Università Roma Tre

The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the most important events and issues concerning the history of the digital revolution. The second part is devoted to a specialized theme: the history of Italy in the digital era and the age of globalization.

FIRST HALF OF THE COURSE (5 CFU)
History of the Digital Revolution
Contents: 1. Introduction to the Digital Age; 2. The Origins of the Internet; 3. A Concept Born in the “Shadow of the Nuke”; 4. From Radars to the Net; 5. The Computer; 6. “Computers Become Cheap, Fast and Common”; 7. Email; 8. Expansion: “The Hoi Polloi Connect”; 9. From Military Networks to the Global Internet; 10. The Web; 11. A Platform for Trade and the Rise of the Dot-com; 12. Web 2.0; 13. The Mobile Phone and the Digitization of Analog Media; 14. “The Great Convergence”? Information Technology, the Economy, the Web, and the Globalization; 15. An information Society?; 16. Social, Political and Cultural Transformation in the Digital Era.


SECOND HALF OF THE COURSE (4 CFU)
Italy in the Digital Era and the Age of Globalization.
Contents: 1. The Rise of the Digital Age in Italy; 2. Italy and the “Shock of the Global”; 3. The main characteristics of the Digital Revolution in Italy; 4. Cultural and Social Transformation in Italy in the Era of Globalization and the Digital Age; 5. The Italians and the New Digital Media; 6. Italian Economy in the Era of Globalization and the Digital Age; 7. Politics and Democracy in Italy during the Digital Era and the Age of Globalization.


The first part of the course will consist of lectures, during which also photographs and footage will be employed.
The second part of the course will be structured as a specialized seminar. After a series of lectures during which the instructor will introduce the main topics of the seminar, attending students will be required to do one presentation in class about a book, which will be chosen from a selection provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course. Class discussion will follow each presentation. At the end of the course, attending students will be required to write a 5000 word paper, analyzing the book chosen in the light of the analyses and discussions from the seminar.

Only for students attending the course, the assessment related to the first part of the course may take the form of a mid-term exam, to be taken during the course (esonero).
With regard to the seminar, the grade for this part of the course (which will average with the grade obtained for the first part) will be attributed on the basis of the student’s performance in the following activities: PRESENTATION: 30%; FINAL PAPER: 70%.

BOOKS FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE:
1) Gabriele Balbi, Paolo Magaudda, Storia dei media digitali. Rivoluzioni e continuità, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014;
2) Tommaso Detti, Giuseppe Lauricella, Le origini di Internet, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2013;
3) Johnny Ryan, Storia di Internet e il futuro digitale, Torino, Einaudi, 2011;
4) Readings assigned by instructor.


BOOKS FOR STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE:
1) Gabriele Balbi, Paolo Magaudda, Storia dei media digitali. Rivoluzioni e continuità, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014;
2) Tommaso Detti, Giuseppe Lauricella, Le origini di Internet, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2013;
3) Johnny Ryan, Storia di Internet e il futuro digitale, Torino, Einaudi, 2011;
4) Adam Arvidsson, Alessandro Delfanti, Introduzione ai media digitali, SECONDA EDIZIONE, Bologna, il Mulino, 2016 (seconda edizione).