Spring Readings
You can still look at the fall or winter reading assignments, if you want!
Week 1 Seminar: The Commons (handouts)
- The Tragedy of the Commons
Garrett Hardin - Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges
Elinor Ostrom, Joanna Burger, Christopher Field, Richard Norgaard, David Policansky
Prompt for response paper (post to WebX seminar folder):
In what ways do formal models (like Prisoner's Dilemma within a game theory framework) contribute to our understanding of social phenomena and in what ways do they impede it?
Week 3 Seminar (April 16)
- The Success of TIT-FOR-TAT in Computer Tournaments, Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, p. 27-54
- The Social Structure of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, p. 145-168
- Nancy Kranich The Information Commons: A Public Policy Report
- Lovink, G., Designing the Digital Commons, House of Laudanum, April 2002
Writing: Using ideas from previous readings (which may include Hardin's, Ostrom's or Axelrod's articles), discuss an important aspect or aspects of Kranich's and Lovink's vision of commons in cyberspace.
Week 5 Seminar (April 30)
- Mark Surman and Katherine Reilly, Appropriating the Internet for Social Change: Towards the Strategic Use of Networked Technologies by Transitional Civil Society Organizations, Nov 25 2003, p1-42
Writing: Using insights from the Surman and Reilly report, what suggestions would you make to your community partner to make their project richer, more compelling and more effective? What could you or your team do to help in that regard?
Week 7 Seminar (May 14)
- Mark Surman and Katherine Reilly, Appropriating the Internet for Social Change: Towards the Strategic Use of Networked Technologies by Transitional Civil Society Organizations, Nov 25, 2003, p 43-85
Writing: What challenges do you see to the vision that Surman and Reilly present? Is it realistic? Who or what might not want to see their vision become real? How might civil society anticipate and address these challenges?
Week 9 Seminar (May 28)
- Presentation at Stanford University. Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia
- J. Ito et al, Emergent Democracy
Writing: What did you find most interesting and/or surprising about this program -- and why?