The Cultures of New Media

COMM 340
Spring 2003
London Semester
Tuesdays 10-1

Prof. Marita Sturken
sturken@usc.edu/office 020-7419-4908
Office: Room 18, 99 Great Russell Street
Office Hours: TBD, after class and by appointment.

Course description:
This course examines the cultural implications of new technologies in the context of communication and cultural theory. It situates the contemporary representation of and debates about new technologies within an historical context, examining the utopian/dystopian narratives that have been generated around new technologies throughout history. We will examine the history of the computer, the Internet, multimedia, and digital imaging in the context of contemporary debates about artificial intelligence, freedom of speech and privacy, photographic realism, copyright, and identity in virtual communities. We will begin by examining the modern and postmodern context of contemporary technology and the debates about the role of technology in affecting everyday life. This course focuses in part on the representation of technology in contemporary popular culture, and what it indicates about the cultural anxieties and desires projected on new technologies, and will include excerpts of films and television screened in class.

Course Readings:
Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy
A course reader with photocopied articles will be available.

Course requirements and attendance:
Students are required to do all of the reading, to attend all classes, to complete all assignments, and to participate fully in discussion. This course has a on-line discussion group, instead of discussion sections, which students are required to participate in it on a weekly basis. Students will be required to do several class presentations and to occasionally do short assignments. Attendance is important, and those who miss more than two classes (we only meet once a week!) without an excuse will have their grades lowered.

Assignments and grading:
You are responsible for the material covered in class and in the reading. You will be evaluated on (1) the level of your engagement with the class materials (as evidenced in your written work and class participation), (2) your capacity to explain your ideas and analysis in articulate and well-written forms, (3) and your ability to creatively explore these theories and methodologies. All of your written work will be graded on two primary evaluative scales (1) how well it demonstrates an understanding of the theories and methodologies of the class (2) how well it articulates and structures its argument.

The class assignments are two papers, an Internet hunt assignment, a few class presentations, and a final exam (format to be decided). Your participation grade will include participation in class and in the on-line discussion, class presentations, and occasional short assignments. These will count as the following portions of your grade:

paper 1 15%
Internet hunt 20%
paper 2 25%

final exam 20%
class participation 20%

--You must complete all of these assignments. Failure to complete one of the them will result not only in an F for that assignment but also a lowering of your overall grade.

--Grades will be assigned as follows: A's are reserved for outstanding, thoughtful, and enthusiastic work. B+ and B are above average, demonstrating effort. B- and C+ show little effort, and need improvement on ideas and argument. C and below mean just fulfilling the bare minimum and showing little understanding of the material.

--Papers will not be accepted late without prior discussion with Prof. Sturken.

Academic Integrity:
When taking this class, you enter into a contract that states that all the work you are turning in has been your own and no one else's, and that you have not turned in any work for which you have received credit in another class. Do not take this policy lightly!

The School of Communication is committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and ethical support. It endorses and acts on the SCampus policies and procedures detailed in the section titled "University Sanction Guidelines." These policies, procedures, and guidelines will be assiduously upheld. They protect your rights, as well as those of the faculty. It is particularly important that you are aware of and avoid plagiarism, cheating on exams, fabricating data for a project, submitting a paper to more than one professor, or submitting a paper authored by anyone but yourself. Violations of this policy will result in a failing grade in the course and be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. If you have doubts about any of these practices, you must confer with the professor.

Week 1: Jan. 14: Introduction: Utopian and Dystopian Narratives of Technology
Screening: ads about technology

Week 2: Jan. 21: The Politics of Technology/Modern and Postmodern Technologies
Reading:
Langdon Winner, "Three Paradoxes of the Information Age"
Kevin Robins and Frank Webster, "The Hollowing of Progress"
Sherry Turkle, "Spinning Technology"
Marita Sturken, "Mobilities of Time and Space"

Week 3: Jan. 28: Electronic Technology/Electronic Presence
Reading:
Jeff Sconce, excerpt from Haunted Media
MacKenzie Wark, excerpt from Virtual Geography
Marita Sturken, "Television Vectors and the Making of a Media Event"
Paper 1 assignment given.

Week 4: Feb. 4: A History of the Computer: Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of the PC
Reading:
Sherry Turkle, "Taking Things at Interface Value"
Ray Kurzweil, "A New Form of Intelligence on Earth"
Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, "The Shaping of the Personal Computer"
Carroll Pursell, "Information"
Screening: Triumph of the Nerds, 2001

Week 5: Feb. 11: The Digital and the Virtual
Reading:
Nicholas Negroponte, "Being Digital"
William Mitchell, "Recombinant Architecture"
Kevin Robins and Frank Webster, "The Virtual Pacification of Space"
William Mitchell, "March of the Meganets"
Screening: The Simpsons
Paper 1 due.

Week 6: Feb. 18: The Digital Image
Reading:
William Mitchell, "How to do Things With Pictures"
Scott Bukatman, "Taking Shape"
Evelynn Hammonds, "The New Technologies of Race"
Lauren Berlant, "The Face of America"
Geoffrey Batchen, "Spectres of Cyberspace"
Screening: Morphing and Digital Images

Week 7: Feb. 25: Multimedia, Authorship and Database Culture
Reading:
Lev Manovich, "The Database Logic"
Michael Lewis, "The Revolt of the Masses"
Mark Poster, "Authors Analogue and Digital"
Lawrence Lessig, "Controlling the Wired"
Internet Hunt assignment given.

Week 8: March 4: The Internet: History and Prehistory
Reading:
Manuel Castells, Internet Galaxy, Chapters 1, 2

March 10-14, Spring Break

Week 9: March 18: Internet Identity, Community, and Generation Gap
Reading:
Michael Lewis, "Financial Revolt"
Manuel Castells, Internet Galaxy, Chapter 4
Screening: Next

Week 10: March 25: E-Business, Cybercrime, and Privacy
Reading:
Manuel Castells, Internet Galaxy, Chapter 3
Douglas Thomas, excerpt from Hacker Culture
Internet Hunt due.
Paper 2 assignment given.

Week 11: April 1: Global and Mobile Culture
Reading:
David Morley, Excerpt from Home Territories
Paul de Gay et al, "Making Sense of the Walkman"

Week 12: April 8: Virtual War
Reading:
Kevin Robins and Frank Webster, "Cyberwars"
James Derderian, "Virtuous War Goes to Hollywood"
Carroll Pursell, "War of Intelligent Machines"

Week 13: April 15: Simulation and Cyborgs
Reading:
Jean Baudrillard, "The Precession of Simulacra"
Mark Poster, "Theorizing the Virtual"
Anne Balsamo, "Forms of Technological Embodiment"
David Tomas, "Feedback and Cybernetics"
Screening: The Matrix, Terminator, Blade Runner
Paper 2 due.

Week 14: April 22: New Science: Biotechnology and Genetics
Reading:
Jeremy Rifkin, "The Biotech Century"
Evelyn Fox Keller, "Nature, Nurture, and the Human Genome Project"
Marcy Darnovsky, "The Case Against Designer Babies"