Courses
Between our founding in 1973 and our retirement from
teaching in 2007 we offered these courses at Harvard University. They are in
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences unless otherwise labeled.
1973-1995
Faculty Seminar. Topics in Communications Strategy and
Policy
John C. B. LeGates
Presentations by Program personnel and outside speakers on
all aspects of changes in information and communications and their consequences
for stakeholders in the private sector, government, and society at large.
1976
Social Sciences 106. Information Resources and Public Policy
Anthony G. Oettinger
Information as the base of all organized activity – a
resource as vital as energy or matter. How man-made information systems
perform, what controls information flow, and how people get their information.
Basic theories and a concrete case study: how television, newspaper, telephone,
computer and other information systems intertwine in serving the public.
Interplay of scientific, technological, economic, legal, and political factors
affecting these services. Perennial issues (quality and cost of service,
incidence of economic benefits and burdens, interpretations of the First
Amendment, rights to privacy or freedom of information, etc.); current policy
processes and options. Critical evaluation of applications of knowledge to
pressing problems.
1978
Public Policy 283b. Seminar: Information Resources and
Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Anthony G. Oettinger
An examination of recent public policy developments in the
field of computer and information technology. Policies examined are property
rights in information (patent, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition
laws); state and federal taxation of information property; Federal
Communication Commission policies toward computers and information
transmission; regulation of banking and electronic funds transfer; and
constitutional rights of individual privacy. The emphasis of the course will be
on the interrelationship between technology and policy, legislative, and
administrative policies, and on how these policies in turn affect the nature of
technological innovation and development. The course requires no prior
knowledge of computers or information technology.
1979-1980
S-483 (formerly PP 283b) Seminar: Information Resources and
Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Anthony G. Oettinger and Christopher DeMuth
Examines recent public policy developments in the field of
computer and information technology. Policies examined are property rights in
information (patent, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition laws);
state and federal taxation of information property; Federal Communication
Commission policies toward computers and information transmission; regulation
of banking and electronic funds transfer; and constitutional rights of
individual privacy. Emphasis will be on the interrelationship between
technology and policy, legislative, and administrative policies, and on how
these policies in turn affect the nature of technological innovation and
development. The course requires no prior knowledge of computers or information
technology.
S-484 Seminar: Special Topics in Information Resources
Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Anthony Oettinger
Special topic considered in 1979-80 will be communications
and information in foreign policy. Dr. Oswald Ganley, former Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Technology Affairs, will supervise the seminar. Will
survey rapid developments in the communications and information (C&I)
fields, which play a major role in shaping future economic and political events
in the US, in other industrialized countries, and in the Third World. The
purpose is to acquaint the students with the main economic, trade, political,
cultural, legal, security and technical forces generated by C&I for which
new international policy must be developed. The international policy issues
arising from satellite communications, transborder data flow, communications
for development, free flow of information, and direct broadcasting will be
presented. Issues will be illustrated by and integrated into actual foreign
policy problems.
1980-81
S-483 Seminar: Command, Control, Communications and
Intelligence
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Anthony G. Oettinger
Examines the changes since World War II in the conception,
technologies, and institutional framework of information resources and the
implications of these changes for national security policy and linked domestic
policies. Develops and evaluates analogies between the functions and the
support systems of the intelligence staff and the command-and-control line on
the one hand and business management information and decision-making functions
and support systems on the other hand.
1982
General Education 156. (Formerly Social Sciences 106)
Knowledge and Power
Anthony G. Oettinger
Uses and abuses of knowledge in the exercise of private and
public power; generalist and specialist roles in marshalling and allocating
information resources. Critical examination of the usefulness of selected economic,
political, legal and social theories and of some basics of science and
technology in resolving struggles over television, newspaper, postal,
telephone, computer and other information industries. Among the perennial
issues considered: control over access to information, incidence of economic
benefits and burdens, quality and cost of information goods and services,
definition of industries and markets, nature and extent of government
intervention.
1983
General Education 156. (formerly Social Sciences 106) The
Compunications Age
Anthony G. Oettinger
Dynamics of the shift of industrialized countries toward
information intensive economies: how competitors, courts, customers, experts,
innovators, investors, legislators, and regulators interact to influence the
substance and the speed of change. Compunications as the convergence of
computer and communications technologies. Lectures and readings detail how the
A.T.&T. break-up came about; they sketch concurrent changes in other
primary information industries, notably in broadcast and cable T. V.,
computers, consumer electronics, newspapers, postal services, and toys; they
interpret such precedents as the move from memorized to written records in 12th
century England and the swing to steam-driven printing presses coincident with
the 19th century industrial revolution. Each term paper will trace
the linkages between changing information industries and some germane, student
picked subject, for example: arms control, concepts of literacy, consumer
prices, electoral processes, foreign trade patterns, labor markets, military
intelligence and command practices, or organizational structure and behavior.
1985-1994
S-484, later BGP-584. Communications and Information in
Foreign Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Oswald H. Ganley
Concentrates on the rapid developments in the communications
and information (C&I) fields that play a major role in shaping future
economic and political events in the U.S., in other industrialized countries,
and in the Third World. Examines the main economic, trade, political, cultural,
legal, security and technical forces generated by C&I, for which new
international policy must be developed. The international policy issues arising
from satellite communications, trade in telecommunications and information
services, communications for development, free flow of information, and direct
broadcasting will be presented. Students are expected to prepare a research
paper in lieu of examination.
1988 - 1991
General Education 156.
The Compunications Age
Anthony G. Oettinger
Dynamics of the shift of industrialized countries toward
information intensive economies. The 1984 A.T.&T. break-up; concurrent
changes in other primary information industries, including television,
computers, consumer electronics, newspapers, and postal services. Antecedents in the moves from memorized to
written records in 12th century England and to steam printing
presses in the 19th century. Each term paper traces the linkages
between changing information suppliers and a student-picked sphere of
information use, e.g.: arms control, literacy, consumer prices, electoral
processes, entertainment, foreign trade, labor markets, military intelligence
and command practices, or organizational structure and behavior.
2000
General Education 156, The Information Age, Its Main
Currents and Their Intermingling: Conference Course
Anthony G. Oettinger
Dynamics of the worldwide shift toward information-intensive
economies. The hype and the ripe in information infrastructures, networks and
multimedia. Transformation of information businesses: telecommunications;
computers; TV; consumer electronics; books; newspapers; mail; and toys.
Antecedents in the shifts from memorized to written records in 12th-century
England and to steam–driven printing presses in the 19th century.
Each term paper traces the linkages between evolving information suppliers and
a student-picked sphere of information use: e.g., literacy and numeracy,
personal communication, entertainment, political processes, international trade,
capital and labor markets, military intelligence and command practices, or
organizational structure and behavior.
2002
General Education 156, The Information Age, Its Main
Currents and Their Intermingling: Conference Course
Anthony G. Oettinger
Dynamics of the worldwide shift toward information-intensive
economies. The hype and the ripe in information infrastructures, the Web,
multimedia and so on. Governments’ roles as stakeholders and as regulators in
the transformations of information businesses:
waning traditional telecommunications and waxing internets; computers;
broadcast, cable, satellite and DVD TV; consumer electronics; books;
newspapers; mail; and toys. Nature and
roles of the stakeholders: competitors, courts, customers, experts, innovators,
investors, legislators and administrative agencies. Antecedents in the shifts
from memorized to written records in 12th-century England and to steam–driven
printing presses in the 19th century. Each term paper traces the
linkages between evolving information suppliers and a student-picked sphere of
information use: e.g., literacy and numeracy, personal communication,
entertainment, political processes, international trade, capital and labor
markets, military intelligence and command practices, or organizational
structure and behavior.
2004, 2006
General Education 156, The Information Age, Its Main
Currents and Their Intermingling: Conference Course
Anthony G. Oettinger
Dynamics of the worldwide shift toward information-intensive
economies. How technological opportunities stiumulate the hype and the ripe in
information infrastructures. The roles that governments and private entities
play in information enterprises, security and privacy, intellectual property
rights, and other realms. Contemporary parallels with such 19th-century
phenomena as growth of the U.S.Post Office and shifts to steam-driven printing
presses. Each term paper traces linkages between evolving information suppliers
and a student-picked sphere of information use.
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