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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "COM 311-1"
COURSE NAME: "Digital Media Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2015
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Paolo Carpignano
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: TTH 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: COM 220
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment
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:
 

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
Midterm 30%
Final Exam 30%
Final presentation 25%
Attendance and Participation 15%

-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 cour
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 with 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

The Language of New Media

Sept 8           Principles of New Media

Sept 10         no class

Readings from: Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media

 

The fate of  the text

Sept 15         Text       

Sept 17         Hypertext    

  

Readings:    

D. Schmandt-Besserat, “The Earliest Precursors” 

Jack Goody, Ian Watt,” The Consequences of Literac”y      

Daniel R Headrick, “When Information came of Age”          

from : Ilana Snyder, Hypertext

                       

                       

The Logic of Remediation

Sept 22         Immediacy and Hypermediacy

Sept 24         Remediating photography, film and television

Sept 25         You Tube

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

Collective intelligence

Sept 29         smart or stupid ?

Oct 1             attention, filtering, multitasking

Readings from:      

Clive Thompson, Smarter than you think

Nicholas Carr, The Shallows. 

Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble

                                   

Virtual life

Oct 6            the virtual  and the real

Oct 8             videogames

Readings from:      

Beth Coleman, Hello Avatar                                                                                        
Nick Dyer-Whiteford, Games of Empire

Ian Bogost, How to do things with videogames

 

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 new economy of information  

Oct 29           The zero marginal cost society

Readings from:        Jeremy Rifkin, The Zero Marginal Cost Society

Sharing and/or working

Nov 3                        the economics of sharing

Nov 5                        digital labor and precarity,  

James Damieson: The life and death of an Amazon warehouse  temp:

Sarah Kessler: Pixel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In The Gig Economy

Trebor Scholz: Think outside the Boss

Trebor Scholz, Nathan Schneider: The People’s Uber: Why The Sharing Economy Must Share Ownership

Big Data

Nov 10          predictive analytics

Nov 12          the end of theory

Readings from:      

Steve Lohr, Dataism             

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

Chris Anderson, The End of Theory

Final Projects

           

Nov 17          presentations

Nov 19          presentations  

Nov 24          presentations

Nov 26          Thanksgiving (no classes)

Dec 1             presentations

Dec 3             presentations

Dec 8             presentations (make up class for Sept. 10)

 

Dec 8                        Deadline for final exam