Project Summary: The Web, Content Industries, and Ourselves

Project Summary: The Web, Content Industries, and Ourselves

Lead editor/author
Juan Pablo Alperin with Sophie MacKenzie

Introduction & About the Project
Hello everyone and welcome to The Web, Content Industries, and Ourselves! The textbook is designed to discuss online business models, privacy, data tracking, and the surveillance economy—issues of great salience in public discussions today. This textbook will be used as the primary text of Pub802 at Simon Fraser University but will be easily adapted to any coursework focusing on new publishing models, data privacy, and our relationship with the Web.

Project Updates
We are currently reviewing our text material to find gaps in the literature and to synthesize the material into more succinct themes.

Audience
The intended audience for this textbook is Masters of Publishing students at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC Canada and any other student or instructor interested in new publishing models, content industries, and our relationship with the Web.

About the Text/Content
Ideally, this textbook will be divided into themed chapters with a series of readings supporting each topic. An overview/ mini-lesson will introduce each topic, highlighting the pertinent readings and themes. Lastly, discussion questions will conclude each section.

Licensing
This resource will be openly licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Team
The team lead is Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin. He is the co-director of the #scholcommlab, as well as an assistant professor at the Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing and an associate director of research of the Public Knowledge Project at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He will be assisted by Sophie MacKenzie, a Masters of Publishing candidate at Simon Fraser University.

Support
This course is receiving support from the Open Educational Resources Grant at Simon Fraser University.

Timeline
Solicit community input: September–November 2019
Write and edit short essays/lessons plans: October–December 2019
Write public knowledge/open pedagogy chapters: November–December 2019
Test Resource in class: January–April 2020
Conduct a survey of students to assess resource–April 2020
Peer review: Ongoing

How to Get Involved
Thank you for your interest in contributing to About The Web, Content Industries, and Ourselves. We look forward to working with you on this exciting project!
Please take a moment to tell us about you and why you’re interested in contributing to this project. Welcome to the team!
If you see an area that is lacking or one you would like to expand upon, please contact Sophie MacKenzie. As this textbook will be used in a classroom setting, we’d like to keep it succinct, but am eager to open it up for expansion after the initial content is laid down.

Measures of Success
The resource will be evaluated by the Masters of Publishing students who participate in the Spring 2020 edition of PUB802 at Simon Fraser University. Students will be asked, as part of their course evaluation, for feedback to evaluate the clarity, efficacy, and relevance of the subject matter within the Masters of Publishing program. Evaluation data will feed into the continual development of the textbook.

In addition, the success of the project will be measured by the extent of engagement and the number of participants who contribute to the resource beyond the project team such as the Rebus Community