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SYLLABUS

COURSE Anth 385C Undergraduate Proseminar:
Ethnography (Method) - INTERNET ANTHROPOLOGY

TIME 1:30-4:00 pm. TTh Spring Semester 2001

PLACE 306 Kuykendal Hall University of Hawaii @Manoa

INSTRUCTOR Dr. Les Sponsel, Professor

Office: 317 Social Sciences Building
Hours: noon-3:00 pm. Thursdays (by appointment)
Phone: 956-8507
Email: sponsel@hawaii.edu

ORIENTATION

As recently as 1996, Brian Schwimmer wrote that:

The Internet is a vast and expanding computer network that has the potential to provide substantial resources for anthropological scholarship with unprecedented rapidity and economy. It promises, or perhaps threatens, to transform the character of academic work. However, there has been little use or consideration of this new technology within anthropology beyond a small computer-literate group partially isolated from colleagues within a separate sphere of communication.... The efficiency, versatility, and power of Internet facilities have created new possibilities for communication, publication, and instruction, and engendered a growing body of electronic literature, primarily because of low production and distribution costs" [emphasis added].

This seminar will explore the numerous and diverse implications and ramifications of Schwimmer's statements as well as other themes and points. In particular, we will pursue internet or cyber anthropology along two tracks:

(1) a critical analysis of three ethnographic studies about the internet with special attention to the research methods that they employed; and,

(2) student presentations reporting on critical analyses and applications of anthropological information discovered during homework and research on the internet.

Thus, this course is primarily a discussion group on methods and results of doing research in and on cyberspace.

Special attention will be afforded to the internet as a source of information for anthropological research, teaching, and learning; site for ethnographic research; and an increasingly important resource for being a professional anthropologist (mail, discussion forums and conferences, journals and other publications, all on the internet). Undoubtedly cyberspace is the new frontier in the 21st century and will radically transform anthropology, only the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would have a greater impact.

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this course is to help students to explore the internet and become familiar with its possibilities and limitations for anthropological research and teaching. In particular, the seminars will emphasize critical thinking and assessment of internet material. For anthropology students preparing themselves for careers extending into the next 50 years of this 21st century, and likely to become involved in teaching online courses and even at online universities, familiarity with research methods and potentials for internet anthropology will be of increasing importance.

FORMAT

As part of this interactive and cooperative learning community experiment, students will collaborate with the instructor in revising this first draft of the syllabus and working bibliography; decide grading criteria; and subsequently critique, evaluate, and anonymously assign grades to the individual classroom presentations of other students.

GRADE

The final grade for the course will be based on the following:

(1) mid-term examination in the form of a research proposal --- first draft (5%), second draft (10%), final draft (15%);

(2) oral presentation in class of research progress (20%), and final written research report (30%) in place of a regular final examination; and

(3) regular attendance, active participation in class, and discussion of three case studies (20%).

READINGS

Every student is required to discuss in class three books:

Hakken, David, 1999, Cyborgs@Cyberspace: An Ethnographer Looks to the Future, New York, NY: Routledge.

Markham, Annette N., 1998, Life On Line: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Miller, Daniel, and Don Slater, 2000, The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, New York, NY: Berg Publishers.

These three books will be critically analyzed in general and with specific attention to methods for research in cyberspace anthropology.

Two other books are primarily for reference:

Ferrante, Joan, 1997, Let's Go Anthropology: Travels on the Internet, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Hoopes, John W., 1999, Mayfield's Quick View Guide to the Internet for Students of Anthropology, Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co.

A few additional book chapters and journal articles will be required while others will be recommended but optional. However, the reading load for this seminar as a whole is light although concentrated in the first two months, because most of the homework including research will be done on the internet.

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SCHEDULE

DATE TOPIC READING

Jan. 9 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Distribution of the course syllabus

Introduction to internet anthropology including the Department and Rotuman websites - Dr. Alan Howard

Homework assignment for next class--- read Schwimmer article on Sinclair Reserve and view video "Synthetic Pleasures" (15241) in Wong AV

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4.
Jan. 16 Introduction to instructor

Open discussion of individual student interests in course and on research methods, topics, and proposals

Open discussion of syllabus and proposals for revision

Video: "Cyberstudents" (12877)

Conceptual framework and basic concepts of
internet or cyber anthropology

Discussion of Schwimmer article

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Jan. 23 CYBORGS@CYBERSPACE: AN ETHNOGRAPHER
LOOKS TO THE FUTURE - David Hakken Chapters 1-4

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Jan. 30 Continued Chs. 5-8

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Feb. 6 LIFE ONLINE: RESEARCHING REAL
EXPERIENCE IN VIRTUAL SPACE -
Annette N. Markham Chs. 1-3

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Feb. 13 Continued Chs. 4-6

*First draft of research proposal due*
(five pages)

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Feb. 20 THE INTERNET: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC
APPROACH - Daniel Miller and
Don Slater Chs.

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Feb. 27 Continued Chs.

*Second draft of research proposal due*
(ten pages) - distribute copies to class

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Mar. 6 CLASS DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH PROPOSALS

Video: "Cybersecrets" (2883)

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Mar. 13 THE WORLD WIDE WEB:
Search tools and strategies

Video: "Cyberoma" (15666)

*Final version of research proposal due*
(15 pages)

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Mar. 20 Evaluating web resources Crapo Ch. 7
and thinking critically (handout)

Brief progress report on research projects

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Mar. 27 Spring recess

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April 3 2001 CYBERSPACE ODESSEY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF
INTERNET HYSTERIA OVER THE TIERNEY BOOK

Before class please explore these websites:

http://members.aol.com/archaeodog/index.htm

http://www.wwnorton.com (search under Patrick Tierney)

http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/Chagnon/allegations

http://www.aaanet.org (search statements on Tierney's Darkness in El Dorado, professional ethics, and human rights)

Required reading:

Patrick Tierney, 2000 (October 9), "The Fierce Anthropologist," The New Yorker pp. 50-61.