Cyber Life, Policy and Law:

Syllabus, Resources and References

Nicholas Johnson

A Cyberlaw Writing Tutorial (91:513)

University of Iowa College of Law

Fall 2013

Contents

 Introduction: Overview and Goals. 5

The Basics. 5

Meeting Times. 5

Casebook. 5

Contact 5

Coordinates. 5

Office Hours. 6

Communication. 6

Grading. 6

A Sample Module. 7

Introduction: Overview and Goals

 The Basics

The Cyberlaw Writing Tutorial, 91:513, is as the title suggests, a “tutorial.” So what’s a tutorial? It’s kind of a cross between a seminar and independent study. There is greater flexibility for both instructor and students in terms of what is done and how it is done—an opportunity for experimentation—subject to some administrative requirements regarding contact hours (group and one-on-one), writing credits, and grading.

In this tutorial, the experimentation involves learning theory (more student discovery, less content and control from the Instructor; more application, less memorizatio); content (the full sweep of cyber phenomena’s impact); group identification and exploration of cyber modules (explained in “A Sample Module,” below) through discussion; followed by students’ individual efforts at identifying potential legal issues and their resolution in writing; and a final group discussion of those papers. The number of modules of necessity will be determined as we see how the Tutorial progresses—but probably something less than one a week and more than two or three during the semester.

The experience will serve, in part, to simulate what a lawyer confronts when first encountering the legal challenges of a new area of law, or an unfamiliar industry: a quick study that establishes a sufficient familiarization with a large body of facts, issues, and law that you know what you know, what you don’t know, and how to find the answers (or the specialists who know them); and how to best serve a new client who may be clueless regarding all of the above.

What follows is the default plan; that is, the Instructor is open to (but not bound by) students’ suggestions and requests regarding modifications. But unless changes are made, this is a guide to what students will be doing in this Tutorial.

 Meeting Times

The Tutorial is scheduled to meet 10:20-11:20 a.m., Thursdays and Fridays, during the Fall 2013 Semester in a Boyd Law Building room to be announced. There may be substitution of one-on-one meetings for some of those group meetings (which will, of course, be arranged and announced in advance), but those are the times the room is available for group meetings.

 Casebook

Bellia, Berman, Frischmann and Post, Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age (4th edition, Thomson Reuters/West, 2011), is our designated shared resource.

That is, (a) although there will be some assigned readings, and (b) a good deal of the book contains basic legal material students will need to know during their professional careers (say, 2014-2064), (c) so that it is a good reference work to buy and keep, (d) its primary function in this Tutorial is as a shared collection of materials, so we’re all on the same page (so to speak), when (e) doing the individual, independent research related to the writing.

In short, students will need to familiarize themselves with the contents of the book in a general sense (as they would in practice when confronting a new field), and then refer (for research) and cite (when writing) to such portions as are believed to be relevant and useful to the subject at hand.

Contact

      Coordinates

Your instructor is Nicholas Johnson. His office is BLB 445. The phone there is 319-335-9146. His email address is Nicholas-Johnson@uiowa.edu. (There is no need to look at the following, but students who are curious are free to do so:

Biography: http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/about/njbio04.html

Web site: http://www.nicholasjohnson.org

Blog: http://FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com )

Johnson’s assistant is Kelley Winebold; BLB 469, 319-335-9099, Kelley-Winebold@uiowa.edu.

       Office Hours

Office hours will be whatever turns out to be the best times for the Tutorial students, at which time they will be posted.

However, with or without office hours, students should free to walk into the office at any time. Appointments are not necessary, but may be arranged when preferred.

Of course, appointments will be necessary when one-on-one meetings to discuss writing are scheduled.

       Communication

The preferred means of communication is by email, using the Instructor’s email address, above.

When questions are posed by email, the answers to which would be relevant to every student, it is his practice to respond to everyone—without revealing the name of the student posing the question.

 Grading

The most significant component of a student’s grade (65%) will be the average of the grades received on that student’s written work throughout the semester (each submission equally weighted unless there is an announcement in advance of a greater weighting).

The other 35% will reflect (a) the creativity, quantity and quality of that student’s research, and (b) the extent to which her or his contributions to group discussion reflect that research, thought and analysis.

Although the Instructor reserves the possibility of a final exam for all students, with advance notice, if the writing has not been of sufficient quality, his intention and hope is that will not be necessary.

The Instructor will make an effort to provide some informal, individual feedback regarding writing and discussion contributions throughout the semester.