View source for New Media, Spring 2019

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 100%;"
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! 20160 || NMAC 4460.01 || WM 9:30-10:45 || CoAS-120 || Spring, 2019
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[[File:Holographicdesktop1.0.jpg|thumb|Microsoft’s new design language.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/11/15625970/microsoft-fluent-design-desktop-email-app-ui |title=Microsoft’s design video features a completely redesigned desktop and email app |last=Carman |first=Ashley |date=May 5, 2017 |website= |publisher= |access-date=2019-01-22 |quote=}}</ref>]]
This seminar explores our inexorable movement from atoms to bits — from the centralized media landscape of the twentieth century, to that of the current bazaar of networked digital cultures. What does it mean to be citizens of a digital world? Do we invent our technologies, or do they invent us? Welcome to New Media.

New Media represents a paradigm shift in the ways we produce and consume culture, and these shifts are, in turn, changing us. This course examines the theories of media: from those based on the physical (record players, tape recorders, VCRs, newspapers, books, records) to those based on digital information (computers, VR, DVRs, MP3s, etexts, video-on-demand). Both the theoretical and practical will fall under the purview of this course: not only will we consider the art and business of “new media,” but we will extend our digital fingers and participate in the discussion.

==Introduction==
Welcome to NMAC 4460, your Senior Seminar in New Media. The document you’re reading is your syllabus. Everything you need for this class is on this page or linked off of it. Bookmark it now and return here if you get lost or confused.

{{Quote box|For a head start on how to approach all work in this course, see “[[How to Do Well in My Class]]” and “[[Research & Response]].”|align=right|width=25%}}

Please read this document and those it links to carefully at the beginning of the semester. There is much information to process, and it can be somewhat daunting — especially if you read cursorily. If you are confused, do your best to work through it by (re)reading this document carefully and completely, searching this site, or consulting the [[Student FAQ|FAQ]]. I promise, there is an answer to your question. If all else fails, you may [[Contact|contact me]]. Trust yourself to follow directions and find the answers. Be careful and deliberate.

Since you are seniors in the New Media and Communications program, I expect that you are all veteran users of new media. I’m assuming, since you’re taking this course, that you are comfortable with working by yourself and have a basic Internet fluency. Much of what we do in this course will involve using digital media, but also challenging our conventional uses and attitudes toward them. Please enter with an open mind. NMAC 4460 is also designed to let you — the students — discover and create your own knowledge using the powerful digital devices we all have access to. You will learn more about my approach shortly. If you’re curious to know more right now, you might want to read my [[Teaching Philosophy|teaching philosophy]] and peruse the articles under [[:Category:Hack.Edu|HackEdu]].

Again, read this syllabus through carefully before beginning. You might want to take notes as you go, jotting down questions you have. I bet they are answered by the time you’re ready to begin the first lesson. Again, welcome.

==Course Information==
{{NMAC 4460}}

This course optionally offers the '''undergraduate research''' portion of the '''Experiential Learning@MGA''' program.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mga.edu/experiential-learning/index.php |title=Experiential Learning@MGA |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2018 |website=MGA |publisher= |access-date=2019-01-06 |quote=}}</ref> This optional program is meant to involve students in applications of learning beyond the classroom. It will be accomplished through the course research component {{crossreference|(see [[#Project|Project]])}} and the submission of a [[Keep a Research Journal|research journal]] at the end of the class. See me early in the semester for more information, or if you intend to use this course to complete this requirement.

{{In_Info}}

==Goals==
With a successful completion of the NMAC 4460, students will understand:

* the influence of networked digital technologies on communication, art, and culture in a global context;
* the unique properties of new media;
* the historical and cultural contexts of new media from theory to praxis;
* the legal and intellectual property concerns that new media challenges, particularly in the proprietary and open source communities;
* the political responsibilities of new media use;
* the distinction between various theoretical approaches to new media in cultural and academic contexts;
* how new media affects the evolution of the “human.”

==Materials==
[[File:Newmediareader.jpg|thumb]]
===Required Texts===
* {{cite book |last=Murray |first=Janet H. |date=1997 |title=Hamlet on the Holodeck: the Future of Narrative in Cyberspace |url=http://amzn.to/2ja0uCz |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=  |author-link= }}
* {{cite book |last=Negroponte |first=Nicholas |date=1996 |title=Being Digital |url=http://amzn.to/2jaaNX5 |location=New York |publisher=Vintage |page= |ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Wardrip-Fruin |editor1-first=Noah |editor2-last=Montfort |editor2-first=Nick |date=2003 |title=The New Media Reader |url=http://amzn.to/2hQD5UT |location=Cambridge |publisher=The MIT Press |page= |ref=harv }}<ref>Buy this book immediately, as you will need it first and use it throughout the semester.</ref>
* [[New Media Suggested Reading and Viewing|Various Links and PDFs]]<ref>[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxPyGAALGjHqaFVWZGF5U2p5ZjA?usp=sharing Request access].</ref>

===Recommended Texts===
* {{cite book |last=Kurzweil |first=Ray |date=1999 |title=The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence |url=http://amzn.to/2iVQkI1 |location=New York |publisher=Viking Penguin |page= }}
* {{cite book |last=Lessig |first=Lawrence |date=2008 |title=Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy  |url=http://amzn.to/2iZUdvO |location=New York |publisher=Penguin |ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=McLuhan |first=Marshall |date=1964 |title=Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man |url=http://amzn.to/2j02U9v |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page=  }}
* {{cite book |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |date=1999 |title=A Good Old-fashioned Future |url=https://amzn.to/2WmJ1ul |location=New York |publisher=Spectra |ref=harv }}

{{Materials}}

===Supplementary Documents===
At several points throughout the semester, your reading assignments will entail essays that are not in the above texts. These additional readings will be made available to you as PDFs via Google Drive: '''[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxPyGAALGjHqaFVWZGF5U2p5ZjA?usp=sharing request access]'''. You will need to download them, print them (or put them on your device), and bring them on the day we are covering them in class. Failure to do so will earn you an absence.

==Requirements==
This course has three requirements: exams, research project, and participation.

{{Exams}}
{{Project}}
{{Participation}}

==Policies==
Students are held accountable for knowing and practicing each of the following course policies. Consider them like the law: the excuse “I didn’t know” will carry no weight. In addition, students are responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to all Middle Georgia State University student policies, including those linked on the Syllabus Policy page.<ref>See the MGA website's [https://www.mga.edu/faculty-affairs/syllabus-policy.php Syllabus Policy Page] the policies linked thereon.</ref>

{{Quote box|title=Drop Date|align=right|quote=March 6, 2019}}
Students may withdraw from the course and earn a grade of “W” up to and including the midterm date. After midterm, students who withdraw will receive a grade of “WF.” Students are encouraged to read the withdrawal policy before dropping/withdrawing from class.

{{Assignments}}
{{Attendance}}
{{Communication}}
{{Evaluation}}
{{Plagiarism}}
{{Research}}

{{Schedule}}

{{See also|Writing on New Media}}

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 100%;"
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 1
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/07
| style="background-color:#F8F9F9;" rowspan="2" | Classes Begin
| -
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/09
| Introduction
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 2
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/14
| style="background-color:#F9EBEA;" rowspan="4" | [[Writing on New Media#Foundations|Foundations]]
| Read: Cortázar “Axolotl”; all posts under [[New Media Suggested Reading and Viewing#Defining New Media|Defining New Media]]
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 01/16
| Monday’s intro and discussion continued.
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 3
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/21
| No class today — MLK Holiday
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/23
| Read: Borges “The Aleph”; Bush, Licklider, Turing, and Wiener (Under “[[New Media Suggested Reading and Viewing#Foundational and Transitional Thinking|Foundational and Transitional Thinking]]”)
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 4
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/28
| style="background-color:#F5EEF8;" rowspan="2" | [[New Media Suggested Reading and Viewing#Being Digital: Revolution and Democracy|Revolution and Democracy]]
| Read: Sterling, “Maneki Neko”; McLuhan, from ''Understanding Media'': Ch. 1 “The Medium Is the Message” (''NMR'') and Ch. 4 “The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis”
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 01/30
| Read: Sterling “Deep Eddy”; Enzensberger; and Boal (Under “[[New Media Suggested Reading and Viewing#Being Digital|Being Digital]]”)
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 5
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/04
| style="background-color:#EAF2F8;" rowspan="2" | Digital Humanities
| Read: Di Filippo “A Short Course in Art Appreciation”; Lucas “[[Defining Digital Humanities]]”; Marche “Literature Is Not Data”; Pressner, et al “The DH Manifesto”; Lucas “Norman Mailer and the Novel 2.0”
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/06
| Langdon Winner “Mythinformation” (''NMR'' 587); Robert Coover “The End of Books” (''NMR'' 705); Stuart Moulthrop “You Say You Want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media” (''NMR'' 691)
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 6
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/11
| style="background-color:#E8F8F5;" rowspan="2" | Open Source
| View: ''Revolution OS''. Read: Richard Stallman, “The GNU Manifesto” (''NMR'' 543); Eric Raymond, “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” (PDF); Bill Gates, Open Letter to Hobbyists (Weblink); Bruce Perens, Open Source Definition (Weblink)
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/13
| Catch up. [[Preparing a Prospectus|Project proposals]] due.<ref>These should be submitted at least one day before your scheduled conference. Proposals that do not contain '''at least''' five solid sources in a preliminary bibliography will be returned as incomplete.</ref> Sign up for conferences.
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 7
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/18
| style="background-color:#E9F7EF;" rowspan="2" | Midterm
| In-class midterm.
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/20
| '''No class'''.
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 8
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/25
| style="background-color:#FEF9E7;" rowspan="2" | Conferences
| '''No class'''. Conferences in CoAS-117.
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 02/27<ref>Midterm grades due.</ref>
| '''No class'''. Conferences in CoAS-117.
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 9
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 03/04
| style="background-color:#FDF2E9;" rowspan="2" | Participatory Culture
| Read: Negroponte ''Being Digital''
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 03/06<ref>Drop date.</ref>
| Read: Henry Jenkins, Introduction to ''Convergence Culture''; “Courtney Love Does the Math”
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 10
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 03/11
| style="background-color:#F9EBEA;" rowspan="2" | Cyberspace
| Read: John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” and “Declaring Independence”; Tim Berners-Lee, “On the 25th Anniversary of the Web” and commentary; Sherry Turkle, “Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in VR”; Alexandra Alter, “Is this Man Cheating on His Wife?”
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 03/13
| Read: Julian Dibbell “A Rape in Cyberspace”; Neal Stephenson, from ''Snow Crash''
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 11
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 03/18
| style="background-color:#F8F9F9;" rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Spring Break
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 03/20
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 12
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 03/25
| style="background-color:#F5EEF8;" rowspan="2" | Cyberdrama
| Read: Murray ''Hamlet on the Holodeck''
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 03/27
| . . .
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 13
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/01
| style="background-color:#EBF5FB;" rowspan="2" | Ludology
| Read: Stuart Moulthrop, “From Work to Play”; Espen Aarseth, “Genre Trouble: Narrativism and the Art of Simulation”; Henry Jenkins, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture”
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/03
| . . .
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 14
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/08
| style="background-color:#E9F7EF;" rowspan="2" | Posthumanism
| Read: Haraway “A Cyborg Manifesto”
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/10
| Read: Kurzweil, “Reinventing Humanity”; Joy “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us”; . . .
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 15
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/15
| style="background-color:#FEF5E7;" rowspan="6" | Catchup & Project Work
| 
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/17
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 16
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/22
| 
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/24
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 17
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 04/29
| 
|-
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center; | 05/01
| Projects Due
|-
| style="background-color:#CCD1D1; text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | 18
| style="background-color:#F2F4F4; text-align: center;" | 05/03
| style="background-color:#F8F9F9; | Final Exam
| Friday, 8-10a
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:NMAC 4460]]
[[Category:Spring 2019]]
[[Category:Hybrid Online]]
[[Category:MGA]]