Welcome to AmSt/Engl/DTC 475!
Digital Diversity
Digital Diversity
LOOKING FOR THE BLOGS?
Everything you need is right here.
Bookmark the course blog for news from me and links to your classmates' blogs.
Everything you need is right here.
Bookmark the course blog for news from me and links to your classmates' blogs.
This course will facilitate student exploration into the cultural impact of electronic media, especially the World Wide Web and social networking systems. Students will investigate issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the body found in their study of cyberculture. The guiding question for the course is, broadly, how does cyberspace and online communities reinforce, transform, and/or resist inequalities found in what we can affectionately call "meatspace" (or "real life")?
REQUIRED TEXTS
- David Bell (ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd edition, 2007, ISBN: 0415410673)
- Lisa Nakamura, Digitizing Race (ISBN: 0816646139)
- other readings linked in the course calendar, below
SYLLABUS & PROJECT ASSIGNMENT SHEETS
- Course Syllabus (PDF)
- Blogging
- Take-Home Mid-Term (PDF)
- Final Paper (PDF)
COURSE CALENDAR
This schedule, unlike the one in the syllabus document, will always be up-to-date and correct. Refer to it if you have questions about due dates.
| WEEK ONE—BASICS | |
| TUE (01/12) | The mechanics of the class, syllabus overview, standard first-day stuff. |
| THU (01/14) | Read for Today: Benedikt, "Cyberspace: First Steps" (CR 19-33) DUE by FRI (01/15) 5:00pm: blog post #1 (see assignment) |
| WEEK TWO—CYBERCULTURE, COMMUNITY, & THE DIGITAL DIVIDE | |
| TUE (01/19) | Read for Today: Carvin, "Mind the Gap: The Digital Divide as the Civil Rights Issue of the New Millennium"; Warschauer, "Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide" |
| THU (01/21) | Read for Today: Willson, "Community in the Abstract: A Political and Ethical Dilemma?" (CR 213-226); Bakardjieva, "Virtual Togetherness: An Everyday-Life Perspective" (CR 236-253) DUE by FRI (01/22) 5:00pm: blog post #2 (see assignment) |
| WEEK THREE—CYBERCULTURE, COMMUNITY, & THE DIGITAL DIVIDE | |
| TUE (01/26) | Read for Today: Robins "Against Virtual Community" (CR 227-235); Bell, "Webs as Pegs" (CR 254-264) |
| THU (01/28) | Read for Today: Lenoir & Alt, "Flow, Process, Fold" (CR 664-687); Adriana de Souza e Silva, "From Cyber to Hybrid: Mobile Technologies as Interfaces of Hybrid Spaces" (CR 757-772) DUE by FRI (01/29) 5:00pm: blog post #3 (see assignment) |
| WEEK FOUR—RACE | |
| TUE (02/02) | Read for Today: Nakamura, Digitizing Race - Introduction (1-36) |
| THU (02/04) | Read for Today: Nakamura, Digitizing Race - ch 1, "'Ramadan is Almoast Here!' The Visual Culture of AIM Buddies, Race, Gender, and Nation on the Internet" (37-69) DUE by FRI (02/05) 5:00pm: blog post #4 (see assignment) |
| WEEK FIVE—RACE | |
| TUE (02/09) | Read for Today: Nakamura, Digitizing Race - ch 2, "Alllooksame? Mediating Visual Culturs of Race on the Web" (70-94) |
| THU (02/11) | Read for Today: Nakamura, Digitizing Race - ch 3, "The Social Optics of Race and Networked Interfaces in The Matrix Trilogy and Minority Report" (95-110) DUE by FRI (02/12) 5:00pm: blog post #5 (see assignment) |
| WEEK SIX—RACE | |
| TUE (02/16) | Read for Today: Nakamura, Digitizing Race - ch 5, "Measuring Race on the Internet: Users, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the United States" (171-201) |
| THU (02/18) | *** NO CLASS MEETING *** DUE by FRI (02/19) 5:00pm: blog post #6 (see assignment) |
| WEEK SEVEN—GENDER & SEXUALITY | |
| TUE (02/23) | Read for Today: Rehak, "Mapping the Bit Girl" (CR 159-173); Schleiner, "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons?" |
| THU (02/25) | Read for Today: Kendall, "Oh No! I'm a Nerd!' Hegemonic Masculinity in an Online Forum"; Dibbell, "A Rape in Cyberspace" DUE by FRI (02/26) 5:00pm: blog post #7 (see assignment) |
| WEEK EIGHT—GENDER & SEXUALITY | |
| TUE (03/02) | Read for Today: Plant, "On the Matrix: Cyberfeminist Simulations" (CR 340-351); Sandoval, "New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and the Methodology of the Oppressed" (CR 352-364) |
| THU (03/04) | Read for Today: Adam, "Feminist AI Projects and Cyberspace" (CR 386-410) I will hand out the TAKE HOME MID-TERM (DUE via e-mail by TUE 03/09 9:00am) |
| WEEK NINE—THE BODY | |
| TUE (03/09) | Read for Today: Lupton, "The Embodied Computer/User" (CR 422-432); Stone, "Will the Real Body Please Stand Up? Boundary Stories About Virtual Cultures" (CR 433-455) |
| THU (03/11) | Read for Today: Hayles, "Computing the Human" (CR 557-574) DUE by FRI (03/12) 5:00pm: blog post #8 (see assignment) |
| SPRING BREAK [03/16 to 03/18] | |
| WEEK TEN—CYBERPOLITICS | |
| TUE (03/23) | Read for Today: Sassen, "Digital Networks and the State: Some Governance Questions" (CR 582-593); Jordan, "Technopower and Its Cyberfutures" (CR 594-601) |
| THU (03/25) | Read for Today: Taylor, "Hackers - Cyperpunks or Microserfs?" (CR 602-617) DUE by FRI (03/26) 5:00pm: blog post #9 (see assignment) |
| WEEK ELEVEN—CYBERPOLITICS | |
| TUE (03/30) | Read for Today: Kahn and Kellner, "Technopolitics and Oppositional Media" (CR 618-637) |
| THU (04/01) | Read for Today: Holcomb, Bakelaaar, and Zizzamia, "The Internet in the Aftermath of the World Trade Center Attack" (CR 638-650) DUE by FRI (04/02) 5:00pm: blog post #10 (see assignment) |
| WEEKS TWELVE TO FIFTEEN—PRESENTATIONS | |
| TUE (04/06) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Kim I. 12:15 PM: Maurice S. 12:25 PM: Brandon A. 12:35 PM: Kaitlin C. 12:45 PM: open 12:55 PM: open |
| THU (04/08) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Lorena S. 12:15 PM: Sheila N. 12:25 PM: open 12:35 PM: open 12:45 PM: Corrinda L. 12:55 PM: Kat C. DUE by FRI (04/09) 5:00pm: blog post #11 (see assignment) |
| TUE (04/13) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Jennica W. 12:15 PM: open 12:25 PM: Hans W. 12:35 PM: Hannah G. 12:45 PM: Spencer T. 12:55 PM: open |
| THU (04/15) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Katie S. 12:15 PM: Beau Y. 12:25 PM: Andrew H. 12:35 PM: James C. 12:45 PM: Laura A. 12:55 PM: Maribel M. DUE by FRI (04/16) 5:00pm: blog post #12 (see assignment) |
| TUE (04/20) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Mark M. 12:15 PM: Dena L. 12:25 PM: Kristopher M. 12:35 PM: Sarah F. 12:45 PM: Cassie L. 12:55 PM: Adriana N. |
| THU (04/22) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Josh C-1 12:15 PM: Michelle A. 12:25 PM: Brittany B. 12:35 PM: Mark B. 12:45 PM: Matt L. 12:55 PM: Dan A. DUE by FRI (04/23) 5:00pm: blog post #13 (see assignment) |
| TUE (04/27) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Lee K. 12:15 PM: Tina W. 12:25 PM: Micheal P. 12:35 PM: Angel A. 12:45 PM: Derek N. 12:55 PM: Kristin E. |
| THU (04/29) | Presentations/Discussions 12:05 PM: Brent R. 12:15 PM: Nancy R. 12:25 PM: Cynthia J. 12:35 PM: Neil F. 12:45 PM: Josh C-2 12:55 PM: Saundra B. DUE by FRI (04/30) 5:00pm: blog post #14 (see assignment) |
| ** THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM IN THIS CLASS ** However, your research papers will be due via e-mail on Thursday, May 6th, by 9pm. |
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