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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "COM 311-2"
COURSE NAME: "Digital Media Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2014
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Paolo Carpignano
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: MW 4:30 PM 5:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: COM 220
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course is a critical survey of theoretical approaches, technological innovations and social practices commonly associated with the new digital media environment. 
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

To understand what is “new” in digital media, and to what extent this constitute a novel cultural phenomenon is one of the main concern of the course. For this purpose three main areas will be examined. Firstly, the effect that the new technologies have had on previous media such as text , photography, film and television among others. Secondly, the new media forms that have come into being in connection with the development of new forms of network connectivity: from the World Wide Web to videogames, from blogs to social media, and many others. Thirdly, the new social and cultural practices of the new environment that are increasingly undermining or transforming previous notions of property, privacy, creativity, identity, community and politics .

In particular the course will focus on the new forms of production that have developed in the current information and knowledge economy, and how the move from fabrication to communication have effected the quality and value of work.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
These are some of the key terms explored in the course: remediation, hypertext, hacking, collective intelligence, virtuality, interactivity, multitasking, social media, p2p economy, digital labor, precarity, big data.
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Attendance and Participation 15%
Mid-Term Exam 25%
Group presentation 30%
final exam 30%

-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 cou
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:
 In accordance to University guidelines.
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

Topics and Schedule:

Sept 1           Introduction

Sept 3           A mediological approach

Old Media and New Media

Sept 8           The logic of Remediation

Sept 10         Remediating old media: photography, film and Television

Readings from:        J. D. Bolter, R. Grusin, Remediations

New Media and New Society

Sept 15         The language of new media   

Sept 17         The network society  

Readings:       Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media

H. Jenkings, Eight traits of the new media landscape

                                Manuel Castells, The Network Society

The fate of  the text

Sept 22         Text 

Sept 24         Hypertext

Readings :      

Denise Schmandt-Besserat, The Earliest Precursor of Writing

Jack Goody, Ian Watt, The Consequences of Literacy

Daniel R Headrick, When Information came of Age

George P. Landow, Hypertext3.0

                           

Collective intelligence

Sept 29         distributed knowledge

Oct 1             attention, filtering, multitasking

Readings:  Clive Thompson, Smarter than we think:

Nicholas Carr, Is Google making us stupid?

 Siva Vaidhyanathan: The Googlization of us

Siva Vaidhyanathan: The Googlization of memory

                                   

Virtual life

Oct 6            videogames 1

Oct 8             videogames 2

Readings: P. David Marshall, Playing game cultures

Ian Bogost, How to do things with videogames                                

                                Nick Dyer-Whiteford, Games of Empire

Social life

Oct 13           Social media

Oct 15           Facebook, Twitter

Readings from:       Jose van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media

Oct 20                       Review

Oct 22                       Midterm exam  

The political economy of digital production

Oct 27           The Internet of things 

Oct 29           The sharing economy

Readings from: Jeremy Rifkin, The Zero Marginal Cost Society

Sharing or working ?

Nov 3                        the economics of sharing 

Nov 5                        digital labor and precarity,  

Readings:                T. Kneese, A. Rosenblat, and dana boyd, Understanding Fair Labor Practices in a Networked Age
Trebor Scholz, The Politics of the Sharing Economy
Natasha Singer, In the Sharing Economy, Workers find both Freedom and Uncertainty

Big Data

Nov 10          predictive analytics

Nov 12          the end of theory

Readings:                 d. boyd, K. Crawford, Six Provocations for Big Data

                                 Chris Anderson, The End of Theory

A new public sphere?   

           

Nov 17          social media and political movements  

Nov 19          participation, surveillance and control

Readings from:       Paolo Gerbaudo, Tweets and the Streets

                                Evgeny Morozov, The Net Delusion

Final Projects

Nov 24 presentations

Nov 26 presentations

Dec 1              presentations

Dec 3              presentations

Dec 3                                                            final exam due