Next Friday is my first day teaching at USC and I’m excited. Hopefully the students are at least moderately excited as well. My goal of PUBD510: Public Diplomacy and Technologies is to the students capable of engaging a senior policy maker on the importance and requirements of engaging in today’s Now Media global information environment while cognizant that different geographies – be they physical, social, or cultural – demand different tools, methods, and expectations.
The syllabus is online at USC and available here (PDF, 187kb). As should be expected for a class like this, there will be significant online material but dead trees are assigned as well. The required books are:
- Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
- Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James Fowler
- Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech by Craig Silverman
- Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Odyssey by Yale Richmond
The following are also required but copies (for the students to keep) will be provided:
- Dragon Bytes: Chinese Information War Theory and Practice from 1995-2003 by Tim Thomas (to be distributed in class, courtesy of Tim Thomas)
- Options for Influence by Ali Fisher and Aurélie Bröckerhoff (to be distributed in class, courtesy the British Council)
- Enlisting Madison Avenue by Todd Helmus and Chris Paul (to be distributed in class, courtesy Chris Paul)
The following are recommended books:
- Readings in Propaganda and Persuasion: New and Classic Essays by Jowett, O’Donnell (eds)
- Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff
- The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and The Public Should Expect by Bill Kovach
Expect to see more on the class here on the blog over the next semester.