For the midterm reflection paper choose a novel from among the following:
1. Borges, Jorge Luis, “The Garden of Forking Paths” and “The library of Babel”, in Labyrinths: selected stories and other writings (New York: New Directions Pub. Corp., 1964).
2. Gibson, William, Neuromancer,(New York: Ace Books, 1984).
3. Cronenberg, David, Consumed, (New York: Scribner, 2014).
4. Dick, Philip K. Ubik, (New York: Doubleday, 1969).
or
A scanner darkly (New York: Doubleday, 1977).
5. Stephenson, Neal, Snow Crash, (New York: Bantam Books, 1992).
or
Cryptonomicon, (New York: Avon Books, 1999).
CLASS SCHEDULE
SECTION ONE -METAPHORS AND LANGUAGES OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Week 1. Introduction and course overview: What is digital media and what's new about it?
Readings:
Bolter, Jay David, and Grusin, Richard, “Remediation”, Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology 4, 3 (1996 Fall): 311-358.
Manovich, Lev,“Introduction”, in The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002), 2-17.
Watching: clips from “The man with the movie camera” (1929), “Blade runner” (1982), “Strange days” (1995), “eXistenZ” (1999)
Week 2. Metaphors and languages of digital media I: bodies, screens, thumbs, interfaces
Readings:
Manovich, Lev,”Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, in The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002), 18-115.
Watching: clips from “Videodrome” (1983), “Histoire(s) du Cinema” (1988), “Minority report” (2002), “1984's Macintosh commercial” (1984)
Recommended readings:
McLuhan, Marshall, “Media Hot and Cold”, “The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis”, in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 24-35; 45-52.
Week 3. Metaphors and languages of digital media II: algorithms, databases, simulation, representation
Readings:
Manovich, Lev,”Chapter III”, “Chapter IV”, “Chapter V”, in The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002), 116-285.
Watching: a selection from George Melies' work (1861-1938), clips from “Histoire(s) du Cinema” (1988), “Goodbye to language” (2014), “Immemory” (2002), “How algorithms shape our world” (TedTalk 2011)
Recommended readings:
Baudrillard, Jean, Simulacra and Simulations, in Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 166-184.
SECTION TWO -TALES AND MYTHS OF THE INTERNET
Week 4. Tales and myths of the Internet: the origins of computer culture
Readings:
Curran, James, “The internet of history: rethinking the internet's past”, in Misunderstanding the Internet, eds. James Curran, Natalie Fenton and Des Freedman (London and New York: Routledge, 2016), 48-84.
Barbrook, Richard, and Cameron, Andy, “The Californian Ideology”, Mute Magazine, 1995.
Packer, George, “Change the world”, The New Yorker, May 27, 2013.
Watching: selected clips from “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World” (2016), “The machine is US/ing US” (2007), “The Social Network” (2010)
Recommended readings:
Barlow, John Perry, A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, 1996.
Nelson, Theodor H., Computer Lib/Dream Machines, NMR, 1970-74.
Week 5. Tales and myths of the Internet: hackers, makers, cybercultures
Readings:
Coleman, E. Gabriella, “Introduction”, “Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, in Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 1-89.
Haraway, Donna, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the late Twentieth Century”, in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991).
Watching: selected clips from “Tron” (1982), “Liquid Sky” (1982), “Tetsuo the Iron Man” (1989), “Ghost in the shell” (1995), “The Matrix” (1999), “eXistenZ” (1999), “Revolution OS” (2001), “Mr Robot” (2015)
Recommended readings:
Stallman, Richard, The GNU Manifesto, 1985.
Wark, McKenzie, A Hacker Manifesto, version 4.0.
Barlow, John Perry, Being in nothingness.Virtual reality and the Pioneers of Cyberspace, 2000.
Week 6. Tales and myths of the Internet: participatory culture, peer-to-peer production, remix, and DIY communities
Readings:
Lessig, Lawrence, “Introduction”, “Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, “Chapter III”, “Chapter IV”, “Chapter V”, in Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, (London: Bloomsbury, 2008), 1-114.
Jenkis, Henry, “Introduction: 'Worship at the Altar of Convergence' a New Paradigm for Understanding Media Change”, “Conclusion: Democratizing Television? The Politics of Participation”, in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, (London and New York: New York University Press, 2006), 1-24; 240-260.
Watching: selected clips from “Good copy bad copy” (2007), “RIP!A Remix Manifesto” (2008), “Re-examining the Remix: Larry Lessig's TEDTalk” (2010)
SECTION THREE – THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Week 7. Sharing economies and the wealth of the networks
Readings: Castells, Manuel, “Prologue: the Net and the Self”, in The Rise of the Network Society, volume I (Oxford and Maiden: Blackwell, 2000), 1-28.
Benkler, Yochai, “Introduction”, “Part I”, in The Wealth of the Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 1-132.
Watching: “How cognitive surplus will change the world: Clay Shirky's TED Talk” (2010), “Smart mobs: the next social revolution” (2002)
Recommended readings:
Shirky, Clay, “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus”, in The Social Media Reader, ed. Michael Mandiberg, (New York: New York University Press, 2012), 236-241.
Week 8 . F as in free labor: the dark side of sharing
*Midterm Reflection Paper due*
Readings:
Terranova, Tiziana, “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy”, in Social Text 2, 18 (2000 Summer): 33-58.
Fuchs, Christian, and Sevignani, Sebastian, “What is Digital Labour?What is Digital Work? What's their difference? And Why do these Questions Matter for Understanding Social Media?”, in Triple C 11, 2 (2013), 237-293.
Watching: “Facebookistan” (2016)
Recommended readings:
Ippolita, In the Facebook Acquarium: the Resistable Rise of Anarcho-Capitalism, Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam: 2015).
Week 9. A dictionary of the political economy of digital media
Discussion of the midterm reflection papers and review of terms and concepts related to the political economy of digital media (net neutrality, privacy, etc)
SECTION FOUR – THE DARK SIDE OF THE NETWORKS
Week 11. Ideology critique of digital media
Readings:
Dean, Jodi, “Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, “Chapter III”, in Blog Theory: Feedback and Capture in the Circuits of Drive, (Cambridge UK, and Maiden MA: Polity Press, 2010), 1-90.
Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong, “On Software, or the Persistance of Visual Knowledge”, Grey Room, 18 (2004 Winter): 26-51.
Week 12. Social media and its discontents
Readings:
Lovink, Geert, “Introduction”, “Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, “Chapter III”, “Chapter IV”, “Chapter V”, in Social Media Abyss: critical Internet culture and the force of negation, (Cambridge UK: Polity Press, 2016), 4-87.
Van Dijck, José, “Chapter I”, “Chapter II”, “Chapter III”, “Chapter IV”, in The Culture of Connectivity: a Critical History of Social Media, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 3-88.
Watching: excerpts from “Black Mirror” (2011-2016)
Week 13
Wrap up and recap of main concepts of the course
Group presentations
Week 14
*Final research paper due
Group presentations