E58. 2130 – TOPICS IN DIGITAL MEDIA
Tuesdays 04:55pm-07:05pm @ Silver Building 402
Course Objectives:
- To develop the theoretical and methodological skills necessary for producing rigorous research on new and emerging media.
- To become familiar with the new media research tools and to develop a critical approach to the use and misuse of these technologies.
- To develop hands on experience and understanding of the current cultural changes in media production and consumption.
- To adopt ‘power-user’ skills.
- To be able to critique the present and somewhat predict the future on new media.
Course Format
This course meets once a week in person but takes place constantly through the week on the class blog. Classroom time consists of both assessment of student research and discussion of the weekly readings. Assignments are being given weekly and deadlines are set for both classtime and through the week (to be submitted on the blog).
Travelogues
The central focus of this course will be a set of field trips into new media environments and the creation of travelogues. Each topic is pursued over a three-week period. Upon completion of one topic a new topic is selected and the cycle repeats itself. The travelogues will be published in the form of a collaborative blog. The blog will serve both as a research tool and as a way to document the process and results of the field trips.
Discussion of research findings of the last week, engaging criticism and feedback posted on the blog by the students and the instructor. Over the course of the semester a collection of travelogues will accumulate based on the student work. These will remain online as public documents, accessible both to other students as well as the general public.
Weekly theme
Each week the students will be assigned material revolving around the weekly theme. The weekly list would consist of required and recommended items. These items can be articles book segments and blog posts, they might also be audio and video presentations or other audiovisual content. Once through the semester each student would be required to summarize the assigned reading (both required and recommended) two days in advance of class, analyze the ideas expressed and engage them through the summary blog post. All students will be required to read the summary and comment on it towards the discussion in class lead by the assigned student.
Toolbox
Another focus of this course will be the toolbox – a growing collection of new media tools we will examine, use and critique in a format of a lab. Students will choose their tools based on this critical examination and will introduce new tools to the class to expand and advance our toolbox.
Course Requirements
All students are required to attend class and complete all assigned reading. Students are required to both post their own research blog posts and comment on other students work. Deadlines are rigid and posting late would not be appreciated.
New media travelogues:
Four different travels into new media lands are required. Each constructed of several blog posts. Each travelogue must include a set of blog posts aggregating and analyzing information from multiple sources and arriving at a critical conclusion. The posts may include text, audio, or visual material or reference other material on the web. Each post must be published as a blog post, and therefore will be subject to public viewing and possible response.
Critique Format:
Due to time and attention concerns, not all travelogues will be discussed in class every week. Students would choose the travelogues they would like to discuss in class, based on the comments they have made on the blog, and so more discussion provoking blog posts will win more student attention. We will try to assess what makes a post attractive and provoking and how to improve the blogging style based on that experience.
The New Media Embed Program
Towards the end of the semester we will work collaboratively on assembling a set of rules that will define guidelines for research into New Media environments.
Grade Formula
New Media Traveler’s Log #1: 5%
New Media Traveler’s Log #2: 15%
New Media Traveler’s Log #3: 15%
New Media Traveler’s Log #4: 15%
New Media Embed Program: 10%
Class and blog participation: 30%
reading discussion lead: 10%
Total: 100%
(No) Required Books
The readings in the class will be assigned by the students themselves while a recommended reading list will be provided for every class.
Schedule
Our schedule will be flexible and is bound to change based on the class’s activity. The following id a framework we will refer to but by no means is this the exact class schedule.
Class 1 – Course Introduction
Content: How does the internet work?
Context: screening of Adam Curtis’ The Trap: Whatever Happened to our Dream of Freedom (part 1 of 3)
Assignment: Travelogue-I: The Trap.
Class 2 – The Public Sphere and The Blogosphere
Jan 26th – Led by Alexandra
Critique: Travelogue-I
Required:
- Brooke, Clive and Ethan at Aspen / Brooke Gladstone, Clive Thompson and Ethan Zuckerman [from 'On The Media']
- The death of the news / By Gary Kamiya
Suggested:
- Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over / Jay Rosen
Critique: Travelogue-II roundup
Experiment: A week without Google
Assignment: Travelogue-II.
Class 3 Identity as Property and Panopticon 2.0
Feb 2nd – Led by Dan
Required:
- Cory Doctorow, Scroogled
- From On The Media podcast:
Search Me & Short of Anonymous - Facebook’s move ain’t about changes in privacy norms / danah boyd
Suggested:
- This Week In Google 25: The People’s Republic of Google (mins: 02:00-53:36)
Critique: A Week without Google, Travelogue II
Assignment: Travelogue-II
Class 4 – Social Software, Publics and Communities
Feb 9th – Led by Elizabeth
Required:
- danah boyd: Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? (available as audio as well on the same link)
- Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (Event Video/Audio)
- Clay Shirky Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
Suggested:
- Clay Shirky: “Sharing Anchors Community” from Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (handout)
Critique: Travelogue-II – final
Assignment: Travelogue-III
Class 5 – Our Media?
Feb 16th – Led by Haris
Required:
- Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture presentation
- Trebor Scholz and Paul Hartzog: Toward a critique of the social web
- Joost Smiers: What if We Would Not Have Copyright? – from MyCreativity Reader (pp. 193-205)
Suggested:
- Steal This film 2: Trial Version
- Jenkins, Henry: Taking the You Out of YouTube?
Critique: Travelogue-III roundup
Assignment: Travelogue-III
Class 6 – Commons Based Peer Production and Open Source
Feb 23rd – Led by Honieh
Required:
- Watch: The Wealth of Networks – A presentation by Yochai Benkler.
- Read: Excerpts from The Success of Open Source – by Steven Weber
Suggested:
- Commons-based Peer Production and Virtue* – by Yochai Benkler & (our) Helen Nissenbaum
- The Cathedral and The Bazaar – by Eric Raymond (available in tons of other languages and formats online)
Critique: Travelogue-III – final
Assignment: Travelogue-IV
Class 7 The cult of Wikipedia
Mar 2nd – Led by Jimena
Required:
- The Digital Given–10 Web 2.0 Theses by Ippolita, Geert Lovink & Ned Rossiter
- World Wide Mush – Jaron Laneir (in the WSJ)
Suggested:
- Digital Maoism – Jaron Lanier
- Responses to Jaron Lanier’s Digital Maoism
Critique: Travelogue-IV – roundup
Class 8 – The Internet of Thing
Mar 9th – Led by Niharika
Required:
- Dan Hill, The City As A Platform
- Adam Greenfield at PICNIC08: The Long Here, the Big Now, and other tales of the networked city
Suggested:
- Julian Bleecker, Why Things Matter – A Manifesto for Networked Objects — Cohabiting with Pigeons, Arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things
Critique: Travelogue-IV
Assignment: Travelogue-IV
Class 9 – Interface as a conflict of Ideologies
March 23rd – Led by
Required Reading/Viewing:
- Social networking, new governing By Anderew Rasiej & Micah L. Sifry
- The Death of the URL by Chris Messina
- ShiftSpace introduction video By Mushon Zer-Aviv
Suggested Reading:
- Mushon Zer-Aviv, Interface as a Conflict of Ideologies
Assignment: Travelogue-IV
Class 10 – Representation, Simulation, Fun & filthy rich media
March 30th – Led by
Required:
- Book Excerpt: “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” – What Games Aren’t / Raph Koster
- SIMULATION 101: Simulation versus Representation / Gonzalo Frasca
Suggested:
- The Core of Fun – Presentation at Etech / Raph Koster
Class 11 – Network Theory
April 6th – Led by
Required:
- Networks – The Science-Spanning Disciplines / Anna Nagurneymake sure to follow her presentation slides too
Suggested::
- Part 1 of The Principle of Notworking Geert Lovink: Multitude, Network and Culture (up to page 11)
- Review of The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (2 reviews + 1 response)
Critique: Travelogue-IV – final
Assignment: New Media Embed Program
Class 12 – The Singularity, Transhumanism & Biomedia
April 13th – Led by
Required:
- Review of Eugene Thacker’s Biomedia / Nicholas Ruiz III
- Decoding the Future with Genomics / Juan Enriquez
- Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity / Gary Wolf
Critique: The New Media Embed Program
Assignment: New Media Embed Program
Class 13 – E-ducation
April 20th – Led by
Required:
- The Impending Demise of the University by Don Tapscott
- MyUniversity.com? Personalized Education and Personalized News by Cass Sunstein
Suggested:
- My University.com, My Government.com: Is the Internet Really a Blessing for Democracy? presentation by Cass Sunstein
Class 14 – Nationalism, Postnationalism and Digital Power
April 27th – Led by
Required:
- Frost, Catherine Internet Galaxy Meets Postnational Constellation: Prospects for Political Solidarity After the Internet (handout)
- Catherine Frost’s response to Mike Linksvayer on the post Collaborative Futures 3
Suggested:
- Digital Power and its Discontents – Morozov & Shirky: An Edge Conversation
Optional:
- Responses to Digital Power and its Discontents – : Edge Reality Club
Critique: Wikipedia – Here We Come! / final conclusions
*Optional Extra – Governance 2.0
Required:
- UsNow – A film project about the power of mass collaboration, government and the internet
- The Fog Machine – Iran, Social Media and the Rise of Genetically Modified Grassroots Organizations By Jack Z. Bratich
Suggested:
- Aneesh Chopra, Tim O’Reilly, “A Conversation with Aneesh Chopra“
Grading Rubric
A – Excellent. Student exhibits exemplary creativity through research and critical analysis. Research and writing is lucid and engaging with zero mistakes.
B – Good. References to the course material are well-selected and topical. Critical analysis is present, but largely rehearsed from class lecture and discussion. Student’s style is clear and has very few mistakes.
C – Satisfactory. References to the course material are well-selected and topical, but student performs little or no historical or critical analysis. Problems exist in student’s work. Work consists mostly of underdeveloped ideas, off-topic sources or examples, inappropriate research, or anecdotes.
D – Unsatisfactory. Student does not engage with the material and no historical or critical analysis is present. Substantial problems exist in student’s work.
F – Fail. Student does not submit work, or work is below unsatisfactory level.