HHS 479: Studies in the History of Technology
Schedule, Reading List, & Assignments:
The schedule and assignments are subject to change during the semester. If you rely on a printed version of this schedule, please check back here regularly to make sure you have the most current version.
Last revised: April 19, 2010
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| Date | Topic | Reading Assignment | Assignment |
| Weds 1/20 | Introduction | ||
| Monday 1/25 | Technological Systems | - Hughes, "The Evolution of Large Technological Systems" (eLearn) | reading response 1 due |
| Weds 1/27 | Networks and Standards | Explore: Consortiuminfo.org |
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| Monday 2/1 | Artifacts and Politics | - Winner, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" (eLearn) |
reading response 2 due |
| Weds 2/3 | Code is Law | Read 2 of these 4 articles: |
book selection due |
| Monday 2/8 | Communication in Early America | - Brown, "Early American Origins of the Information Age" (eLearn) - Post Office Act of 1792 |
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| Weds 2/10 | Telegraphy | - Russell, "Open Expectations meet Monopoly Capitalism" (eLearn) Choose one from: - Green, "The Government and the Telegraph" (eLearn) - Hubbard, "Government Control of the Telegraph" (eLearn) |
reading response 3 due |
| Tuesday 2/16 (Monday Schedule) | Telegraphy and Telephony | - Carlson, "The Telephone as Political Artifact" (eLearn) | reading response 4 due this week (respond to Carlson, Galambos, or John) |
| Weds 2/17 | - Galambos, "Innovation in the Modern Bell System" (eLearn) - John, "Recasting the Information Infrastructure for the Industrial Age" (eLearn) |
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| Monday 2/22 | Communication and Society | - Ierley, "Prologue," "Telegraph," "Telephone," "Copy," and "Fax" (eLearn) - US Frequency Allocation Chart |
reading response 5 due this week |
| Weds 2/24 | - Ierley, "Photography," "Radio," "Television" (eLearn) - Selections from How Users Matter (eLearn) |
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| Monday 3/1 | The Invention of Standards Committees | - Helprin, "The Acceleration of Tranquility" (eLearn) |
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| Weds 3/3 | Standardization & the Bell System | - Russell, "Standardization Across the Boundaries of the Bell System, 1920-1938" | reading response 6 due |
| Monday 3/8 | Student Presentations | See eLearn for Presentation Schedule | |
| Weds 3/10 | book review due | ||
| Monday 3/15 & Weds 3/17 | No Class - Spring Break | ||
| Monday 3/22 | Presentations, continued | - See article on laptops in classrooms - Midterm exam: due 3/31 (eLearn) |
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| Weds 3/24 | Computers and Communication after World War II | ||
| Monday 3/29 | Arpanet, Internet, and OSI | - Russell, "Rough Consensus and Running Code and the Internet-OSI Standards War" (eLearn) - Browse Histories of the Internet, especially A Brief History of the Internet & Hobbes' Internet Timeline |
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| Weds 3/31 | "Open" Systems | - See also a collection of state safety codes in annotated form at "Code City" | review essay topic due midterm exam due |
| Monday 4/5 | Ethernet | - von Burg, Introduction and Chapter 1 | reading response 7 due |
| Weds 4/7 | - von Burg, Chapters 4, 5, and 8 - See also http://scienceforcitizens.net/ |
reading response 8 due | |
| Monday 4/12 | Web Standards | - Russell, "Dot-Org Entrepreneurship: Weaving a Web of Trust" (eLearn) - Krechmer, "The Meaning of Open Standards" |
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| Weds 4/14 | An Open World? Documenting the Internet Age | - The Virtual Revolution (BBC, 2010) |
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| Monday 4/19 | 2G Cellular: Europe | - Pelkmans, "The GSM Standard: Explaining a Success Story" (eLearn) - Gandal, Salant, and Waverman, "Standards in Wireless Telephone Networks" (eLearn) |
reading response 9 due (respond to either Pelkmans, Gandal, or King/West) |
| Weds 4/21 | 2G Cellular: the United States | - King and West, "Ma Bell's Orphan: US Cellular Telephony, 1947-1996" (eLearn) - Guest: Dr. George Calhoun |
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| Monday 4/26 | Review and Synthesis | review essay bibiography due | |
| Weds 4/28 | Student Presentations | ||
| Monday 5/3 | Student Presentations | review essay due | |
| May 6 - May 19 | Final Exam Period |
Take Home Final Exam (posted on eLearn) Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide |
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