--MC150.09 Media Archaeology--
Info, Discourse, Networks
Modern Culture and Media Department
Spring 2007
Jessica Pressman
Visiting Lecturer
This course examines the
historical emergence of “media” and “media studies” as
a methodology of cultural discourse through the theoretical concepts of
“information,” “discourse” and
“networks.” We pursue media
archeology from the standpoint of contemporary new media and culture, tracing
not only the medial and material origins of actual technologies but also the
theoretical paradigms through which emerge these media forms and our engagement
with them.
Our course will be
focused on the following questions: What is media? And, in particular, what
makes some media “new media”? What is the difference between
information and knowledge? How do we construct and engage with media history?
Towards this pursuit, our readings will include fundamental texts from
computing history and information theory, cultural theory and criticism, as
well as creative digital works.
Instructor:
Jessica Pressman
Office
Hours: Mondays 11-2:30 and by appointment,
Email Address: Jessica_pressman@brown.edu
Seminar: Mondays 3-5:20 p.m.
Course Website: webct.brown.edu
Jay David Bolter and
Richard Grusin, Remediation:
Understanding New Media.
(Cambridge:
MITPress, 1999)
Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever : A Freudian Impression, trans. Eric Prenowitz (
N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics,
Literature, and Informatics (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1999)
Friedrich Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter (Stanford:
(1999,
[1986])
Lev Manovich, The
Language of New Media (
**Course Reader [CR] at
Allegra Printing
Requirements and Grading:
Web Postings and In-Class Participation 30%: You are
required to attend all class
meetings, aptly prepared and ready to participate in discussion. To help foster in-class discussion, you will
post a reading response each week. These short (1 page)
essays/reactions/questions must be posted to the class website (Discussion
page) by Sunday, 12 noon.
Midterm Group Project 20%: These small
group projects will provide an opportunity to collaborate with your peers on an
in-depth examination of one topic through an electronic medium of your choice.
Groups will present their projects during a midterm class meeting.
Final Web-Essay (7-10 pages) 50%: This final essay will be the culmination of your
efforts in the seminar, an analytical examination of at least one topic or work
from the syllabus. The critical essay will be presented as a web-based
argument, a website designed so that form supports the content of your
argument. Students will present their final projects in class on the last day
of the course.
Reading Schedule:
January 29: Introduction
February 5: Media Archaeology and Media-Specific
Analysis
Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge & The
Discourse of Language (1972)
(1-
14, 128-131)
[handout]
Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines (2002): Chapter 2:
“Material Metaphors,
Technotexts, and Media-Specific
Analysis” [CR]
Bob Brown, “The
Readies” (1930) [CR]
~ Young-hae Chang Heavy
Industries, Dakota (2002), (online)
<www.yhchang.com>
February 12: Media Studies and Extensions of Man
Vannevar Bush, “As
We May Think” (1945) and “Memex Revisited” (1967) [CR]
Ted Nelson, Literary Machines (1987) (Selections)
[CR]
Marshall McLuhan,
“The Galaxy Reconfigured” (1962) and “The Medium is the
Message” (1964) [CR]
February 19: no class—President’s day
February 26: Dreamweaver/ Website Workshop (CIT
Presentation in Computer Lab)
March 5: Informatics and Cybernetics
Norbert Wiener, “Cybernetics in History”
(1950) and “Men, Machines, and the World About” (1954) [CR]
J.C.R. Licklider, “Man-Computer
Symbiosis,” (1960) [CR]
Alan Turing, “Computing Machinery and
Intelligence” (1950) [CR]
~Interact with a Chatbot:
ELIZA (by Joseph Weizenbaum) <http://www-
ai.ijs.si/eliza/eliza.html>, Agent Ruby (by Lynn
Hershmann)
<http://www.agentruby.com>,
Ms. Dewey (Microsoft agent)
<http://www.msdewey.com>
March
12: Informatics and Cybernetics--The Posthuman
N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (1999): Chapters 1-4, 6, 8
~Linda
Carroli + Josephine Wilson, water
always writes in plural (online)
<http://www.ensemble.va.com.au/water>
March 19: Student Presentation of Group Projects
March 26: No Class—Spring Break
April 2: Information, Knowledge, and the Archive
Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever (1995): 1-31
~Jorge Luis Borges,
“Library of
April 9: Discourse Networks
Friedrich Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter (1999,
[1986]) (Selections)
Alan Liu,
“Transcendental Data: Toward a Cultural History and Aesthetics of
the
New Encoded Discourse,” (2004)
[CR]
April 16: New Media
Lev Manovich, The
Language of New Media (2001) (Selections)
Jay David Bolter and
Richard Grusin, Remediation (1999)
(Selections)
~Young-hae Chang Heavy
Industries, The Art of Sleep (online)
<http://www.tate.org.uk/netart/artofsleep>
April 23: The Net
Alexander Galloway,
“Protocol vs. Institutionalization”
(2004) [CR]
Wendy Chun, Control
and Freedom (2006): Chapter 1, “Why Cyberspace” [CR]
~Erik Loyer, Chroma (online)
<http://marrowmonkey.com>
April
30: Individual Meetings with Students to Discuss Final Projects
May 7:
Student Presentations