School of Library Science
University of Arizona
LIS 400/500:
Social Constructs of Information
Fall, 1995: Seavey

Charley Seavey, Professor
Tuesday-Thursday Harvill 211
Office: Rm 12, 621-3957
cas@convx1.ccit.arizona.edu
12:30-1:45 or on TV
Office Hours: 9-10, TR, 10-12, W, or by appointment

Course Information Sheet

Students are responsible for knowing the contents of this syllabus and completing all assignments in accordance with the schedule herein. If it is in here, you are expected to know it.

Introduction to information as it is used and defined by society. Study of information as both a reflection and shaper of society, and society as a reflection and shaper of information. Geography and economics of information, intellectual property concerns.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The student should gain an introduction to the relationship of information and society, and understand that the two shape each other.
The most important objective of all: the development and demonstration of critical thinking skills.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Informed participation in class (5%). Pretty clearly I can tell who is participating at the Tucson site. Participation grades for distance sites are determined by the IA Mentor. Participation for virtual site students is judged by participation on the class listserv.
   
2. Mid-term exam. Take home (20%).
   
3. Semester Paper (50%). Select an information agency or structure*. How does that agency or structure reflect (or not) the cutural hegemony of that portion of society it is designed to serve? If it is designed to serve the entire population, does it, in fact, do so? What can we learn about both the agency/structure, and its contextual society, by looking at both through the concept of cultural hegemony?
   *by information structure I mean a system designed to provide access, or deliver, information that can be used across a number of agencies. LCSH would be an example of an information structure. So would the copyright system.
   Pay particular attention to "How to Write for This Course" later in the syllabus. Obviously for 50% of your grade I expect an indepth treatment, with appropriate structure and presentation.
   
4. Final exam. Take home(25%).

SUBMISSION OF EXAMINATIONS

GRADING

Text and Assigned Readings

Tentative Schedule of Events and Readings

Class 1: Introduction: the class, concepts, the School.
Class 2: Information: Various definitions and things you should think about.
Class 3: More on Information.
Class 4: Society Way Back When.
Class 5: The Emergence of the Modern State.
Class 6: The Concept of Cultural Hegemony.

Harris, Michael H. "State, Class, and Cultural Reproduction: Toward a Theory of Library Service in the United States" Advances in Librarianship 14 (1986) pages 211-252.

Class 7: More on Antonio Gramsci.

Antonio Gramsci Bibliography

Class 8: Overt Societal/State Control: Censorship I.
Class 9: More Censorship.
Class 10: The Hegemony at Work: Influences on the Organization of Knowledge I.
Berman, Sanford "The Jewish Question" The Joy of Cataloging (1981), pages 113-123
Rogers, Margaret N. "Are We on Equal Terms Yet?" Library Resources and Technical Services" April, 1993, pages 181-196.
Class 11: The Hegemony at Work: Influences on the Organization of Knowledge II
Class 12: The Library as a Social Construct I
Class 13: The Library as a Social Construct II
The mid-term exam is distributed today. You are expected to be able to deal with material covered through class 13 only.
Class 14: The State as Information Hunter/Gatherer.
Class 15: The State as Information Hunter/Gatherer II
The mid-term exam is DUE today.
Class 16: The U.S. Government and Information I
Class 17: The U.S. Government and Information II
Class 18: The U.S. Government and Information III.
Class 19: The Economics of Information
Stein, E.W. "Organizational Memory: Review of Concepts and Recommendations for Management" International Journal of Information Management, vol. 15., no. , pp 17-32.
Class 20: More Economics.
The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action. It's in the readings package. The really cool among you will look up the interactive version at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ and see what else is going on.
Kettinger, William J. "National Infrastructure Diffusion and the U.S. Information Super Highway" Information & Management 27 (1994) pp. 357-368.
Konigsberg, E.L. "The Newberry Sells Books" New York Times Review of Books //
Class 21: The Impact of Economics (& class structure?)
Class 22: Geography of Information
Wilson, Louis Round. "Aspects of Geography and Population" chapter 13 of his The Geography of Reading ALA and the University of Chicago Press, 1938, pages 325-354.
Walford, Rex, and Peter Haggett. "Some Speculations for the 21st Century" Geography vol. 80, n0. 1, 1995, pages 3-13.
Class 23: More Geography, Some Economics.
Mitchelson, Ronald L., and James O. Wheeler. "The Flow of Information in a Global Economy: The Role of the American Urban System in 1990" Annals of the Association of American Geographers vol 84, no. 1, (1994) pages 87-107.
Class 24: Geography III.
Rushton, Gerard. "Human Behavior in Spatial Analysis" Urban Geography vol. 14, no. 5, (1993) pages 447-456.
Class 25: Intellectual Property I: The Origins of Copyright.
Class 26: Intellectual Property in a Technological Age.
The University of Arizona Intellectual Property Policy August, 1993.
Perritt, Henry H. "Protecting Intellectual Property Rights on the Information Superhighway" Journal of Academic Librarianship vol. 20, 1994, pages 321-323.
http://timon.sir.arizona.edu/govdocs/inprop/cover.htm
Class 27: Intellectual Property and Information Agencies.
Karajala, Dennis S. "Misappropriation as a Third Intellectual Property Paradigm" Columbia Law Review (1994), pages 2594-2609.
Steidlmeir, Paul, and Cecilia Falbe. "International Disputes over Intellectual Property" Review of Social Economy vol. 52 (1994) pages 339-360.
The semester paper is DUE today.
Class 28: The Future of Library and Information Agencies.
The final exam will be distributed today.
Class 29: Back to the Future
Class 30: The End.
Usually in this class I take any questions that are unanswered somewhere along the line. If you can get them to me in writing or email by Class 29 it would be appreciated. If nothing is written, we'll take them from the floor. If nothing gets asked, there is no telling what I might do. Think about it.
The final exam is DUE today.

COMMUNICATIONS

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

The boxed material on the previous page is excerpted from the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity, as printed in the University Handbook for Appointed Personnel. There are also excerpts from the Code in the SLS student organization handbook.
If you are not sure what any of this means, find out. I interpret this very strictly. Unless specific permission is granted for group, or team projects, we expect that your work will reflect only you own efforts.
I further expect you to know the meaning of the term "plagiarism," and make very sure you understand how to properly use, and cite, the work of others in your papers. This is a zero tolerance situation.
*****

1. Who, what, where, when, and exactly how much must always be obvious.
   Know what you wish to say, and say only that; define new terms or new uses of old ones.
   
2. Avoid ambiguity.
   "You can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor."
   
3. Link sentences and paragraphs logically and intelligibly. The reader shouldn't have to rearrange your ideas to make sense out of them.
   
4. Sentences should not be so long that the reader loses his or her way. Otherwise you are likely to lose the readers attention, as so often happened with the prose of 19th century essayists such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was not only a doctor, prof essor, and novelist, but also the father of the famous Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (an intriguing character who combined the ideals of New England humanism with the prejudices of the upper-class, wealthy society in which he moved)...an d before you know it you will have wandered very far afield.
   For practice, read lots of Jesse Shera. Or Winston Churchill.
   
5. Avoid irrelevant or tangential topics. Stick to the point.
   [see number 4}
   
6. No obstacle should come between you and your reader.