SOCI 320 – “Mass Media” Final Term Paper

Paper details:

There are the options for this final term paper, choose the one you are confident with.

1. In Manuel Castells’s The Network Society he claims we have moved into a new ‘mode of development’ called informationalism. What does this mean, and is it a persuasive argument?
2. Some worry that the commodification of knowledge and information, and the pressures to develop increasingly stringent laws and rules on intellectual property threatens to push us into ‘information feudalism’. Discuss.
3. What are the implications of media industry convergence for our global digital culture?
4. To what extent do new ICTs and social media platforms provide for a ‘participatory media’ experience?
5. Can mobile telephony help to reduce the digital divide? Why or why not?
6. What are the dangers and potential benefits of the surveillance society? Can we preserve a sense of privacy in this emerging world and if we can’t, what might replace our old expectations about privacy?
7. How might new ICTs provide an opportunity to transform existing power structures both in Canada and globally? What do you think these new digital technologies mean for politics generally?

Answer ONE of the seven essay questions in 2000-2500 words.

Please first log in my UVic account: tye, and the password is: star1108. And check for this website: http://coursespaces.uvic.ca/course/view.php?id=11302
This page will provide the sources you could use. You will be use those class lecture PPT and the related readings (you could find in the course outline).