Teaching Professor Robert O. Keel

• E-mail: rok@umsl.edu (I'll try to reply to contacts within 24 hours--except on weekends)
• Office: 712 SSB Tower
• Phone: 516-6052
• Prof. Keel 's Homepage: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr
• Class Homepage: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/3280/networked.html
• Sociology Department Homepage: http://www.umsl.edu/~sociolog/
• Curriculum Vitae
• Office Hours: Monday: 2:15-3:15, Tuesday and Thursday 11:15 AM-12:00 PM and 2:15-3:15 PM. Please call or e-mail in advance to insure my availability. If these specific times do not work for you, contact me and we can try to arrange an appointment at another time. Try "BB-IM," too.

Important Notes (Please follow the links provided to access detailed information on the various course elements and resources):

• Please do not print this document or other course materials unless absolutely necessary. All documents available online are meant to be used online and are accessible from any internet location--save paper, save a tree.
• This is a "blended class" involving significant amounts of online and (relatively) independent work. There are students from a variety of “sections” enrolled in this course: day (SOC3280-001 and Anthro2192-003) and online (SOC3280-002 and Anthro2192-004) and MS&T students participating in the Inter-Campus Course Sharing Program. The REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL STUDENTS are exactly the same--only the mode through which you access the class presentations may vary.
• MyGateway Class Pages: http://mygateway.umsl.edu. Here you will find a link to the class MyGateway site, all class information, communication tools, assignments, and grades. See below for information on logging onto and using the MyGateway site, as well as an outline of the contents in the class MyGateway site.
• Minimum Technology Requirements (especially, but not just for online students) and a variety of useful technology tutorials.
• Course Tools and Campus Computing Resources
• Roksworld (username: student, password: umsl): for accessing various course documents and websites.
• Prof. Keel's FAQ Page.
• Please follow the rules of netiquette in the online environment and be respectful of others in all forms of communication.

Teaching Assistants

Books:

1. Required: Raine, Lee and Wellman, B. 2012. Networked, The New Social Operating System. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
2. Other relevant books (available through Mr. Keel, the Thomas Jefferson Library, etc.):
   • Van Dijk, Jan. 2012. The Network Society, 3rd edition. London: Sage Publications, Ltd.
   • Volti, Rudy. 2014. Society and Technological Change, 7th edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4292-7897-3
   • MacKenzie, Donald and Judy Wajcman. 1999. The Social Shaping of Technology, 2nd edition. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
   • Nye, David. 1999. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
   • Turkle, Sherry. 1995. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
   • Turkle, Sherry. 2011. Alone Together: Why we Exect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York, NY: Basic Books.
   • Bijker, Wiebe, Hughes, T. and Pinch, T. eds. 1987. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
   • Winner, Langdon. 1986. The Whale and the Reactor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
   • McGinn, Roger. 1991. Science, Technology and Society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
   • Wessels, Michael. 1990. Computer, Self, and Society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
   • Hickman, Larry. 1990. Technology as a Human Affair. St. Louis, MO: McGraw-Hill.

There will be other handouts made available as we go along.

Course Objectives, Learning Goals, and Expectations:

Explores the effects of modern information technology on societies worldwide. Covers the ways in which new technologies of communication have created increasingly networked local and global societies, as well as to the ways in which they have created new social problems.

Specifically, students will be expected to:

• Develop an understanding of the historical significance of technological innovation as a critical element underlying social change.
• Display an understanding of the impact of the rise of the internet, mobile computing, and social networks on the organization of social life and the individual.
• Develop a familiarity with the various sociological theories which seek to explain the complex, dialectical relationship between society and technology.
• Be familiar with contemporary trends in technological development, and be able to assess the relationship between modern society and technology as a qualitatively different interdependency than in previous historical epochs.
• Analyze the impact of modern electronic communication on individual, social, and group identity and assess the impact of related changes on human interaction.
• Analyze the impact of technological change on various substantive areas of social life: work, political economy, social stratification, deviance, etc.

Assignments, Readings and Course Schedule

Course Requirements (click any requirement for details):

1. Syllabus quiz: due by Friday, January 30, 2015, 5:00 PM. (10 points possible)
2. Attendance/SOL (1 point per class session/2 SOL per week, 30 classes and 15 weeks, 60 points total). Introductory message due by Monday, January 26, 2015, 12:00 Noon.
   1. The live class is held in 449 SSB on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30-1:45 PM.
   2. Please note: students whose schedules do not allow them to attend the live class sessions (face-to-face or via Collaborate) simply need to follow the instructions for viewing the archived class recordings.
3. Optional Online and In-Class Participation (not required, however up to 20 points possible)
4. Critical Thinking Projects: (400 points possible)
5. Students who submit work past a due date are subject to penalties, point deductions, or not having their work accepted for grading.

Grading Policies (see especially: 72 hour rule, the academic integrity statement and Turnitin information, withdrawal, and extra-credit guidelines).

ANY STUDENT WHO HAS A DISABILITY WHICH WOULD MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO COMPLETE COURSE ASSIGNMENTS OR TESTS AS OUTLINED IN THIS SYLLABUS: PLEASE MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH ME IMMEDIATELY SO THAT I CAN EITHER ARRANGE FOR APPROPRIATE ASSISTANCE OR DESIGN AN ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURE TO EVALUATE YOUR WORK. FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE OFFICE OF DISABILITY ACCESS SERVICES IS LOCATED IN 144 MSC; PHONE: 516-6554.

THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE INSTRUCTOR TO ACCOMMODATE INSTRUCTIONAL AND/OR STUDENT NEEDS.

Unless otherwise noted, all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/ ©2015 by Robert O. Keel.
Click here to Report Copyright Problems