(d100) * & cmns 856-5 (g100) - School of Communication Home

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 4
46
-
4

(D100)
*

& CMNS 856
-
5 (G100)


Instructor:


Adam Holbrook








Spring

Semester

2012

Office Downtown:

HC 3
570










Harbour Centre Day

Email:
jholbroo@sfu.ca


Instructor:


Peter Chow
-
White

Office Burnaby:

K 9652

Office Downtown:

HC 3557

Email:



petercw@sfu.ca


THE COM
M
UNICATION OF SCIENCE

AND THE TRANSFER OF
TECHNOLOGY

(
IN A SOCIAL CONTEXT
)
:

A Major Policy Event
in Vancouver


Prerequisite
s
:

For undergrads only.

75 units, including CMNS 3
45

or 346, and one of CMNS
260, 261, or 262; or permission of instructor (Holbrook). CMNS 253 and 362 are recommended.


*
Note: Co
-
taught with CMNS 856
-
5 for grad students.

Note: For
non
-
CMNS
g
raduate students, permission of instructor (Holbrook) is required.


Overview:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the oldest and larges
t
organization in North America

devoted to the enhancement and communica
tion of science and
technology (S&T)
,

will be holding its annual meeting in Vancouver from Fe
b. 16
-

20, 2012. At
this meeting, policy
-
makers, communicators of S&T, and researchers from around the world will
meet with the objective of bringing S&T into th
e public discourse, rather than leaving it in the
realm of specialist communication. The meeting includes major presentations by senior policy
-
makers, symposia on specific topics (but directed to non
-
specialists), and a general trade and
science
fair,
ope
n to the public.


Students will be exposed to a number of current issues that will be discussed at the AAAS
meeting, with a focus on the biological and computing sciences. There have been revolutions in
the biological and computing sciences since the 1970’s. The discovery

of rDNA in 1973 began a
new era in
t
he science of biology, and marked the birth of genetic engineering. At the same
time, a new technological paradigm
,
focused around developments in microcomputers and
electronic networks
,

was in its nascent stage. The
growth of the two fields has resulted in an
intimate connection between them
,

in the context of the rise of the information society and
globalization. In the 2000’s, scientific research has changed significantly
,

since the 1970’s
,

as
major
projects are gl
obal in scope and by design. For example, international consortia of
scientists working on the next Human Genome Project
,

currently

upload human DNA

information from different geographical locations to centralized databases, making the results

public in real time. At the heart of this course is the relationship between science and


-

over
-


2

technology
,

on the one hand, and society on the other. CMNS 446 is open to
undergraduates,
and will be of interest to students in all three streams of con
centration in Communication.
This
course

will be of interest to any graduate student who has an interest in political economy and
public S&T policy.


Students will be able to choose one (or more) of the symposia at the AAAS meeting to focus on,
for their
project material. Students will be expected to volunteer to work at the AAAS meeting,
and
,

in doing so
,

will be given free admission to all of the events.



Required Readings:


Edward J. Hackett, Olga Amsterdamska, Michael
Lynch, and Judy Wajcman,

(
eds.)
The
Handbook of Sc
ience and Technological Studies

(3
rd

edition).



M
onica Salazar and Adam Holbrook,
CPROST REPORT: 08
-
02, “Some
N
otes on
T
heories of
Technology, Society and Innovation Systems for S&T
P
olicy
S
tudies
”
.


AAAS website: www.aaas.org



Grading
:


Paper proposal





15%

AAAS participation





3
0%

AAAS report





25
%

Final paper





30%


The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable
relation to established university
-
wide practices with respect to both levels and
distribution of grades.

In addition, The School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to

Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline
(note: as of May 1, 2009 the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty
(T10.02) and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S
10 series of
policies).











-

over
-



3

Assignments:

Brief outline (subject to change)



WEEK


DATE
S

2012

TOPICS

1

Jan. 10

Basis of STS. General purpose technologies.

2

Jan. 17

How technology influences society /
H
ow society
influences technology.

3

Jan. 24

Science and Technology policy in Canada.

4

Jan. 31

Visit to TRIUMF; the medical isotopes issues (exact day
to be determined).

5

Feb. 7

Briefing on AAAS/initial briefings on final project
.


Feb. 13
-
17

SFU
Reading
B
reak (no classes)
.


Feb. 16
-
20

AAAS Meetings (4 days

-

Thurs
day

-

Sunday
)
.

6

Feb. 21

No class (write AAAS Report)
.

7

Feb. 28
.

Presentations on AAAS.

8

Mar. 6

Bioethics and GELS3; the ethical role of the scientist
.

9

Mar. 13

The ethical role of the licensed professional (e.g.
,

engineer
).

10

Mar. 20

Where do we go from here?

11

Mar. 27

Final project
p
resentations
.

12

Apr. 3

Final
p
roject presentations
.


13

Apr. 10

Course
w
rap
-
u
p
.