Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Our Syllabus

COMM 6300                                                                             Summer 2010

Public Communication in Digital Environments


Dr. Lance Strate; Faculty Memorial Hall, Room 434A; 718.817.4864; 718.817.4868 (fax)
Office Hours:  before or after class or by appointment

Required Texts
Jay David Bolter & Diane Gromala, Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency.
Paul Levinson, New New Media.
Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media.
Lance Strate, Ron L. Jacobson, and Stephanie B. Gibson, Communication and Cyberspace:  Social Interaction in an Electronic Environment (Second Edition).

Requirements
1. Regular attendance.
2. Relevant and sensible class participation and online interaction.
3. Careful reading of assigned texts.
4. Postings on the class blog at least two times a week related to readings, class discussion, and analysis of new media, and commenting on posts put up by others.
5. A term paper in the form of a scholarly article or essay. The paper should follow an accepted style guide (e.g., APA, MLA) and should be thoroughly proofread. Term papers will be due on July 1 in both a print version and as a post on the class blog (which can include links, images, and audiovisual material).
6. An in-class presentation on the final day of class based on your term paper.

Overview:
This course is devoted to the exploration of the computer as a medium of communication, and to the related technologies that make computer-mediated communication possible.  This includes those communication technologies known as new media, the internet, online communications, and concepts such as cyberspace, virtual reality, hypermedia, and of course digital media.  The goal of this course is not, however, to study the technological workings of computer technology in all its detail, but rather to gain a general understanding of how these media work, and work us over.  In other words, the main concern is with how we communicate in our new media environments, and how that communication differs from the way that we have interacted previously; how we think, feel, and behave in virtual worlds; how we form our sense of self and identity online (and off); how we form our sense of community online (and off).  No special skill in computing is needed for this class, but it is assumed that students have access to and are familiar with e-mail and the Web.

Tentative Schedule:

June   1            Introduction to the Class


June   3            The Computer as Medium I
   Reading Due:  Bolter & Gromala, Windows and Mirrors
June   8            The Computer as Medium II
   Reading Due: Bolter & Gromala, Windows and Mirrors
June   10            New Media as Language and Art I    ***No Class Meeting***
     Reading Due: Manovich, The Language of New Media
June   15            New Media as Language and Art II
     Reading Due: Manovich, The Language of New Media
June   17            Communication and Cyberspace:  Overview and Function
                           Reading Due: Strate et al, Communication & Cyberspace, Intro., Sects.1-2
June   22            Communication and Cyberspace:  Form and Meaning
                           Reading Due: Strate et al, Communication & Cyberspace, Sects.3-4, Epil.
June   24            Web 2.0 & Social Media I
                           Reading Due: Levinson, New New Media
June   29            Web 2.0 & Social Media I
                           Reading Due: Levinson, New New Media
July       1            Presentations

No comments:

Post a Comment