pursuing careers in the community information movement will know how to begin a job search in this area.
You are encouraged to participate for multiple semesters (even all four semesters of the master's program); while we'll keep revisiting similar themes, there will be minimal overlap in the readings and activities.
The first day of each semester will be a project-fest, where faculty announce project opportunities and try to recruit you to join the projects, and Karen Jordan presents Directed Field Experience opportunities.
Students who have completed SI501 should register for this course as SI697. Other students should register for this course as SI597.
After participating in SI 597-697, you should be able to:
Readings will be handed out in class, or available on the Web. You will need to read materials before class so that we can have lively discussion (see reaction paper assignments below).
This is a 1-credit class. Class meets for an hour and a half each week. You should spend, on average, about two and a half hours each week outside of class, doing the following:
If you find a conference that's worth going to that and that you think will help you in assessing job prospects or developing project ideas for future semesters, you can ask me for travel funds.
Please register for this class pass/fail (satisfactory/unsatisfactory). This is not a class that lends itself to conventional grading. Last semester, I graded purely on effort, and almost everyone got an A. The school frowns on this. So my solution is to ask you to register for the course in a way that doesn't require you to receive a letter grade.
Wednesdays 11AM-noon, and by appointment (except January 26 and Feb 2).
Date | Topic | Guests | Assignments (due before class) |
Jan 6 | Introductions of people and projects | SI faculty; Karen Jordan | none |
Jan 13 | The roles of citizens | Walzer, M. (1998). The Idea of Civil Society: A Path to Social Reconstruction. In Community Works: The Revival of Civil Society in America. E. J. Dionne. Washington, DC, Brookings Institution: 123-143. | |
Wed. Jan 19, 3:30 PM, 411 West Hall | Museums and public cultural work | James Steward, Director, Univ. Of Michigan Museum of Art | none |
Jan 20 | |||
Sat. Jan 22 | Visiting day for prospective students interested in SI and the Community Information Corps | none | |
Jan 27 | Roles and Values for Public Informationists | Resnick, P. Draft proposal for CIC loan repayment program. | |
Feb 3 | Venture philanthropy | Tom Reis, W.K. Kellogg Foundation | e-PHILANTHROPY, VOLUNTEERISM, and SOCIAL CHANGEMAKING, by
Stephanie Clohesy and Tom Reis
Note: this is a *draft* version. Please do not recirculate it, as a final version will be out shortly. |
Feb 10 | Deliberative democracy | Minnesota e-democracy site Cohen, Joshua (1997) Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy. In Deliberative Democracy: Eassays on Reason and Politics. J. Bohman and W. Rehg eds. Cambridge, MIT Press. pps. 407-437. |
|
Feb 17 | Voter information systems | DemocracyNet | |
Feb 24 | Community Technology Centers | Mara Rose, Playing 2 Win | CTCNet |
March 9 | Neighborhood technology | John Griffin, Avenue L | Who's That? web site |
March 16 | Civic Engagement I: Why it Matters | Excerpts (chs. 16, 18, 21) from draft of forthcoming book by Robert Putnam | |
Sat. March 18, AM | Public lecture on civic engagement and social capital | Robert Putnam | |
March 23 | Native American telecom | Karen Buller, National Indian Telecommunications Institute | |
March 30 | Universal Service: communications policy | TBA | |
April 6 | |||
April 13 | Wrapup and project reflections |
Walzer, M. (1998). The Idea of Civil Society: A Path to Social Reconstruction. In Community Works: The Revival of Civil Society in America. E. J. Dionne. Washington, DC, Brookings Institution: 123-143.