MCS 366: Communication, Technology, and Society

Transcription

1 1 MCS 366: Communication, Technology, and Society I usually answer s within 24 hours (weekday). If you do not hear from me within two days, you can assume that I did not get your . Please make sure that you send to the correct address (pbooth@depaul.edu). Be forewarned: accounts with Yahoo tend to get sent to DePaul s spam filter, and I tend not to get them. You can also Tweet me Course Description: It is arguably impossible to separate the concepts of communication, technology and society in today s digital media environment. Nevertheless, this course attempts to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding new media technology and its impact on contemporary communication. Using readings and examples from real life, students will come to understand the intricate and exciting relationship between new media technology, the way people use that technology to communicate today, and the society in which that communication occurs. Course Rationale: Today s media environment is a complex and demanding system. But it did not arrive fully formed into our culture. Rather, every new media technology can trace its lineage back to other media technologies, which can, in turn, be traced back further and further in time. It is our job as cultural historians and communication scholars to look back and see the technological and cultural antecedents for today s media technology. But it is not enough just to examine the technologies of communication. Communication is affected not only by technology, but also by societal factors like politics, the legal system, education, and art. We must understand all the different factors that make up communication in a digital world. This course utilizes both a historical analysis of technology and a critical examination of the social characteristics that make up our contemporary society in order to understand digital technology within communication systems. As media become more complex, they also become more integrated into our lives. This fact makes media studies a crucial field in contemporary society. It is important not just to understand how media affect culture, but also to see at the level of the individual how technology is consumed. First, we examine the history of communication, from oral societies through the advent of print, and to the electronic age. Following this, we examine social media across a range of topics, focusing on issues of identity, authorship, time and temporality, language, and entertainment. We shall investigate the development of traditional media technologies and see their evolution into new media technologies. By posing questions, many of which will not have answers, we shall explore the complex relationship between communication, technology and society. Course Goals: This course has three main goals. The first is to gain a better understanding of the history of communication technology. The second is to gain the ability to analyze and critique the twinned roles of technology and of society in the development of human communication. The third is to be able to write critically about communication technology. Course Objectives: At the end of this course, students will be able to: 1) Identify the historical development of communication technology; 2) Apply theoretical knowledge of technology studies to contemporary situations; 3) Demonstrate an ability to synthesize readings through discussion and written work; 4) Differentiate between deterministic and constructivist arguments through written work

2 2 Class Readings To Buy: (DePaul Loop bookstore, or online) Meikle, Graham and Sherman Young. Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN: Additional readings will be available via D2L, under Course Documents. Readings should be done before class on the day that they are due. Grading and Assignments: Your grade is based on 600 points. Reading Reflections (10 x 10pts each): 100 points Short Paper: 50 points Paper 1: 100 points Paper 2: 100 points Final Paper/Project: 150 points Attendance/Participation: 100 points Reading Reflections: 10 reviews throughout the quarter (10 points each) In order to gauge your attention to the readings, you will write ten short reading reflections throughout the quarter. They will be short and given at the start of class. You cannot make up a reading reflection, but I will give more than 10 throughout the quarter and you can do up to 2 for extra credit. If you are tardy you may write as much of the reflection as you can before I collect them. Each reflection will be worth 10 points. Short Paper: Due Thursday, 23 Jan 3:00 pm (50 points) Using your readings on D2L write a 1000 word analysis of an everyday technology, tracing its lineage through different technological developments. Please upload to D2L by 3 pm. Paper 1: Due Tuesday, 04 Feb 3:00 pm (100 points) In this paper, you will be asked to perform both a deterministic and a constructivist argument on a particular piece of technology. You will also determine which is the more descriptive way of analyzing your technology. You will need to use your readings to support and defend your argument. This paper should be 1500 words. Please upload to D2L by 3pm. Paper 2: Due Tuesday 04 Mar 3:00 pm (100 points) In this paper, you will be asked to defend an argument about the new -ness of New Media. You will need to use your readings to support and defend this argument. You need to integrate at least two sociological constructs within your paper. This paper should be 1500 words long. Please upload to D2L by 3pm. Final Paper/Project: Due Tuesday 18 Mar 2:45 (150 points) For your final project, you will create a website that successfully integrates at least three different technologies. Your website should be original to this class. You may use free, online website-making tools (like wordpress) or you may code it yourself if you wish. The topic of your website should be one of two things: (1) You may find a Chicago-based organization, individual, or group and create a website to support them (you may not make a personal resume page). (2) You may write a fictional transmedia story that presents a new type of interactive narrative. Your website should have at least 5 different pages and should be easily readable. It should use images and hyperlinks. In addition, you should write a 1000 word paper that details a technological lineage for

3 3 your website and addresses at least two of the sociological constructions we discuss in this class. Two weeks before the final paper is due (by 06 Mar), you will turn in a 200 word outline to propose your website topic (if your topic is not suitable, you may be asked to change it). UNIT 1: CONCEPTS IN COMMUNICATION, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY Class 01 Tuesday 07 Jan Topic: Introduction; Communication, Technology, Society Readings (due today) Shirky: Gin, Television, and Social Surplus Class 02 Thursday 09 Jan Topic: Issues in Convergence Media Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Introduction and Chapter 1 Class 03 Tuesday 14 Jan Topic: Determinism and Constructivism Readings (due today) McLuhan: The Medium is the Message Williams: The Technology and the Society (pp. 3-13) UNIT 2: HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Class 04 Thursday 16 Jan Topic: Oral to Print Readings (due today) Schmandt-Besserat: Earliest Precursor of Writing Robinson: The Origins of Writing Ong: Orality, Literacy, and Modern Media Class 05 Tuesday 21 Jan Topic: Telegraph to Electronic Readings (due today) Standage: Telegraphy Douglass: Early Radio Czitrom: Early Motion Pictures Boddy: Television Begins Class 06 Thursday 23 Jan Topic: Computer and Web 1.0 Readings (due today) Davison: Language of Internet Memes Rosen: The People Formerly Known as the Audience Short Paper (Due Today) Analyze an everyday technology for its technological lineage Class 07 Tuesday 28 Jan

4 4 Topic: Dark and Alien Technology Readings (due today) Levinson: The Dark Side of New New Media Mitra: Alien Technology (pp ) Class 08 Thursday 30 Jan Topic: New and Social Media Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 2 UNIT 3: SOCIOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY Class 09 Tuesday 04 Feb Topic: Relationships 1 Readings (due today) Baym: New Forms of Personal Connection Due Today Paper 1 Class 10 Thursday 06 Feb Topic: Relationships 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 3 Class 11 Tuesday 11 Feb Topic: Textuality and Language 1 Readings (due today) Carpenter: The New Languages Crystal: A Linguistic Perspective (pp. 1-10) Emling: Classic Lit Goes Text Messaging Class 12 Thursday 13 Feb Topic: Textuality and Language 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 4 Class 13 Tuesday 18 Feb Topic: Participatory Culture 1 Readings (due today) Jenkins: What Happened Before YouTube Storey: Mass Culture in America & The Culture of Other People Class 14 Thursday 20 Feb Topic: Participatory Culture 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 5 Class 15 Tuesday 25 Feb Topic: Privacy and Surveillance 1 Readings (due today) Foucault: Panopticonism Ess: Privacy in the Electronic Global Metropolis? (pp ; 44-

5 5 59) Class 16 Thursday 27 Feb Topic: Privacy and Surveillance 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 6 Class 17 Tuesday 04 Mar Topic: Networking 1 Readings (due today) Baym: Communities and Networks Due Today Paper 2 Class 18 Thursday 06 Mar Topic: Networking 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 8 Due Today Final Paper Abstract Class 19 Tuesday 11 Mar Topic: Temporality 1 Readings (due today) Carey: Time, Space, and the Telegraph Hassan: Network Time (pp ) Class 20 Thursday 13 Mar Topic: Temporality 2 Readings (due today) Meikle and Young: Chapter 7 Final Exam Tuesday 18 Mar 2:45-5:00 Assignments (due today) Final Paper Due Present Technology

6 Bibliography Andrews, Lori. Facebook is Using You. New York Times, 04 Feb Baym, Nancy. Communities and Networks, Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, Baym, Nancy. New Forms of Personal Connection, Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, Boddy, William. Television Begins. Television: An International History. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, boyd, danah. Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. In MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume, edited by David Buckingham. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, (accessed 10 Jan 2008). Carey, James. Time, Space, and the Telegraph. Communication as Culture. New York: Routledge, Carpenter, Edmund. The New Languages. Explorations in Communication. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, Crystal, David. Language on the Internet. In Language and the Internet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, Czitrom, Daniel. Early Motion Pictures. Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan. Raleigh, NC: University of North Carolina Press, Douglass, Susan. Early Radio. Listening In. New York: Times Books, Emling, Shelley. Classic Lit Goes Text Messaging. Cox News Service, Ess, Charles. Privacy in the Electronic Global Metropolis? Digital Media Ethics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, Foucault, Michel. Panopticonism. Discipline and Punish. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Random House, Jenkins, Henry. What Happened Before YouTube. In Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009 Hassan, Robert. Network Time. 24/7: Time and Temporality in the Network Society, ed. Robert Hassan and Ronald E. Purser. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, Jenkins, Henry. If It Doesn t Spread it s Dead (Part 5). Confessions of an Aca-Fan Levinson, Paul. The Dark Side of New New Media In New New Media. New York: Allyn and Bacon, Manovich, Lev. How Media Became New. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, McLuhan, Marshall. The Medium is the Message, In Understanding Media. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, Meikle, Graham and Sherman Young. Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN: Mitra, Ananda. Alien Technology. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Mumford, Lewis. The Invention of Printing. Art and Technics. New York: Columbia UP, Ong, Walter. Orality, Literacy, and Modern Media. Orality and Literacy. London: Methuen & Co, Robinson, Andrew. The Origins of Writing. The Story of Writing. New York: Thames and Hudson, Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. The Earliest Precursor of Writing. How Writing Came About. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, Shirky, Clay. Gin, Television, and Social Surplus. The Social Media Reader, ed. Michael Mandiberg, New York: New York University Press, Standage, Tom. Telegraphy The Victorian Internet. The Victorian Internet. New York: Walker and Company, Storey, John. Mass Culture in America & The Culture of Other People. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture 5 th ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson, Williams, Raymond. The Technology and the Society. Television. New York: Routledge,