Sample Syllabus:
Media/Technology/Everday Life

Georgia Tech | Fall 2009

An introduction to a group of thinkers and texts that analyze the relationship among technology, media, and everyday life. Readings emphasize the confluence and intertwined histories print, photography, film, television, and digital media.

Course Goals and Objectives

This course has two related goals: first, to introduce you to a group of thinkers and texts that analyze the relationship among technology, media, and everyday life, and second, to fine-tune your multimodal communication skills according to the WOVEN (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, Non-Verbal) philosophy.

You will read select essays on print, photography, film, television, and digital media that emphasize the confluence and intertwined histories of these media. At the same time, you will strengthen your competencies in written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal communication skills. In other words, both readings and assignments underline that the process of communication takes place across multiple channels at all times.

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Assignment Overview

24hr Media and Technology Use Log
The purpose of this assignment is to make you more aware of what kinds of media and technologies you use during any given day, and what functions you use most frequently on your cell phone, iPods, etc.


Personal History of Technology Essay

In this 4-5-page essay, you will use autobiography to make an argument about one medium/technology (e.g. print, photography, film, audio, internet, computer, cell phone, iPod). Your main models for such an essay are N. Katherine Hayles and Lev Manovich (plus, to a lesser extent, Ted Nelson). You are also free to come up with your own model of how to use autobiography in constructing an argument about a particular medium/technology/mode of communication.


The "Crazy" Paper

Your task for this assignment is to write a critical reading response. For this assignment, the content follows a fairly precise outline; the format, however, does not. We will look at texts that experiment with unusual fonts and layouts (Writing Machines is the prime example). You are encouraged to experiment with the layout for your paper as well. Think about how choices regarding margins, line and character spacing, font, and other typographical elements. The layout of your paper should draw attention to print as more than a vehicle to convey your words and establish a connection between form and content.


The Visual Essay

The goal of this assignment is to construct a sequence of ten images as a visual essay that explores a media/technology theme of your choice (for example, old vs. new media; individuality and choice; information overload; storage and access; indexes; materiality; networks). You will explain your essay's themes and conceptualizations in 1,000-word project statements.


Visual Essay Audio Track

In this assignment, you will add an audio track to your visual essay. The goal of the assignment is to add another critical dimension to your already existing essay. In the spirit of DJ Spooky's "rhythm science," you will explore the art of remixing, sampling and writing with sound.


Multimodal Manifesto

In this group project, you create a manifesto on media and technology that uses at least three different modes/media of communication (including digital or analog photography, video, audio, writing) and critically engages with course readings.


Required Texts

Assignment Descriptions & Sample Student Projects

Reading Schedule

Unit I: Language, Writing, History

Week 1
08/17/09 Introduction and Overview of the class  

08/19/09 E-book: “Overview of Writing and Communication,” p. 1-8; Ch. 33, “Synergy” 1-23  

08/21/09 Brad Stone, Breakfast Can Wait. The First Stop is Online. New York Times, 08/09/09

Week 2    
08/24/09 Ted Nelson, excerpt from Computer Lib / Dream Machines (T)

08/26/09 Hayles, Writing Machines, Endtroduction, Designer's notes, p. 4-34  

08/28/09 Hayles, Writing Machines, p. 34-46; 64-88; 100-107  

Week 3    
08/31/09 Manovich, “Introduction.” In: The Language of New Media (LNM), 2-18.  

09/02/09 Manovich, “What Is New Media?” in LNM, 18-45  

09/04/09 Manovich, “What Is New Media?” in LNM, 45-55  
 
Week 4    
09/07/09 No class  

09/09/09 Friedrich Kittler, “The History of Communication Media.” http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=45

09/11/09 Wolfgang Hagen, “The Style of Sources: Remarks on the Theory and History of Programming Languages” (T). 20 p.  
 
Week 5    
09/14/09 Reflection Day; Tour of library multimedia resources (meet @ library)  

09/16/09 Peer review chapter in e-book (chapter 18); Wolfgang Hagen, “The Style of Sources: Remarks on the Theory and History of Programming Languages” (T)  

09/18/09 Peer review exercise: Bring summary paragraph and outline of Crazy Paper to class

Unit II: Visual Culture

Week 6
09/21/09 Nicholas Mirzoeff, “What Is Visual Culture?” (T). 11p.  

09/23/09 E-book, Chapter 68, "Reading and Writing About Visual Images"

09/25/09 Barthes, Camera Lucida, 3-21 ("Specialty of the Photograph" to "Duality")

Week 7  

09/28/09 Barthes, Camera Lucida, 23-60 ("Duality" to end of Part 1); 106-end ("Camera Lucida"-end)  

09/30/09 Project Day on visual culture; intro to flickr

10/02/09 La Jetee (film by Chris Marker, 28min. Shown in class)  

Week 8    
10/05/09 No class  

10/07/09 Musser, Charles. "Introduction." in: The Emergence of Cinema, (T). 11p.

10/09/09 Manovich, “What is Cinema?” in LNM, 286-308  
 
Week 9    
10/12/09 Reflection Day; Manovich, "The Operations" in LMN, 117-135  

 {interlude on Audio}

10/14/09 Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid. "In Through the Out Door: Sampling and the Creative Act." in: Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (2008).

10/16/09 Selections from Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid. Rhythm Science (2004). (T).

Make your own remix: Explore DJ Spooky's project Errata Erratum: http://www.moca.org/museum/digital_gallery/pmiller/opener.html (if you are curious, read more about the project here)

Unit III: New Media

Week 10

10/19/09 Manovich, “The Interface,” p. 63-78  

10/21/09 “The Interface,” cont., p. 78-93  

10/23/09 Julian Dibbel, “Viruses Are Good for You.” (T). 24p.  

Week 11    
10/26/09 Alexander Galloway. Excerpts from Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization. 14p. (T)  

10/28/09 Lawrence Lessig. Free Culture. (excerpts). Download the entire book here: http://www.free-culture.cc/

Richard Stallman, “The GNU Manifesto.” . .. 8p.  

10/30/09 Lessig, cont.

Also read this short article:
"Meet the 42 lucky people who got to see the secret copyright treaty:"
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/13/meet-the-42-lucky-pe.html?awesm=fbshare.me_FFl  

Week 12    
11/02/09 Critical Art Ensemble, “Electronic Civil Disobedience.” http://www.critical-art.net/books/ecd/index.html. 27p.  

11/04/09 Project Day on media manifestos  

11/06/09 Dreamweaver tutorial (meet Sherri Brown @ Homer Rice lab in Library 1 West)

Unit IV: Media Convergence: Television Meets the Internet

Week 13    
11/09/09 Henry Jenkins, Introduction to Convergence Culture. 23p.

11/11/09

11/13/09

Week 14    
11/16/09 

11/18/09 Review of drafts for Media Manifesto 

11/20/09 Video/Computer Games: read Henry Jenkins' interview with Georgia Tech professor Michael Nitsche.  


Week 15    

11/23/09 Project Day  

11/25/09 Project Day


Week 16

11/30/09 Student presentations  

12/02/09 Student presentations  

12/04/09 Student presentations  

Assignment Policy

You must complete ALL assignments in order to successfully pass this course. There are both graded and pass/fail assignments. You will receive detailed instructions about every assignment at least two weeks before the assignment is due (exception: media/technology log). In addition to the assignments listed here, I might ask you to complete small homework tasks, such as bringing in examples to illustrate the essays we are reading.

Extensions and incompletes are only permitted for valid non-academic reasons (see attendance).

Assignment

Points
24hr Media and Technology Use Log 50
Personal History of Technology Essay 200
The "Crazy" Paper: A Critical Reading Response 200
A Week in Pictures 50
Visual Essay 100
Audio Track for Visual Essay 100
Multimodal Manifesto and Presentation 200 (+50)
E-Portfolio 50
Total 1000


Extra Credit: Throughout the semester, you have the opportunity to collect points by giving short (5min) presentations on important people, concepts, and artifacts that have shaped the history and development of media technologies. You will not be able to sign up for more than two presentations. You will receive 25 additional points for each presentation that will be added to your total points at the end of the semester.

Attendance Policy

Attendance is mandatory. You are allowed three unexcused absences during the semester—use them wisely (if your unexcused absences exceed that limit, you put yourself at risk of failing the course). All other absences must be for valid, non-academic reasons, such as medical emergencies (confirmed by a doctor's note); family or personal emergencies (dean's note; pre-Thanksgiving travel does not count as family emergency); athletic competitions/obligations (coach's note, due at the beginning of the semester).

Participation

This class is a discussion-based seminar. Consequently, your participation in class is crucial to the overall success of the class. You are expected to keep up with the readings and come to class prepared for discussion. Consistent good participation (i.e. completing the readings and contributing insightful comments and questions during class) will earn you up to an additional 50 points towards your overall grade.

Plagiarism and the Honor Code

You are responsible for knowing and abiding by Tech's policy for academic integrity. Consult the Honor Code online at http://www.honor.gatech.edu. Work that violates the honor code will receive zero credit and may result in failure of the entire course. I will also report any serious misconduct to the Dean of Students.