ERASMUS TO E-MAIL: INFORMATION & READINGS
Subject Information. The class meets Tuesday evenings, from 7 to 10 PM, in 1-134. The instructor, Jeff Ravel, can be reached at (617) 253-4451, or at ravel@mit.edu. His office hours are 4-5 PM, Mondays and Wednesdays, and by appointment, in E51-179.
Assignments. Active class participation is central to our work together. Attendance is mandatory, and students are expected to arrive in class on time and prepared to discuss common readings. A student who misses two or more class sessions will automatically fail the subject. At the beginning of most class sessions, students will hand in two-page papers that address issues from that week's readings; the questions will be distributed in advance. A ten-page paper will be due in class on 10/29, and a five page paper due on the last day of classes, 12/11. I will hand out instructions for these assignments later in the semester. There will be no exams and no final. Each assignment will be weighted as follows in the calculation of the final grade, although these calculations will also take into account improved performance during the course of the semester:
|
Class Participation:
|
40 points
|
|
Homework (8 assignments):
|
40 points (5 points each)
|
|
Ten-Page Paper:
|
80 points
|
|
Five-Page Paper:
|
40 points
|
|
TOTAL:
|
200 points
|
Readings to Purchase: The following books are available for purchase at the Coop Bookstore; they should also be on reserve in the Hayden Library, Room 14N-132. There is also a Course Reader, available for purchase in 11-004, and online readings, which can be accessed on the web from the Schedule of Readings.
- Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word
- Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe
- Jason Epstein, Book Business : Publishing Past, Present, and Future
- Cass Sunstein, Republic.com
- Course Reader