Comm 340
Cultures of New Media
Fall Semester 2010
Professor Anne Balsamo
Interactive Media Division, School of Cinematic Arts
Communication, Annenberg School of Communication
Office: School of Cinematic Arts new building TBA
Office Hours: Tuesday Noon – 1:30 pm
Course Location
Annenberg School of Communication G64
Tuesday, 2:00 – 4:50 pm
Course Description:
This course provides an introduction to the cultural implications of computer-mediated communication and other forms of emergent communication forms. We will review the history of the development of computer-based communication to examine the ideological reactions to media innovation. This version of the course will focus on the emergence of new media such as “virtual reality” and “virtual communities.” We will examine the development of cyberpunk popular culture within a history of the context of hacker sub-cultures. The course is framed by a cultural studies approach to the study of technology. We will discuss basic concepts that inform the development of insightful cultural analyses. The course begins with an overview of a philosophy of technology, with special emphasis on the role of new media technologies in the reproduction of culture. By the end of the course, students will be required to produce original investigations into the cultural aspects of contemporary new media technologies using the frameworks of analysis discussed in the course. The broad aim of this course is to provide students with a foundation for their future encounters with new media, both as producers and consumers of these new cultural forms.
Academic Integrity
The Annenberg School for Communication is committed to upholding the University's Academic Integrity code as detailed in the Campus Guide. It is the policy of the School of Communication to report all violations of the code. Any serious violation or pattern of violations of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student's expulsion from the Communication major or minor. See section 11 of Scampus.
Students with Disabilities and Academic Accommodations
Students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to Professor Balsamo as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and their phone number is (213) 740-0776. For additional information, see the Web page of the Disabilities Services Program in SCAMPUS.
Required Textbooks:
Slack, Jennifer Daryl and J. Macgregor Wise. Culture and Technology (New York: Peter Lang publishers, 2005.
Marvin, Carolyn. When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press, 1988).
One of the following science fiction novels:
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Synners, Pat Cadigan
Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
Islands in the Net, Bruce Sterling
Dawn, Octavia Butler
One of the Following Films:
Bladerunner (Ridley Scott, 1985)
Lawnmower Man (Brett Leonard, 1992)
The Matrix (Josh Oreck, 1999)
General Course Requirements and Expectations:
While I am an avid multi-tasker myself, I expect your attention to focus on class discussion. Each session, one student will be designated the Google Jockey for the day. If you bring a laptop to class, you may be asked to serve as the web archeologist for that day.
I expect assignments to be turned in on the due date. I will respond to email questions, but I cannot guarantee how long it will take. So if you have questions about assignments, ask them early….this means you must pay attention to your assignments well before the due date. Do not wait until the last minute, because I will not be able to respond to your questions at the last minute.
Grade Requirements:
2 Exams: 2@30%60%
Group Project:40%
Presentation: 10%
Research Paper: 30%
Group Project Topics
You will be assigned to a group to work on a research paper and class presentation on a topic that we will determine in class. This will require you to do library research on a topic, and work collaboratively on organizing both a research paper and an oral presentation. Expect that you will have to read additional material not originally assigned as course material, such as other science fiction novels, or films.
DatesCourse Outline
8.25.10Course Introduction
Pre-Course Flight Test
Section 1: Review (Or Introduction) to Cultural Studies of Technology
9.1.10A Cultural Studies Approach to Technological Culture
Topics:
Academic frameworks and disciplinary research questions
The relationship between theory and research
Theories of Communication: Communication as Culture
Theories of Technology
Technological Formations
Readings:
Slack and Wise, Culture and Technology: Chapters 3, 4, 9, 10, 11
9.8.10Frameworks of Analysis: How do we Learn to Ask Interesting Questions?
Topics:
Learning to Love the Questions
The history of questions
Historical questions
Representation
Discourse
Interpretation
Meaning
Readings:
Slack and Wise, Culture and Technology: Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, 8
PDF Handout: Marshall McLuhan’s Tetradic Analysis
Section 2: New Media as Technologies of Culture
9.15.10What is New Media?
Topics:
What’s New about New Media?
Readings:
Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies were New
9.22.10The History of Computing: From Counting to Connecting
Topics:
Readings:
PDF handouts: TBD
9.29.10History of Science Fiction and the Technological Imagination
Topics:
Robots/Androids/Replicants/Cyborgs
Dreamscapes, Cyberspace, the Matrix
Human/Alien/Machine Encounters
The Romance with Outer Space
10.6.10MID-TERM EXAM
10.13.10Cyberpunk Science Fiction
Book and Popular Media Presentations
10.20.10Cyberpunk: A Techno-Cultural Formation
Topics:
From the Counterculture to Hacker Culture
Democracy On-Line
Life on the Screen
Culture Jamming
Postmodernism: The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
Post-Futurism: Cyberpunk, Postmodern Fictions, Virtualities
Digital Humanism: Cyborgs, Robots, and the Post-Human
The Cultural Logic of Postmodernity
10.27.10Filmic Projections of Imaginary Futures
Film Screening Presentations
Section 3: Emergent Cultures of New Media
11.3.10Where are We Now? Life in Networked Cultures
Topics:
Collective Knowledge Formation
Virtual Worlds
Mobile Media
Distributed Selves
Disembodied Friendships
11.10.10Group Presentations
11.17.10Group Presentations
12.1.10Wrap-up and Review
12.10.10 FINAL EXAM
Comm 340Balsamo/Spring 20091