Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "COM 311-1"
COURSE NAME: "Digital Media Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2018

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Alberto Micali
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 10:00-11:15 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: COM 220
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course provides students with a number of theoretical approaches to critically assess how digital media function and their expanding and expansive role in contemporary culture. The course further investigates digital media convergence in order to develop a critical lexicon that can both chart its development and engage in intellectual interventions in its use within the transformations occuring in more traditional cultural forms such as television, film, popular music, print, and radio. Special emphasis will be placed on the specific cultural, political, economic, and social issues raised by digital media forms.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

The course will attempt at first to define the domain of Digital Media, proposing it as the amalgamation of different traditional media forms into new digitally based varieties. Subsequently the course will analyze the various forms which Digital Media has assumed and concentrate on the specific issues –cultural, political, economic, technological and social—that the various forms raise.

This is a lecture and discussion course. We will shift back and forth between discussing theoretical and practical issues in relation to digital media culture media and their relation to society. Lectures and discussions will be supported with several multi-media content. Students are strongly encouraged to propose their own choice of media material for the class.

Readings include texts by influential media and cultural thinkers such as: Bernard Stiegler, Katherine Hayles, Friedrich Kittler, Donna Haraway, Eugene Thacker, Rosi Braidotti, Alexander Galloway, Tiziana Terranova, Franco Berardi, Patricia Clough, Jussi Parikka, Sarah Kember, Matthew Fuller, Joanna Zylinska, Manuel Castells, Gabriella Coleman, Antoinette Rouvroy, McKenzie Wark, Tony Sampson, Geoffrey Winthrop-Young.

All reading materials will be distributed in advance through the class MyJCU and will be available in digital format online.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of the course students will be able to:

1. understand and analyze the corresponding influences that traditional media and digital media are having upon each other.

2. understand and analyze how digital media use contributes to shape personal identities and social relationships.

3. recognize the influences that digital media is expressing in the cultural, social, economical and political spheres.

4. learn some key concepts such as digitality, interactivity, hypertextuality, virtuality, internetworking, mediation and remediation, web 2.0., digital labor, control and algorithmic culture, hacking and hacktivism, media and network ecologies, media materialities, etc., and apply them to understand contemporary digital media cultural expressions.

5. advance one’s ability to work in team, critically analyze contemporary digital societies, and produce qualitative research reports and reflection papers.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Digital Culture. Expanded Second Edition	Charlie Gere	Reaktion Books 2008	978 1 86189 388 8

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Attendance and Participation	Class participation consists of your contribution to class discussions and other activities. Students are required to come to class having completed the assigned readings. For attendance policy see below.	15%
Group Project	Students are required to choose a contemporary example of a digital media phenomenon to serve as the principal focus of research and assignment work throughout the course. Students will work in groups (3-4), and topics will be selected from a list. The group project consists as well in the production and development of a digital media ‘piece’ (wiki, blog, clip, graphic, web page, data map, piece of code, etc.) concerning with the phenomenon in question and aligning with the individual skills of the students.	25%
Midterm Presentation	In week 7, groups will present to peers their midterm reflections and findings on the project as well as the development of their digital media ‘piece’. Short presentation will be followed by feedback and group discussion. These will assist you in the progress of your ideas.	25%
Final Research Paper	Students are required to write an individual research paper between 3500-5000 words, following their own engagement in the group research. Concepts, concerns and contexts introduced in the module must be used in analyzing the chosen phenomenon. Papers will be graded according to their clarity, originality, style, adherence to the course topics, coherence of the argument, attention to diversity of sources, correct formatting of citations, ability to develop from feedback and alignment with the group project and its digital media output.	35%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY

Please note that frequent absences automatically lower your participation grade.

Also please consider that you will lose one half-letter grade for any absence over 4 (e.g. 5 absences, half letter grade lost). Anything above 8 absences will result in failing the course.

If you have a serious health problem, which causes you to miss more classes than this class allows, you can ask the Dean's Office to consider whether you may warrant a exemption from this policy.

If unexcused, students more than 10 minutes late are marked as absent. Late arrival (less than 10 minutes) is marked as such, and 3 late arrivals are counted as one absence.

Class procedure: Use of cell phones affects your participation grade and is strictly forbidden during class. Please make sure that your cell phone is turned off (and not just muted) when class starts.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MEDIA CULTURES

Week 1 - Introduction and Course Overview: Digital | Media | Culture

1.1 What are digital media? What is culture? Can we speak of a distinctive ‘digital culture’?

Reading:

Gere, C. (2008) ‘What is digital culture?’, Introduction, Digital Culture, London: Reaktion Books; pp. 11-20.

1.2 Projects overview and selection

Week 2 Features: Defining Concepts of Digital Media

2.1 Digital media: defining concepts I

Reading:

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., and Kelly, K. (2009) ‘1.2 The characteristics of new media: some defining concepts’, New Media. A Critical Introduction. 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge; pp.13-44.

Suggested Reading:

Gere, C. (2008) ‘The Beginnings of Digital Culture’, Chapter 1, Digital Culture, London: Reaktion Books; pp. 21-50.

Case study and discussion: Amazon go shop

2.2 Digital media: defining concepts II

Reading:

Winthrop-Young, G. (2010) ‘Hardware/Software/Wetware’, Chapter 13, in Mitchell, W. J. T. and Hansen, M. B. N. (eds.) Critical Terms for Media Studies, Chicago – London: The University of Chicago Press; pp. 186-198.

Suggested Reading:

Kittler, F. (2008) ‘Code (or, How You Can Write Something Differently)’, in Fuller, M. (eds.) Software Studies. A Lexicon, Cambridge: MA – Lodon: MIT Press; pp. 40-47.

Week 3 How to: Theorizing and studying digital media cultures

3.1 The ‘practice’ of theory: the critical study of digital media

Reading:

Mills B., and Barlow D. M. (2009) ‘What is Theory’, Chapter 2, Reading Media Theory: Thinkers, Approaches and Contexts, London: Routledge; pp. 7-21.

Suggested Reading:

Merrin, W. (2009) ‘Media Studies 2.0: upgrading and open-sourcing the discipline’, Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture, 1 (1), pp. 17-34.

3.2 Humanities and the digital, or experimenting media research in the 21^st century

Reading:

Law, J. (2004) ‘After method: an introduction’, Chapter 1, After Method. Mess in social science research, London – New York: Routledge; pp.1-15.

SECTION 2: HISTORIES OF THE DIGITAL

Week 4 Histories of Internetworked Media

4.1 Information technologies and internet histories

Reading:

Castells, M. (1996) ‘The Information Technology Revolution’, Chapter 2, The Rise of the Network Society (Second Edition, 2010), Malden: MA – Oxford: Blackwell; pp. 28-69.

Suggested Reading:

Leiner, B. M., et. al (2012) ‘A Brief History of the Internet’, Internet Society.

4.2 Networking the globe

Reading:

Wark, M. (2012) ‘Neither Here Nor There’, Chapter 3, Telesthesia. Communication, Culture and Class. Cambridge – Malden: MA: Polity Press; pp. 25-38.

Suggested Reading:

Curran, J. (2012) ‘Rethinking internet history’, Chapter 2, in Curran, J., Fenton, N. and Freedman, D. (eds.) Misunderstanding the Internet, London – New York: Routledge; pp.34-65.

Week 5 Network, Art, Countercultures

5.1 Hacker culture and its aesthetics

Reading:

Coleman, G. (2013) ‘Introduction: A Tale of Two Worlds’, in Coding Freedom, Princeton: Princeton University Press; pp. 1-22

5.2 Free software: openness in digital cultures

Reading:

Stallman, R. (2010) Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman, 2^nd edition. Boston: Free Software Foundation; pp. 3-23, 27-31.

Week 6 Temporality, Process and Mediation

6.1 Beyond (new) media

Reading:

Kember, S. and Zylinska, J. (2012) ‘Catastrophe “Live”’, Chapter 2, Life after New Media Mediation as a Vital Process, Cambridge: MA – London: MIT Press; pp. 29-69.

6.2 Vital media

Reading:

Jones, G. (2011) ‘The Universe of Things’, The Universe of Things, Seattle: Aqueduct Press; pp. 48-61.

Week 7 Group Presentations

SECTION 3: MATERIALITIES OF THE DIGITAL

Week 8 Media Matter

8.1 Media Materialities

Readings:

Munster, A. (2014) ‘Materiality’, in Ryan, M., Emerson, L., and Robertson, B. J. (eds.) The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; pp. 327-330.

8.2 Geo Media

Reading:

Bennett, J. (2010) ‘The Force of Things’, Chapter 1, in Bennett, J. Vibrant Matter: a political ecology of things, Durham and London: Duke University Press; pp. 1-19.

Week 9 Media Ecologies

9.1 Network Ecologies

Reading:

Fuller, M. (2005) ‘Introduction: Media Ecologies’, Media Ecologies. Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture, Cambridge: MA – London: MIT Press; pp. 1-12.

9.2 Medianatures & E-waste

Reading:

Miller, T. (2015) ‘The Art of Waste: Contemporary Culture and Unsustainable Energy Use’ in Parks, L. and Starosielski, N. (eds.) Signal Traffic. Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press; pp. 137-156.

Week 10 Mediated Bodies

10.1 Cyborgs, digital bodies and posthumanities

Reading:

Haraway, D. (1991) ‘A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century’, Chapter 8, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature, New York: Routledge; pp.149-181.

10.2 Biomediations

Reading:

Miller, V. (2011) ‘The Body and Information Technology’, Chapter 9, Understanding Digital Culture, London – Thousand Oaks – New Delhi – Singapore: Sage; pp. 207-223.

SECTION 4: POLITICS OF THE DIGITAL

Week 11 Digital Media and Power(s)

11.1 The logic of control

Readings:

Deleuze, G. (1995) ‘Postscript on Control Societies’, Negotiations. New York: Columbia University Press; pp.177-182.

Burroughs, W. (1975) [2013] ‘The Limits of Control’, Schizo-Culture: The Book, South Pasadena: Semiotext(e); pp.38-42

11.2 Algorithmic Cultures

Reading:

Beer, D. (2009) ‘Power through the algorithm? Participatory web cultures and the technological unconscious’, New Media & Society, 11(6), pp. 985-1002.

Week 12 Digital Labor and the Attention Economy

12.1 Free work, internetworked labor

Reading:

Berardi, F. (2009) ‘The Soul at Work’, Chapter 2, The Soul at Work. From Alientaion to Autonomy, Los Angeles: Semiotext(e); pp. 74-105.

12.2 New Economy and Digital Participation

Readings:

Jenkins, H. (2006) ‘Introduction’, in Convergence Culture. New York and London: New York University Press; pp. 1-24.

Week 13 Digital Resistances

13.1 Hacktivism and media politics

Reading:

Coleman, G. (2013) ‘Anonymous and the Politics of Leaking’, in Brevini, B., Hintz, A., and McCurdy, P. (eds.) Beyond WikiLeaks, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; pp. 209-228.

13.2 Digital media and network resistances

Reading:

Galloway, A. R. and Thacker, E. (2007) Selected extracts from ‘Nodes’, Part I, The Exploit. A Theory of Networks, Minneapolis – London: University of Minnesota Press.

Week 14 Recap of Main Concepts and Final Group Projects Overview