Technology mediates
and shapes the way we communicate. By interacting through digital interfaces
and forming social networks, the basic notion of what it means to be human is
changing. As this is an
introductory-level course, we will look at a broad range of texts, artwork,
theory, ideas and a novel that have defined and responded to the evolution of film,
television, and the web. Many of the texts we first examine provide a
foundation for the “new media” of the last twenty years. This new media is the
focus of the class—and the source of our overarching questions:
1)
How are online spaces changing the ways we
define community and self?
2)
How do online spaces impact popular culture and shape public discourse?
3)
What are the ethical and political implications
of new technologies and modes of communication?
4)
What are the relationships between “old” media
and “new” media?
5)
How are emerging digital technologies
transforming the production and reception of “literature” and “art”? What is the effect on analog technologies and art?
6)
How can we draw upon humanistic theories in
order to compose digital texts that are engaging, meaningful, and persuasive to
diverse audiences on the internet?
As a way to help you engage carefully with readings and
course discussions, I will assign you to post regular, informal responses to a
blog; you also will take one in-class exam that will test your basic
comprehension of key terms and concepts covered in class (and in the reading). To
further engage you with multiple contexts, theories, and their voices, you will
create an assemblage—a multimedia piece constructed from pre-existing texts.
The bulk of the assemblage assignment actually comes from a reflective
rationale that puts your excerpted works in conversation with one another. In
the last four weeks of the course, you will have the chance to actually compose
a “new media” text (a video or interactive webtext) that engages some aspect of
the question of what it means to be human in the digital age.
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