PSY 4930: Psychology and the Internet

Fall 2003
15908 .Tu.Th. 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM (GCS107 Boca Raton)
new course!
Professor Larry S. Liebovitch
Office: Building T8, Room 17
(561) 297-2239
liebovitch@clifford.ccs.fau.edu
http://www.ccs.fau.edu/~liebovitch/larry.html

DESCRIPTION:

The INTERNET has become an important mode of how people acquire information, interact with each other, and conduct business.
Thorough knowledge of the INTERNET is becoming of pivotal importance in academic Psychology and in the Business environment.
This course will:
   Tell you what the INTERNET is and how it works.
   Describe the social space and processes that happen over the INTERNET.
   Give you information about resources available for learning about Psychology over the INTERNET.

TEXTBOOKS:

required
- Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. Linked.Perseus Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-7382-0667-9.
- Sara Kiesler, Editor. Culture of the Internet.Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., 1997, ISBN 0-8058-1636-4.
- Manuel Castells. The Internet Galaxy.Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-924153-8.
- Any Elementary Book on HTML, for example: 1) Ed Tittel, Natanya Pitts, Natanya Pitts-Moultis, Chelsea Valentine, Mike Wooldridge, EditorsHTML for Dummies, Wiley, John & Sons, 2000, ISBN 0764507230 or 2) Jennifer Niederst, HTML Pocket Reference. O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0596002963.

additional non-required materials
- Geert Lovink. Dark Fiber: Tracking Critical Internet Culture. MIT Press, 2002, ISBN 0-262-12249-9
- David Porter, Editor. Internet Culture. Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0-415-91684-4.
- Tom Forester and Perry Morrison. Computer Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing. MIT Press, 1993, ISBN 0262560739.

TOPICS

1. WHAT THE INTERNET IS: PHYSICAL AND STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION
   • Brief History of the Internet
   • Networks
   • Random Networks
   • Small World Networks
   • Scale-Free Networks
   • Communities: Continents and Islands of Cyberspace
2. HOW PEOPLE BEHAVE ON IT: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES
   • Identity in the Electronic Village
   • Virtual Communities
   • Privacy and Liberty in Cyberspace
   • Internet Newsgroups as Electronic Public Space
   • SPAM: E-mail Overload, Personal Information Management
   • Seeking Help: Social Support Groups
   • Conflict in Cyberspace
   • The Internet in Education
   • Scientific Communication
   • Government: Control and Democracy
   • e-Business
   • Globalization of Culture
   • The Digital Divide: Rich and Poor
   • Time Zones and Time Wars
   • Hackers
   • Multimedia
3. HOW IT WORKS: HTML
   • What's Underneath a Web Page
   • Text: Headings, Paragraphs, Italics, Boldface
   • Formatting: Ordered Lists, Unordered Lists, Tables
   • Pictures: GIF and JPEG
   • Links: URLs
4. HOW TO USE IT: PSYCHOLOGY RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET
   • Databases
   • APA
   • Literature
   • Research Topics
   • Psychological Experiments Conducted Over the Web
   • Specific Resources

COURSE POLICIES:

Attendance:

• Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes. If you miss a class you are responsible for ALL the material covered during that class, including lecture material and rules and regulations about the course (such as penalties for late assignments, etc.).
• Some of the material covered in the lectures (and included on the exams) is NOT in the required texts.
• It is the responsibility of the student to withdraw from this class, should that status be desired - the instructor cannot withdraw students from the course. The instructor will not give the grade of "I" in lieu of a grade of "D" or "F". The grade of "I" will be considered only in exceptional cases (such as serious illness) for students who are presently performing at a "C" or higher level in the course.
  

Grading:

• Midterm Exam and Final Exam. (The material covered will include the material covered in class and the assigned readings. All students are expected to take the exams on the days they are scheduled. Makeup exams will be given only in exceptional circumstances and only if the student contacts the instructor BEFORE the exam.)
• Required paper.
• Required oral presentation of the paper in class.
• Homework assignments.
• The papers and homework are due on the dates assigned. These will be accepted up to 1 week late, but they will be penalized. None will be accepted over 1 week late.)

  Midterm Exam	15%
  Final Exam	25%
  Written Paper	20%
  Oral Presentation	20%
  Homework	20%