Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Courses/Media, Politics and Power fall 2010

Course description
"Media, Politics & Power in the Digital Age" is a class at the Harvard Kennedy School (DPI-659) during the Fall 2010 semester. The first half of the class is devoted to teaching digital literacy; the second half of the class examines the impact of technology on journalism, on political campaigns, and on government.

Digital technology is challenging and changing established institutions on a number of fronts. From Barack Obama’s use of the internet to drive his presidential campaign victory to the challenges faced by traditional news media institutions, a critical understanding of digital technology is essential for today’s leaders. This course introduces students to the history of the Internet and the emerging technologies that are defining the Digital Age. The course allows students to understand the political and power structure implications of the Internet as well as the underlying technical concepts and infrastructure of digital media.

The Goals: The course is designed to give students an essential understanding of and familiarity with digital communications, from blogs to SMS text messaging. After the course, the student should have a basic technical literacy, appropriate for any professional in communications, political, or policy work, and broad knowledge of emerging trends. Students will be able to purchase and setup a domain name, start and maintain a blog, and build and evaluate online advertising campaigns.

Teaching Philosophy: To understand the digital age, you need to live it. In addition to the assigned readings, students will be expected to use the online tools that are discussed. Only by participating in the online digital culture can students begin to understand the changing nature of the media landscape and glimpse the future.

Class website: http://mediapoliticspower.com

Professor
Nicco Mele teaches Media, Politics and Power in the Digital Age.

Mele was the internet operations director for Governor Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential race, where he and the campaign team pioneered the use of technology and social media that revolutionized political fundraising and American politics. Mele is also the founder of EchoDitto and an adjunct faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School. Fall 2010 is the third time that Mele has taught Media, Politics and Power in the Digital Age at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2009, Nicco was named the Spring 2009 Visiting Edward R. Murrow Distinguished Lecturer at the Harvard Shorenstein Center for the study of Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Assignment overview
This describes the assignment. It is intended for both students and Wikipedians, to explain in broad strokes what the students will be doing on Wikipedia, and what related assignment activities will happen outside of Wikipedia.

Assignment timeline
There are four assignments related to Wikipedia in this class. The first assignment -- assigned on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 and due on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 -- is to start a user account, choose a topic, and evaluate an existing Wikipedia article. The full details on the assignment are available on the class website.

The second assignment is to actually contribute to an existing Wikipedia article following the evaluation. This should lead to a fuller engagement with the Wikipedia community. Please always sign your talk page messages with four tildes, like this: ~  That will automatically add your username and the timestamp for the posting. Also, please always log in before editing.

The third assignment is to assess the experience.


 * Online ambassador suggestion re: second assignment: It is a good idea, for an existing article, to leave the introduction section for last.  First, edit the body of the article, and then, when you are satisfied with it, modify the introduction to give a brief overview of the whole article as you have modified it.  See WP:LEAD.  See also WP:How to write a great article.  For help on citation format, see WP:CITE, or ask any of the Ambassadors.  Happy editing!  -- Ssilvers (talk) 17:08, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Class user pages
Faculty:
 * – Professor Nicco Mele
 * – Leah Stern, Course Assistant

List of students and their articles (add yours at bottom in this format:):
 * - Suicide prevention
 * - microfinance, elsistema
 * - Office of Special Education Programs
 * - The Social Network. English user page:
 * - Dialogue between Society of St. Pius X and the Holy see - emerson college
 * - Caning in Singapore
 * - Baylor University
 * - John Winant- former New Hampshire governor
 * - Little Dunmow
 * - Absentee ballot
 * - Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
 * - North Korea
 * - Rede Globo
 * - Public Diplomacy
 * - Intellectual Disability - Self direction
 * - Arabic literature
 * - hate speech
 * - UN Security Council: Criticism
 * - Next Spanish general election
 * - Americans with Disabilities Act
 * - 2010 Boston Red Sox season
 * - Central African Republic]]
 * - The Five Star Quality Rating System for Medicare Advantage Plans
 * - Adaptation to global warming
 * - KCA University
 * - Massachusetts Development Finance Agency
 * - East Boston