Cyberculture, Version 2

Sociology 290X/ Communications 290X Topics: Cyberculture Spring 1998 Valparaiso University Wednesday 6:30-9:15 MUH 114 Scott A. Lukas M.A., Ph.D. (ABD) Full-Time Instructor Office: 216 Huegli 464-5307 (Office) slukas@exodus.valpo.edu Office Hours: T/R 1:00-2:00 & APPT. COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is a survey of the emerging socio-cultural conditions brought about by the spread of certain technologies, systems of communication and forms of expressive culture since World War II. The class will study the social dimensions of these changes as well as profile the life-histories of various actors reacting to and against them in areas like the Internet, cyberpunk music, fashion, cybernetics and systems theory, virtual reality, video games, science fiction and hypertext writing. The course will include some work with media such as Internet resources, though no working knowledge of them is required. We will also watch a number of films which profile many of the technological theories and changes we will be discussing in the class. TEXTS (1) CyberReader. Victor J. Vitanza. 1996. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. REQUIRED (3) Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century. Mark Dery. 1996. New York: Grove Press. REQUIRED (3) Course reader. Available for purchase in Huegli Hall 132. REQUIRED COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING Your course grade will be calculated from the following: Six Papers (worth 10, 20, 10, 15, 15, 10 points respectively) Exam 1 (45 points) Final Exam (45 points) Participation (30 points) Your grade will be calculated on the following scale: 200-180.....................A 160-179.....................B 140-159.....................C 120-139.....................D <120..........................F LATE ASSIGNMENTS You will be unable to be successful in this course if you fail to come to class; nor will you do well if you fail to turn in your assignments in on time. I have a strict policy on late assignments. Papers are due on the 1 date listed, that means turning them in in class. Papers turned in one day after the due date will be given a 5 point penalty; thereafter no credit is available for late papers. Additionally, I do not give make-up examinations. Missing an exam day will therefore result in a score of 0 on that particular day, no exceptions except, again, in the case of legitimate medical and sports-related absences. All such legitimate absences must be verified with me in writing. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS All of your required paper assignments must be typed. Remember to use standard 2-inch margins and a font no bigger than 12 points. Anything out of this norm, as well as papers shorter than the required limit, will be heavily penalized. ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION As you can see, a good portion of your grade is participation. It is your responsibility as a student scholar to attend all classes and participate in the discussions to the best of your ability. In the past students have lost significant points due to poor participation. A key to your success in this class, then, is to engage the materials and share your understandings of them with the class. The policy on attendance is as follows. Excused absences are defined as those exhibiting a legitimate reason for missing class including medical and sports-related reasons. In all cases, you must verify your excuse in writing with me. I will pass an attendance sheet out each day in class. It is your responsibility to sign it on each class meeting. If you forget to sign it, you will still be marked absent for the day. You have one free absence, that is you can miss one day without penalty; thereafter, each unexcused absence will result in the deduction of 6 points from your 200 course points. Leaving after the break: In the past some individuals have decided to leave class after the mid-class break. Doing so will result in being marked as absent for that particular day. FILMS It is your responsibility to be in class when we view films as they will not be available for outside of class viewing. GETTING HELP Remember that university is more than a product, the getting of one's degree, but it is also a process. To be successful you may find the need to sharpen certain skills or talk to specific persons in order to get academic assistance. Take advantage of the numerous resources on campus. Always feel free to call me at the office, during or outside of office hours. Also, some places to keep in mind include, The VU Writing Center. They are available at extension 5216, and they have a fine web site which may assist you in paper writing (http://www.valpo.edu/writctr/). They are located in Schnabel 28. The Academic Computing Center is also to be found in Schnabel. There you can consult representatives who may guide you in your research and computer-related needs (extension 5678 is the help line). Consider too the friendly people on the first floor of Huegli where you will find the Arts & Sciences Support Office as well as the offices of the Deans of Arts & Sciences. Use all of these and other campus resources, professors, staff and organizations to make yours the best of all possible educations. HONOR CODE Please review and understand the Honor Code of Valparaiso University in the Academic Guide and Student Handbook. By enrolling in this course you agree to abide by and uphold the honor code. All of your written assignments should be turned in with the code (“I have neither given or received, nor have I tolerated others’ use of unauthorized aid”) written in full along with your signature. Unauthorized aid is defined in this course as one or more of 2 the following: plagiarism in any written form, allowing another person to complete assignments for you, completing another person’s assignment, dishonesty and/or cheating on an examination, multiple submission of the same written work in different courses, signing the attendance sheet for another person who has missed class on that day, the submission of papers produced by term-paper companies from the Web or other sources. All violations of the Valparaiso University Honor Code will be strictly pursued in accordance with our university policy. COURSE SCHEDULE Wednesday, January 7 Introduction: The Coming of Technological Society FILM: Metropolis (90 min) Wednesday, January 14 The Look of Technological Society: Community, City, Space READ: Baudrillard (Reader); Mitchell (Reader); Virilio, "Overexposed City" (Reader); "Spawn of Atari" (Reader); Eco (in CyberReader); Dery (Introduction); FILM: Revolution in a Box: Microsoft (20 min) DUE: Metropolis Paper Monday, January 19 MLK Day Celebration Wednesday, January 21 CYBER-Community-SELF Read Turkle (Reader); Eco (Reader); Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Reader); Bey, Hafner, Leslie, Bruckman, all in CyberReader Assignment: Prior to this class, participate in a chat-room, MUD or other form of interactive communication or gaming with others on the Net. A nice gateway to some possible sites for your assignment is http://www.chaco.com/lists/scifi/cyberpunk.html Discussion: MUDs Wednesday, January 28 Narrative READ: Critical Art Ensemble, Postman & Paglia, Birkerts, Bolter (“The Computer as New...”), Baker, Killheffer, Jonas, Schwenger, Nelson, Barlow (“The Economy of Ideas”), all in CyberReader; "To Surf and Protect" (Reader) FILM: Kids and Internet, MSNBC (8 min); AUDIO: Negativland Discussion: Censorship/Freedom/Property?; Hypertext Activity: Hypertext Demonstration DUE: Identity Paper Wednesday, February 04 Interactivity, Immersion, Games: An Archaeology READ: “The Egos at ID” (Reader); "DOOM Goes to War" (Reader); "War is Virtual Hell" (Reader) Discussion: Video Games, Interactivity Bring in: Hand-held or computer games DUE: Censorship Paper 3 Wednesday, February 11 Cyberpunk Read: Elmer-Dewitt, Schoemer, R.U. Sirius, Leary (both of his articles), Kantrowitz, all in CyberReader; "The Aesthetics of Cyberpunk" (Reader); Dery (Chapters 1, 2) FILM: Cyberpunk (60 min) Discussion/Demonstration: Aliasing, Sampling, Filtering, Multi-Tracking Wednesday, February 18 Revenge of the Machine READ: Dery (Chapters 3, 4); Benjamin (Reader); Virilio, "The Third Interval" (Reader); Griggers (Reader) FILM: Tetsuo: The Iron Man (67 min); Survival Research Labs (Excerpts); Einstürzende Neubauten video Wednesday, February 25 EXAM #1 February 28 - March 15 SPRING BREAK Wednesday, March 18 From V.R. to Resistance READ: Heim, Woolley, Rushkoff, all in CyberReader; "Confessions of" (Reader); "From the Inner Circle" (Reader) FILM: Virtual Reality (90 min) Wednesday, March 25 Gender and the Internet READ: Dibble, Rheingold, Tannen, Herring, Van der Leun, Haraway, all in CyberReader; Dery (Chapter 5) DUE: Machine Paper Wednesday, April 01 Community II: Hackers, Hacking Read: Exon, Lewis, “The Mentor," Harper’s Forum, Barlow (“Crime & Puzzlement”), Markoff (both articles), all in CyberReader; "News You Can Abuse" (Reader) DUE: Gendered Net Paper Wednesday, April 08 End of the Millennium Techno-Consciousness READ: Stone (Reader); Bey (Reader) Film: Akira Wednesday, April 15 Low-Tech: Erasing Bill Gates READ: Dery (Chapter 6); "Greetings from Burning Man!" (Reader) FILM: Burning Man (45 min) Wednesday, April 22 Gloss on "New" Society READ: "Johnny Mnemonic: The Day Cyberpunk Died" (Reader); "The Great HDTV Swindle" (Reader); "1st Annual Tired, Wired 100" (Reader) FILM: TBA DUE: Predictive Media and Community 4 Wednesday, April 29 Futures Read: "Push" (Reader); "Web Burnout" (Reader) FINAL EXAM will be on Monday, May 11, 6:00-8:00 p.m. YOU MUST TAKE THE FINAL AT THIS TIME!!! Explanation of Course Assignments Metropolis Paper should be between 2-3 pages. Its topic will be the film Metropolis which we will view in class. In the paper produce an account of the nature of society, social interactions, technology and corporation evident in Metropolis. Your primary focus should be the nature of community presented in the hypothetical future of the film. 10 points. Identity Paper will be a 4-5 page paper. The topic is “Identity, Narrative, Intertextuality.” In your writing construct an argument regarding the remediated nature of identity in cybernetic spaces. How has the Internet changed identity politics? Have they remained the same? How do the “narratives of our lives” (autobiographic or otherwise) become altered by the new writing devices of hypertext and the like? How are our social relations mediated over the Web? You may wish to “surf the Net” as a way of answering this particular paper topic. 20 points. Censorship Paper should be between 2-3 pages. Recalling our readings on the topic of censorship, free speech and copyright issues, construct a well-organized paper on this topic. In particular I am interested in your opinion on the matter, and you are free to pick up the discussion from a number of angles. For example, should there be cyber-police patrolling the information highways? What sorts of speech should be regulated on the Web? Should information on the World Wide Web be subject to copyright laws as are various forms of print media? 10 points. Machine Paper In 3-4 pages consider the readings on "machines" and machinic events, like SRL, as well as appropriate films, such as Tetsuo, and write a theoretical paper on the concept of machines and human interactions with them (i.e. cybernetics). Your approach is open, and you could consider a number of appropriate examples, such as the Kasparov -- Deep Blue chess match of last year, "Gigapets," household robots, etc. A discussion of any number of machines is acceptable, so long are you are able to write specifically on their use in human "hands." 15 points. Gendered Net Paper is a 3-4 page writing assignment. In it discuss the issue of gender and Internet communications. Is gender blurred in MUDs? Does the relatively new technology we have been studying necessarily make itself more available to men than women? How is sexism prevalent in your Web-surfing? How might or might not Web technology offer appropriate resources for combating sexism? These are just a few of the possible questions you might look at in this paper. 15 points. Predictive Media and Community is to be 2-3 pages in length. Consider here the "predictive" nature of media and choose a specific technology, such as real-time video and audio on the Web, and discuss the social implications of the medium (media). 10 points. Examination 1, Final Examination. Both of the exams will be a combination of objective and essay questions. The majority of the questions will be essays derived from our readings, 5 activities, films and discussions. In advance I will pass out a study sheet for each examination. In all cases...if you are having difficulty conceptualizing a paper, please see me well before the due date. I will be happy to discuss paper organization, or any other topic, with you outside of class. Participation. To reiterate, you must participate in this course. Failure to do so will result in a significant loss of course points as detailed on the second page of the syllabus. Bibliography of Reader Articles Baudrillard, Jean 1992 The Ecstasy of Communication. In The Post-Modern Reader. Charles Jencks, ed. London: Academy Editions. Mitchell, William J. 1996 Cyborg Citizens. In City of Bits. Cambridge: MIT Press. Virilio, Paul 1991 The Overexposed City. In The Lost Dimension. New York: Semiotext(e). Spawn of Atari. Wired 4.10 (October 1996). Turkle, Sherry 1995 Introduction: Identity in the Age of the Internet. In Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster. The World According to Eco. Wired 5.02 (March 1997). Kirshenblatt-Gimblatt, Barbara 1996 The Electronic Vernacular. In Connect: Engagements with Media. Late Editions, Volume 3. George E. Marcus, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. To Surf and Protect. Wired 4.07 (July 96). The Egos at ID. Wired 4.08 (August 1996). Doom Goes to War. Wired 5.04 (April 1997). Sterling, Bruce 1993 War is Virtual Hell. Wired 1.1 (Premier Issue). The Aesthetics of Cyberpunk. In Spasm: Virtual Reality, Android Music, Electric Flesh. Arthur Kroker. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Benjamin, Walter 1968 The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In Illuminations. New York: Shocken Books. Virilio, Paul 1997 The Third Interval. In Open Sky. London: Verso. Griggers, Camilla 1997 Becoming War-Machine. In Becoming Woman. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Confessions of a Webback. Wired 5.01 (January 1997). 6 From the Inner-Circle, Cracking Software is a Challenge... Wired 5.04 (April 1997). Dowe, Tom 1997 News You Can Abuse. Wired 5.01 (January 1997). Stone, Allucquère Rosanne 1995 Introduction in The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge: MIT Press. Bey, Hakim The Temporary Autonomous Zone. Kroker, Arthur and Marilouise 1996 Johnny Mnemonic: The Day Cyberpunk Died. In Hacking the Future. Pp. 50-1. New York: St. Martin's Press. Greetings from Burning Man! Wired 4.11 (November 1996). Platt, Charles 1997 The Great HDTV Swindle. Wired 5.02 (February 1997). 1st Annual Tired, Wired 100. Wired 4.04 (September 1996). PUSH! Wired 5.03 (March 1997). Web Burnout. Wired 4.09 (September 1996). 7