Communication, Culture, and Community (SPC 4714) -- Spring 1999 -- Syllabus

Communication 4714
Communication, Culture, and Community
Spring 1999
Tu 2-3:50p, Th 2-2:50p, CIS 3074

Prof. Gil Rodman
Office Hours: Tu 1-2p, Th 5-6p and by appointment
CIS 3040 // 974-3025 // gbr@kcii.com

course description and objectives
This course will examine questions of communication, culture, and community, with special emphasis on questions of democracy and the relationship between public and private life. The main goals of this course are:

to develop an understanding of how community life is created, maintained, repaired, and transformed through communication,
to investigate the complex tensions that exist between the needs of individuals and the needs of the communities in which they live,
to consider the question of the public sphere and its role in shaping and maintaining a tangible sense of community,
to critically examine questions of commitment and participation, place and identity, conflict and cohesiveness, and issues of class, gender, race, and ethnicity as they are inflected across various dimensions of contemporary community life,
to explore firsthand the practical, ethical, moral, and political problems that arise in contemporary community life, and
to address the question of how we might (re)conceive and (re)build more satisfying communities in which to live.

This course is part of USF's Liberal Arts Curriculum. It satisfies an Exit Requirement in the category of Major Works and Major Issues. This course addresses the following dimensions of the Curriculum: Values and Ethics; Race and Ethnicity; and Gender. It also stresses analytical thinking, creative thinking, and writing skills.

required course materials

Books

	Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century
	Robert W. McChesney, Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy

All the books are available at Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia, Tampa (253-2638, inkwoodbks@aol.com).

Photocopied essays
The non-book readings listed on the syllabus are all required. They can be found both at the reserve desk in the main USF Library and online at the USF Virtual Library.
Access to the World Wide Web (via Netscape)
We will conduct a significant amount of course discussion and business online using an instructional software package called "WebCT." In theory, the WebCT interface should function with any web browser that supports frames, tables, Java, and Javascript (if that terminology doesn't mean anything to you, that's fine). In practice, however, WebCT really only behaves properly with versions 3.0 or later of Netscape. While you're welcome to use other browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.) to access the course's WebCT site, you're likely to find that certain pages and/or features simply won't work for you. In some cases, WebCT may even crash non-Netscape browsers.

Those of you who don't already have access to the Web at home or work can use any of the Netscape-equipped terminals in the USF Library or on-campus computer labs to access the course's WebCT site. Free Internet accounts are also available to USF students from Academic Computing (LIB 608).

recommended course materials

An e-mail account
While you do not need an e-mail account to take this course -- not even for WebCT –- e-mail is a quick and reliable way to contact me and/or your classmates outside of class. Free accounts are available to USF students from Academic Computing (LIB 608).
Regular access to local newspapers
For purposes of our class discussions, it will be very helpful for you to read the local news stories in at least one local daily paper (for most of you, this will be either The Tampa Tribune or The St. Petersburg Times) and in the Weekly Planet on a regular basis.

community service
You are required to do regular volunteer service with an off-campus community organization. This is a non-negotiable requirement of this course. This service may take a variety of forms, but it must be done weekly and on a consistent schedule throughout the semester. All told, your service time for the semester needs to total at least 20 hours.

While I will provide some basic guidance in helping you locate possible community service opportunities, the ultimate responsibility for finding a suitable organization is yours. The precise type of community service that's acceptable will vary from case to case, but your proposed service must fall within the following broad guidelines:

This is volunteer work. If you're getting paid or compensated for it in any tangible way, it doesn't count.
Double-dipping isn't allowed. If you're receiving university credit for your service work for another course (e.g., a credit-earning internship), it doesn't count.
The organization in question must be off-campus. Part of the goal here is to get involved in community life, not just campus life. On-campus medical facilities (e.g., Shriners Children's Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center) do not count.
The service involved must be community-oriented. In most cases, this will mean you'll be working for a local non-profit organization of some sort. Volunteering at your mother's accounting firm or your uncle's bakery (for example) doesn't count.
Work revolving around electoral politics doesn't count. Political work per se isn't out of the question (though you should check with me before signing up for explicitly political service work), but helping out with an election campaign won't count.

By 19 January, you must turn in a typed proposal (2-3 pages) outlining the nature of your intended volunteer work. This proposal must include the following:

the name and location of the organization where you're volunteering
a description of the type of work you will be doing
the days and times you are scheduled to work
the name and phone number of the person supervising your volunteer work
the reason you chose this particular organization
what you expect to learn from the experience

If you fail to turn in a proposal on time, or if your proposal is missing any of the required items listed above, your semester grade will be docked 1 point/day until your proposal is complete. If you submit a complete proposal that's somehow at odds with the spirit of the course, you'll be required to submit a revised proposal for a more suitable form of service.

I reserve the right to make unannounced "spot checks" to confirm that you're doing the community service work described in your proposal. Failure to complete the community service requirement is sufficient grounds to receive a failing grade for the semester, regardless of the quality of your other work. Falsifying or misrepresenting your community service will be construed as a form of academic dishonesty and dealt with accordingly.

grading schedule
Your final grade will be determined by the grading contract that you will complete and return to me by January 26. The overall range of options available to you is as follows:

	***Attendance	10%
	***In-class participation	10%
	***WebCT Forum participation	10%
	Thought paper	10%
	Newspaper journal	1-5%
	Service journal	1-5%
	1-4 response papers	10% each
	1-4 website reviews	10% each
	Final reports/projects	25% each

All starred items are required portions of your grade. Further details about the various options can be found below.

attendance/participation/pop quizzes
Because issues will be raised in class that won't necessarily be apparent from the readings, it's vital that you show up for every class meeting and that you do so on time. I will take attendance at the start of every class period; absences, late arrivals, and early departures will all have a negative impact on the attendance portion of your grade.

In keeping with the University Policy on Religious Observances, students who anticipate being absent from class due to a major religious observance must provide notice to me in writing by 19 January explaining which class period(s) you expect to miss and why.

This course is geared towards in-class participation. It will thus be more enjoyable for all of us (and you'll do better) if you (1) attend class regularly, (2) do the required reading and (3) be prepared to discuss what we've read. Consistently lackluster discussions will force me to take drastic measures (i.e., pop quizzes) to assure me that y'all are doing the required work. In the event quizzes become necessary, final grades will be calculated on a revised schedule, so that the required portions of your grading contract will become:

	Attendance	5%
	In-class participation	5%
	WebCT Forum participation	5%
	Pop quizzes	15%

This course is not a spectator event: if you expect to do well, you will need to do more during our class meetings than simply keep a chair warm and take notes. So show up prepared to ask questions and make arguments about the readings, and to engage in active discussion about the issues at hand. Your in-class participation grade will be based on both the quantity and quality of your contributions to our discussions on the assigned readings and related issues.

N.B.: In order to help free up more of your time for the community service portion of the course, beginning with the first week in February, we will not meet on our normally scheduled Thursday sessions.

WebCT forum participation
The login page for the course's WebCT site is:

http://scholar.acomp.usf.edu:8900/public/SPC4714/index.html
Once there, click on the "Login" button to access the site. The server will ask for your "User Name" and "Password." Your user name will be your first initial and your last name, typed without spaces and completely in lowercase letters (e.g., if your name is Terry Johnson, your user name will be "tjohnson"). Your initial password is your social security number, typed without spaces or hyphens. Once you've logged in, you can change your password from within the system -- and I would strongly recommend that you do so ASAP.

The primary purpose of the WebCT forum is to provide an informal space that's always available for discussion of the issues raised by the assigned readings and our class sessions. Prompts intended to spur on the dialogue will be posted as necessary. Because online discussions of this sort tend to be freeform in nature, there is no easy-to-summarize formula for assessing your forum grade. The minimum contribution to receive a passing grade, however, will be five substantial (i.e., more than a paragraph long) posts addressing material from five different sections of the course. A more detailed explanation of how this portion of your grade will be calculated is available here. To be eligible for full credit for this portion of the course, you must meet two criteria. (1) You must have made your first on-topic post to one of the course WebCT forums by 2 pm on 2 February. The penalty for missing this deadline will be a grade point for every week or fraction thereof that you're late (e.g., not posting for the first time until 10 February will mean that the best you can do for this portion of your grade is an 8 out of 10). (2) Over the course of the semester, you must make at least four posts to the "Your Community Service" forum: two posts that discuss your own community service work, and two posts that respond in a significant fashion to other people's posts about their community service work. The applicable penalty here will be half a grade point for every required post you're lacking (e.g., posting only twice to the "Your Community Service" forum means that the best you can do for this portion of your grade is a 9 out of 10).

written assignments
General rules

Your written work must be typed and double-spaced. The page lengths listed below are based on pica-sized type (10 characters per inch) and one-inch margins; they are estimates of how much you'll need to write to complete the assignments well. I will not automatically penalize shorter papers, but it's highly unlikely that you will be able to do "A" work if your papers are shorter than the suggested length. Also note that fudging margins and font sizes to make your papers look longer will not help your grade -- so concentrate on writing good papers, not what appear to be long ones.
Unless explicitly noted otherwise, all listed due dates are "in class" due dates: i.e., work turned in after class on the date in question will be considered late (which means it may not be accepted at all -- see below), even if it's turned in before 5 pm.
Late work will generally not be accepted except in cases of genuine emergency. In the event that I do accept late work, I reserve the right to reduce its grade in direct proportion to its lateness. The minimum penalty in all such cases will be a full letter grade.
You should only turn your assignments in directly to me or to my department mailbox in CIS 3058. Any other delivery method (e.g., fax, e-mail, etc.) must be arranged and mutually agreed upon on a case by case basis. I reserve the right not to accept work that arrives via alternate delivery methods that have not been arranged with me in advance. Never slip assignments under my office door: papers delivered this way will be automatically marked down a full letter grade.
As a safety precaution, you should always keep at least a hard copy -- if not a hard copy and a disk copy -- of any written work you hand in.

Thought paper (10%)
This assignment (3-4 pages, due 19 January) will be ungraded. Assuming you turn the paper in, you should receive full credit for doing so. I reserve the right, however, to give partial or even no credit to papers that fail to meet the assignment's requirements. Further details concerning this paper can be found here.

Journal work (1% each)
There are two types of journals you can complete. All journal entries for both types should be typed and run one full page in length. Due dates for journal entries are listed on the syllabus. You may not turn in two of the same type of journal entries on the same due date. Grades for both types of journal entries will be calculated on a "check-minus"/"check"/"check-plus" basis (which, roughly, translates to a 0.7/1.0/1.3 point scale). Further details concerning the journals can be found here.

Newspaper journal
You may write up to five critical responses to local news stories, editorials, and/or opinions columns from a local newspaper. You must turn in a copy of the newspaper article/essay in question with your journal entry, making sure to include the newspaper's name and the date of publication and you must turn your journal entry in within two weeks of the publication date of the piece to which you're responding. These journal entries should be critical responses to the articles in question (i.e., not just summaries of them) and should take into consideration relevant issues raised by our other readings, our discussions (both in-class and online), and your own community service work.
Service journal
You may write up to five critical responses to your community service work. These journal entries should not be merely descriptive reports of the organization where you're working or your duties there; rather, they should involve thoughtful reflection on your part about the organization and/or your community service. Where appropriate, they should take into consideration issues raised by our readings and discussions (both in-class and online).

Response papers (10% each)
You may write up to four response papers (3-4 pages each) on any of the assigned readings from 19 January onward. With two notable exceptions (see handout for more details), each of your response papers is due one week after the reading in question is listed on the syllabus. These papers should involve critical responses to the reading(s) in question, not just summaries of them. Further details about these papers can be found here.

Website reviews (10% each)
You may write critical reviews (4-5 pages each) of up to four websites related to the course's theme. I will provide a list of appropriate sites on the course website for you to choose from. You also have the option of reviewing up to two websites of your own choosing -- provided (a) that you choose sites relevant to the course's theme, and (b) that the number of self-selected sites you review does not exceed the number of pre-selected sites you review: i.e., if you only write one review of a pre-selected site, you can only write one review of a self-selected site. Due dates are listed on the course timetable. Further details about this assignment can be found here.

Final reports/projects (25% each)
There are three different final reports/projects that you have the option of writing. Each of these should run 8-10 pages in length (if you opt for the community website option, your site should contain a comparable quantity of text). More details about all these options can be found here.

N.B.: The grading contract actually gives you the option of doing two final reports/projects. While this choice is entirely yours, you should bear in mind that the end of the semester is generally a very stressful time and that it may not be in your best interests to leave 50% of your semester grade in the balance until the last minute.

(a) Community service report
This should be a critical analysis of the community service work that you do this semester. The objective of this report is to assess your own service work with respect to the various community-related issues raised by our readings and discussions. You should do more than merely describe your service experiences; rather, you should engage in critical reflection on course-related issues and their relationship to your community service work.

(b) Utopian community project
This should be a detailed explanation of your vision of an ideal community. The objective of this project is to have you apply the various arguments about community-related issues that we'll wrestle with this semester in a creative and constructive fashion: in particular, the goal is to actually build (at least on paper) a better community, not just criticize the flaws in the communities we already inhabit. The text of your report should do more than merely describe your ideal community; rather, it should offer detailed arguments and explanations for why you made the choices you did in designing your utopia.

(c) Community website project
This should be a website designed to promote a particular community (either a real one or one of your own imagining) and to enhance the felt sense of community for its residents. The objective of this project is to have you apply the various arguments about community-related issues that we'll wrestle with this semester in a creative and constructive fashion: in particular, the goal here is to get you to think about how to create and/or maintain a felt sense of community using the Internet. N.B.: This is not an option I would recommend to anyone who doesn't already know how to create rudimentary webpages – or who isn't willing to learn such skills on their own time during the course of the semester.

Rewriting for a better grade
At your option, you may revise and resubmit written work for a potentially higher grade. While rewriting assignments does not guarantee that your grade will go up, it will never lower your grade. You must turn in the graded copy of the original assignment with your revised version. You will not receive credit for revisions of assignments that (1) you have already revised once, (2) were penalized for lateness, or (3) were never turned in at all. A maximum of 20% of your semester grade is eligible for this option. Revisions that do not result in a changed grade still count against the 20% limit. The final due date for all rewritten assignments is 27 April.

miscellaneous

The purchase and/or sale of written notes and audio recordings of our class meetings is strictly prohibited.
Cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc. are to be turned off or set to vibrate silently before you come to class. If your phone rings or if your beeper/pager goes off loudly enough to be heard during class, you will be required to leave immediately and you will not receive credit for attending or participating in class that day.

introduction and overview

Jan 5	no reading

Jan 7	WebCT Tutorial -- meet in XXX xxxx

communication, culture, community

Jan 12	James Carey, "A Cultural Approach to Communication"
	Raymond Williams, "Culture Is Ordinary"

Jan 14	Raymond Williams, "Communications and Community"

democracy

Jan 19	Thought paper due
	Community service proposal due
	James Carey, "A Republic, If You Can Keep It"

Jan 21	Robert Bellah et al., "Democracy Means Paying Attention"

individualism and interdependence

Jan 26	Grading contract due
	Philip Slater, "I Only Work Here"

Jan 28	Stephanie Coontz, "My Mother Was a Saint"

the family

Feb 2	Last day to make your first WebCT post without penalty
	Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were [chs. 1-2]

corporate america and community values

Feb 9	In-class film screening: Roger and Me

Feb 16	Journal #1 due
	Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent
	Michael Pollan, "Town-Building Is No Mickey Mouse Operation"

the mass media

Feb 23	Website review #1 due
	Robert McChesney, Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy

education

Mar 2	Journal #2 due
	Mark Edmundson and Earl Shorris, "On the Uses of a Liberal Education"
	Jennifer Johnson, "At Risk: The Future"

public space

Mar 16	Website review #2 due
	Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place [selections]

the new urbanism and (re)building community

Mar 23	Journal #3 due
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere, pp. 15-80

Mar 30	Website review #3 due
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere, pp. 81-149

Apr 6	Journal #4 due
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere, pp. 150-195

Apr 13	Website review #4 due
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere, pp. 196-249

Apr 20	Journal #5 due
	James Howard Kunstler, Home From Nowhere, pp. 250-302
	David Harvey, "The New Urbanism and the Communitarian Trap"

finals week

Apr 27	Final projects due
5 pm	deadline for WebCT posts
	all rewritten assignments due