INFO 2921/HIST 2920/AMST/ECE 2980: Inventing an Information Society

ECE/ENGRG 298 and S&TS/HIST/Info Sci 292: Inventing an Information Society

Course Details: Spring 2007

  • MWF, 10:10-11:00
  • Phillips Hall 219
  • Instructor: Professor Ronald Kline, Rhodes Hall 394, rrk1@cornell.edu
  • Office Hours: W, 11:15-12:15, or by appointment

Required Texts

  • Paul Starr, The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications (New York: Basic Books, 2004).
  • Cecelia Tichi, Electronic Hearth: Creating an American Television Culture (Oxford Univ. Press, 1991).
  • Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine, 2nd. ed. (Colorado: Westview Press, 2004).
  • Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, 2nd, ed. (Boston, 1954).

Optional Texts

  • Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine (Boston, 1981).
  • William Gibson, Neuromancer (New York, 1984).

Course Work (Grading)

  • Weekly reading responses and participation in discussion sections (15%)
  • 3 essays, 4-5 pages each (20% each), based on readings and lectures.
  • Final essay on one of the Optional Texts (25%). 

Course Schedule

There is a Discussion Section every Monday, unless otherwise noted.

  • Week 1: Jan. 22-26, Introduction; Pre-electrical Communication & Media; Theories of Electricity & Magnetism.
    • Reading: Starr, Introduction, chaps. 3-4.
    • No Discussion Section
  • Week 2: Jan. 29-Feb. 2, Wiring the World in the 19th Century: The Telegraph
    • Reading: Starr, chap. 5 and pp. 212-215.
  • Week 3: Feb. 5-9, Invention of the Telephone and AT&T
    • Reading: Starr, pp. 191-212.
  • Week 4: Feb. 12-16, Wireless Communication before World War I
    • Reading: Starr, pp. 215-230.
  • Week 5: Feb. 19-23, Reinventing Radio
    • Reading: Starr, chaps. 10-11
  • Week 6: Feb. 26-Mar. 2, The Battle between Mechanical and Electronic Television; Creating a Television Culture
    • Reading: Tichi, chaps. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8.
  • Week 7: Mar. 5-9, Information Processing and Computing before World War II
    • Reading: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, chaps. 1-3.
  • Week 8: Mar. 12-16, Inventing the Electronic Computer
    • Reading: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, chaps. 4-5, 7.
  • Mar. 19-23: Spring Break
  • Week 9: Mar. 26-30, Cybernetics and Cyborgs
    • Reading:  Wiener, chaps. 1-3, 10
  • Week 10: Apr. 2-6, Early Software Industry; Peak of IBM
    • Reading: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, chaps. 6, 8
  • Week 11: Apr. 9-13, Social Meanings of Computers; Advent of Microelectronics
    • Reading: Wiener, chaps. 4, 5, 7
  • Week 12: Apr. 16-20, From Minis to Laptops
    • Reading: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, chaps. 9-11.
  • Week 13: Apr. 23-27, New Forms of Communications; Theories of an Information Society
    • Reading: Wiener, chaps. 9, 11.
  • Week 14: Apr. 30- May 4, (Still) Inventing the Internet
    • Reading: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, chap. 12.