A note from the teacher—
This project has undergone several changes since being introduced to the students in January of 2001. Originally, I had conceived it as a huge database of individuals and their corporate involvements. This information, beyond the Fortune 400 web site, was not easy to come by. What became apparent very quickly was that corporations own each other, and we changed course slightly to focus on that aspect of the economy in the new century.
Another way we changed the project was to get away from the more academic, prose-oriented presentation to the more “viewer-friendly” format we have in these pages. On advice from several people, we have alleviated the reader’s headaches by shortening the prose and adding considerably more pictures and graphics. This was done in an effort to make the whole site more accessible.
I personally have my doubts about a technological system that discourages the development of argument and analysis in favor of captions for pictures and the mere dissemination of logo and symbol. But a prudent reader would simply print out a longer article and read it later, which then defeats one of the avowed purposes of this new technology: the saving of trees by reducing paper. Thus, one is almost forced in a way to “dumb down” one’s presentation in order to get the attention of the surfer for at least a little while. This limitation on computer “literacy” needs to be more widely discussed and understood.
Finally, it should be abundantly clear that this is a “work in progress.” From the standpoint of the average American citizen, this work is long overdue and represents only a fraction of what we SHOULD know about the corporate world and the global economy in the 21st century. (We actually did not use a lot of our material! ) We make it available for the general good, and hope that the citizens, who are way behind the corporations, can catch up.
Note to teachers: this project involved 35 students in two classes and 11 separate class visits (for each class!) to the computer lab, in addition to the regular coursework of reading, discussing, and writing short papers. My advice, should you wish to pursue something similar, is to:
1) block out your lab time early
2) decide whether the web project is the main or the collateral effort of your class
3) engage the services of a few first-rate techies in your classes who can design and execute the necessary templates and transfers of information.
Good luck! Contact me if you want more specific info: jshipman@ma.org