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%.)

The first grad class of the semester is in just a few day, when this blog will become dedicated to EMAC 5300, Introduction to the Study of Emerging Media. Tune back in soon for full syllabus, reading list, etc.

Welcome to ATEC 6V81, The History and Theory of Emerging Media. The title for this course is a bit deceptive, as it is not a history course, but rather the history of the theory. It is in fact not even about “Emerging Media,” or not about Emerging Media specifically. That is, it is my contention that to understand “Emerging Media” (or the more common “Digital Media”) one first has to understand the history of how we have come to understand media. Thus, the class will be divided between looking at some classic “media theory” and looking at how these ways of thinking about media have changed, adapted, been repurposed, in the age of emerging media. Obviously this is way too broad a topic for us to cover in one semester, so I had to pick and choose, and we will only begin to really scratch the surface of approaches to media. I have divided the class into several themes, as you can see from the syllabus. It is my hope that by taking this approach you will all build a broad base of knowledge which will help you understand media, but also to begin to build you own critical approach to thinking about these emerging digital media. As you can see from the schedule of readings, the reading for this class is heavy, but this will be your primary assignment: to have read and thought about these ideas, and come to class prepared to discuss them. We will discuss this all in more detail on the first day, January 15th.

Okay, below is the working version of the syllabus for next semester. The course is far more about theory than history despite the fact that both words appear in the title. The course is supposed to function as an introduction to media studies with a specific focus on New/Emerging Media. The way this syllabus is crudely structured right now there are five sections, four ways to think about media, and the fifth, the “new” emerging paradigm for thinking about media. In many cases I have not fully decided upon particular texts, that is I just know that said day will be dedicated to those concepts. Right now I am most unsure which text to use in Week Eleven, for introduction/general theory on how media produces/reproduces self.

So as before, I am open to/welcome suggestions, and will return said input if you post a link to any syllabus design you are currently working on to which I might be able to offer suggestions.

• Media as Representation
• Week One
• Introduction
• Week Two
• Plato/Saussure
• Week Three
• Ong/McLuhan
• Week Four
• Remediation
• Media as Technology
• Week Five
• Eisenstein, Printing Press
• Week Six
• Benjamin/Nichols
• Week Seven
• Language of New Media-Manovich
• Media and the Public
• Week Eight
• Marx
• Week Nine
• Habermas
• Week Ten
• Shirky
• Media and Self
• Week Eleven
• Foucault?
• Week Twelve
• Nakamura/Race
• Week Thirteen
• danah boyd
• Media as Network
• Week Fourteen
• Linked-Barabasi
• Week Fifteen
• The Exploit
• Week Sixteen
• Zittrain

This blog is now for History and Theory of Emerging Media, ATEC6V81, Spring ‘09. To clear up any confusion the class is worth 3 credits. More will be posted soon here re: syllabus and readings, in case you should want to order books ahead of time. Stay tuned.

As much as I think a syllabus is probably never final, the draft that I will use on the first day of class is ready. Thanks to all those who gave feedback and suggestions. (The course description and schedule of readings links in the header also have been updated.)

After considering all the feedback, I have come up with the following rough outline. Several people suggested some more “mainstream texts” (Weinberger). Initially I was going to keep this class almost all theory, but rethought this a bit. Weinberger, Shirky, Rheingold, offer accessible ways to approach the material. Plus, I like the idea of bookending the class with Rheingold and Shirky, for despite their similarities the five years that separate their publication actually frame the class fairly well, with Rheingold serving as in introduction/hook to the issues. I am leaning more towards keeping Ong now, as it can serve as the introductory theoretical text, allowing me to avoid some general overview and using McLuhan. I have left off Kittler and Stiegler as while I think they are important (especially Stiegler) I also see them as especially challenging, and thought students might be better served if I provided an exegesis on the material (again especially Stiegler) rather than assigning complete texts. Still not decided on Eisenstein or Johns, and am contemplating adding in a literary text (film or novel) maybe something like Snow Crash. I like to leave the last week empty, to modify depending on how the class develops.

• Week One-August 21
• Class Introduction
• Week Two-August 28
• Rheingold
• Week Three-September 4
• Ong
• Week Four-September 11
• Print Culture (probably Eisenstein, maybe Johns)
• Week Five-September 18
• Derrida
• Week Six-September 25
• Heidegger
• Week Seven-October 2
• Gunkel, Thinking Otherwise
• Week Eight-October 9
• Castellas, The Networked Society
• Week Nine-October 16
• Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous
• Week Ten-October 23
• Walker, Blogging
• Week Eleven-October 30
• Bruns, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond
• Week Twelve-November 6
• Galloway & Thacker, Exploit
• Week Thirteen-November 13
• Hayles, My Mother was a Computer
• Week Fourteen-November 20
• Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
• Week Fifteen-December 4

(Updated)

I am currently planning my fall ‘08 graduate class, Networked Knowledge. I thought I would post here about the syllabus, which I am currently working on, and attempt to elicit feedback and suggestions from others who are currently working on this type of material. So, first the course description:

In the introduction to Smart Mobs, Howard Rheingold argues that in the future people will be divided between “those who know how to use new media to band together [and] those who don’t” (xix). In this class we will examine how the technological change from the analog to the digital effects the ability to produce and disseminate knowledge and how networked media are changing not only the form of knowledge but its content as well. Once powerful institutions seem to be losing relevance by the day (consider how quickly Wikipedia has trumped Britannica). At the same time we should not too quickly view these new networked digital spaces as utopian democracies, for there are still substantial rhetorical and cultural forces at work. Central to our examination will be how technology, rhetoric, and ethics shape our use of networked communication.

To give a bit more of a frame to this, although I want a range of viewpoints and perspectives, I tend towards the theoretical and philosophic approaches versus say the business or social sciences end. As an example see below some of the texts I am considering, along with brief reasons. (One book I know I need is a good social-history of print culture, a study in the extensive changes brought about by the invention of the printing press.)

Note: there are a lot of other posts on this blog, that is because it has been used in prior semesters for other graduate classes.

• The Exploit: A Theory of Networks, Galloway and Thacker. This is currently one of my favorite books on network culture. Complex, yet concise Thacker and Galloway take their questioning further than most, past the simple rhetoric of “networks yeah!” that inform many works.
• The Question Concerning Technology, Heidegger. I will probably use his essay as well as an essay by Sam Weber from Mass Mediauras.
• Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky. I was originally planning on using Rheingold’s Smart Mobs as a “practical” text, but I think Shirky’s is a bit more up to date and covers many of the same themes.
• Paper Machine and Archive Fever, Derrida. Two central claims by Derrida in these texts are key. 1. The structure of the archive determines what can be archived. 2. Book and paper are just as much about “ideology” as they are about materiality.
• Blogs, Wikis, Second Life and Beyond, Axel Bruns. Bruns concept of produsage, that we have moved beyond industrial production is provocative and well argued.
• My Mother was a Computer, Katherine Hayles. I often have a lot of concerns about Hayles’s work, but I think this book, captures an important theme, the move towards a “simulation” architecture.
• Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, Walter Ong. Still on the fence about this one.

So this is the basic idea. I am also considering, Kittler Discourse Networks, Gunkel Thinking Otherwise, Castellas, Network Society, Stiegler Technics and Time, Jill Walker Rettberg’s Blogging (I actually haven’t read this last one, I am waiting for Amazon to get me a copy, but I respect her work, and guess that this book will be worth it. Although, teaching a text blind is a bit risky.)

Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?

Update: Thanks to all those who have either emailed, twittered, or posted suggestions. One consistent/persistent question has been why not Ong? I must admit I am on the fence about Ong, I’ll try and explain why. For me Ong (Havelock and Innis to a lesser extent) provide too easy of a solution. That is their thesis/position seems seductively easy. First we have orality, then we have written, then we get a secondary orality with broadcast medium. So this approach relies on a sort of historical progression/evolution that I am largely uncomfortable with. Note how the subtitle of Ong’s book is the “technologizing of the word” as if this is simply a matter of speech becoming more technologized. Not to turn too Derridean here, but this seems to me heavily in the camp of thought as natural, speech as the next closest thing . . .As such Ong’s works often hedges towards techno-determinism without paying careful attention to technical differences (consider how he doesn’t elaborate much on the difference between script and movable type, a difference I might argue is greater than speech-script). This is not to say Ong is not worth teaching, in fact all of the above makes it worth discussing in class, but I also don’t like to teach a text so against the grain (so to speak). I prefer to teach with a text instead of point out its flaws so much, something I am not sure I can do with Ong. But, I am leaning more towards including it than not at this point . . .