Welcome to the Web Site for Politics 328A
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Topics in Comparative Politics: The Internet and Politics
Spring 2002
Instructor: Alexandra Samuel
Buchanan C456
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3:30-5:00pm, or by appointment
Student Sites Now Online
Your web sites are now online. Some sites have to be fixed before going online, and some are private, so this is not a complete list. See my April 15 e-mail to make sure I've received your site.
Stop! Don't e-mail that site!
I just sent out an e-mail asking all of you who did your papers in the
form of a web site to resubmit the electronic versions of your web sites
— but not by e-mail. This applies even if you got an earlier e-mail
from me, asking you to resend your site. Unfortunately the e-mail approach
failed miserably (and nuked my e-mail program in the process).
I need you to either upload your site via the web (instructions below)
or save it to a floppy (or CD) and drop it in my box in the dept office.
Be sure to label the floppy or CD if you pick this route. If you’re
saving to a floppy you may need to compress your site into a .zip or .sit
file so that it will fit on a disk.
The good news is that I have made uploading very easy. Compact your site
into a single .zip or .sit file (as per the instructions
on the course site), and be sure that the file is named after you (e.g.
Samuel.zip or Samuel.sit). This is absolutely crucial — if the file
doesn’t have your name on it your file may not get to me successfully.
Most of you have already created a .zip or .sit file in order to e-mail
it to me the first time.
Now go to the upload web page. Under step 1,
hit the button that says “browse” or “select file”
(this could vary depending on your computer) and navigate to the folder
where you have saved your .zip or .sit file on your computer (it can be
on your hard drive, or on a floppy). Select the file you want to upload,
click OK, and then click the “click to send file” button on
the upload page. In less than a minute you’ll get a message saying
the file has successfully uploaded.
Once you have uploaded your file please send me an e-mail stating whether
it’s public (for the whole world), for the class to see, or private
(for my eyes only).
If you wrote a traditional paper (not in web site form) I don’t need
to receive it again. If you are writing a traditional paper and it’s
still in progress, don’t e-mail it to me; drop it in my box in the
dept office when you’re done, put the date and time that you’re
dropping it off on the front page, and ask someone in the dept office
to sign beside the time.
I’m sorry for this additional request but it really will be easy
for you to do.
Course Description
How to upload your web site
For those of you who are doing your paper in the form of a web site, I have posted instructions on how to upload your web site. Please note that you still need to print a copy of your site for me to write comments on. I'll review the uploading instructions in class on Tuesday April 2.
PPT slides
I have uploaded a complete set of PowerPoint slides for the course lectures. Please remember that the slides just provided a guide the lecture structures, not to the lecture contnent. If you missed a class you will still need to get notes from someone else.
Course changes
I have made a few changes to the course schedule for the final two weeks of the course. These changes are meant to help you in your work on the final paper/web projects, and in preparing for the final. The changes are described below.
March 28 class now a lab
March 28 will now be a lab day instead of a lecture. The 1pm lab will meet in B114, as usual; the 2pm lab will meet in B214, also as usual.
This is a chance for you to get help on your final papers/web pages. If you are doing your paper in the form of a web site, I suggest that you set up your draft site before class, and bring it with you to the lab on a floppy disk. That way I can help troubleshoot any problems. If you are doing a paper, you can use the time to get some help with your online search strategies. This lab session counts toward your participation requirement.
I have shortened one of the March 28 readings. For the Premier’s Council report on the Digital Divide (Part A: Access and Opportunity), read page 20-25 only (stop at Network Infrastructure section). That’s page 20-25 according to the report’s numbering; it’s page 22-27 of the PDF file.I will cover the digital divide material (currently scheduled for March 28) in our April 2 lecture.
Exam prep classes, April 2-4
For the last week of course, April 2-4, all of the reading is now optional
rather than required. I have switched the April 4 class from a lab to
a lecture. We will have lab classes on March 28 instead (in place of the
March 28 lecture).
The last week's classes will primarily focus on preparing you for the
final. The final will consist of a mix of short answer and essay questions.
On April 2, we will review the major themes from the course and discuss
potential questions and answers. On April 4 I will talk more about the
final format and suggest preparation strategies. I encourage you to e-mail
me any questions you have about the final exam or the course material,
so I can address your questions in these last 2 classes.
Final paper FAQ and Research Resources
I have created an FAQ that answers some of the questions I have been hearing about the final paper. I also encourage you to look at the page of research resources that I have posted to the “how to” section of the web site, which may help you in your paper research.
Final web site/paper assignment
For those who prepare their final papers in web site form, the required paper length is 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words). For everyone else, it's still 12-15 pages (3000-3750 words). If you missed our March 7 lab class, you will want to review the directions for building a web site. To help you with your site, you can use the template.
March 7 Lab Class
The 2pm lab will meet in B214 for the rest of the semester. The raw ingredients for Thursday's class are here. (I'll explain in class.)
Final paper assignment
The final paper assignment was distributed in class on February 28. I have uploaded an electronic version that includes 3 details missing from the document I distributed in class: (1) lateness penalties are 1/3 grade per day late, starting at 2pm April 4, (2) topics must be approved by March 21, and (3) no more than one of the sites included in your web guide may appear as a case study in your final paper.
Click here to download the final paper assignment as a Word document.
OR view it online in three parts:
Click here for the assignment description.
Click here for information on the grading scheme.
Click here for suggested paper topics.
News archive
Past news items have moved to the news archive. Logistical details on web guides and lab classes have moved to the Key Info page.
Course Description
How does the Internet change the rules of politics? This course examines the many ways the Internet challenges core concepts in political science. We will examine emerging phenomena like online voting, electronic political discussions, the digital divide, and electronic government. We will look at these innovations in the context of comparative politics literature on topics including political participation, social capital, political institutions, and democratization. Readings will be drawn from recent works on electronic democracy and electronic government, as well as from core texts in comparative politics. Students will have the option of completing the final paper in the form of an annotated web site that guides users through a topic in online politics.
For more information about the course, please visit the Content and Key Info pages.