The details
This is all up in the air. I want to nail it down ASAP.
Introduction
This course is “new” in several ways: it is being offered now for the first time, it’s the first time I’m teaching it, and we’re dealing with content which is arguably the newest in the canon of English Studies. Because of all these things, I will be asking you to help me shape the course in profound ways we’ll discuss at length in class. That is why this syllabus isn’t nearly as polished as some of the other courses I’ve put together at Western—it’s not done. We’ll fix that soon.
ENG 481 is a temporary home for ENG 489, New Media, the second of a two-course series which examines the artifacts of print literacy, electronic media, and networked computing using the framework of English studies. In this course, we extend the focus on writing which is the hallmark of ENG 480, Computers and Writing, to other forms which call the stability of textuality into question. What does it mean to write in an age where, as W. J. T Mitchell observes, writing is just another stream of bits flowing through a cable, projected on a screen, or even moved through the air? How can the literary and rhetorical approaches of English studies be applied to artifacts which traditionalists would consider “not part of English” because they are not books or essays? How can the methods of established disciplines such as cinema studies help us understand other kinds of moving pictures, as Lev Manovich claims? What are the implications, for “old” and “new” media, of the epistemological shift Greg Ulmer traces in contemporary culture—from orality to literacy to electracy? Why, indeed, do we use the term “new media” to describe networked writing, electronic gaming, digital cinema, and other forms—weren’t all media “new media” at one time or another?
While our focus is rhetorical, poetic, and hermeneutic analysis of new media texts, and intensive study of new media theory, we will also engage the production of new media. For example, we’ll discuss our texts online, we’ll make web pages, we’ll manipulate photos with Adobe Photoshop, we’ll play computer games which allow extension and creation of virtual worlds, and, time permitting, we’ll produce short films or interactive media. However, this work will be geared towards understanding the texts and theories we read, the cultural significance of these media, and their effect on established forms and genres—not mastery of any given software application or production skill. While I will certainly encourage you to cultivate such abilities on your own, in this course production is a means to an end, not an end in itself. (I expect you to have prior proficiency in the writing of web pages from ENG 480, your own study, or courses in other departments.)
Graduate students in the class will fulfill the “additional expectations” required by the Graduate School in one of two ways:
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by following the same syllabus and completing the same assignments, with higher assessment standards;
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extending the course content to include the study of new media pedagogies established in the field of Computers & Writing (appropriate for those interested in teaching at the post-secondary level).
Objectives and goals
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Study the history and theory of new media, asking what qualifies as “new media,” learning about the emerging field of new media studies, and considering its relationship to cinema studies and other fields well-established in contemporary English studies, such as rhetoric and composition, cultural studies, and literary theory.
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Consider the ways new media such as networked writing, electronic gaming, and digital cinema interact with and include elements of speech, writing, print, and other established forms.
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Investigate the epistemological changes associated with the rise of print and electronic media.
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Apply the techniques of rhetorical and literary analysis and cultural studies to new media “texts” as we engage with them as “readers.”
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Apply theoretical knowledge gained from course readings (or from other areas of English studies in which you already have expertise) to the production of new media forms.
Assignments
Some of these are tentative. Some not...
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Vigorous and enthusiastic participation in class discussions of the course texts and issues they raise, both in-class and online.
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Presentations related to course content.
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Weekly small in-class production assignments, both individual and in groups. Some studios will be devoted to production and group work.
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Three online projects, one small and two large. All will include a substantial amount of writing and, at your discretion, work with other media.
Contacting Bradley
Office: 217 Simpkins Hall, T W Th 11:00am to 12:30pm, 309-298-2212
Home: 309-836-1454 (please call before 10pm, and always leave a message)
Mailbox: 122 Simpkins Hall (8am to 4:30pm, M-F)
Email: cb dash dilger at wiu dot edu