In this course, we will examine the evolution of academic discourse networks, from classical times to the present, with an emphasis on the implications for current research and scholarship. Because these discourse networks have social, psychological, cultural, historical, narrative, economic, educational, political, technical, epistemological, mathematical and other dimensions, this investigation is inherently transdisciplinary. Building on our review of the past and the present we will explore how scholars and scholarly institutions can -- and should -- respond to current challenges.

Academic discourse is currently undergoing a sea change due to digital networks. This change has been underway for more than a decade; the World Wide Web was originally developed by Tim Berners-Lee in the early 1990s to ease access to physics papers and data. But the changes catalyzed by digital networks are not the first. Over time, academic discourse has been shaped and reshaped by networks embodied in citations, editorial boards and peer reviewers, learned societies, the collection and use of specimens and observations, printing, creation and access to manuscripts, scholarly correspondence, and face to face social relationships, among others.

The effects of digital networks continue to accelerate and broaden: recent developments include mandates requiring public access to academic papers by the National Institutes of Health and the faculty of Harvard University (among many others). Related changes include the redistribution of power from authoritative sources (such as peer reviewed authors) to unregulated insurgents (such as Wikipedia contributors) and broader challenges to copyright and intellectual property rights.

These changes have major implications for academic institutions, such as CGU, and for career choices of scholars over the coming decades. Regulatory processes and norms for managing academic discourse, some of which have lasted for centuries, are being drastically altered. Students will form collaborative transdisciplinary teams and investigate the landscape of academic discourse networks, using the Claremont Conversation and other online tools to write Transdisciplinary research proposals. The proposed research should advance our understanding of these changes, or solve a problem they create.