Web Culture in the Late Twentieth Century: The New Panopticon
Course Description
One critical framework for this course is Michel Foucault's analysis of modern prison architecture. The Panopticon, a 19th Century model prison described by Foucault, serves as a metaphor for how power is exerted in the name of humanitarian reform in contemporary culture. In the Panopticon, prisoners were kept in individual cells and observed, disciplined and controlled from a central perspective. Prisoners, who were unable to determine when they were being observed, internalized the prison discipline. Foucault suggests that such internalized, individualized self-monitoring is the new face of power which is no longer a centralized force, but is, instead, pervasively expressed in regimes of self-disciplines.
The Panopticon is obviously just one possible interpretation of power and possibilities of web technology and culture; our project will be to explore a variety of such interpretations. For example: is the internet the new Panopticon or a liberating technology which diffuses and subverts centralized power? Is it a neutral tool whose social impacts reflect existing society tendencies or a weapon greatly reinforcing current structures of dominance in multinational class warfare? Is it a public utility requiring regulation or a sacred freelance frontier?
To begin to explore such questions we will closely examine the content and structure of the internet using analytical methods from a variety of perspectives or disciplines. We will become well-versed in the internet, designing projects to test our assumptions and hypotheses about the net. Students will collaborate in small interest groups to analyze a specific manifestation of internet culture, such as: the economics and aesthetics of visual information and expression; changing notions of community; nationalism, multinationalism and local culture; the information haves and have nots; the role of private enterprise in the internet; and the role of public policy with the net.
Weekly readings, films, lectures and seminars will focus our thinking. Hands-on workshops wil teach use of the internet and manipulation of digital imagery.
Faculty signature required.
16 Credits:
4 sociology of information
4 popular culture studies
4 information politics and policy
4 dependent on interest group projects
