The Borders of Things

First Day and a Request

Well, guys, I got out of my first class an hour ago and it went really well. We didn't do a whole lot of content, just getting to know you stuff. But that is really important to me. One of the things I am excited about is the emphasis on community that I hope to bring to this class. I think that it will help them learn better if they see themselves as a community of readers, writers, and thinkers. So, hopefully they'll get into it. They seemed to be into it today. Thanks for all of your encouragement.
It means alot.

I also want to ask you guys for help. The second half of the quarter I am calling "Discipline and The Digital." We are reading "Panopticism" from Foucault's "Discipline and Punish," and for their major paper I want them to take a good hard look at online textual practices, specifically blogs, as a form of discipline. The reason behind this is that there are a lot of major implications, I think, behind the democratization of informations that blogging encourages. My attitude is that the free spread of information is both liberating but also disciplinary, another panoptic function.

SO - if any of you have read any good philosophical/sociological articles commenting on blogging and the information democracy, please point me toward them. I'm trying to compile a provisional bibliography that my students can use in their papers. Any help would be great.

OK, I'm going to get to work. I miss all of you.