Teaching Ethics and the Internet 2.0: pervasive computing, consumer electronics and progressive embodiment

An instructional technology grant to use hand-held devices to augment Ethics and the Internet, which the author has taught for seven years in the Department of Religion at Duke University, enabled the course to address the broader societal implications of digital technology. Using hand-held devices to experience the course on the go, in and beyond the classroom, students were encouraged to consider the pervasive computing and "progressive embodiment" metaphors. Students were prompted to think outside the deskbound Web box and to bring to bear synchronous and asynchronous consumer electronics popularly used and enjoyed today, such as MP3 players, cellular telephones and mobile messaging devices. Thereby the discussion of the ethical issues that arise from the increasing presence of the Internet in everyday life was extended to portable devices and concerns relevant in 2001-02 and beyond.