For next week read both the introduction to Everything is Miscellaneous and Glut: Managing Information Through the Ages. Then read the remainder of one of the two books, which ever one you were assigned. If you were not in class on Tuesday then you should read Everything is Miscellaneous. Post to your blog and come to class prepared to discuss.

Next week we will be discussing Bolter and Grusin’s Remediation. Read Part I, then select two chapters from Part II which apply to your project, and finally read Part III. Post to your respective project sites.

For Tuesday’s class, start by reading these two essays by Derrida. Next, read the introduction to The Future of the Book (Nunberg). Finally, select two essays from the book which you think will relate to your group’s project and read those. (If the above link for the Derrida essays does not work try this one.)

After you are done with the reading, post to your group’s site reflecting on the reading and connecting it to your developing thinking about the project. (Roughly 300 words should suffice, but feel free to use more.) Everyone should post individually to the group websites (i.e. 5 per site, not one post for the whole group).

For next Wednesday read the first three chapters of The Nature of the Book.

Update: You should have received an email from me indicating your group, and containing the email addresses of the others in your group. Coordinate setting up a website between now and next class. No need to post. The idea is just to get the site up.

Second email me by Friday at noon the following:

• Have the subject line be EMAC 6361.
• Your preferred email address. This will be the one I share with others in your group.
• Your Twitter ID. If you don’t have a Twitter account set one up. The hashtag for this class is #emac6361.
• Once you have joined Twitter follow, @therefore, @academicdave, @emacutd, @emacadvise.
• Your top three choices (in order of preference) for your group project. (See the list below.)
• Your skill set (i.e. video, animation, 3D modeling, 2D drawing, project management, writing, web design, etc.).
• Anything else I might need to know for placing you in a group.

Don’t email me this info though if you are planning on dropping the class. Joining a group commits you to the rest of the semester. Serious, your classmates count on you, and joining a group just to drop it in a few weeks is a serious a__hole move, that and if you join a group and drop leaving your classmates hanging I’ll take away your birthday (I know people).

Choose from three of the following. Note if you pick one of the topics that has a subcategory, in parenthesis, specify which subcategory, or just indicate that you would be interested in any subcateogy.

• Libraries
• Museums
• Government (Advocacy Groups, Political Groups, Government Services, Representative Democracy)
• Journalism
• Art/Enterntaiment (Film, Fine Art, Art Museums/Galleries, or something else?)
• Universities/Higher Education
• K-12 Education
• If you think of something else email me and I’ll add it to the list, but do it fast so others will join you.

Once you have done this I will create groups, and email you all notifying you of your group, from there you can get working. By the end of the weekend though you should set up your group’s URL, and post it to the comment section of this blog. No need to develop the site fully just the URL will do for now.

The syllabus, or at least the print version, is done. Feel free to download and take a look. This is the “official” version as required by law, but the information here on the site, Reading List, Course Description, etc. is far more up to date.

Also take a look at the Class Project Guidelines as it will give you a sense of the direction of the course.

Class starts Wednesday. Currently it is scheduled for the Mac Lab, but this will probably change, so stay tuned.

So, the second half of this class is going to be dedicated to examining specific “knowledge institutions” and how they have historically developed in print culture, what changes the digital has brought, along with creative projects suggesting future directions. I have a few ideas but thought it might be useful to harness the network for other suggestions. Below is a list of the ‘xxx’ institutions I already thought of. The class can only have five groups but I want to list more than five possibilities do that students can pick the most popular.

• Libraries
• Museums
• Universities
• K-12 Education
• Art/Entertainment (maybe something specific)
• Representative Democracy
• Journalism

I realize this list isn’t entirely cohesive or transparent, but what I am trying to get at is institutions which are fundamental to the way we traffic in knowledge who are likely to have to undergo substantial change in the shift to a digital networked archive. (My idea would be for the “entertainment” group to focus on one thing, not music, but let them decide.)

So what am I missing? What should I add?

For those of you anxious to get started on next semester, or perhaps those who just want to buy the books for the Spring, below is a list of the readings.

• The Nature of the Book Adrain Johns
• The Future of the Book Geoffrey Nunberg
• Remediation Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin
• Wealth of Networks Yochai Benkler (You can download this book for free.)
• Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages Alex Wright
• Everything is Miscellaneous David Weinberger
• Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in a Hybrid Economy by Lawrence Lessig
• Paper Machine by Jacques Derrida (We will only be reading two articles from this book, so you will be able to get it off eReserve. But regardless it is a good book and if you have a chance pick up a copy.)
• Also we will be talking about Rip: A Remix Manifesto so if you want a movie to watch over break you might just watch this. It is entertaining, informative, and you get to pick how much you want to pay for it.

(This isn’t 100% final, more like 95.2%.)

Last Class. We will be discussing Zittrain’s The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. Come prepared to discuss.

Tuesday, before Turkey Day (or Tofurkey Day depending) we will be looking at Galloway and Thacker’s The Exploit.

On Tuesday the 17th we will move to the last section of our class, discussing “Network Theory” and how networked media require us to rethink certain media paradigms. Read all of Duncan Watts, Six Degrees.

Final Project: As a final you will need to write a six to eight page paper (approx. 2500 words) focused on one of the issues we have raised in the class. The best way to address this assignment is to find one of your weekly posts which most interested you, and expand upon it, turning it into a polished work. This piece should be narrowly focused. Since you only have 6-8 pages it needs to be specific, about one narrow idea. That is teens and new media is too broad, social networking sites is too broad a topic, teens and social networking sites is still too broad a topic. Teens and privacy on social networking sites is more in the right scope. Double space your paper and use a citation format. (I don’t particularly care which one, APA, MLA, just pick one and use it consistently.)

Although it is not required I highly recommend that sometime in the next two weeks you give me a draft of the idea you are thinking about writing on. This doesn’t have to be anything polished, but it will help me to point you in the right direction, suggest which readings from class you might want to consider using etc.

Papers are due by 10:00AM on December 11th.