Useful syllabi on virtual worlds and technology

Random cruising around the IntarWeb today I tumbled over two interesting sources for syllabi on virtual worlds and the IntarWeb itself. First, Tom Boellstorff has syllabi on “Culture in Virtual Worlds”:http://www.anthro.uci.edu/faculty_bios/boellstorff/Syllabus-S09%20froshsem.doc and “Culture Power Cyberspace”:http://www.anthro.uci.edu/faculty_bios/boellstorff/Syllabus-Cul-Pow-Cyb-Win-09.doc on his department website. You’ve read the ethnography, now vicariously take the course! Seriously, though, its great for Tom to share these syllabi — circulating syllabi is key to building community and scholarship about topics.

Also, as some of you may know, Polity Press has a series of small introductory readers on blogging, hacking etc. But there is more to it than just that — they have a “website”:http://www.polity.co.uk/digitalmediaandsociety/ that looks like a sort of mini-online community, complete with blog and, yes, “syllabi”:http://www.polity.co.uk/digitalmediaandsociety/syllabi.aspx and “reading resources”:http://www.polity.co.uk/digitalmediaandsociety/resources.aspx. I can’t tell if its a community designed to promote a book series of a book series to promote a community. Its an interesting hybrid of a bunch of different models: group blog, academic book series, “online supplements for your textbooks”, etc.

Rex

Alex Golub is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His book Leviathans at The Gold Mine has been published by Duke University Press. You can contact him at rex@savageminds.org

One thought on “Useful syllabi on virtual worlds and technology

  1. Please, anyone, take my syllabi and feel free to use in whole or part, as Rex notes.

    I believe it’s unethical when on the job market, institutions ask candidates to supply syllabi which they can basically use to improve their courses without remunerating the person (who’s unemployed or underemployed and looking for a job). However, once someone has a tenure-track position, speaking for myself at least I think it’s part of our public duty to make our syllabi free for all. I will be teaching my “Culture, Power, Cyberspace” in the 2009-2010 academic year and will post the new syllabus in a few months!

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