com 420 : new communications technologies

schedule : fall semester 2004

week

date

class

reading due

assignment due

1 Tues Aug 24 introduction    
  Thurs Aug 26 Discussion – what is a technology?
Williams, "The Technology and the Society" ( NMR 289-300).
Sloop, "Ideology" (Unspun 88-99).
 
2 Tues Aug 31 Discussion – politics
Winner, "Mythinformation" ( NMR 587-598).
Mosco, "Political Economy" ( Unspun 51-65).
Luke, "Governance" ( Unspun 73-87).
 
  Thurs Sep 2 lab - politics online class exercise link  
3 Tues Sep 7 Discussion – culture

Nichols, "The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetics" (NMR 625-641).
Bolter, "Identity" ( Unspun 17-29).

 
  Thurs Sep 9 Proposals due. lab - technology reviews   project proposal
4 Tues Sep 14 Discussion – identity online
Dean, "Community" ( Unspun 4-16).
Fuchs, "Gender" ( Unspun 30-38).
Nakamura, "Race" ( Unspun 39-50).
 
  Thurs Sep 16 Technology reviews due. Lab – Habbo Hotel   technology review
5 Tues Sep 21 Discussion – the history of gaming
Turkle, "Video Games and Computer Holding Power" ( NMR 499-513).
Laurel, “Two Selections by Brenda Laurel” (NMR 563-573).
 
  Thurs Sep 23 Lab – gaming. Bring your NMR CD-ROM.    
6 Tues Sep 28 Discussion – building an online gaming community

Morningstar/Farmer, "The Lessons of Lucasfilms Habitat" ( NMR 663-677).

 
  Thurs Sept 30 lab - literature review    
7 Tues Oct 5

Discussion – hypertext

Kirschenbaum, "Hypertext" ( Unspun 120-137).
Tabbi, "Narrative" ( Unspun 138-147).
Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" ( NMR 29-34).
Nelson, "As We May Think" ( NMR 35-47).
 
  Thurs Oct 7 lab - hypertexts    
8 Tues Oct 12 Discussion – multimedia
Cubitt, "Multimedia" (Unspun 162-168).
Kay/Goldberg, "Personal Dynamic Media" (NMR 391-404).
Weinbren, "In the Oceans of Streams of Story" (NMR CD-Rom).
 
  Thurs Oct 14 Literature Reviews Due. Lab - multimedia   literature review
9 Tues Oct 19 Discussion – net art
“Four Selections by Experiments in Art and Technology” (NMR 211-226).  
  Thurs Oct 21 lab - net art    
10 Tues Oct 26 Discussion – Cyberspace
Shields, “Cyberspace” (Unspun 66-72).
Dietrich, "Performance" ( Unspun 100-119).
 
  Thurs Oct 28 Lab - Cyberspace    
11 Tues Nov 2 Discussion - wikis    
  Thurs Nov 4 lab - analysis papers    
12 Tues Nov 9 Discussion – Open Source
Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, 1-112.
Stallman, "The GNU Manifesto" (NMR 543-550)
 
  Thurs Nov 11 veteran's day - no class    
13 Tues Nov 16 Discussion – Open Source (continued)
Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, 113-213.  
  Thurs Nov 18 Lab - final presentation   analysis paper
  Nov 22 - 26 thanksgiving week - no class    
14 Tues Nov 30 project presentations    
  Thurs Dec 2 project presentations    
15 Tues Dec 7 project presentations    
  Thurs Dec 9 project presentations    
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