CD 143 Technologies of the Self - 2003
Thursdays 8:40-11:30am
Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development
Curriculum Lab
Prof. Marina Bers Marina.Bers@tufts.edu 627-4490
TA: Laura Boudreau
Students: Soondarie Barker, Sara Fuentes, Tina Johnson, Bruno Trindade, Kevin Stastowski, Andy Valen
Course Description
This course explores how new technologies have an impact in the way we think about identity and the way we construct our sense of self and community. Particular attention will be paid to how children and teenagers might use these technologies in their developmental quest. Computers are not only instrumental machines but also psychological tools that evoke questions about who we are, where do we come from and where are we going. During the course students will become both users and designers of such technological tools, ranging from multi-user virtual environments to robotics. Through the semester students will read and discuss materials from a wide variety of sources such as educational technology, developmental psychology, human computer interaction and artificial intelligence. Classes will involve theoretical issues, and a design studio, a hands-on workshop in which students will experiment with new technologies. Students from a wide range of disciplines are encouraged to enroll. The goal is to have a group with expertise in the areas of child development, education, computer sciences and engineering. Enrollment is limited to 15 students.
Required assignments:
· Readings. All students are expected to do the readings, and to participate in discussions of the readings in class. Students will purchase a reading packet.
· Class presentation. Class time will be organized as discussions, not lectures. To help get discussions started, each session a student will be asked to do a class presentation about the readings. They will post it in their personal homepage with a link to the class web-site.
· Design studio. Students will work individually and in teams to experience different software and to design interactive projects. These experiences are aimed at connecting the readings and the theory with hands-on practice.
· Web-site documentation: Students are expected to become familiar with on-line authoring tools. Through the semester they will create their personal web-pages and they will link to them their learning experiences, their projects’ documentation and their papers.
· Mid-term paper (Due October 9): Students will write a paper describing and analyzing how a new technology is already having an impact in young people's notions of identity. The paper must contain a personal narrative (how it helped them personally to explore a particular notion or aspect of the self?), an observation/interview (how it helped someone else?), a theoretical framework that serves as the basis of the analysis (based on the course readings) and a research proposal (how can we study, and with which methodology, the way this technology has an impact).
· Research survey (Due October 30th): Students will choose a topic relevant to the theme "technologies of the self" and will survey the state of the art of the research community in that topic. They will write a paper summarizing their findings and an annotated bibliography
· Robolab project (Due November 13): After completing a three session module on Robolab, students will create an interactive robotic project that represents an aspect of their self, such as their cultural heritage, personal or moral values.
· Final project (Due December 4): Students will present a design prototype (accompanied by a design proposal) for a piece of software or hardware to be used as a technology of the self in an environment such as the home, a museum, a hospital, a school, a community center, etc. In the proposal they will specify what are the goals of the technology (what does it help people learn or explore?), how it could be used (in which context? by which professionals? what kind of knowledge should these professionals have?) and how will it be evaluated (how will you measure its success and failure? What research questions it might spin of?).
Day 1 (Sept 4): Introduction and course overview
Design studio: Students will start to make their own personal web pages.
Day 2 (Sept 11): Technologies of the Self
Foucault, M. (1988) Technologies of the Self : A Seminar With Michel Foucault. (excerpts) Univ. of Massachusetts Press.
Ong, W. (1988) Orality and Literacy : The Technologizing of the Word (excerpts). Routledge
Turkle, S.(1984) The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit ("Introduction" and "Chapter 1: Child Philosophers: Are Smart Machines Alive?"). NY: Simon & Schuster
Design studio: Completion of personal web pages and documentation of the thought process on how to decide which aspect of the self to share with others.
Group activity # 1 (Stern & Doring readings)
Assignment due:
Class presentation, Students will show their personal websites
Day 3 (Sept 18): Re-thinking the self in the light of new technologies
Erickson, E (1968) “Identity, Youth and Crisis” (Prologue)NY: Norton
Calbert, S (2002) “Identity Construction on the Internet” in Children in the Digital Age. (Ed. by Calvert, Jordan, Cocking) Praeger.
Gergen, K (2000) The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. (Chapters 1 and 3)Basic Books.
Minsky, M (1986) "The society of mind" (Chapters 1 and 4). NY Simon & Schuster.
Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. (introduction, Chapters 1, 7, 10 --see notes at the end of package) NY: Simon & Schuster
Group activity # 2 (The Turing Game)
Assignment due: Class presentation
Day 4 (Sept 25): The design of technologies of the self
Bers, M. (2001). "Identity Construction Environments: Developing Personal and Moral Values Through the Design of a Virtual city." Journal of the Learning Sciences. Vol 10 No.4 pp 365-415.
Weizenbaum. J (1976) Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation(Introduction)SF: Freeman & Co.
Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. (Chapter 4) NY: Simon & Schuster
Zora video
Design studio: Designing and inhabiting the virtual world Zora, playing with Eliza, exploring the Sims.
Assignment due: Class presentation
Day 5 (Oct 2): The social self: virtual communities
Rheingold, H. (1993) The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub. "Introduction" and "The Heart of the Well,"
Nine Principles for Community Design by Amy Jo Kim
Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (Chapters 4 and *). NY: Simon & Schuster.(excerpts)
Bruckman, A, (1998) Community Support for Constructionist Learning Journal CSCW 7:47-86, 1998
The Palace Study http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/palacestudy.html
Design studio:
Assignment due:
Class presentation. Group activity # 3
Day 6 (October 9): The healthy self: technology and mental health
The CMU Homenet study (1998) by Robert Kraut et al.
Internet Paradox Revisited (2000) by Robert Kraut et al.
Binik, Y, Cantor, J, Ochs, E & Meana, M (1997) “From the Couch to the Keyboard: Psychotherapy in Cyberspace” in Culture of the Internet. Sara Kiesler Ed. Lawrence Erlbaum.
DeMaso, D; Gonzalez-Heydrich, J.; Erickson, J; Grimes, V, Strohecker, C "The Experience Journal: A Computer-Based Intervention for Families Facing Congenital Heart Disease". JAACP
Bers,M., Gonzalez-Heydrich,G., DeMaso, D. (2001) " Identity Construction Environments: Supporting a Virtual Therapeutic Community of Pediatric Patients undergoing Dialysis". In Proceedings of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI’01) ACM.
Bers, M.; Ackermann, E.; Cassell, J.; Donegan, B.; Gonzalez-Heydrich, J.; DeMaso, D.; Strohecker, C.; Lualdi, S.; Bromley, D.; Karlin, J. (1998) "Interactive Storytelling Environments: Coping with Cardiac Illness at Boston's Children's Hospital" In Proceedings of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI’98) ACM, pp. 603-609.
Suller, J. The cyberpsychology of cyberspace (Ch.1 The Basic Psychological Qualities of Cyberspace)
Assignment due: Class presentation, Mid-term paper due
Library visit
Day 7 (Oct 16): Technological toys to explore aspects of the self
Bers, M. & Urrea, C (2000) "Technological Prayers: Parents and Children Working with Robotics and Values" In Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning Experiences. Edited by A. Druin & J. Hendler. NY: Morgan Kaufman, pp. 194-217.
Bers, M., & Cassell, J. (1998). Interactive Storytelling Systems for Children: Using Technology to Explore Language and Identity. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 138-215
Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rocheberg-Halton (1981) The Meaning of Things (excerpts) Cambridge University Press.
Almqvist, B (1994) Educational Toys, Creative Toys. In Toys, Play and Child DevelopmentEd. by J. Goldstein. Cambridge University Press
Video Project Interactions
Design Studio:. Introduction to Robolab project (see Center for Engineering Outreach Education at Tufts, Robolab tutorial)
Day 8 (Oct 23): Building and Programming I
Design Studio: Module 1 Robolab (Meredith Portsmore, CEEO)
Day 9 (Oct 30): Building and Programming II
Design Studio: Module 2 Robolab (Meredith Portsmore, CEEO)
Assignment due: Research Survey
Day 10 (Nov 6): Building and Programming III
Design Studio: Module 3 Robolab (Meredith Portsmore, CEEO). On-line project documentation
Day 11 (Nov 13): Show & Tell
Assignment due: Class presentation and discussion of robolab project
Assignment due: Preliminary proposal for final project (2 page summary) and class feedback
Day 12 (Nov 20): Zora
A virtual city to learn about technologies of the self.