This is an UNDERGRADUATE HONORS COURSE.

THIS IS NOT A SKILLS COURSE. It is a theory course.

Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom, by Rebecca MacKinnon. Basic Books (2012), 14 chapters, 320 pages.

Book cover: Consent of the Networked

The author:
Rebecca MacKinnon is "a Bernard Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.," where she does "research, writing and advocacy on global Internet policy, free expression, and the impact of digital technologies on human rights" (from her blog). She is also a co-founder of Global Voices, a well-known network of international blogs and citizen media. She is a member of the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that promotes press freedom around the world.

An excerpt from one book review:
"Thoroughly researched by one of the experts in the field, the book straddles the line between an academic and general audience. MacKinnon entreats internet users to see themselves as active citizens -- not consumers or eyeballs. She harks back to Huxley's Brave New World: 'Our desire for security, entertainment and material comfort is manipulated to the point that we all voluntarily and eagerly submit to subjugation.' She ends with a rallying cry: 'We have a responsibility to hold the abusers of digital power to account, along with their facilitators and collaborators. If we do not, when we wake up one morning to discover that our freedoms have eroded beyond recognition, we will have only ourselves to blame.'"
-- The Guardian, Feb. 11, 2012

Course description:
When reading Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom, you'll realize that the Internet you use every day is not the same for people in other countries. We have no guarantees that our Internet will stay as it is today. What is at stake when new laws are passed? Who has the ability to alter the Internet you see? How will others' views on piracy and privacy affect you? Through reading and discussion, this class explores personal freedom, media, and politics.

Students will meet once a week. One chapter from the book will be assigned each week. In class, the chapter will be discussed. Relevant websites and short videos will be shown and discussed. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in class. Four brief (300-600 words) reaction papers will be required. Reaction papers will require students to do some additional reading/research. Students may submit five reaction papers, and the one lowest grade will be dropped.

About the instructor:
Mindy McAdams is a professor at the University of Florida, where she teaches about online journalism. She has trained more than 400 journalists in multimedia and online skills, and she has conducted journalism training in 15 countries, including Argentina, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, and Vietnam. She worked at The Washington Post and Time magazine 1988-1995. She has received two Fulbright Scholar grants: in 2011-12, she taught at Padjadjaran University, in Indonesia (10 months); in 2004-2005, she taught at UiTM university, in Malaysia (eight months).

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