Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Network Society
Professors Manuel Castells[1] and Bill Dutton[2]
An Online Graduate Seminar at the Open University of Catalonia and the University of Oxford (Michaelmus Term 2009)
Professors Manuel Castells and Bill Dutton are offering their co-taught course on ‘Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Network Society’ during Michaelmus Term 2009. Up to eight graduate students at Oxford are welcome to join this innovative experiment in doctoral training, with the permission of the instructor.
This optional course introduces students to key concepts and issues in the empirical study of social issues tied to the Internet and related information and communication technologies. The course will be taught online, with the instructors posting short lectures early in the week, which students and faculty discuss online during the remainder of the week. Students are also asked to prepare a course paper that develops an empirical approach to the study of a topic of significance to the information/network society topic, which takes their own research. In addition to the subject matter, the experience of taking an online course, using Moodle’s course management system, is of value to graduate students with a serious interest in the Internet.
An outline of last year’s eight-week course, which will be the basis for the 2009 offering, is available through Bill Dutton’s blog post on the topic at: http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/2008/06/27/online-seminar-on-the-network-society-by-castells-and-dutton/ If you have questions about the nature of the work, please contact Bill Dutton. Oxford graduate students interested in taking this course during Michaelmus term 2009 should contact Laura Taylor as soon as possible at teaching@oii.ox.ac.uk
[1] Manuel Castells is Professor of Sociology at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), in Barcelona; Professor Emeritus of Sociology, and Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley; Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California; Marvin and Joanne Grossman Distinguished Professor of Technology and Society at the MIT and Distinguished Visiting Professor in Internet Studies at Oxford University.
[2] Professor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.