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.

Read danah boyd’s Dissertation, Taken Out of Context. We will be focusing on chapters 4-6, but you might want to begin by reading the first chapter to get a sense of the project.

Note: Over the weekend, full descriptions of the EMAC grad courses will be made available. Check the EMAC blog.

Read the essay by Foucault and the one by Nakamura. Both can be found on eReserves.

For Tuesday read Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. It is longer than most of the things we have been covering so give yourself enough time.

This Thursday’s readings will cover the concept of the “public sphere.” Read Habermas’s “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Entry”, Peter Boeder “Habermas’ Heritage and the Public Sphere and Mark Poster’s “Cyberdemocracy.”

This week we will be discussing Benjamin’s famous article, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” and Nichols’s refiguring of the article, “The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems.” Both can be obtained via eReserves. Post your thoughts below.

Starting this week we will be turning to looking at theorists who have attempted to understand the way technology (as in specific technical artifacts) change media representation. First up is Eisenstein and the printing press. I will talk about the whole book, but you should make sure that you read the first section and the final chapter (if you have it in your edition, this is the “update”) as these are the most important. Leave your question below.

Related: For those who are interested Scott McCloud’s TED talk is a good example of remediation as it relates to comics.

Tuesday we will be discussing Bolter & Grusin’s book Remediation. You should read Part 1, and Part 3 as it is in these two parts that they lay out the central argument. In Part 2 they look at several different art form and apply their theoretical lens to said form. So, while you can read all of Part 2 you only need to read 2 chapters which most interest you. (For example if you work on digital games and virtual words you might want to read those to chapters.) Remember to comment on at least four of your peers blogs.