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Graduate Seminars in General Education 211 : Seminar on Research Methods on Internet and Society

Harvard College/GSAS: 83601
Full Year 2009-2010
John G. Palfrey (Law School)
Meeting Time: Fall: (M.), 6-8 p.m.; Spring: M., 6-8

The Internet, digital media and new computational tools raise new challenges while also offering new opportunities for ways to study our social world and the social, political, cultural and economic aspects of the Internet in particular. The goal of this seminar is to explore rigorous ways of studying the Internet's societal implications empirically using a myriad of social scientific and computing scientific research methodologies. We will also consider the use of these methods in combination with analytical processes used by lawyers and others who examine issues of public policy. The seminar will also design and develop a General Education course on these themes for undergraduates.

This experimental seminar will meet 10 times this year, roughly 4 times in fall, 2 times in winter, and 4 times in spring. We'll be learning and working alongside a similar class at Northwestern University, taught by Professor Eszter Hargittai. For some sessions, the NU class will join us by video-conference; in other instances we will meet alone.

Fall semester class meetings are the following dates:

9/21 Harvard first course meeting
9/28 Northwestern-Harvard first joint course meeting
11/2 Joint course meeting
11/30 Joint course meeting

Winter (2 in January) and Spring (4 in total) class meeting dates will be set later in the semester.

The mode will be highly interactive and collaborative.

Readings

1. Chapters from Research Confidential, Edited by Eszter Hargittai (Univ. Michigan Press 2009)
2. Research statements circulated by presenters