each me by email, <strong>and</strong> frequently by IM, if you have questions or concerns about theclass. We will schedule individual meetings before midterm <strong>and</strong> final papers are due todiscuss your paper/project proposals <strong>and</strong> your progress in the course.Required texts:Noah Wardrip-Fruin & Nick Montfort, eds. The New <strong>Media</strong> Reader (MIT Press, 2003) –referred to in this syllabus as NMROther texts as distributed via email/Pipeline by the instructorRecommended texts:I will email you a separate PDF listing resources available in the Stevens library; onlineresources relevant to each week’s lecture will be linked from the online version of thesyllabus <strong>and</strong>/or supplemented by email distributions. A preliminary list of recommendedreadings for each week is already built into this syllabus. If you are presenting areading, it’s probably a good idea to take a look at the recommended texts/links for thatweek – often they speak to the historical context, contemporary reception, intertextualreferences, or possible critiques of a particular text. Also, it’s always a good idea to lookup the text <strong>and</strong>/or the author in Wikipedia, <strong>and</strong> see where that takes you.
SCHEDULEThis schedule is subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. I will domy best to notify you of changes a week in advance, either in class or through email. Ifyou do not attend class, it is your responsibility to find out if changes to the schedulewere made. When in doubt about an assignment, check your email or the online versionof the syllabus for the most recent information. If we have to cancel a class for anyreason, we will schedule a make-up session during the following week.Thursday, August 31stWeek 1: Intro & OverviewIntroductions, course goals & expectations; assign reading presentationsDiscussion: timelines <strong>and</strong> chronologies of media, technology & culture; producers,consumers, <strong>and</strong> “produsers”; how we experience <strong>and</strong> engage with different mediatechnologies; how to structure our class projectRecommended for this week:-Axel Bruns, “Anyone Can Edit: Underst<strong>and</strong>ing the Produser” (2004 lecture at SUNYBuffalo)– on Pipeline-Edward A. Shanken, “Historicizing Art & Technology: Towards Forging a Method &Firing a Canon” (commissioned for Rhizome’s 10 th anniversary festival, 2006) – onPipeline-Erkki Huhtamo, “From Kaleidescomaniac to Cybernerd: Towards an Archaeology ofthe <strong>Media</strong>” – online athttp://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/<strong>Media</strong>Archaeology/HuhtamoArchaeologyOf<strong>Media</strong>.htmlThursday, September 7thWeek 2: Seeing, Writing, <strong>and</strong> ReproducingReading due:1) Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”(1935/36) – on reserve in the library or online athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction2) J. David Bolter, “Seeing <strong>and</strong> Writing” (1991) NMR pp 679-690 or on PipelineRecommended for this week:-Bolter & Grusin’s Remediation: Underst<strong>and</strong>ing New <strong>Media</strong> – preface <strong>and</strong> first twochapters online at MIT Presshttp://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=72588BE3-322E-4988-A992-DD63C7498532&ttype=2&tid=3468-John Berger’s Ways of Seeing – in the Stevens library-Marshall McLuhan, “The Gutenberg Galaxy” NMR pp 193-203Discussion: the Frankfurt School, Marxism <strong>and</strong> media theory; aura <strong>and</strong> the machine;industrialization <strong>and</strong> media technology; orality, literacy <strong>and</strong> media “literacy”Look/discuss: Dada, Futurism, Bauhaus, Lettrists, Oulipo, BurroughsThursday, September 14thWeek 3: On PhotographyReading due:1) Susan Sontag, On Photography (1968), chapter 1 (“In Plato’s Cave”) – onPipeline2) William J. Mitchell, The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-PhotographicEra (1992), pp 1-57Recommended for this week:- Eastman House timeline of camera technologyhttp://www.eastman.org/fm/timeline-cameras/htmlsrc/timeline_sum00001.html
Change language