LCC 3206: Communication and Culture

Jay David Bolter                
Skiles 017                                          
jay.bolter@lcc.gatech.edu        
404 385-2206        
Office hours: 2-4 Wednesday or by appt.   

Class meets MWF 11; Skiles 371

In this discussion- and presentation-based course, we will consider the forms and functions of contemporary media. We will apply a cultural studies perspective to TV, film, print, and especially new digital forms. Students will conduct individual and group studies of such digital forms as: blogs, vlogs, MMOs (Second Life), social computing sites (MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube, etc.), pervasive computing and gaming, and other manifestations of remix culture. As part of their projects, students may become participants in these forms or create sites or forms of their own.

Evalution includes tests, individual papers, and a group project with a paper.

Required texts

Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture [purchase]
Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution [purchase]
Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (available online)
numerous articles in Wikipedia
Electronic reserve excepts from: David Holmes, Communication Theory: Media, Technology, Society; McLuhan, Understanding Media; Castronova, Synthetic Worlds.

Swiki

http://thistle.skiles.gatech.edu/bolter3206s07

Schedule

Week 1

Jan 8. Intro to class
Jan 10. Wikipedia
Jan 12. Wikipedia  
Week 2

Jan 15. no class (MLK day)
Jan 17. History of Writing (Ong in Wikipedia)
Jan 19. personal blogs

Week 3

Jan 22. Cultural studies (Sturken and Cartwright=S&C, Chapters 1 and 2)     
Jan 24. McLuhan and media theory (McLuhan chapter on reserve)
Jan 26. political blogs

Week 4

Jan 29. Broadcast media (S&C, Chapters 3, 4, 5)
Jan 31. Broadcast media (S&C, Chapters 3, 4, 5)
Feb 2. video sites (YouTube, video.aol.com, google video)

Week 5

Feb 5. video sites (YouTube, video.aol.com, google video)
Feb 7. video sites (YouTube, video.aol.com, google video)
Feb 9. project discussion

Week 6

Feb 12. Read: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue1/lambda.html
Feb 14. No class (study for test)
Feb 16. test on reading
Week 7

Feb 19. Intellectual property and social computing (Lessig, Free Culture)
Feb 21. Intellectual property and social computing (Lessig, Free Culture)
Feb 23. project discussion day (team formation and pitches)

Week 8

Feb 26. Games as social phenomena (Castronova chapter)
Feb 28. World of Warcraft
Mar 2. Second Life

Week 9

Mar 5. Second Life
Mar 7. project discussion day (must be in group)
Mar 9. meeting in Second Life (not in physical classroom): discussion of MySpace; Facebook (wikipedia)
Week 10

Mar 12. MySpace; Facebook
Mar 14. mid course project presentation
Mar 16. mid course project presentation
Week 11

Mar 19. SPRING BREAK
Mar 21. no class
Mar 23. no class
Week 12

Mar 26. Second media age (Holmes chapter) and O'Reilly article (Web 2.0)
Mar 28. wiki as public sphere
Mar 30. mobile technology (wikipedia articles on mobile phones, sms, gps)

Week 13

Apr 2. Rheingold, Smart Mobs: Introduction and Chapter 1 (Shibuya Epiphany)
Apr 4. Rheingold, Smart Mobs: Chapter 7 (Smart Mobs)
Apr 6. Discussion day for phone event

Week 14

Apr 9. Rheingold, Smart Mobs: Chapter 5 (Evolution of Reputation)
Apr 11. sms phone event
Apr 13. sms phone event

Week 15

Apr 16. Phone event report
Apr 18. project discussion day
Apr 20. project discussion day

Week 16

Apr 23. Final project presentations
Apr 25. Final project presentations
Apr 27. Summing up (Second Media Age reconsidered)


Assignments

The main project for the term (taking several weeks) will be an ethnographic or critical study of a social computing site or practice, applying the theories of communication that we have studied during the semester. This will be a group project. In addition there will be individual analyses/projects involving other sites as well as one test on the readings. There may be a second reading test as a final exam.

  Exercise Due Date
% of grade
1 Wikipedia Jan 17
10
2 Reading test Feb 16 15
3 Video analysis Feb 19

10
4 Second life project Mar 26
10
5 Mobile phone project Apr 20
10
6 Final project Apr 27
25 or 35
7 Class participation xxx
10
8 Final exam  
10 or 0