PLEASE NOTE: All CMIT modules have now been withdrawn,
and are unavailable for the 2010/11 academic year
These web pages and lecture notes are left as reference for those students
requiring CMIT modules to complete their programme only, and are not an
indication of modules currently offered.
Reading List
Recommended reading
Most of your research should be using Internet based resources, and your final mark will be influenced by how you select and use your online resources in your essay. You will particularly need to evaluate the trustworthyness and reliability of the sources you select, and use them appropriately in your work. To gain an overview of current issues, get into the habit of reading technology-related news:
BBC Technology News
BBC Click
Google Sci/Tech News
The Register News
Wired.com News
Web User - Latest News
As books on this subject tend to date very quickly, it's not recommended that you buy any on the theory aspects of the module, but there are, however, a few books available that will give you a broader overview of the subject; the following will be good starting points for your own research (all are available from the CMIT office).
- Whittaker, J. (2002) The Internet: The Basics. London: Routledge.
- Covers most of the practical and theoretical aspects at least briefly; a good starting point for further research.
- Castells, M. (2002) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. Oxford, OUP.
- Concentrates on the social and economic aspects of the Internet.
- Dyson, E. (1998) Release 2.1: A Design for Living in the Digital Age. London: Penguin Books.
- A broad look at the social and moral aspects of the Internet.
Practical Handbooks
For the practical exercises, you will be learning HTML and CSS. Practical notes are provided, but you may find that an additional book will help to give you further examples, though it must cover XHTML and CSS-based layout (sadly, there are many books which teach you very sloppy HTML). Here are a few that I've found useful and well-written (and again, can be borrowed from Carole in the CMIT office):
Freeman, E. and Freeman, E. (2006) Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.- Ideal for the beginner and for the more experienced, very 'chatty', fun style of learning with many exercises (and answers). Highly recommended, about £22 from amazon.co.uk.
Castro, E. (2006) HTML, XHTML and CSS: Visual Quickstart Guide. Sixth Edition. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.- A solid, task-based text with good examples - ideal for those with some experience of HTML. Around £14 from amazon.co.uk .
Cederholm, D. (2004) Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. Berkeley, CA: Apress/friends of ED.- A more advanced text, for those wishing to update their HTML skills to use CSS and XHTML. About £22 from amazon.co.uk.
Online journals and resources
The following journals are peer-reviewed and are available freely online.
- First Monday
- A peer-reviewed journal covering many aspects of the Internet in society. Available from: http://www.firstmonday.org/.
- Journal of Information Technology Impact
- Available from: http://www.jiti.com/.
- Currents in Electronic Literacy
- Available from: http://currents.cwrl.utexas.edu/
- Journal of Online Behavior
- Available from: http://www.behavior.net/JOB/
- Kairos
- Online journal of rhetoric, technology and pedagogy. Available from: http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/.
- Innovate
- Journal of Online Education. Available from: http://innovateonline.info/.