INFO/STS 6341

Schedule

Topic	Tuesday	Thursday
Introduction
Introduction to class		August 27 What does it mean to interpret?
Faith and Suspicion
Finding meaning in structure	Sep 1 Systems thinking Saussure: Part One: General Principles, from Course in General Linguistics Weaver: Recent Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Communication (Note: Read for general idea of communication; you do not need to understand the math details.)	Sep 3 Metaphors for Meaning Turner: The Shifting Politics of the Computational Metaphor Reddy: The Conduit Metaphor
Upsetting structures	Sep 8 Hermeneutics of suspicion Nietzsche: On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (or in German) Williams: Ideology Foucault: Nietzsche, Freud, Marx	Sep 10 Suspicions about IT Forsythe: New Bottles, Old Wine Dunne: Psychosocial Narratives Dunne and Raby: Designer as Author Homework: Proposal for short paper I due
Psychoanalysis	Sep 15 Finding meaning in the detritus of life Freud: On Dreams Ricoeur: The Conflict of Interpretations (read only pp. 20-28 and 32-36)	Sep 17 Interpretation, or science? Buchanan: Ink Blots or Profile Plots Gaver and Dunne: Projected Realities Boehner et al: How HCI Interprets the Probes
Understanding being in the world
Philosophical hermeneutics	Sep 22 Horizons of understanding Winograd and Flores: Understanding Computers and Cognition, Chapter 3 Dreyfus: Being-in-the-World: Introduction, Chapters 1-2 Homework: Short paper I due	Sep 24 Horizons of Artificial Intelligence Winograd and Flores: Understanding Computers and Cognition, Chapters 1-2 and 6-8
Ethnography	Sep 29 Defining ethnography Dourish: Social Computing Geertz: Thick Description Emerson: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chapter 1 Homework: Do Human Subjects training and send results to Phoebe	Oct 1 Ethnography of IT and its discontents Taylor and Swan: Artful Systems in the Home Forsythe: 'It's Just a Matter of Common Sense' (note updated link) Dourish: Implications for Design
Doing Ethnography	Oct 6 Ethnography Do-It-Yourself Emerson et al.: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes: Chapters 2-4	Oct 8 Writing and Coding Emerson et al.: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes: Chapters 5-6
Plans and Situated Actions		Oct 15 Plans and Situated Actions Suchman: Plans and Situated Actions: Preface, Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 3: Plans (through section 3.1 only), Chapter 4: Situated actions, Chapter 6: Case and methods
Plans and Situated Actions II	Oct 20 Breaking down at copiers Suchman: Plans and Situated Actions, Chapter 7: Human-machine communication, Chapter 8: Conclusion Homework: Short paper II due	Oct 22 Projects workshop Homework: Ideas for possible final projects due
Juggling Meanings
Deconstruction	Oct 27 Reconstructing deconstruction Culler: pp. 85-156 of Chapter 2, On Deconstruction	Oct 29 De/re-constructing IT Agre: Metaphor in Practice (start on p. 28, "Language in Practice") Homework: Group final project proposal due
The proliferation of meanings	Nov 3 Production of identities Haraway: Situated Knowledges and the Privilege of Partial Perspectives	Nov 5 Proliferating meaning in design Gaver et al: Ambiguity as a Resource for Design Aoki and Woodruff: Making Space for Stories Sengers and Gaver: Staying Open to Interpretation
Re-Interpreting Interaction
Interpretive Flexibility	Nov 10 Interpretive flexibility Kline and Pinch: Users as Agents of Technological Change Oudshoorn and Pinch: Introduction to How Users Matter Laegran: The petrol station and the Internet café: rural technospaces for youth (Note: if the link does not work the first time, return to this page immediately and click on it again - there is an issue with authentication through Cornell Library to ScienceDirect which is resolved the second time you go to the site) Homework: Short paper III due	Nov 12 Interpreting users and their behaviors Special guest lecturer: Lily Irani Special location: 301 College Ave., Large Conference Room Woolgar: Configuring the User Akrich: The De-Scription of Technical Objects Cooper and Bowers: Representing the User
Appropriation	Nov 17 Final projects workshop Leshed et al: In-car gps navigation Leahu et al: Subjective Objectivity	Nov 19 Re-appropriating technologies Balka and Wagner: Making Things Work Bossen and Dalsgaard: Conceptualization and Appropriation Wakkary and Maestri: Aspects of Everyday Design
Where to from here?	Nov 24 Guest discussion with Gilly Leshed and Lucian Leahu: From 6341 to publication Homework: Final Projects Due (Early Deadline)
Project presentations	Dec 1 Oral Presentations	Dec 3 Oral Presentations/Wrap-Up
Dec 14: Final Project Deadline (Final deadline)