Syllabus
Autumn 2002
Monday/Wednesday, 9:00am-10:50am
Room 200-303
Instructor: François Bar (McClatchy 344, 3-0701, fbar@stanford.edu)
Office Hours: by appointment
This course explores the policy
issues surrounding the transformation of telecommunications in the United
States. Adopting a pluri-disciplinary approach, the course examines the historical
context within which the current policy debate is taking place, the technical
and business aspects of the networking transformation underway, and its economic
and social dimensions.
Pre-requisites: There are no pre-requisites, and no particular familiarity
with networking technology and applications, nor economic or political analysis
is presumed.
Assignments and grading:
mid-term: 20%
final: 60%
participation: 20%
- Mid-term: a short (5 pages) essay in response to a question posed by the instructor
- Final: a longer (10 pages) essay, based on the readings and class discussion, in response to a question posed by the instructor
- Alternatively, students may elect to write a research paper for the class, on a topic of their choice, to be approved by the instructor. A preliminary outline of the paper would then be due in lieu of a mid-term exam.
- Participation is encouraged and will be rewarded.
- Students are expected to be familiar with the Stanford Honor Code, and to respect it. For details about the honor code, its interpretations and applications, refer to the Judicial Affairs web site.
Required readings
- Book:
- W. Russell Neuman, Lee McKnight,and Richard Jay Solomon, The Gordian Knot : Political Gridlock on the Information Highway, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997)
- Reader: xerox packet, available through Pulse
- On-line readings: pointers included in the syllabus
- The New York Times: Reading the Monday section on the Information Industries is required. Reading relevant stories on other days is strongly encouraged. (reduced rate subscriptions available). These articles are usually available on the CyberTimes site at http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/cyber/