News Archive

For outdated news items from our class home page.

Study questions

Study questions for February 26 and February 28 are now available. Please not that page 20-27 of the February 28 reading includes "The Realities of Political Participation" as well as "The Promise of Political Participation."

Course changes

On February 12 I announced a few changes to the course requirements:

1. I have relaxed the participation requirement for the course discussion board, so you are no longer expected to contribute the equivalent of one comment per week. You are still expected to help foster discussion the week that you submit your web guide, and I will still consider past (and future) discussion board posts when I calculate your final participation grade. Participation in lab sessions, online discussion, and in-class discussion will all factor into your final participation grade.

2. For Thursday February 14, the reading on "The Napster Network Community" (Poblocki) is now optional.

3. I handed out a mid-term evaluation to help me consider other ways of improving the course. If you have not yet completed the evaluation, please print and complete the mid-term evaluation form, and hand it in during class or to my mailbox in the department office. Evaluations are anonymous.

February 7 Assignment Results

I returned the quotation analysis exercise in class on February 12. The assignment is not graded; in terms of your grade, the only question is whether or not you submitted the assignment.

I did use a set of indicators (as well as comments) to give you feedback on your reading and analysis skills. Click here for more information about what a check, check plus, or check minus means.

Assignment for February 7 class

If you missed the February 5 class, please read and complete the assignment for February 7. Note that I expect to receive this by e-mail if you are not in class on the 7th.

Lab sections

A reminder: participation in lab sessions is part of your participation grade. The 1-2pm lab section meets in Buchanan B114. The 2-3pm section meets in Buchanan B111. Click here for the list of students enrolled in each section.

Lab Class Sign Up

During our January 15 class, I circulated the lab section sign-up sheet. . The 1pm lab session meets in B114. The 2pm lab session meets in B111.

Lab classes take place on alternate Thursdays, and will last for one hour. On the days we have lab classes, there will be no lecture. Lab class dates are: Jan 17, Jan 31, Feb 14, Mar 7, Mar 21, and Apr 4.

To view the student list for each section, click here. You will be prompted for a user name and password. Username is Buchanan; password is the room number our class meets in. Both the username and the password are case sensitive (the room number starts with a capital letter).

The 2pm section is now full, so anyone who has not yet signed up should e-mail me to be added to the 1pm section. If you have a scheduling conflict that prevents you from attending the 1pm section, please e-mail me with your circumstances and I will try to accommodate you.

Study Questions for January 15 and 17

At the end of Thursday's class I distributed study questions for next week's readings. These questions are also available in downloadable form, below.

These study questions are for your benefit; you are not required to turn your questions in during class. We will drawn on your answers in class discussions and lab work.

Download Jan. 15th study questions in PDF form

Download Jan. 17th study questions in PDF form. (Requires Adobe Reader)

Results of our January 10 exercise

We broke into small groups to discuss how different Internet communications media (e-mail, Usenet, chat rooms, etc.) could be used for different political purposes. The notes from each group are now online.

Course packs

The course pack includes material that you are expected to read before Thursday's class. The course pack is $45, payable by cash or cheque to UBC. You can purchase the course pack from me during office hours on Tuesday, 3:30 to 5pm.

For students who missed the first class:

Please download the class questionnaire and complete it before Thursday's class. (Once you click the link, your browser will ask you what to do with the file; click "save file as" and then choose where you want the questionnaire file saved on your hard drive.) You may return it by e-mail, or you can print it out and hand it in when you come to class.