Readings for lecture 6 - Journalism and sustainability

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The topic of this weeks lecture is journalism/citizen media and sustainability. I wanted to do sustainability last week, but we had some logistical problems with the equipment and time ran out. So this lecture is based on two different "packages":

Package 1 (was topic 4 last week): Perhaps most provocative of all questions; is the Internet/social media sustainable in the long run? Will we face challenges during the 21st century (climate change, energy and resource depletion issues) that will force us to radically rethink our habits and our use of technology? These short texts point out some radically different possibilities for the future of cheap electricity and for the Internet/social media.

- Bardi (2009). "The spike and the peak" (pdf file). Posted to online discussion forum "The Oil Drum" - 4 pages.

- Pargman (2010). "Ubiquitous information in a world of limitations" (available in Bilda/Documents/Papers). Presented at a 2010 workshop on "The culture of ubiquitous information". - 16 pages.

- Greer (2009). "The end of the information age" and "The economics of decline" (printer-friendly version). Published at Energy Bulletin - 3 pages each.

Comments: My text above is also the basis for a proposed master's thesis topic, "ICT use in the post-modern city". Greer's texts draws on his 2008 book "The long descent: A user's guide to the end of the industrial age". Greer makes a passing remark to the short 1909 story "The machine stops" by the author E.M. Forster (more well-know for "A room with a view" and "Howard's end"). You might consider reading a little fiction in you get tired of all the fact-filled texts above...

Package 2:

- Benkler, "The trouble with mass media" (chapter 6) - 35 pages

- Fallows, "How to save the news". The Atlantic, June 2010. - 12 pages (in the original print magazine)

- Gillmor (2006), "We are all reporters now" (BBC News) - 3 pages

- Gillmor (2006), "Introduction" from his book "We the media: Grassroots journalism by the people, for the people" - 11 pages, available in Bilda/Documents

26 + 61 = 89 pages

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