Official Policy on Use of Rotisserie Skips

You are permitted to skip 3 full weeks (crank and recrank) and receive full credit. If you skip a recrank response on any week, you should count that week as a skip; you will not receive full credit. Note, however, that the idea behind affording skips was to alleviate logistical problems and scheduling conflicts, not to suggest that any three weeks' worth of readings is unimportant. Professor Zittrain will be very disappointed if a large number of students simply skip the last 3 rotisseries!

A Note on Laptops

Laptops are not officially required. That said, you are encouraged to bring a laptop if you have access to one. You are encouraged to use the in-class feedback tool, a web-based applet which allows you to rate class discussion. You may also find a laptop helpful for retrieving relevant readings and demonstrations. If you do not have a laptop and would like to sit next to someone willing to "share" their laptop, please email us. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide laptops.

Course Requirements

1) Required Readings

The social contract of the course is as follows: the readings will be carefully selected and edited to be manageable and not to waste your time. In exchange, you agree to read them thoroughly. If you don't understand something, you'll make a good faith effort to figure it out. Reading assignments are posted on the course website.

2) The Rotisserie (50% of grade)

You will be required to participate in the "Rotisserie," a weekly Net-mediated Q&A exchange. Each week, a question will be posted on the web site. The web site will require you to submit a response to each week's question by 10:00 a.m. each Monday. Responses are typically asked to be one page in length. Every student who submits an answer (on time) will receive someone else's answer via email and will be required to submit a typically-one-page critique/analysis/reaction of this response no later than 5:00pm that Wednesday.

You can skip three question/critique pairs over the course of the semester. Responses for the first Rotisserie will be due on Monday, February 4. The questions aren't meant to be onerous, and your answers aren't intended to be treatises.

3) Final Paper (50% of grade)

You will be required to write a final paper on a topic of your choosing relevant to the course. You can work in a group of up to four students and are encouraged to develop and support a unique thesis, framing your arguments as concisely as possible. The paper submitted must be 15-20 pages in length (undergraduate students are required to write 10-15 pages), regardless of how many people work in your group, and is due on May 7. LLM students wishing to use this paper to fulfill their LLM writing requirement should email the course staff. For these students only (LLMs fulfilling their writing requirement): i) the paper will be due May 14, ii) you may not work in groups, and iii) the Rotisserie still comprises 50% of your grade. Papers must be submitted both electronically and on paper.

Undergraduate students are permitted to work only with undergraduate students and visiting MIT students are permitted to work only with other MIT students.

During the session of Monday, April 22 we will extend class by an extra half hour to allow further discussion of topics.

You can also request class time to present your paper topic to the entire class (with your group) if you so desire. Please email one of the teaching fellows to schedule this ~5 minute presentation as timing permits.

Course Schedule

The official course schedule is posted on the course website and is subject to change. We will meet every Monday from 4:10 - 6:10 in either Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall or Langdell North in Langdell Hall. Please verify the location of the session on the course web site before coming to class. There will be no class session on Monday, April 15th - this session will be rescheduled for another day that week. There will be also be a moot court session scheduled for some time during the term.