WEEK ONE/ Introduction
Mar 31
- Intro to Class, Syllabus, Attendance, Crashers, etc.
- Reading groups assigned for quarter.
Reading:
- Course Syllabus for FDM 136c
Apr 2
Before Class
Reading:
- Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History
- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, The Enduring Ephemeral, or the Future Is a Memory
In Class
Screening:
- Marker, La Jetee.
Lecture:
- no lecture - loose conversation about strike and Benjamin
WEEK TWO / LIGHT AND RATIONALITY
Apr 7
Before Class
Reading:
- Laura Rigal, "Imperial Attractions: Benjamin Franklin's New Experiments of 1751," in Memory Bytes
- Carolyn Marvin "Inventing the Expert," in When Old Media Were New.
- Michel Foucault, "What is Enlightenment"
- Sasha Archibald, "Blinded by the Light"
In Class
Screening:
- Charles Babbage & Ada Byron Lovelace
Lecture:
- Day 3
Apr 9
Before Class
Reading:
- James Gleick, Chapter 1, "Drums That Talk" from The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood (just chapter one)
Recommended Reading
- Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
- Judith Babbits, "Stereographs and the Construction of a Visual Culture in the United States" in Memory Bytes(edited 4/4)
In Class
Screening:
- Lonedale Operator
Lecture:
- Day 4
WEEK THREE / Industrialization of Space and Time
Apr 14
Before Class
Reading:
- Schivelbusch, "Railroad Space and Railroad Time" and Excursus "The Space of Glass Architecture" in Railway Journey
- Carolyn Marvin, "Locating the Body in Electrical Space and Electrical Time" in When Old Technologies Were New
Look At:
- Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Hole in Space
Recommended Reading:
- Selection Freud, Jokes and the Unconscious
In Class
Screening:
- Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895) ; Buster Keaton, The General (1926) 75'
Lecture:
- Day 5
Apr 16
Before Class
Reading:
- Carolyn Marvin, "Annihilating Space, Time and Difference: Experiments in Cultural Homogenation" When Old Technologies Were New
Run your eyes across this:
- Martin Heidegger, "The Question Concerning Technology"
Screening:
- Clockwork, Modern Times
Recommended Screening:
- Manufactured Landscapes
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 1: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Lecture:
- Day 6
WEEK FOUR / BODIES of INFORMATION 1 / ARCHIVE, FEEDBACK & CONTROL
Apr 21
Before Class
Reading:
- N. Katherine Hayles, Ch. 3, "Contesting for the Body of Information: The Macy Conferences on Cybernetics" in How We Became Posthuman
- Ronald E. Day, "The Erasure and Construction of History for the Information Age; Positivism and its Critics" in Memory Bytes
Review:
- Laura Rigal, "Imperial Attractions: Benjamin Franklin's New Experiments of 1751," in Memory Bytes
Recommended Reading:
- Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think"
- Lev Manovich, Database as Symbolic Form
In Class:
Lecture:
- Day 7 - lecture notes
- Day 7 - prezi
- Website to Frankenstein presentation
Apr 23
Before Class
Reading:
- James Gleick, excerpts from The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood -- read Prologue and Chapter 7 (pp 214).
- Warren Sack, "Public Space, Public Discussion and Social Computing"
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 2: Time out of Joint, PKD
Lecture:
- Day 8
- Time Out of Joint Presentation/ Website
Apr 27 Shot Analysis Due
WEEK FIVE / DEFENSIVE BODIES AND RESILIENCY
Apr 28
Before Class
Reading:
- Alex Galloway, "Form" Chapter 2 in Protocol
- Neal Stephenson, "Mother Earth Mother Board"
Recommended Reading:
- N. Katherine Hayles, "Turning Reality Inside Out and Right Side Out: Boundary Work in
the Mid-Sixties Novels of Philip K. Dick" in How We Became Posthuman
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 3: 1984, George Orwell
- Group 4: Ubik, Philip K Dick
Lecture:
- Day 9
- 1984 Presentation/ Website
- Ubik Presentation/ Website
Apr 30
Before Class
Recommended Reading: (pls note: this day's readings have shifted to recommended status)
- Ron Deibert, Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy, and the Dark Side of the Internet (2013)
- For good interactive media on the Snowden revelations:this.
- Paul Marks, "Pentagon Sets Its Sights on Social Networking Websites"
In Class
Screening:
- Fassbinder, World on a Wire
Lecture:
- Day 10
Midterm Released VIA THIS LINK Thursday 8:00a
Midterms Due Monday May 5th 11:59p
Week Six / BODIES OF INFORMATION 2
May 5
Before Class
Reading:
- N. Katherine Hayles, ch. 6 "The Second Wave of Cybernetics: From Reflexivity to Self-Organization" in How We Became Posthuman
- Guy Debord, Ch. 1, "The Culmination of Separation," Society of the Spectacle
- Tiqqun, "The Cybernetic Hypothesis" sections 1, 2 & 3
Look at:
- Richard Serra, Television Delivers People, 1973
Recommended Reading:
- Carolyn Marvin, "Community and Class order" in When Old Technologies Were New
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 5: Neuromancer, William Gibson
- Neuromancer Presentation Website
Lecture:
- Day 11
- Neuromancer Presentation/ Website
May 7
Before Class
Reading:
- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Orienting the Future
- Edward Said, excerpt from Orientalism
In Class
Screening:
- Bladerunner Or - Ghost in the Shell II
Lecture:
- Day 12
May 7 DANM MFA Show "Undercurrents" Write-Ups Due
WEEK SEVEN /DIGITAL UTOPIANISM, Labor, MODULATING DIFFERENCE
May 12
Before Class
Reading:
- Fred Turner, Chapters 2 & 3 from From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
- Christiane Paul, "Introduction" in Digital Art
Recommended Reading:
- CAE, "Nomadic Power and Electronic Resistance"
- Kazys Varnelis, Centripetal City
- Margaret Morse, "An Ontology of Everyday Distraction: Malls, Freeways and Television"
See Also
- Vanishing SF
- Whole Earth Catalog
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 6: Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Brave New World Presentation Website
Lecture:
- (Screening of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace)
May 14
Before Class
Reading:
- Donna Haraway, "Cyborg Manifesto"
- Lisa Nakamura, "Economies of Digital Production in East Asia: iPhone Girls and the Transnational Circuits of Cool"
Look at:
- Wages for Facebook
Recommended Reading:
- Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Review)
- Karl Marx, Capital Vol 1 Ch 15 Machinery and Modern Industry
In Class
Lecture:
- Day 14
May 18 Operating System Analysis Due
WEEK EIGHT / COLLECTIVE BODIES
May 19
Before Class
Reading:
- Neal Gorenflo, from Shareable, Michel Bauwens, from the P2P Foundation and John Robb, from Global Guerrillas, interview las Indias' David de Ugarte Translated/Re-edited * by Stacco Troncoso, edited by Jane Loes Lipton - Guerrilla Translation!
- Gabriella Coleman, "AnOnyMOuS In COnTExT: ThE POLITICS AnD POWER bEhInD ThE MASk"
- Ron Deibert, Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy, and the Dark Side of the Internet (2013) Chapter 14 - Anonymous: Expect Us
Recommended Reading:
- David Kushner, "Anonymous Vs. Steubenville" in Rolling Stone
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 7: Dispossessed, Ursula Leguin
- Disposessed Presentation Website and Video
- Group 8: Mockingjay, by Susan Collins
- Mockingjay Presentation Website
Lecture:
- Day 15
May 21
Before Class
Reading:
- Richard Stallman, Chapter 18, page 121, "Why Software Should Be Free"
- Wikipedia on The Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1 (Provisions), 2 (Anti-circumvention exemptions) & 3 (Linking)
- Gabriella Coleman and Mako Hill, How Free Became Open and Everything Else Under the Sun
In Class
Screening:
- Spectres of the Spectrum http://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/nov/14/artsfeatures
Lecture:
- Day 16
WEEK NINE / FREEDOM AND THE [social] BODY, TECHNO-LIBERTARIANISM, etc.
May 26
:: HOLIDAY ::
No Class
Reading:
- Jussi Parikka, "Digital Monsters, Binary Aliens - Computer Viruses, Capitalism and the Flow of Information"
Recommended Reading:
- David Kushner, "Dead End on the Silk Road...
- Bitcoin (video)
NO LECTURE
May 28
Before Class
Reading:
- Alex Galloway, "First Person Shooter"
In Class
Presentation:
- Visiting Artist Joan Raspo (canceled)
- Group 9: Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson
- Snowcrash Presentation Website
- Group 10: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
- Ender's Game Presentation Website
Lecture:
- Day 18
WEEK TEN / MEDICINE, MACHINES and LIFE
Jun 2
Before Class
Reading:
- David Depew, "From Heat Engines to Digital Printouts: Machine Models of the Body from the Victorian Era to the Human Genome Project"in Memory Bytes
- Scott Curtis, "Still/ Moving: Digital Imaging and Medical Hermeneutics" in Memory Bytes
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 11: Blood Music, Greg Bear
- Blood Music Presentation Website
Screening(s):
- eXistenZ
Lecture:
- Day 19
Jun 4
Before Class
Readings:
- N. Kathering Hayles, "The Materiality of Informatics," and "Narratives of Artificial Life" in How We Became Posthuman
In Class
Presentation:
- Group 12: Dawn, Octavia Butler
- Dawn Presentation Website
- Dream of Glass Presentation & Website
Lecture:
- Day 20
Jun 8 Essays Due
...
Final Exam "Non-Standard 1" Thursday, June 12 :: 3:30-7:00 p.m.