uw-madison logo

 

 

 

weekly updates

week 14

Topics:

  • crisis communication and social media/Sscott Farrell (Tuesday)
  • responsibility: open records access case study

Book readings:

Mediactive was required but is now optional-but-HIGHLY-encouraged

Reserve readings

None

Additional readings:

 

week 13

Topics:

  • responsibility: libel (Tuesday)
  • identity violation (Thursday)

Book readings:

Review libel sections of Lewis book

Reserve readings:

  • Rowland, Griping, Bitching and Speaking Your Mind: Defamation and Free Expression on the Internet
  • My avatar, my self: Virtual harm and attachment, Wolfendale. Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 111-119, 2007.
  • A Rape in Cyberspace http://www.juliandibbell.com/articles/a-rape-in-cyberspace/

week 12

Topics:

  • privacy: completed
  • hate speech
  • libel intro

Book readings:

None

Reserve readings:

Complete last week

Additional readings:

week 11

Topics:

  • privacy: government snooping
  • security: hate speech

Book readings:

None

Reserve readings:

  • Slagle, An Ethical Exploration of Free Expression and the Problem of Hate Speech
  • Houser, Is Hate Speech Becoming the New Blasphemy? Lessons from an American Constitutional Dialectic

 

week 9

Topics:

  • privacy: general concepts
  • privacy: behavioral targeting

Book readings:

None

Reserve readings:

  • Virtual Ethnography, Hine.
  • The methods, politics, and ethics of representation in online ethnography, Markham
  • Solove, The Digital Person, chapters 1-6

Assignments:

  • Tech Tuesdays: Second Life
  • Thought Thursdays: Hypo 4

 

week 6 and 7

We're still in catch-up mode. You're up-to-date right now in reading. This is what we will cover up to the first exam:

Topics:

  • content: anonymity
  • manipulation: fakes, collaborative content
  • intellectual property: filesharing, piracy, creativity

Yes, that's a lot to pack in. I may have to resort to putting the ethics basics lecture online to keep us flowing correctly.

Book readings:

None

Reserve readings:

  • Wallace, Online Anonymity
  • Resistance to ethically suspicious parody video on YouTube: A test of inoculation theory, Lim. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 713-728, 2007.
  • If looks could kill: digital manipulation of fashion models, Reaves, S. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 56-71, 2004.
  • MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., U.S. Supreme Court. 545 U.S. 913 (2005).
  • Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Lessig. (Conclusion only)
  • THE PARTICIPATION DIVIDE: Content creation and sharing in the digital age, Hargittai. Information, Communication & Society Apr 2008, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p239-256.

Yes, I know that's a lot. And yes, you really are supposed to get through it because it's two weeks worth of reading.

Assignments:

  • Tech Tuesdays: MixedInk and Second Life
  • Thought Thursdays: Hypos 3 and 4

week 5

Back in our normal room (and thanks for your patience while I was connecting remotely)

Topics:

  • modes of control
  • ethics basics

Book readings

  • Global Journalism Ethics, Section II

Reserve readings

  • Getting Mill Right, Elliott. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 22:2&3 (2007), pp. 100-112.
  • Ethical Foundations and Perspectives, Christians, et al. Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 6th ed. (2001).

Assignments

  • Tech: wikis
  • Hypo Group 2

 

week 4

Remember you meet in the Nafziger Room for both classes this week.

 

Topics

  • audience as participant (guest lecturer Melissa Tully)
  • participation and information validity (guest lecturer Jacob Kushner via Skype from Haiti)

Book readings

  • Global Journalism Ethics, Section I

Reserve readings

  • Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody (2009), chapters 1, 2, 3

Assignments

None for this week other than reading. Next week:

  • Tech: wikis
  • Hypo Group 2

 

week 3

Topics

  • modes of control
  • hypotheticals
  • guest lecturer Anuj Desai visits Thursday

Book readings

Finish Lewis if you haven't already

Reserve readings (on reserve through your MyUW academic tab unless otherwise noted)

  • Jurisdiction, Zittrain. Internet Law Series: Foundation Press, 2005.
  • Who Controls the Internet?, Goldsmith & Wu. Oxford U. Press, 2006.

Assignments

 

week 2

This week we will continue with an overview of the law and begin to learn how to apply it. Don't worry. We feel a little nuts-and-bolts now, but once we dispense with the intro issues for law and ethics, we'll dig into deeper discussions.

Topics:

  • First Amendment law and philosophy
  • areas of communication law
  • briefing cases
  • hypotheticals

Book Reading:

  • finish Lewis if you haven't already

Reserve Reading:

  • The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It. Zittrain. (Part I and Chapter 8)
  • Lessig, Chapter 2: Four Puzzles From Cyberspace. Code, Version 2.0 (2006).
  • Brandenburg v. Ohio 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
    (if not yet loaded to the reserves, find it here)

Tech Tuesday

  • we'll be talking about blogs to start Tuesday's class
  • right now, Izzy is the only one signed up to lead the discussion
  • visit our Google Doc to claim your spot
  • if you don't claim a spot and the window passes, you'll get a zero for that portion of your grade
  • don't know how to get into the doc? e-mail me with the e-mail you use to log into Google, and I'll send you a fresh invitation

Thought Thursday

  • I'll be leading the hypo discussion this Thursday, so no worries for you

 

week 1

Welcome to J676: Digital Media Law & Ethics. I'm looking forward to a fascinating exploration together. This class is built as a collaborative enterprise, and you are handsomely rewarded for contributing.

Look to this site every week for info on readings, assignments and changes to our schedule.

Topics

  • intro
  • spaces
  • legal basics

Book Reading:

  • Lewis, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate (full).

Reserve Readings (on reserve through your MyUW, academic tab)

  • Lessig, Chapter 2: Four Puzzles From Cyberspace. Code, Version 2.0 (2006).

Assignments