For the final 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).
CLASS SCHEDULE
SECTION ONE - TALES AND MYTHS OF THE INTERNET
Week 1. Introduction and course overview: What is digital media and what's new about it?
Reading:
Tim O'Reilly What is web 2.0
Watching: selected clips from “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World” (2016), “The machine is US/ing US” (2007)
Week 2. Tales and myths of the Internet: the origins of computer culture
Reading:
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).
Barbrook, Richard, and Cameron, Andy, “The Californian Ideology”, Mute Magazine, 1995.
Watching: selected clips from “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World” (2016), “The Social Network” (2010)
Recommended readings:
Barlow, John Perry, A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, 1996.
Packer, George, “Change the world”, The New Yorker, May 27, 2013.
Week 3. Tales and myths of the Internet: hackers and makers
Readings:
Selected readings from
Coleman, E. Gabriella, Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013).
Coleman, E. Gabriella, "Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: the many faces of Anonymous", Verso 2014.
Watching: selected clips from Anonymous, “Ghost in the shell” (1995), “The Matrix” (1999), “Revolution OS” (2001), “Mr Robot” (2015)
Recommended readings:
Wark, McKenzie, A Hacker Manifesto, version 4.0.
Week 4. Tales and myths of the Internet: cybercultures/participatory culture and DIY communities
Readings:
Selected readings from
Jenkins, Henry Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide,(London and New York: New York University Press, 2006).
Barlow, John Perry, Being in nothingness.Virtual reality and the Pioneers of Cyberspace, 2000.
Watching: selected clips from DIY videos, “Liquid Sky” (1982), “Tetsuo the Iron Man” (1989), “eXistenZ” (1999)
Week 5. Tales and myths of the Internet: copyleft, free software movement and remix cultures
Readings:
Stallman, Richard, The GNU Manifesto, 1985.
Selected readings from
Lessig, Lawrence Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy,(London: Bloomsbury, 2008).
Watching: selected clips from “Good copy bad copy” (2007), “RIP!A Remix Manifesto” (2008), “Re-examining the Remix: Larry Lessig's TEDTalk” (2010)
SECTION TWO -METAPHORS AND LANGUAGES OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Week 6. Avant-garde and the language of digital media.
* Midterm test*
Reading:
Selected readings from
Manovich, Lev, The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).
Watching: clips from “The man with the movie camera” (1929)
Week 7. Metaphors and languages of digital media I: bodies, screens, thumbs, interfaces
*Video exercise due*
Readings:
Selected readings from
Manovich, Lev, The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).
Watching: clips from “Videodrome” (1983), “Histoire(s) du Cinema” (1988), “Minority report” (2002), “1984's Macintosh commercial” (1984), “Blade runner” (1982),
Week 8. Metaphors and languages of digital media II: algorithms and databases
Readings:
Selected readings from
Manovich, Lev, The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).
Watching: clips from “Histoire(s) du Cinema” (1988), “Goodbye to language” (2014), “Immemory” (2002), “How algorithms shape our world” (TedTalk 2011)
Week 9. Simulation, Representation, Remediation
Readings:
Selected readings from
Manovich, Lev, The Language of New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).
Bolter, Jay David, and Grusin, Richard, “Remediation”, Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology 4, 3 (1996 Fall): 311-358.
Watching: clips from “Strange days” (1995), a selection from George Melies' work (1861-1938).
Recommended reading:
Baudrillard, Jean, Simulacra and Simulations, in Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 166-184.
SECTION THREE – THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Week 10. Sharing economies and the wealth of the networks
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.
Selected readings from
Benkler, Yochai, The Wealth of the Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006).
Watching: “How cognitive surplus will change the world: Clay Shirky's TED Talk” (2010), “Smart mobs: the next social revolution” (2002)
Week 11 .F as in free labor: the dark side of sharing
Readings:
Terranova, Tiziana, “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy”, in Social Text 2, 18 (2000 Summer): 33-58.
Selected parts of
Ippolita, In the Facebook Acquarium: the Resistable Rise of Anarcho-Capitalism, Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam: 2015).
Watching: “Facebookistan” (2016)
Recommended reading:
Lovink, Geert, Social Media Abyss: critical Internet culture and the force of negation, (Cambridge UK: Polity Press, 2016).
SECTION FOUR – THE DARK SIDE OF THE NETWORKS
Week 12. Ideology critique of digital media
*Final Paper due*
Readings:
Selected readings from
Dean, Jodi, Blog Theory: Feedback and Capture in the Circuits of Drive, (Cambridge UK, and Maiden MA: Polity Press, 2010).
Watching: excerpts from “Black Mirror” (2011-2016).
Week 13. Social media and its discontents
Reading:
Selected readings from
Van Dijck, José, The Culture of Connectivity: a Critical History of Social Media, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
Wrap up and discussion
Week 14
*Oral presentations *