Dear all,
(with apologies for duplication for those of you on the Air list)
I teach a MA course titled "Pornography, Protection, Power" which is
centrally focused on questions of who / what _should_/_could_ (both
huge
questions, of course) attempt to regulate Internet-facilitated
communication vis-a-vis _possible_ limits to free expression, e.g.,
pornography, libel, "clear and present danger" tests in the U.S.
(especially since 9/11), and so on (and, rest assured, with a thousand
historical / cultural / political caveats).
As I've come to structure the course, I focus on the theme of
emancipation
as a core norm - one that underlies primary justifications of
democratic
polity and correlative norms of equality, privacy, and freedom of
expression (among others). The course includes:
A) a good dose of readings on pornography - as a "classical" limit on
freedom of expression - including diverse cultural and historical
observations, with a particular focus on the now long debate over porn
as
legitimately protected either free expression and/or as emancipatory in
its own right;
B) a good dose of readings on democratic polity, with specific
attention
to the central importance of freedom of expression for both individual
self-development and democratic debate and processes more broadly;
a particular focus here is on the rights of children in all of this, as
brilliantly exposited by my colleague Elisabeth Staksrud in her
_Children
in the Online World: Risk, Regulation, Rights_ (2013);
C) a very strong dose of readings (primarily from Mansell and Raboy,
The
Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy) on the history of
efforts (initially in "Western" countries) to regulate communication
media, beginning with print - and highlighting the contrasts between
such
efforts as new media technologies emerge, beginning with the telegraph
and
telephone / broadcast media / and then the rise of the Internet as
challenging / blurring earlier definitions and regimes;
D) a large theme here is the broad shift, starting ca. 1970s away from
national-state centered support and control of broadcast media
(especially
in the European and Scandinavian contexts with their strong traditions
of
public service broadcasting) towards neo-liberal de/re-regulation of
media
- leading to an ever increasing ownership and control of media by
private
companies and multinational corporations, with Google, Apple, Facebook,
and others as the primary / usual suspects;
E) some readings on copyright, copying, and creativity (where efforts
to
define and protect patents and copyright inspire [largely futile]
efforts
to regulate / control file-sharing, etc.); and
F) a small unit on "liberation technology," as reflected in
contemporary
work on circumventing state censorship of the Internet in any number of
countries (using Walid Al-Saqaf's _alkasir_ software as a primary
example
from the Arabic-speaking world; I'm pleased to say that Walid will
provide
a guest lecture in the course as well).
WHAT I'M ASKING HELP WITH ...
1) any additional readings that you might suggest, as either primary or
optional?
For example, in the direction of policy readings, I've been working
through Sandra Braman's _Change of State: Information, Policy, and
Power_
(MIT: 2012), which is just terrific, especially for articulating the
U.S.
side of things, and will add some selections to supplant the current
readings as more E.U./Scandinavian-oriented. But I'm sure more good
material is "out there" to be considered
2) suggestions for case-studies, especially suited for in-class debate?
For example, I am thinking of beginning with Facebook - both the recent
study on 600,000+ users, coupled with the upcoming class-action lawsuit
spearheaded by the Austrian law student Max Schrems. The idea is to
call
attention to a current, real-world conflict between (perceived) users'
rights (as articulated and, ideally, defended by liberal-democratic
regimes) and corporately-owned Internet-based communication venues. So
specific resources here would be helpful -
As would suggestions for other case-studies that would be suited
especially for in-class analysis, discussion, and debate.
Edward Snowden's case is an obvious candidate, along with Wiki-leaks -
again, useful resources would be appreciated -
But I'm sure there are other, more country-specific cases that would be
very pertinent and lively for the students.
With a thousand thanks in advance for reading this far and for any
suggestions you may have to offer -
- charles ess
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
Director, Centre for Research on Media Innovations
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/center/media-innovations/>
Editor, The Journal of Media Innovations
<https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/TJMI/>
My latest book, Digital Media Ethics, is now available from Polity:
http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745656056
University of Oslo
P.O. Box 1093 Blindern
NO-0317
Oslo Norway
email: [email protected]
