Language, Text, Technology

Background

In today's rapid proliferation and diversification of information, it is important to explore the dynamic and porous relationship between language, text, and technology so to be better prepared to conceptualize, create, consume, and critique the remediated, remixed digital space of NOW.

Course Structure

Course activities include lectures, discussions, collaborative workshops, individual and collaborative course projects, and presentations. We will read and discuss theoretical approaches and apply them to practice. The goal is to provide you a born digital sensibility and a keen focus on interdisciplinarity. We can articulate this philosophy through these Ten Guiding Principles.

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Conceptual Framework

DTC 375 Language, Text, Technology explores language and text (aural, written, and visual) as prescribed pattern/symbol making systems for extending, sharing, and preserving human social, cultural, and historical information. Digital technologies can introduce new systems and patterns that modify the affordances of language and text. Language, texts, and technology are, therefore, systems of extension. They extend our abilities to conceptualize, create, communicate, and consume information in different forms over time and distance.

The overlay and interweaving of Language, Text, and Technology in mediated digital contexts offers a number of profound cultural and creative implications, especially in light of open access and social knowledge. It is important to understand the implications. Otherwise, we are at a disadvantage as creators and consumers of information. The following approach can help us be better prepared as creators and consumers of information.

LEARN

How does technology destabilize our concepts of textuality, authorship, narrative, authenticity, and knowledge, among other aspects of literacy?

THINK

Does technology change the way we think of language use for reading and writing—"creating" and/or "consuming"—a text, even what constitutes a "text"?

BUILD

How does this knowledge influence how we create mediated artifacts that carry aesthetic, economic, literary, and social meanings?

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Learning Goals

This course is aligned with my Personal Teaching Goals, several CMDC Program Learning Goals (NOTE: There will be a test in your Senior Seminar course about how you connected to each of these ten goals.), the CMDC Program Five Standards of Excellence, and several WSU Learning Goals.

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Evaluations

Student Evaluations > Spring 2018

OVERALL

• John is a fantastic instructor.
• He is passionate about the program and is always interested in student discussion.
• This is a great course.

INSTRUCTOR STRENGTHS

John is excellent at making his students think differently, was passionate about this course, always open to questions and concerns, friendly, clear about deadline and objectives, enthusiastic about materials covered in course, I enjoy being in his class, a great professor.

INSTRUCTOR IMPROVEMENTS

• Make lectures more interactive between students.
• Fewer written assignments. More mini-projects tied into our Capstone Projects.
• Have quizzes over the readings.
• I can't think of one.

COURSE DID/DID NOT HELP YOU LEARN

• I felt that I could have learned course concepts better if more of the weekly assignments were project based, not just written.

STUDENT IMPROVEMENTS

• Studying the course readings more. I fell behind at times because they were not required.
• Spent more time with readings.
• Student study groups.

HALL OF FAME

John Barber is an amazing instructor. He has passion, compassion, and a radio voice.
— Spring 2018

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Projects > Production and Submission Guidelines

WHAT?

Several projects are required for this course. These guidelines apply to all projects. Additional guidelines and requirements may apply, and will be noted with the assignment details.

SO WHAT?

• Effective use of language, text, and technology contributes significantly to your success. Computer literacy is not enough. You also need to speak and write well.
• These projects demonstrate your developing knowledge, and your ability to produce effective communication. Impress me with your thinking.
• Projects may be useful for your writing portfolio, and/or Senior Seminar portfolio. Save them.

GUIDELINES

• Follow the directions for each project. Not following directions = point loss.
• Submit projects as and when required. Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• DO NOT attempt to print your project using the classroom printer. It may jam, preventing you from achieving success. Print before you come to class.
• Use standard/default margins. This is layout.
• Use 11 point font, sans-serif preferred, and 1.5 line spacing. This is typography.
• Use correct MLA citations for all works cited. Citation Machine may be helpful.
• Use a dictionary and spellchecker. Points deducted for wrong, incorrect, and misspelled words. This is professionalism.
• Use a conceptual framework to organize and best present your thoughts and ideas. This is effective writing. LEARN more.
• Use the Writing Center for resources and refining your writing. This is smart.
• Edit your writing. Strive for concise, accurate, compelling communication. This is hard work, but worth the effort.
• Submit only your best work. Exemplary students will do more. Be exemplary.
• Include your name and Project # on papers you submit. Many people forget.

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Capstone Project > Time Remaining

Challenge

Conceive, create, and communicate a substantial multimedia artifact that demonstrates the depth of your learning about the interplay between language, text, and technology and how they extend our abilities to conceptualize, create, communicate, and consume information in different forms, through different media, over time and distance.

Overview

Throughout the semester, we will explore a number of topics associated with LANGUAGE+TEXT+TECHNOLOGY. One of these topics may spark your interest. This topic may connect with others. These connections provide a portal to your talking about what you have learned. So, the purpose of the Capstone Project is to demonstrate your learning in this course.

The Capstone Project is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your learning in this course. Because it covers your learning throughout the semester, and requires more time and effort for exemplary success, the Capstone Project is worth more points. My advice is panic now and avoid the rush. If you wait until the last moment, you will not be as successful as you might wish. Information about the Capstone Project follows. Start thinking now about this project.

Consider

"The thing about visions is that they encounter material limits when they are translated into artefacts."
— Belinda Barnet. Memory Machines: The Evolution of Hypertext. Anthem, 2014, p. 21.

LEARN

How does technology destabilize our concepts of textuality, authorship, narrative, authenticity, and knowledge, among other aspects of literacy?

THINK

Does technology change the way we think of language use for reading and writing—"creating" and/or "consuming"—a text, even what constitutes a "text"?

BUILD

How does this knowledge influence how we create mediated artifacts that carry aesthetic, economic, literary, and social meanings?

Get Started

• Review the online course schedule, noting all CAPITALIZED words throughout.
• Choose three (3) that interest you and with which you can build a project connected to language, texts and technology. For example
  • READ + REMEDIATE + SOUND
  • TEXTUALITY + MATERIALITY + ORALITY
  • LANGUAGE + WRITING + COMPUTER
• Research your target words thoroughly.
• Start with the provided resources. Find others.
• Think about what your chosen words mean in light of our course topics.
• Think about the relationship(s) between your chosen words and language, texts, and technology.
• Think about the limits of your chosen words.
• Think about their future(s) with regard to ever evolving digital media.
• Ask questions like
  • How might your chosen words impact the development of digital technologies?
  • What media / methods might be available for demonstrating / sharing the ideas and opportunities represented by your chosen words?
  • What does the future look like for your chosen words + (language, texts and technology)?

General Requirements and Expectations

Your Capstone Project must be an online site, inside of which you develop your ideas and connections for the three words you have chosen (see above). NOTE: A YouTube video, or any other creative effort, alone, will not be sufficient, or successful.

Your Capstone Project website should include writing and media. The writing should demonstrate your ability to use language to convey your thinking. More details below.

The media should demonstrate the interconnectedness of language, text, and technology. More details below.

Your Capstone Project must be archived online, at a stable URL. More details below.

Your Capstone Project must be based on topics covered in this course. It should demonstrate your learning, and your work over the course of the successful.

Despite these guidelinles, you have a great deal of freedom about how to approach and present your project. This will make you happy, or cause you to implode with stress. There is no shame in asking for advice, or help. Choose your own adventure. The force will guide you.

You have all semester to conceptualize, design, and develop your Capstone Project. It should

• Represent your time and effort
• Showcase your thinking and learning
• Demonstrate your ability to communicate ideas in compelling ways.

Your Capstone Project should be exemplary, not something thrown together at the last minute. The time remaining clock is ticking (see above). Start thinking now about your Capstone Project. Avoid the panic and rush at the end of the semester. If you wait until the last moment, your project will not be exemplary. Neither will your grade.

Specific Requirements and Expectations

The parts of your Capstone Project should complement each other, provide evidence of your learning, and be substantial enough to earn the associated points. Here is further information.

Writing
Remember, your writing documents your exploration of the connections you conceptualize between your three chosen words. This writing will require reading and research. From this research you must develop a conceptual framework for your Capstone Project. See Project #10, draft of your conceptual framework, and Project #13, final version.

Your writing should present as a substantial written document. The length must equal at least five pages, but you can go for more without penalty. The five pages might break down as one page for your introduction, one page each for your three chosen terms, and one page for your conclusion. This written document must be submitted at the time of your final presentation, or earlier. Late work not accepted. NOTE: This writing may form a substantial part of the online component of your Capstone Project.

In writing about your three (3) chosen terms, you are not writing about your opinion or impression, but rather taking a more objective, research-based viewpoint as you connect these three terms and focus on your main idea. You must include, for each term, at least three (3) references to support your ideas and/or claims. All references must be completely and correctly cited in the text and as Works Cited using MLA (Modern Language Association) style(s) for each.

Keep in mind the following considerations for your written document . . .

• Normal formatting is fine.
• Images are fine, but should not substitute for substantial text.
• Mistakes of any kind will deduct points.
• Late work will not be accepted.

Multimedia
"Multimedia" means multiple forms of media. Your Capstone Project must include, at a minimum, text and images.

A substantial portion of the "text" might be provided by your written document (see above).

"Image" might be graphical representations of language, text, text as image, image as information. Infographics, video, and animation are fine.

Will you include sound? What about links, opportunities for interaction?

Additional content is up to you.

Your Capstone Project must be contextualized online, at a stable URL. I will create a link from this course website to your project so that it will be available as an example for students next semester.

Where is a good place to locate your Capstone Project? Choose your own adventure. An online book, a website, a blog, your online program portfolio are good ideas.

As part of your portfolio, your Capstone Project will be valuable for your Senior Seminar work, and your job search at graduation. If you do not have an online portfolio, or access to online space, ask. There are options.

You may build your online space for your Capstone Project through hands-on coding, or by using a content management system like WordPress. Other online building platforms, although easy to use, may not be the best presentation of your abilities as a digital media artist.

ALL your content must appear in this space. You may link to outside spaces, but someone wanting to learn from your work must be able to find everything they need in your online Capstone Project space.

How will you present your ideas, learning, knowledge, connections in this space?

NOTE: A YouTube posting will not be sufficient.

Presentation
In the final days of this class, you will present your Capstone Project to the entire class. Details follow.

• You will present your Capstone Project to the entire class on a designated day.
• This presentation may be very short. Timing will develop as the course proceeds.
• You should show your project online as part of your presentation.
• This is not a public speaking, or presentation class, so your grade will not be based primarily on either, or both, but lack of preparation on your part, and lack of professionalism in your presentation could negatively influence your overall grade.
• More details about presentations will be provided throughout the semester.

Examples

See the "Capstone Examples" menu tab (above) for descriptions of and links to Capstone Projects by students in past classes.

Assessment

• Demonstrates depth of thinking and engagement.
• Demonstrates time and effort and focus throughout semester.
• Demonstrates originality of thought.
• Demonstrates evidence of desire to be exemplary.
• Demonstrates care and concern to eliminate errors and poor communication.
• Demonstrates ethical creation and use of information.
• Demonstrates ability to make rapid iterations as new information is acquired, or new combinations of language, text, and technology provide new portals for your ideas.
• Demonstrates successful completion of all project components and as when required.

Details

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for more information.
• Due as and when required. Further details will be provided throughout the course.
• ALL aspects of your online space, and ALL components of your Capstone Project MUST be working. Your Capstone Project must be finished and working. No opportunity for extended time to finish or tweak your Capstone Project.
• Broken and/or incomplete links will reduce your grade.
• Mistakes and problems with your writing and/or other forms of communication will reduce your final grade.
• Lack of evidence regarding your sustained thought and effort with this project will reduce your final grade.
• Required presentations of aspects of your project should be expected throughout the semester.
• Emailed or late work not accepted.
• Graded.

RESOURCES to help jumpstart your thinking

All the resources provided on this webpage can provide grounding for your Capstone Project. In addition to the specific resources for each class, I also maintain other resources to help jumpstart your thinking. LEARN more.

WATCH

What is Multimodality? (YouTube video, 6:05, captions available)
by Sean Tingle
An overview of MULTIMODALITY and multimodal composition, with examples of how these approaches and strategies might be used to engage audiences on multiple levels. This video could help jumpstart your thinking about how best to create and share projects for this course.

READ

A History of Modern Computing by Paul Cerruzi (PDF)

True Names
by Vernor Vinge
More than forty years before William Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his story "Burning Chrome," Vinge developed the idea, and filled it with LANGUAGE, TEXTS and TECHNOLOGY.

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (PDF)

Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff (PDF)
A small book (ten short chapters) with a big message: Do we direct TECHNOLOGY, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it? "Choose the former," writes Rushkoff, "and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make." Rushkoff picks up where Marshall McLuhan left off, helping readers come to recognize PROGRAMMING as the new LITERACY of the digital age-and as a template through which to see beyond social conventions and power structures that have vexed us for centuries.
Alternate sources
Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff (PDF)
Scribd website. Available as PDF. Read online or download with an account registration.
Program or Be Programmed
"Borrow" this book from Internet Archive.

The Hacker Ethic
by Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz
A personal statement about the value of "hacking" and how learning to program computers can change your life for the better.

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Capstone Project Examples

Spring 2019 | Fall 2018 | Spring 2018

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To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Get printed information about grades, texts, etc.
◊ Start Project #1. See "Project #1" menu tab.

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Overview

The course begins. Introductions. Interface. Foundations. Anticipations of patron saint Marshall McLuhan.

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Tuesday, 25 August > Introduction and Overview

Meet colleagues and course professor, who will introduce the course goals, expectations, and resources. Based on information provided, you decide whether to move forward, or choose another path.

CONSIDER

On one hand, the future is yours. Own it.
On the other hand, this course is dangerous. It could change your life.

ENDURE

Module 1.1 Course Considerations (PDF)

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Thursday, 27 August > Medium Is the Massage (and message)

CONSIDER

Perhaps you are familiar with The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore from a previous DTC class. See below for access to the book and related resources.

The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore is perhaps McLuhan's best known book, and perhaps his most accessible theory. The message is: It's not about the content (the message), but rather the context, the medium. The medium, and how it delivers the message, always changes the message.

Following this theme, the original title of the book was to be The Medium Is the MEssage. A typesetter's mistake returned the title as The Medium Is the MAssage. McLuhan insisted the mistaken title remain as it demonstrated his message so well.

The Medium Is the Massage provides a foundation for much of what we will do and think about in this course. Here are sources for the book and more information.

• Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. 1967. The Medium is the Massage (PDF)
  Perhaps you have read this for previous class? If so, it's good to review. If not, you definitely should read this short book.
• Marshall McLuhan. The Medium is the Message (YouTube video, 46:07, captions available)
  McLuhan talks about this book following a lecture recorded by ABC Radio National Network on 27 June 1979 in Australia. Keep in mind that everything he says is before the Internet and World Wide Web existed.

We will also consider other important ideas from McLuhan's work with media theory, like the idea of different spaces inhabited by humankind . . . acoustic (SOUND), speech (LANGUAGE, ORALITY), WRITING, PRINTING, VISUAL, and ELECTRIC (television and radio). We should add COMPUTER space as we inhabit it now and are awash in its constant remix of language, TEXT, and TECHNOLOGY.

ENGAGE

The Medium Is the Massage is the basis for Project #1. See the menu tab, above, for information about how to proceed with this project.

ENDURE

Module 1.2 Define Terms (PDF)

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Resources > Week #1

The Medium is the Massage (YouTube video, captioning not available)
Companion LP to released with McLuhan's book, The Medium is the Massage in 1968 (Columbia CS 9501, CL2701). Digitally remastered in 2011 for McLuhan's 100th birthday. Listen and enjoy.

Marshall McLuhan, appearance on Monday Conference, Australia television, 27 June 1979. (YouTube videos, captions available)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Marshall McLuhan Life and Times, CBC production. (YouTube videos, captions available)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Project #1 > Medium and Message of a Book

CHALLENGE

Respond to several questions about the nature of "books." Answer these questions from your own point of view/understanding. But, you may wish to demonstrate your understanding of The Medium Is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore by using quotes and citations from the book to support your answers. This resource may be helpful.

CONSIDER

• "What is a book?"
• "What is the message of a book?"
• "Is there any difference between The Medium Is the Message as a print book, a digital book, and an electronic facsimile?" If so, what is this difference and how does it change the message?
• "What is the message of each mode of the same book?"

HANDS ON #1

Review The Medium Is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. (PDF)

HANDS ON #2

• Write an answer to each of the four questions under the "CONSIDER" subheading, above.
• Perhaps this format will be helpful
  Question: "What is a book?"
  Answer: A book is . . . (you write your thoughts here)
  Continue until you have answered all the questions.
• Answer these questions from your own point of view/understanding.
• Support your answers with specific, concrete, and real examples taken from your reading and learning.

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Be prepared to discuss your project during class.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

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To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #1. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #2. See "Project #2" menu tab.

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Overview

The Medium Is the Massage. Real, or a typographical mistake? McLuhan says media, with their different interfaces, create spaces as contexts for language, text, and technology.

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Tuesday, 1 September > Medium(s) + Me(a)ssage = Interplay

SUBMIT

Project #1 > Medium and Message of a Book due at beginning of this class.

CONSIDER

What can we learn from our responses to Project #1?

HANDS ON

Collaborative response to Project #1. Let's discuss the features and affordances and potentialities for traditional and digital books.

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Thursday, 3 September > Language, Text, Technology Spaces

CONSIDER

In his books Understanding Media (1964, PDF) and The Medium is the Massage (1967), McLuhan argues that communication technologies evolved through and from various spaces and media, each overcoming and replacing the previous, creating problems as well as opportunities. These spaces might be called

• Acoustic
• Speech (includes ORALITY, LANGUAGE, and WRITING)
• Print
• Electronic, which, he said, extended the human nervous system outside the body, creating a new medium of interaction with the environment.

ENDURE

Module 2.1 McLuhan's Spaces: Places for Interplay (PDF)

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Resources > Week #2

Redefining the Cultural Interface—An Imaginative Dissension Using Art, Technology and a Shared Ecology of the Mind
Marc Garrett (marc.garrett@furtherfield.org) argues that we should be actively engaged in taking control of our own culture through changing its interface. "The cultural interface," he says," is our palette and everything fits into that, whether it be eco-politics, social freedoms, opensource, art and much more." He provided the following notes to the Humanist email discussion list on 4 August 2008 . . .

If we do not build between us shared and approachable frameworks that offer (possible, scale-free) models of working together, which move beyond the isolationist functions of limiting, stultifying modernist agendas. Then we probably deserve what happens next.

How we engage in curating, writing, creation of New Media Art and related cultures, depends on our relationship with it. In a climate where social contexts, issues around ecology and our interaction with technology frames, much of what and how we perceive information and culture to be. It becomes clear that culture is a fluid, complex and diverse, ever changing, dynamic interface. How we as practitioners become more active agents within this multifarious interface, is the key. If we, as active agents have become more closely connected, involved in this cultural interface; to change social contexts through our creative practices, then we are changing our culture, its interface.

We are now dealing with a proliferating set of possibilities in New Media Art and connected endeavors. Especially from those who have come from alternative situations, perspectives and grass roots cultures. In implementing ideas that reflect an art aesthetic, whilst at the same time taking more control and responsibility of our social contexts, which involves curating, the making of artwork as well as the appropriation of technology, We have hacked into the mainframe. We've got this...

We potentially, possess a shared investment with those who have traditionally held the keys in controlling our cultures. Now that we are here, what are the next steps in expanding and distributing our practices into a world that still views traditional frameworks of 'fine art' as the main focus around art engagement? How do we integrate and share this possibility of scale-free power? How does New Media Art maintain its critical voice, independence and cultural diversity whilst becoming part of a larger context?

This idea of using new media art for dissent is intriguing. How might one proceed with such an endeavor?

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Project #2 > Considering Spaces

CHALLENGE

Respond to several questions about Marshall McLuhan's notions of space.

CONSIDER

• Based on class lectures and discussions this week . . .
• What do you think McLuhan means by the term space?
• Can we identify McLuhan's spaces in our lives today?
• What occurs inside these spaces?
• How does this affect our considerations of LANGUAGE, TEXT, and TECHNOLOGY?

HANDS ON

Prepare your answers in some form, involving either LANGUAGE, TEXT, or TECHNOLOGY, alone or in combination. Be creative. Think outside the linear confines of print. Your project might take some other form utilizing language, text, technology. But, make sure you communicate your point(s).

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Be prepared to show and discuss your project in class.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

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To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Submit Project #2. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #3. See "Project #3" menu tab.

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Overview

Sound Space. Watch and Listen.

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Tuesday, 8 September> Acoustic Space

SUBMIT

Project #2 > Considering Spaces due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

Sound (traditional) = augments, compliments literature
Sound (new, now) = provides basis/connections for art
My Transects project experiments with these ideas and seeks to experience spaces and/or places through sound(s).

WATCH

Acoustic Space (Vimeo video, 14:24, captions not available)
Acoustic Space (Amara video, 14:24, captions available)
A short film about how technology has changed the way we communicate.

ENDURE

Module 3.1 Acoustic Space (PDF)
Acoustic space (sound space) surrounded pre-literate humans, who had only abstract thought to make sense of what they heard. We can never know acoustic space, as it predates SPEECH, LANGUAGE, WRITING, etc., and we are too deeply connected to each, but we can imagine it through soundscapes, and transects.

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Thursday, 10 September > Sound Space and Place

CONSIDER

Module 3.2 Sound Narratives (PDF)

WATCH

Berlin—Symphony of a Great City (YouTube video, 1:01:52, silent movie, no captions)
by Walter Ruttmann
German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann is noted for this 1927 SILENT film, a pioneering audio-visual montage in the city-travel genre that followed the activities of the industrial city and its inhabitants throughout the day. For this film, Ruttmann captured daily life in Berlin with a sound camera. The audio was recorded on the optical track of the film stock. Movie theatres did not have ability to provide sound, so Berlin was shown as a silent film. NOTE: the link above leads to the full length version of Berlin. Separate parts available here. (YouTube videos, lengths vary, includes reimagined musical score, no captions).

Ruttmann's Berlin may have influenced Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929; See later this course). And, you might want to consider the connection between Berlin and Koyaanisqatsi, a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living, and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way. The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the trilogy and is considered a cult film.

Wochenende [Weekend] (YouTube video, 11:00, no captions for sounds)
by Walter Ruttmann
In 1930, using outtakes from Berlin, Ruttmann created this eleven-minute experimental film, the first to consist entirely of sound, no images. Weekend was heard in movie theatres, and was broadcast on radio.

LISTEN

Listen to Wikipedia (Website, with sound)
Listen to the sound of recent changes to Wikipedia. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note.
NOTE: Textual information is available for this episode. Follow the URL above.

HANDS ON

Plan for an in-class discussion about these resources and how they promote the idea and experience of sound narrative(s).

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Resources > Week #3

Back of the Mike: Old Time Radio Sound Effects 1938 (YouTube video, 9:15, captions available)
Back of the Mike: Old Time Radio Sound Effects 1938 (Amara video, 9:15, captions available)
This is how voice actors and SOUND artists created the RADIO shows of the 1930s! Insider's view of the 1930s radio studio showing the production of dramatic SOUND effects.

Sound Diary (Website, with sound)
Collects sounds that transect my life. These sounds disappear soon after their original sounding. Without these recordings, these sounds might be lost to me and my memories.

The Museum of Endangered Sounds (Website, with sound) Provides interactive experiences with sounds made by no longer current electronic equipment and technologies. Another sense of this experience is available through this YouTube video.

Conserve the Sound (Website, with sound)
A German archive of sounds from old technology and gadgets. Browse randomly or find a corresponding tag, and you are presented with straightforward imagery and a player loaded with carefully captured sound of the device being operated. Have a piece of tech or a gadget not here? You can upload a sound recording.

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Project #3 > Lost Sounds of a Day in My Life

CONSIDER

SOUND is powerful, able to light up our imagination in ways unmatched by visualization. But, sound is EPHEMERAL, disappearing soon after its production, and, unless preserved, unavailable to us in the future. Think about sounds we no longer hear in our daily lives, sounds that have disappeared from our soundscape. Sounds no longer available for active LISTENING. Lost sounds.

CHALLENGE

Identify and discuss your lost sounds, the sounds you hear throughout your day. Unless recorded, or remembered in some way, they are lost. What to think about these sounds?

• Consider the story of your day as told through sound.
• How does it start?
• Where do you go?
• What do you do?
• What happens throughout the day?

HANDS ON

• Create a list, from first to last, of the events you identified as making up your day.
• Next, describe a SOUND, or sounds, that describe each of these events.
• In your description, DO NOT tell what the sound is, or its source (Radio station KXYZ, my alarm clock). Instead, describe what someone would hear if they were with you throughout the day. For example, "Music, excited, perky voices with way too much energy for so early in the morning."
• All together, these sound descriptions should tell the story of your day. Like listening to a movie soundtrack.
• Answer these questions completely, and with supporting details to show your thinking
  • What LANGUAGE, TEXT, or TECHNOLOGY might we use to help us understand these lost sounds?
  • Do language, text, and/or technology change the experience of our LISTENING? How? Or, if you think not, why not?
  • Do they change the MEDIUM of sound? How? Or, if not, why not?
• NOTE: The emphasis here is on your thinking. Be creative. Be impressive.

DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for more information.
• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of the next class. Include your name and Project #.
• Be prepared to discuss your sounds and story in class.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Submit Project #3. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #4. See "Project #4" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Orality, primary orality, before the advent of writing. Speech as a technology. But, orality requires the technology of writing, a structured approach to vocalizing abstract thought.

Close

Tuesday, 15 September > Orality and Speech Space

SUBMIT

Project #3 > Lost Sounds due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly—they'll go through anything. —Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

The ORALITY centrally treated here is primary orality, that of persons totally unfamiliar with WRITING. —Walter J. Ong

Module 4.0 McLuhan's Speech Space (PDF)

Module 4.1 Power of Speech (PDF)
Follow the directions at end of this module to produce and share responses in our next class. NOTE: This activity will inform Project #4.

VOICE is a TECHNOLOGY immediately to hand, made from native materials. We need not seek some more remote technology. WRITING, while an invaluable aid to memory, can be misleading. —Ansuman Biswas ("Sound and Sense." Playing with Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice. Edited by Cathy Lane, CRISAP, 2008, pp. 41-47.)

One can hear musical aesthetics in the speech contexts that surround them. —Michael Vincent ("The Music in Words." Playing with Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice. Edited by Cathy Lane, CRISAP, 2008, pp. 57-61.)

Voice-based compositions and performances involve precise demands for LISTENING and learning, but the immense possibilities realized from 'playing with words' are inspirational and informative. —Cathy Lane ("Introduction: Acts of Translation." Playing with Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice. Edited by Cathy Lane, CRISAP, 2008, pp. 7-11.)

Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories (Website)
This website provides opportunities to read some stories of the history and culture of Australia's indigenous peoples handed down, ORALLY, since Dreamtime. Storytelling is an integral part of the lives of Indigenous Australians. These are the stories of how the world was created through the use of language, specifically singing, how to find food, where to find water, how to behave and why.

27 Fascinating Maps that Show How Americans Speak English Differently across the US
by Mark Abadi
Maps from the book Speaking American by graphic artist Josh Katz. A great example of information visualization from a survey of more than 30,000 people from all fifty states by linguists Bert Vaux and Scott Golder. Shows regional divisions in American English, from vocabulary to pronunciation.

READ

Chapters 1 & 2 (pp. 5-30), "The Orality of Language" and "The Modern Discovery of Primary Oral Cultures" in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word by Walter Ong (PDF)

DISCUSS

• Discuss Ong's notion of "primary" and "secondary" ORALITY
• Primary orality. How can we understand something we have never known, and can never experience?
• Discuss Ong's notion of "the TECHNOLOGIZING OF THE WORD"
• Discuss Ong's notion that orality is the basis for WRITING, and thus literature
• Connect this with McLuhan's notion that any new MEDIUM incorporates the content of older medium
• Discuss McLuhan's notion of "global village" as a partial return to orality and the type(s) of communication that may have happened there
• Foreground the connection between Ong and McLuhan with regard to RADIO DRAMA—a form of "secondary orality"—speech that has been written, scripted before speaking.

Close

Thursday, 17 September > Designed Language

CONSIDER

ORALITY requires the technology of LANGUAGE, a structured approach to vocalizing abstract thought.

Language is the primary repository of culture and history, and once a language is no longer spoken, the rich knowledge it carries is gone forever. SOUND ART may offer a "para-linguistic strategy for exposing cross-cultural experiences that language itself cannot achieve. — John Wynne ("To Play or Not To Play?" Playing with Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice. Edited by Cathy Lane, CRISAP, 2008, pp. 78-84.)

LISTEN

Episode 16: A Designed Language (Podcast, listen online or download)
by Roman Mars
An episode from Mars' 99% Invisible, a "Tiny Radio Show about Design," which makes a powerful point about DESIGN . . . "a designed LANGUAGE would foster international understanding and peace." Think. Learn. Take notes. You will use this information again. Soonn. NOTE: Textual information is available for this episode. Follow the URL above.

CONSIDER

Module 4.2 Language (speaking and writing) (PDF)
Follow the directions at end of this module to produce responses. Be prepared to share them in class. NOTE: This activity will inform Project #4.

HANDS ON

Be prepared to share your responses to the our last class activity.

Close

Resources > Week #4

Where Did English Come From? TED-Ed (YouTube video, 4:53, captions available)
This animated video traces present-day English back to its ancient roots, showing that the English we speak has evolved through generations of different speakers borrowing words and speaking them using different dialects. The conclusion: "Nearly three billion people around the world, many of whom cannot understand each other, are nevertheless speaking the same words, shaped by 6,000 years of history."

Official American (Website)
The United States of America is among one half of the 195 countries in the world today that do not have an official language. Arguments whether to ban English, or declare it the official national language, have continued since the American Revolution.

Standard American English (Website)
By definition, Standard American English is the speech of educated speakers. Where do we find models? How do we address the fact that "standard" English is often used for segregation and discrimination?

The Power of Prose (Website)
The various speech forms associated with American English have transformed opinions and challenged stereotypes in subtle and obvious ways. This link provides several interesting examples.

What Speech Do We Like Best? (Website)
How we talk tells a lot about where we are from, who we are, and who we want to be. How we talk can boost our prestige, or it can prejudice people against us.

Pacific Northwest variety of American English (Website)
Here in Mist Country, we think our speech accentis neutral, or that we don't have one. That is because we cannot hear our accents, pronunciation, or choice of words. But, every region of the country presents an accent. Even here, us, you.

Cajun English (Website)
Cajun English is one of many speech varieties we can find across the country. It may be the most colorful. Consider how this discussion of its origins and evolution might illustrate how other ethnic groups in our country might influence American English, and why other groups are upset with this prospect.

Why We Say "OK" Vox (YouTube video, 0:41, captions available)
How a cheesy joke from the 1830s became the most widely spoken word in the world.

Interactive Map of 2000+ Language Sounds (Website)
Interesting article and Interactive Map.

Famous Speeches (Website)

Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (Website)

Close

Project #4 > The Power of Speech

CHALLENGE

Respond to language as used by others to convey a message. This project offers two options. Choose one from below.

Option #1: CONSIDER

Americans invent all sorts of new nouns and verbs and make words that shouldn't be. . . We must act now to ensure that English, and that to my way of thinking means British English, maintains its position as the world language. — Britain's Prince Charles when asked about American English

Option #1: HANDS ON

• Reconsider Ong's ideas of how language changes consciousness.
• Consider Prince Charles' remark, above, about a particular approach to language.
• Explore the links provided in this week's "Resources" menu tab.
• Consider these distinctly American contributions to the world of music: jazz, pop, heavy metal, hip-hop.
• Beyond, and aside from, musical styles, each has a distinct spoken language, a sub-dialect, a designed language—some might call it slang, or improper language use—associated with its performance, and surrounding discussions.
• Have a go. Pick a form of slang, or a sub-dialect, and use it to create a spoken response to Prince Charles. Be creative . . .

Option #1: DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for more information.
• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of next class. Include your name.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Option #2: CONSIDER

Country music does not necessarily have to be sung with a Southern accent but it seems right to do so. —Cody James, singer from Oregon

Option #2: HANDS ON

• Country music is generally associated with the culture and speech dialects of the southern and Appalachian areas of the United States. Even if you don't like it, you recognize the dialect of country music, right?
• But country music is popular around the world, and is vocalized in different languages, accents, and dialects.
• What do you think? Is country music "county music" if song in different languages and/or with different accents?
• Does the use of different speech patterns, accents, and dialects affect your thoughts and feelings about what "is" country music and how it communicates thoughts and ideas? [NOTE: Comedian Bo Burnham parodies modern county music in his "County Song (Pandering)." The lyrics are explicit and may be offensive to some people. WATCH the YouTube video here. Sign in required.]
• Provide specific details to support your answer(s).

Option #2: DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for more information.
• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of next class. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #4. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #5. See "Project #5" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Writing portrays the sound of speech, graphically. Does writing restructure consciousness?

Close

Tuesday, 22 September > Writing Preserves Speech. Reading Returns Speech.

SUBMIT

Project #4 > The Power of Speech (one of three options) due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

Writing is graphical, not aural. Writing portrays the sound of speech. —John Barber

Reading and listening are different experiences, "When you read a book, the story definitely happens inside your head." [Encouraged/enabled by your imagination.] "When you listen, it seems to happen in a little cloud around it, like a fuzzy knit cap pulled down over your eyes."
—Robin Sloan (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012, pp. 235-236).

What is writing if not the preservation of thought? —Patrick W. McElhoes
(from his unpublished manuscript, Short Stories and Other Writings, archived in The Brautigan Library

Inspirational Writing Quotes from Famous Authors

READ

Chapter 4 (pp. 77-112), Writing Restructures Consciousness, in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word by Walter Ong (PDF)
Ong discusses aspects of WRITING, including disembodiment, where the VOICE can travel separately from the body of the speaker; says ability to write is the biggest advance in TECHNOLOGY known to humankind. PDF copy of complete book available here.

ENDURE

Module 5.0 McLuhan's Writing Space (PDF)

Module 5.1 Speech and Writing (PDF)

PREPARE FOR NEXT CLASS

• Based on your READing of Ong, WRITE answers to these questions
  • What are your reactions to Ong's notion that WRITING restructures CONSCIOUSNESS?
  • Does writing make us different from those who do not write?
  • Why is writing so important?
  • Why is writing a requirement of our time and CULTURE?
• Consider using the "Question" and "Answer" format you have used previously, to make it easier for someone to follow your thinking.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for more information.
• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of next class. Include your name.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

Thursday, 24 September > Writing Changes Us

SUBMIT

Response to Ong's notion that WRITING restructures CONSCIOUSNESS due at beginning of class.

DISCUSSION

Ong says WRITING changes us by restructuring our CONSCIOUSNESS. Let's talk about your thoughts during class today.

ENDURE

Module 5.2 Writing and Reading (PDF)

Module 5.3 Repeat/Connect/Develop (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #5

Resources to jumpstart your thinking.

Close

Project #5 > Writing for the Future

CHALLENGE

What message would you leave for the future, and what medium would you use for your message to assure its survival into the future.

CONSIDER

Ong says the ability to WRITE is the biggest advance in TECHNOLOGY known to humankind. One aspect of WRITING he discusses is disembodiment, the ability of the voice to travel separately from the body of the SPEAKER. This might be a product of ORALITY (memory and repetition) and/or literacy (LANGUAGE, writing, READING).

HANDS ON #1

Read The Utopia of Records: Why Sound Archiving Is Important by Robert Barry (The Quietus, 2 June 2015) (Website)
Sound is not permanent, and much of the recorded recent history of humanity is currently disintegrating. Robert Barry reports from the British Library Sound Archive and Internet Archive to find out what is being done to preserve these audio records, and explains what you can do to help.

HANDS ON #2

• Consider this question: "If you were going to write something for the future—some wisdom, advice, a memory, a caution that would go forward for other people to consider—what would be your message?"
• How would you assure that your VOICE (and your MESSAGE) would travel separately from your body into the future? How would you assure that both would be preserved?
• You may want to discuss your idea(s) with others.
• Think about how you would compose your individual answer.
• Use course READINGs to support your ideas and claims.

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #5. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #6. See "Project #6" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Writing overshadows orality. An uneasy coexistence is established, but centuries later, the struggle between print and digital, new media, evokes similar societal and cultural impacts.

Close

Tuesday, 29 September > Speaking-Writing (then)

SUBMIT

Project #5 > Writing for the Future due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

For centuries, ORALITY was the primary repository of CULTURE, KNOWLEDGE, mythology, history. But, as Marshall McLuhan argues, alphabets and WRITING preserved and extended orality. During the time of Ancient Greece, writing begins to vie with orality as the primary form of LITERACY. Prior, the ear dominated the mind's eye. Writing removed the SOUND source, placed the source of credibility with seeing. For a long time ancient Greece was bicultural with orality and writing in uneasy coexistence. Orality was slowly replaced by PRINTING and book publication. Phaedrus, written by Plato, a student of Socrates, 360 BCE, is perhaps the earliest criticism of writing. Socrates says writing is inferior to memory because it cannot be probed/questioned, as a speaker can, and so offers "the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom."

READ

Reading, writing, and what Plato really thought by Lane Wilkinson (Website)
This is from Sense and Reference, a literary blog. The author comments on "the inappropriate use of a certain Socratic dialogue, namely, Phaedrus." These comments lead to what the author calls "Socrates's real argument against the written word: typographical fixity should not be confused with dialectic." This blog post provides a good understanding of Phaedrus and its connection(s) to writing and speech, communication and knowledge creation. PDF copy of the entire dialogue available here.

On the other hand, this blog post Socrates Was Against Writing from Apartment 46 may have more resonance with you. As the author writes, "Real knowledge, Socrates said, can only be gathered via dialog: a give and take of questions and answers where ideas are interrogated until the knowledge is truly understood. But with a book, that cannot be done unless one has access to the author. In the excerpt, he says: '[Writing] will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.'"

Socrates lays out an argument that the written word cannot defend itself in dialogue, and thus cannot effectively teach anything worth knowing. Wow! Lots to think about.

Close

Thursday, 1 October > Speaking-Writing (now)

CONSIDER

Centuries after the overshadowing of ORALITY by WRITING as the primary form of literacy, we are in the middle of a similar struggle today between PRINT and and NEW (digital) MEDIA. Perhaps you would rather make a YouTube video than WRITE a response to a question. And certainly, you would rather WATCH a video than read a TEXT, of any length. The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age by Sven Birkerts (Winchester, MA, 1995) is a well-known criticism of this change. His argument: just as writing replaced orality, and printing type revolutionized writing, the societal effects of our transition to ELECTRONIC MEDIA will be disruptive. Watch out for, says Birkerts, language erosion, a flattening of historial perspectives, and the waning of the private self. Birkerts, a bookworm, says that in our haste to embrace electronic/digital culture, we are sacrificing our LITERARY CULTURE and setting up a negative impact on society and reading.

READ

The Gutenberg Elegies Summary by enotes (Website)
A portion of the summary about this BOOK, but enough to get you started thinking.

Summary Essay by Andrew Rhode (Website)
Rhode mirrors Birkerts' concern((s) when he writes, "Today, people rely on internet sources instead of stated facts found in a TRUE encyclopedia or another BOOK. Although many SOURCES ONLINE are factual statements, there are also many cites [sic] that can be mistaken for the truth."

Close

Resources > Week #6

The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age by Andy Solomon (PDF)
A review.

Close

Project #6 > Into the Electronic Millenium

CHALLENGE

Defend AND refute Sven Birkerts' contention that our embrace of electronic media will bring about three changes: language erosion, a flattening of historical perspective, and the waning of the private self.

HANDS ON #1

Consider Into the Electronic Millennium by Sven Birkerts (PDF)
Chapter 10 of Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies, as available at the edublog website.
or, Into the Electronic Millenium by Sven Birkerts (PDF)
Chapter 10 of Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies, as available at course website.

HANDS ON #2

In this chapter, "Into the Electronic Millenium," Birkerts says our embrace of electronic media will bring about three changes
1). Language erosion
2). A flattening of historial perspectives
3). The waning of the private self.

Review these three points, on pages 652-654. Then, do the following.

• Pick one of Birkerts' suggested changes.
• Decide whether you agree, or disagree, with this change.
• Research supporting ideas and/or details for your stance using resources outside and beyond this Birkert text.
• Write your response.
• Use the supporting details you have found through your research.
• Now, choose the opposite stance, agree if you initially disagreed, disagree if you first agreed.
• Research supporting ideas and/or details for your new stance.
• Write your response to this new stance.
• Use the supporting details you have found through your research.

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #6. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #7. See "Project #7" menu tab.

Close

Overview

The technology of printing mass duplicates writing, and preserves speech beyond the range of spoken voice. But "preserving" signifies unchanging, static. Problem?

Close

Tuesday, 6 October > Electronic Millenium and Millennials: What do you think?

SUBMIT

Project #6 > Into the Electronic Millenium due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

Module 7.0 McLuhan's Print Space (PDF)

RECONSIDER

Into the Electronic Millennium by Sven Birkerts (PDF)
Chapter 10 of Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies, as available at the edublog website.
or, Into the Electronic Millenium by Sven Birkerts (PDF)
Chapter 10 of Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies, as available at course website.

THIS CLASS

Discussions about your responses to Birkerts

Close

Thursday, 8 October > Printing Space

CONSIDER

PRINTING = TECHNOLOGY for preserving, mass duplication of WRITING, thus preserving and communicating SPEECH beyond the range of the spoken VOICE (SOUND).

PRESERVING = STATIC, unchanging

WATCH

History of the Printing Press in 1 Minute by Here's the Thing History (YouTube video, 1:00, captions available)
This video delivers what its title promises. Before you know it, the world is changed. NOTE: There is an interesting overlay of SPEECH to this video. Listening to the narrator's accent, can you tell where he is from?

The Evolution of Print Part 1 by Express Cards (YouTube video, 3:02, captions available)
A short, animated, look into the history and evolution of printing. NOTE: Another interesting overlay of SPEECH. It should be easier to determine where this narrator is from. WARNING: the dancing man is irritating.

Gyotaku: The Ancient Japanese Art of Printing Fish by TED-Ed (YouTube video, 3:37, captions available)
Beyond PRESERVING TEXT, PRINTING provides a method of RECORDING IMAGES of trophy fish. If we can print fish, there seems no limit to printing's ability to preserve and communicate.

READ

The Printer as Writer by The Library Company of Philadelphia (Website)
PRINTING, as a TECHNOLOGY and a PRACTICE, requires CONTENT. In Colonial America, printers were often writers. For example, Benjamin Franklin started his printing career as a WRITER. This short essay provides the background story, which involves identity masking and revision. You may want to read more about Franklin as a writer and a printer. Links are provided.

Close

Resources > Week #7

Beginning Graphic Design: Typography (YouTube video, 6:23, captions available)
The basics of working with typography in an easy to follow animated informational video.

3 Critical Guides to "Thinking with Type" for Any Content Creator by Ramona Sukhraj (Blog post)
An easily understood introduction and overview to TYPOGRAPHY.

Legibility and Readability in Typographic Design by Steven Bradley (PDF)
Simply because a typeface is legible does not mean it is readable. Readability is relative, and depends on the audience. Still, there is something designers can do by realizing the difference between tet type and display type, between legibility and readability.

It's All About Legibility by Allen Haley (Website article)
Typography is driven by two factors: READABILITY and LEGIBILITY. Readability results from your use of one or more typefaces. Readable typography benefits navigation, aesthetic "design," and conceptual design (usability). Legibility is about the characteristics of individual CHARACTERS, and how easy it is to distinguish one letter from another in a particular typeface. Haley discusses this ideas and provides examples.

Lorem Ipsum (Website article)
Lorem Ipsum is dummy text of the printing and typesetting industries. It has been used since the 1500s to fill up TEXTUAL SPACE, or, make you sound erudite. Here is the standard Lorem Ipsum, in use for five centuries.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

This article explores the history and use of Lorem Ipsum. A generator is available! Create words, sentences, bytes, and lists of Lorem Ipsum

Typography (Website article)
Chapter 8 of Web Style Guide. Use the links under "Chapter Contents" for access.

Close

Project #7 > Typography: Making Printed Text Look Good

CHALLENGE

Showcase a page of text (you choose) using one medium (again, you choose) as typography. Demonstrate your understanding of typography. Demonstrate your understanding of your chosen medium. Demonstrate your understanding of "the medium is the message."

CONSIDER

WRITING PRESERVES SPEECH (sound). PRINTING preserves and distributes writing. TYPOGRAPHY styles printing, for both aesthetics and readibility.

Typography can reinforce, or diminish, the success of written communication. Typography helps determine whether your MESSAGE is received and understood, or not. Typography balances the visual appeal of print with its function.

If writing is the body, typography is the body language.

HANDS ON #1

• Choose a page of text that you like. This can be a song lyric, a quote, a magic incantation, whatever.
• Think about the different media platforms that might be used to display and distribute your chosen text.
  • How do these platforms present your text?
  • Are these platforms different from one another?
  • Does this difference make a difference?
  • How? Why? So what?
• From answering these questions you should develop an idea for a media platform best suited for displaying and distributing your text.
• Your chosen media platform might be an HTML page, a WordPress post, Adobe XD, Illustrator, etc. Each will create a different context/interface for your written content.

HANDS ON #2

• Focus on typography alone and how it might be used to facilitate scanning and understanding your chosen written content.
• Remember: typography determines to a large extent the way text looks and is displayed. Typography is used to promote the message of the text. There will be multiple ways of using typography on the same written content. Choose your own typographical adventure.
• Focus on using typography and whitespace to promote hierarchy and contrast to convey the structure of your text.
• Prepare a visualization of how your typographical work might look on your chosen media platform.
• Your work should demonstrate your knowledge of the difference between legibility and readability.
• In addition, prepare a one-page explanation of your typographical choice(s). Why did you choose them? What features and/or affordances do they bring to the desired result: clear communication of your message? (Hint: Think about the questions you answered earlier, under the "HANDS ON" subheading. Cite concepts/inspiration from at least one assigned reading/resource and one obtained through your own research.

DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #7. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #8. See "Project #8" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Visual space is contested space. It is what you see, as well as what you want others to see. It is what others want you to see. How to understand and navigate this space?

Close

Tuesday, 13 October > Visual Space

SUBMIT

Project #7 > Typography: Making Printed Text Look Good due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

VISUAL SPACE is contested space. Not only is it what you see, but what others want you to see. What does that mean?

SEMIOTICS for Beginners by Daniel Chandler (PDF)
especially Chapter 2, "Signs."

READ

Ways of Seeing by John Berger
(PDF)
Especially Chapter 1, pages 7-34. Based on the BBC series with John Berger. Chapter 1 situates SEEING, IMAGES, and our relation with both.

ENDURE

Module 8.0 McLuhan Visual Space (PDF)

Module 8.1 Visual Culture (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 15 October > Comics and Graphic Novels as Visual Culture

CONSIDER

READ

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (PDF)
or, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (PDF)
A comic book about COMICS that explains the inner workings of the MEDIUM and examines many aspects of VISUAL COMMUNICATION. The entire BOOK available at both locations as a PDF.

ENDURE

Module 8.2 Graphic Novels (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #8

CONSIDER

Comics and Graphic Novels Resources
A massive compilation. LEARN more (Webpage).

Upgrade Soul by Erik Loyer (2012). (Website)
An immersive science fiction graphic novel for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The reading experience is complimented by fluid navigation, interactive accelerometer-driven 3D effects, and dynamic music. Panels slide and reshape dynamically as the reader swipes through the story.
Interview: Erik Loyer on Immersive Graphic Novel "Upgrade Soul" (Web article)
Upgrade Soul trailer (YouTube video)
Upgrade Soul preview (YouTube video)
Generous Machine (Web article)
Erik Loyer's website. Browse the "Projects" section and be amazed at the work Loyer has produced. See especially Technologies of History and explore the dense layers of mediation to which the assassination of John F. Kennedy has been subjected over the years.

Close

Project #8 > Creating Comics-Juxtaposing Text and Images

CHALLENGE

Consider how the arrangement and display of text and images influences viewers' interactions and responses.

HANDS ON #1

• Learn enough about Comic Life to be dangerous
• Available on class computers, or download a FREE TRIAL for 30 Days! for your Mac or PC.
• Learning this program is pretty straightforward. Support FAQ at website. Tutorials available around the web.
• FONTS, templates, panels, balloons, captions, and lettering art—all available in program.

HANDS ON #2

• Investigate Jon Rafman's 9-eyes.com website. Rafman archives unusual images captured by the nine lenses in the Google street view camera, and turns then into ART.
• Pick six IMAGES that spark your interest.
• Make a copy of these images (screen capture, shift+command+4, for example).
• Use the Comic Life program to create a seven-panel comic.
• In the first six panels, place your chosen images.
• Use a speech bubble in each panel to describe how this image affects you.
• In the seventh and final panel of your comic, describe how your display of these visual images influences the way others might interact with your artifact.

DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit a printed copy of your comic story at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #8. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #9. See "Project #9" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Electronic Space > Radio, Television, Music Video. Radio. A return of speech, orality. Radio drama and its constituent parts: text, speech, and sound (+music+silence+imagination). The content of any new medium is always another medium.

Close

Tuesday, 20 October > Radio

SUBMIT

Project #8 > Creating Comics-Juxtaposing Text and Images due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

RADIO returns SPEECH, ORALITY, notion of McLuhan's "global village"
Radio Drama — constituent parts: TEXT, VOICE, SOUND, music, silence (+ imagination)

ENDURE

Module 9.0 McLuhan's Electric Space (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 22 October > Television > Music Videos

CONSIDER

Marshall McLuhan said, "the 'content' of any MEDIUM is always another medium. The content of WRITING is SPEECH, just as the WRITTEN word is the content of PRINT, and print is the content of the telegraph." Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 23-24).

So, the content of music VIDEOS would be RADIO and TELEVISION, right?

From vinyl to 8-track. From cassette tape to compact disk. From WalkMan to iPod. From payphone to iPhone. Times change, but we must remember and appreciate the formats and artists that came before.

WATCH

MTV Original Broadcast 8/1/1981 (YouTube video, 1:52, captions available)
by MTV
This is the original opening for the first MTV broadcast, 1 August 1981.

The Buggles—Video Killed the Radio Star Official Music Video (YouTube video, 4:55, no captions)
by Island Records
This was the first MUSIC VIDEO aired by MTV, 1 August 1981. This video, and all others, were produced by the artist(s). No cost to the network plus a platform for music artists. Sweet deal! Video Killed the Radio Star was a 1979 hit for The Buggles. The story is of a RADIO star whose career fell apart after the birth of TELEVISION.

ENDURE

Module 9.2 Music Videos (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #9

The Golden Age of Video (YouTube video, 3:20, no captions)
The Golden Age of Video (YouTube video, 3:20, captions available)
by Ricardo Autobahn
Some argue that the world has not been the same since 12:01 AM 1 August 1981, when the music video Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles, launched the MTV (music television) network, and when that played out, "reality television." In between there were a number of video movies and television programs that defined an entire generation. Ricardo Autobahn's homage is quite compelling.

Close

Project #9 > Your Week As a Music Video

CHALLENGE

Create a storyboard that, when produced as a music video, will portray a day in your life.

CONSIDER

The "content" of any MEDIUM is always another medium. The content of WRITING is SPEECH, just as the WRITTEN word is the content of PRINT, and print is the content of the telegraph. —Marshall McLuhan (Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 23-24).

HANDS ON

Step #1: Storyboard

• Imagine a week in your life portrayed as a MUSIC VIDEO.
• Create a STORYBOARD for this video by following these steps
  • Create your storyboard using a software program of your choice.
  • Designate one cell in your storyboard for each day of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
  • Add an IMAGE in the "Monday" cell of your storyboard to show what you will do on that day.
  • Under that image, WRITE a brief description of what you will see and HEAR.
  • Repeat for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
  • Your storyboard should show (with images) and tell (with text) about your memorable week. It should be your story.

Step #2: Written Response

• In a separate, written text, discuss the VISUAL SPACE in which your music video is situated. Not the music, the visual space.
• Address each of these questions in your text
  • How does electronic/digital media TECHNOLOGY create and maintain this space?
  • How is a DIGITAL MEDIA like video considered TEXT?
  • Can you imagine another context for your life?

DETAILS

• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #9. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #10. See "Project #10" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Western culture has experienced four information revolutions. The first was the invention of writing (4000 BC). The second was the invention of moveable type (10th century China; 15th century Europe). The third was the invention of mass printing (18th century). The fourth was the introduction of the Mosaic web browser (April 1993). Each of these revolutions was a moment of change. Its arrival was untimely, unsettling. Each prompted examination of many aspects of culture.

This week we will consider the history of computer technology. This history seems to have always been present, but is actually rather recent and seems to indicate many changes for writing, language, and the message/massage. For example, the digital space created by digital technologies makes it easier for human languages to circulate, coexist, interact, and mix in a fluid and flexible fashion. Linguistic borders are not removed, but they have shifted and become more porous.

As result, language is never alone. Of necessity, digital texts are composed in at least two "languages" and exist by means of perpetual back-and-forth processes of translation between them: a "so-called natural language, which is addressed to humans [ . . .]; and computer codes, which (although readable by some humans) can be executed only by intelligent machines" (N. Catherine Hayles 2006). Hayles goes on to argue that "in our computationally intensive culture, code is the unconscious of language."

How can we be with languages in their plurality, rather than just in-between them, lost in translation? Digital arts and literature have explored the potential of programmable media to play with and perform linguistic complexity and fluidity both across human languages and between human and machine languages. Everyday users are no less inventive and adventurous in their practices, as they acquire linguistic fragments from the flux, integrate them into their interactions, and create their own hybrid modes of expression.

Close

Tuesday, 27 October > Computer Space

SUBMIT

Project #9 > Your Week as a Music Video due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY seems to have been around forever, but that history is rather recent.

Behind every great man there had to be a great woman. Those times have changed. (YouTube video)
Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox perform together.

WATCH

Jacquard Loom: Early computer programming by Teaching Palette (YouTube video, 2:35, captions available)
Jacquard developed a SYSTEM where paper boards with strategically placed holes guided complex patterns for industrial weaving machines. His idea was used to develop early COMPUTER punch cards. Furnishing machines with (WRITTEN) instructions for performing complicated tasks is the foundation for all current computer PROGRAMMING.

Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine #2 (YouTube video, 5:47, captions available)
Babbage toiled for years to build a machine that would perform complex calculations. He was only partially successul, but completely inspirational and many of his mechanical ideas and terms have found their way into current day digital COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY.

Ada Lovelace: Great Minds by SciShow (YouTube video, 3:30, captions available)
Ada Lovelace, daughter of the (in)famous Romantic Poet Lord Byron, is said to have written the first COMPUTER CODE, even though she lived a century before the first modern computer.

BROWSE

A History of Modern Computing by Paul Cerruzi (PDF)

CONSIDER

Module 10.0 Digital Space (PDF)

ENDURE

Module 10.1 Rise of Computers/New Media (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 29 October > Digital Space

CONSIDER

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ushers in new, DIGITAL MEDIA, and provides new ways to make, access, and manipulate information. The MEDIUM is the MESSAGE/massage (Marshall McLuhan). Its name: "NEW MEDIA" (Lev Manovich).

The World Wide Web is one iteration of HYPERTEXT—linking and returning text most often experienced on a COMPUTER screen.

READ

As We May Think by Vannevar Bush (Web article)
First published in Atlantic Monthly (vol. 176, no. 1, July 1945, pp. 101-108). Bush, then Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development was responsible for coordinating the war-time efforts of some 6,000 scientists. he begins by outlining several research projects and the technology they produced. He also talks about "associative thinking," about how our thoughts "link" one to another, from one to another. He proposed "MEMEX" (MEMory EXtender), a MACHINE-based way of mimicking human ASSOCIATIVE THINKING by rapidly finding and connecting information. Use of the MEMEX would create a series of "trails" (his term, but now called LINKS) between DOCUMENTS, personal notes, photographs, and diagrams and allow one to develop knowledge from a web of information. Although noted more as a starting point for current day considerations of HYPERTEXT, Bush's discussion of the MEMEX (see section 6 of his essay) might also be seen as outlining how one might use current computer-based archives, especially those that incorporate information browsing via the HYPERLINK.

READ (recommended)

Literary Machines by Theodor H. Nelson (Full text, online)
Especially Chapter 1, "Hypertext" and Chapter 2, "LINKING system for TEXT and other DATA," "The document convention," and "Compound windowing documents." Find references regarding "HYPERTEXT" and/or "LINKS."

WATCH

Memex animation—Vannevar Bush's diagrams made real by SheffieldLibraryGuy (YouTube video, 2:33, captions available)
This short video demonstrates how Bush's MEMEX would work.

ENDURE

Module 10.2 Vannevar Bush and MEMEX (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #10

READ

First web page by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (Web article)
The invention of the WORLD WIDE WEB is credited to Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. In order to demonstrate his concept for DOCUMENT SHARING he had to develop WEB PAGES. The first web page is lost, but here is a recreation.

Line Mode Browser 2013 (Web article)
The story behind the first readily accessible BROWSER for the WORLD WIDE WEB, and a simulator. It does not look like much, but remember, in 1991, when this program was developed, computers were not very powerful. This browser allowed any COMPUTER, despite lacking great power, to access and browse websites.

Close

Project #10 > Framing New Media

CHALLENGE

Discuss TECHNOLOGY, and its interface with LANGUAGE and TEXT, as ART. There is no one "right" answer for this challenge, so concentrate instead on making your discussion as insightful and interesting as possible. Use previous readings and other resources to support your thoughts and ideas.

WATCH

Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine #2 (YouTube video, 5:47, captions available)
Babbage toiled for years to build a machine that would perform complex calculations. He was only partially successul, but completely inspirational and many of his mechanical ideas and terms have found their way into current day digital COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY.

The Babbage Difference Engine #2 at Computer History Museum (YouTube video, 2:03, no captions)
by Computer History Museum
Charles Babbage's Difference Engine as a WORK OF ART.

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #10. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #11. See "Project #11" menu tab. Close

Overview

The unease reflected throughout culture as we move from reading printed texts to reading pixels illuminated on screens.

Close

Tuesday, 3 November > New Media > Framework

WATCH

Man with a Movie Camera (Internet Archive video, 68:00, silent film, no captions)
1929 experimental SILENT movie by Russian director Dziga Vertov. "Visual poetry finding beauty in the mundane." Considered one of the most influential silent films, and the basis for much of today's "language of cinema" and NEW MEDIA. Watch online or download. See other versions under "Resources" menu tab.
NOTE: This film is just over one hour in length, and SILENT. I understand your reluctance to watch the entire movie, even though you should in order to be informed about this important component of this course.

READ

Prologue: Vertov's Dataset by Lev Manovich (PDF)
This is the entire text of The Language of New Media, a BOOK by Lev Manovich. Use the table of contents and then scroll to the Prologue. Or, use this alternate source for just the Prologue: Vertov's Dataset (PDF).

Chapter 1, "What Is New Media" by Lev Manovich (PDF)
This is the entire text of The Language of New Media, a BOOK by Lev Manovich. Use the table of contents and then scroll to Chapter 1. Or, use this alternate source for Chapter 1 (PDF).

ENDURE

Module 11.1 Digital Media Framework (PDF)

Module 11.2 Manovich Digital Media (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 5 November > New Media > Print-Pixels

CONSIDER

PRINTING—as invention, TECHNOLOGY, creative practice, and cultural artifact—has been all about preserving dynamic CONTENT (like SPEECH and fish) in a static context. Words do not disappear from the PRINTED PAGE, right? Consider Agrippa.

Not since Ancient Greece, when WRITING and ORALITY collided, have we had such a disconcerting overlap of literacies as with PRINT and PIXELS. The unease is reflected throughout culture as we move from reading PRINTED TEXTS to reading PIXELS illuminated on SCREENS. Does this pose a threat?

Depends on who you ask. For the users, not so much. For the gatekeepers . . . the threat of digital publishing is not from the package (traditional books vs. eBooks, both can be sold) but rather from content which is now open and immediately available, subject to comment by countless readers and no longer controlled by a handful of experts.

As a compromise, three source levels for content have evolved. The highest is established presses which offer peer-review, and a high degree of filtration for everything published. The middle level is publication in selected print and/or online journals. Again, review and filtration are important, but not to the degree as with established presses. The base level is blogs and other open, online publishing venues. This is considered un-filtered, experimental writing, ideas for potential projects.

In digital contexts, TEXTS are no longer static, but fluid, LINKED with and leaking between one another in a WEB of online MEANING making. Technology makes this possible by providing tools that are changing culture, creating new material, political, and other paradigms. We can now participate in discussions and meaning making at whatever level we are comfortable.

While technology is not a grand, spiritual moment, it does matter that we understand what is going on, the interactions now possible. We might call this technoculture imagination, a general and perhaps synthetic approach, as suggested my McLuhan, that technologies (speech, writing, print, pixels) are extensions of our bodies and provide ways for us to communicate with others. So long as these communication channels are not calcified, we can continue talking with each other, making new meaning (knowledge), and analyzing technology.

This effects how and what we read and write. How we are trained as scholars will help determine how we value publication, of what level(s), and how. Best practice: be hybrid. Publish in both print and pixels. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published provides ideas and models for tailoring academic writing for general readers.

"WRITING is still the ultimate INFORMATION behavior, we're just recontextualizing it for the mobile media culture" —Mark Amerika.

READ

Electronic Literature: What Is It? by N. Katherine Hayles (Web article)

Shy Boy by Thom Swiss (Electronic literature)

Red Riding Hood by Donna Leishman (Electronic literature)

The End of Books by Robert Coover (Web article)
First published in The New York Times in 1992, this article notes the "movement from the tactile to the digital is the primary fact about the contemporary world," your world. A touchstone for thinking about HYPERTEXT and/or ELECTRONIC LITERATURE. A launch pad for thinking about future overlays of LANGUAGE, TEXT, and TECHNOLOGY.

Literary Machines by Theodor H. Nelson (Full text)
Read Chapter 1, "Hypertext" and Chapter 2, especially the section titled "Linking system for text and other data." Find and follow all the links you can regarding "HYPERTEXT" and/or "LINKS." Recall As We May Think by Vannevar Bush. Experience your life in a new way.

WATCH

Agrippa: The Poem Running in Emulation (YouTube video, 20:13, no sound or captions)
by Matthew Kirschenbaum
On December 9, 2008—the sixteenth anniversary of the original "Transmission" event debuting Agrippa—The Agrippa Files was aided by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities and the Digital Forensics Lab at University of Maryland, College Park, in unveiling an emulated run of the poem based on a bit-level copy of an original diskette loaned by collector Allan Chasanoff. This video is part of the larger The Agrippa Files.

ENDURE

Module 11.3 Agrippa (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #11

WATCH

Man with a Movie Camera by Lev Manovich (Web video, no sound)
Full length, original SILENT version.

Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov (YouTube video with sound)
Full length; with SOUND; Alloy Orchestra version. NOT the original, which was SILENT.

Man with a Movie Camera (Website)
A participatory global REMIX. People worldwide create new VISUAL IMAGES interpreting the original script, with soundtracks. Everyday a new VERSION of the film is compiled using images uploaded to the site. You could add your version of a scene!

READ

How We Read: Close, Hyper, Machine by N. Catherine Hayles (PDF)

The End of the End of Books: Dead Books, Lively Margins, and Social Computing by Alan Liu
(Web article)
Permalink: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.act2080.0048.404

Sound Resources by John Barber (Webpage)
A mega mountain of SOUND-related resources, including remix.

The Agrippa Files (Website)
An online archive of Agrippa.

Agrippa by William Gibson (Website)
Full TEXT of the poem Agrippa at William Gibson's website, Source Code.

The "Transmission" of Agrippa (YouTube video, 1:00:07, captions available)
This hour-long video documents the public unveiling of Agrippa at the Americas Society, New York City, 9 December 1992. Featured are publisher Kevin Begos, Jr. and the DISEMBODIED voice of William Gibson reading his poem as it scrolls up the computer screen. The event was called the "Transmission."

Postcards from Google Earth by Clement Valla (Website)
Valla collects Google Earth images that reveal mismatches between the 3D modeling of the Earth, and the 3D mapping of aerial photography. The two mapping processes are constantly updated, using information from multiple sources, but sometimes they do not align. The results are an interesting type of ART that draws attention to the hardware, software, and database systems involved in their production. Learn more about these images by reading Valla's essay, The Universal Texture (Web article)

Close

Project #11 > New Media Space > Conceptual Framework

CHALLENGE

Connect The Medium Is the Massage, Man with a Movie Camera, and Lev Manovich's discussion of NEW MEDIA in Language of New Media to develop a conceptual framework of your final course project.

REVIEW

The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan discussed earlier in the course.
Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov discussed this week.
"What Is New Media," Chapter 1 of The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich discussed this week.

CONNECT

• Connect The Medium Is the Massage, Man with a Movie Camera, and Lev Manovich's discussion of NEW MEDIA in The Language of New Media.
• Use this connection to develop a conceptual framework for your Capstone Project.
  • What is the focus of your project?
  • What is the research question at the center of your project?
  • How will you answer this question?
  • How will you structure your project?
  • What media will your project use?

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes
◊ Submit Project #11. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #12. See "Project #12" menu tab.

Close

Overview

Remediation appropriates content from one medium to another. Remix turns consumers to producers.

Close

Tuesday, 10 November > Remediation Space

SUBMIT

Project #11 > New Media Space > Conceptual Framework due at the beginning of class.

CONSIDER

REMEDIATION is the appropriation of CONTENT from one MEDIUM to another. Remediation is a defining characteristic of new DIGITAL MEDIA because digital media is constantly remediating its predecessors (television, RADIO, PRINT journalism and other forms of old MEDIA. —Bolter and Grusin

The CONTENT of any MEDIUM is always another medium. —Marshall McLuhan

The medium is the massage (MESSAGE). —Marshall McLuhan

When you cut into the present, the future leaks out. —William S. Burroughs

READ

Complex Net Art Diagram by Rick Silva (Web article)
A diagramtic representation of the complex and abstract thought processes involved in creating a sample, mashup, and/or REMIX. Try this at home, without adult supervision.

Media Theory for the Average Penguin by Caitlin Elizabeth Mullen (Web article)
A comic and concise examination of media theory.

"Remediation" by David Bolter and Richard Grusin (PDF)
Pages 44-50 of Chapter 1, "Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation" in Remediation.

WATCH

Star ASCIImation Wars (Web video, captions provided)
An ASCII animation of the Star Wars episode IV "A New Hope" movie. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) art is a practice of graphic DESIGN using 128 encoded CHARACTERS common to most computer keyboards LETTERS, numbers, punctuation, and some special characters) to create IMAGES. The practice dates to 1967 when typewriters were used to create visual art. ASCII art was born because early printers often lacked graphics abilities and so characters were used instead of graphic marks. Today there are several varieties of ASCII art, and methods for producing them.

Silent Star Wars by Geir Bjerke (YouTube video, 1:15, music, no captions)
Star Wars sampler remediated as a silent movie.

ENDURE

Module 12.1 Remediation (PDF)

Module 12.2 Appropriation (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 12 November > Remix, Sampling, and/or Appropriation Space

CONSIDER

REMIX: When consumers become producers, the creative process is more important than the product. We're remixing culture. —Brett Gaylor

DOWNLOAD

Theft! A History of Music (PDF)
A graphic novel laying out a 2000-year long history of musical borrowing from Plato to rap. Available as a handsome paperback, or a free download. Either way, enjoy and learn. Listen to the "Audio Companion." NOTE: Textual information is available for this resource. Follow the URL above.

WATCH

Girl Talk Creates a Mashup by Brett Gaylor (YouTube video, 3:27, captions available)
A SAMPLE from Gaylor's film, RIP! A Remix Manifesto (2009). See "Week 12: Resources" menu tab.

Girl Talk on the Process of Remixing Culture by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, Henrik Moltke (YouTube video, 8:18, captions available)
Girl Talk (aka Gregg Michael Gillis), a musician who uses his COMPUTER as an instrument, talks about the problems associated with REMIXING culture. YouTube video.

Walt Disney's Taxi Driver (Vimeo video, 4:31, no captions)
or,
Walt Disney's Taxi Driver by Bryan Boyce
(Amara video, 4:31, captioned)
This reimagining of Martin Scorsese's classic film Taxi Driver follows Mickey Mouse-obsessed Travis Bickle as he looks for love in a rapidly transforming New York City. A FAIR USE parody by Boyce.

READ

Creativity Endures: The "Amen Break" and Copyright Law by Kristen Bialik (Web article)
A 6-second drum solo with its own Wikipedia page? Yes, and here is the story.

Six seconds that shaped 1,500 songsby Ellen Otzin (Web article)
Barely noticed at the time, this drum solo has been hugely influential, appearing in different forms in more than 1,500 other songs, but the band behind it never made any money from it.

Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use
See the separate resource for Copyright, and Left (Webpage).

LISTEN

Amen Break
Amen Break (Podcast, 25:25)
The history of what might be the most sampled piece of music ever. An episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz, a podcast about the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. NOTE: Textual information is available for this episode. Follow the URL above.

Sampling
Raiding the 20th Century by DJ Food (aka Paul Morley) (Sound file, 59:00)
An incredible attempt to catalog the history of CUT-UP music and popular culture using avant garde tape manipulation, turntable megamixes, and pop MASH UPS. Five parts, each about time. Put your headphones on and listen. No doubt you will recognize many samples. NOTE: Textual information is available for this episode. Follow the URL above.

ENDURE

Module 12.3 DJ Culture and Remix (PDF)

Module 12.4 Copyright/Fair Use (PDF)

Close

Resources > Week #12

WATCH

RiP! A Remix Manifesto by Brett Gaylor (Vimeo video, 1:27:20, no captions)
Filmmaker Gaylor and musician Girl Talk (aka Greg Gillis) explore the struggle between COPYRIGHT and COPYLEFT to control the future. Culture builds upon culture. Historically, the past has sought to control the future through copyright. In the information age of the future, copyleft seeks to control the past by mashing up the present media landscape and shattering the wall between users and producers. The spot light of this struggle shines on music. This documentary film repositions popular music as an edgy dialogue between artists from all genres and eras. The REMIX manifesto seeks to lay out the canvas for future work in spite of CONTENT providers (copyright holders) seeking to position their creative practices as illegal. Also available at YouTube (no captions)

Laws that Choke Creativity by Lawrence Lessig (TED video, 18:56, captions and transcript available)
A TED talk to make you think.

A Fair(y) Use Tale (NOT a Disney Movie) by Eric Faden (YouTube video, 10:13, captions available)
Bucknell professor Faden cuts together words and scenes from various Disney animated films to present a funny and articulate lesson on COPYRIGHT: what it is and how it works. In the process, he demonstrates FAIR USE, using content from one of the strongest corporate voices for even more restrictive copyright laws.

Cut-Ups William Burroughs (YouTube video, 3:30, captions available)
or,
Cut-Ups William Burroughs by Quedear
(Amara video, 3:30, captioned)
William S. Burroughs credits artist Brion Gysin with creating and first using the "CUT UP TECHNIQUE" for PRINT text. Later, Gysin moved to audio tape. Burroughs followed and used Gysin's technique in his own work. This video illustrates, Burroughs' explanation of the origin and use and theory of cut-ups. The recording of Burroughs was sampled from a 1.5 hour lecture he delivered at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado, in which he touched on paranormal phenomena, magic, synchronicity, precognition, dreams, and the CUT-UP method of WRITING.
Try it for yourself using the Cut Up Machine. Enter some text. Click the "cut it up" button. Be amazed.

William Burroughs — The Cut-Ups/Nova Express by Roddy Melville (YouTube video, 3:14, captions available)
William Burroughs and Brion Gysin talk about the CUT-UP method. Burroughs reads from his cut-up novel, Nova Express. This is a segment from the 1983 BBC Arena documentary about William Burroughs.

The Cut-Ups by BootsyGetLive (YouTube video, 1:58, non-English captions available)
An excerpt from a longer work by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs demonstrating the CUT-UP technique pioneered by Gysin.

Cut Up Cut-Ups of Gysin and Burroughs (YouTube video, 8:02, captions availble)
or,
Cut Up Cut-Ups of Gysin and Burroughs by Steve Myers (Amara video, 8:02, captioned)
Brion Gysin is credited with first developing and using the CUT UP technique for the creative presentation of text and/or images.

READ

"The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagerism" by James Lethem (PDF)
From the February 2007 issue of Harper's Magazine.

CREATE

In B flat
Make your own music MASHUP with these provided sound and video files.

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Project #12 > So What about Remediation?

CHALLENGE

Create and document a multimedia artifact that demonstrates your thinking and practice associated with remediation.

CONSIDER

We have explored REMEDIATION this week as the APPROPRIATION of CONTENT from one MEDIUM by another, and as a defining characteristic of new DIGITAL MEDIA. We have also considered REMIXING, SAMPLING, and APPROPRIATING content.

What do the examples and resources we considered this week say about REMEDIATION?
Or, what does remediation say about these examples?

What do these examples say about LANGUAGE (spoken, visual, rhetorical), TEXT (printed, text AS image, TECHNOLOGY (computer and/or other)?

What about COPYRIGHT and/or CREATIVE COMMONS? See Resources > Copyright, and Left (Webpage).

HANDS ON

• Coalesce your answers to the questions above into some kind of multimedia TEXT/document/PACKAGE.
• This artifact should demonstrate your thinking and practice associated with remediation.
• Prepare documentation about your artifact. This documentation should include
  • An introduction that tells what your project is
  • A body that provides details about your project
    • Background
    • Artist Statement
    • Answers "So What?" question. Now that you have made this thing, "So What?" Why is it important? Why should be care?
• A conclusion that ties everything together. If I only read your conclusion, I should be able to understand your project.

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your both your multimedia artifact and your documentation at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

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To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Submit Project #12. Tuesday, beginning of class.
◊ Start Project #13. See "Project #13" menu tab.

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Overview

In the future, transmedia (convergent media), augmented reality, and virtual reality will converge, combine, and create something new with language, text, and technology.

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Tuesday, 17 November > Future Spaces

Transmedia

SUBMIT

Project #12 > So What about Remediation? due at beginning of (Thursday) class.

CONSIDER

Music has always been a media where language, text, and technology converge, or combine to create something new. Surely you have a favorite example, but consider Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison. Neither the music nor the singing are about language. Any literal meanings of words begins to be irrelevant as Morrison's singing crosses the boundary an becomes more like verbal saxophone solos, or living organisms of expression. Record critics agree, voting this one of the Top 25 record albums of all time. Learn more.

Multiple media forms, products of converging TECHNOLOGIES and cultures, give rise to a NEW MEDIA landscape where media consumers become producers and challenge dominant media images that have been constructed for their lives, all recombined to create something new = CONVERGENT, or TRANSMEDIA.

READ

Convergence? I Diverge by Henry Jenkins (PDF)
Jenkins argues that rather than converging into one black box, MEDIA will continue to proliferate through multiple channels and ubiquitous connection. As a result, "We will develop new skills for managing information, new structures for transmitting information across channels, and new creative genres that exploit the potentials of those emerging information structures."

Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek by John Branch (Web article)
This article for the New York Times utilizes MULTIMEDIA in such a way to set the standard for all future reporting and/or expository WRITING.

WATCH

Transmedia Messionaris: Henry Jenkins (YouTube video, 5:55, captions available)
Transmedia Messionaris: Henry Jenkins by Henry Jenkins (Amara video, 5:55, captions available)
Jenkins describes TRANSMEDIA storytelling as "a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each MEDIUM makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story."

"Convergence Culture Slideshow" by Henry Jenkins (video, no captions)
Jenkins describes convergence culture as the merging of traditional and new media. He describes five processes that comprise convergence culture. Read the discussion under the slide show for even more insight into this new and exciting opportunity for creativity across MULTIPLE MEDIA.

ENDURE

Module 13.1 Convergence and Transmedia (PDF)

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Thursday, 19 November > Augmented Reality Space

WATCH

Street Museum (YouTube video, 2:09, captions available)
A BBC London television report on the Streetmuseum iPhone app, with demonstrations.

Streetmuseum by Jack Kerruish (YouTube video, 1:50, annotated)
Demonstration of the London Museum Streetmuseum iPhone app.

Live AUGMENTED REALITY—National Geographic (YouTube video, 3:00, captions available)
Demonstration of augmented reality in a shopping mall!

Augmented Reality Storytelling: How It Will Change the Way We Play Forever (YouTube video, 13:28, captions available)
or,
Augmented Reality Storytelling: How It Will Change the Way We Play Forever by Devon Lyon (Amara video, 13:28, captioned)
A TED Talk. Storytelling combined with interactive media can be the beginning of a revolution in creative CONTENT creation as well as consumption according to filmmaker Devon Lyon.

The Best Augmented Reality Campaigns by catchoom (YouTube video, 2:00, annotated)
This is the future. Advertising campaigns that use augmented reality to create engaging marketing experiences.

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Resources > Week #13

Transmedia

This is transmedia (Website)
Website maintained by film maker and author Mike Vogel.

Transmedia Resources (Website)
A collection of multiple resources associated with transmedia. Worth the time spent browsing.

Computers, Computing

A History of Modern Computing by Paul Cerruzi (PDF)

True Names by Vernor Vinge (PDF)
More than forty years before William Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his story "Burning Chrome," Vinge developed the idea, and filled it with LANGUAGE, TEXTS, and TECHNOLOGY.

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (PDF)

Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff (PDF)
A small book (ten short chapters) with a big message: Do we direct TECHNOLOGY, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it? "Choose the former," writes Rushkoff, "and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make." Rushkoff picks up where Marshall McLuhan left off, helping readers come to recognize PROGRAMMING as the new LITERACY of the digital age-and as a template through which to see beyond social conventions and power structures that have vexed us for centuries.
Alternate sources
Program or Be Programmed (PDF)
Scribd website. Read online or download with an account registration.
Program or Be Programmed (Website)
"Borrow" this book from Internet Archive.

The Hacker Ethic by Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz (Web article)
A personal statement about the value of "hacking" and how learning to program computers can change your life for the better.

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Project #13 > Multimodality Space

CHALLENGE

Expand and develop your thinking about your Capstone Project by editing and adding information, explanations, and details that have evolved and now influence your thinking. Follow the directions below.

CONSIDER

MULTIMODALITY is a theory of communication and social SEMIOTICS. Multimodality describes communication in terms of the TEXTUAL, ORAL, linguistic, spatial, and VISUAL resources. Multimodality may be useful for thinking about and producing your final project. These videos may help jumpstart your thinking.
What is Multimodality?" by Audiopedia (YouTube video, 8:29, captions available)
What is Multimodality?" (Amara video, 8:29, captions available)
What is Multimodality? by Sean Tingle (YouTube video, 6:05, captions available)
An overview of MULTIMODALITY and multimodal composition, with examples of how these approaches and strategies might be used to engage audiences on multiple levels. This video could help jumpstart your thinking about how best to create and share projects for this course.
What Is Multimodality? by Gunter Kress (YouTube video, 10:24, captions availble)
Interview.

HANDS ON

• Consider what you have learned about MULTIMODALITY as the interplay between TEXT, VISUALS, and LANGUAGE, and the context of their appearance together.
• Revisit your evolving Capstone Project, editing and adding information, explanations, and details that have evolved and now influence your thinking.
• Include the following as subheadings, under which you discuss in detail, not short blurbs, each topic as it relates to your Capstone Project
  • Introduction
  • Overview
  • Conceptual framework
  • Research and/or guiding questions
  • Media you propose to use
  • Anticipated results
  • Questions, comments, opposing viewpoints

DETAILS

• Written (typed) projects are the default. But, you are welcome to consider other, creative ways of responding. Exemplary students will do more.
• Length is subjective. How carefully/thoroughly do you want to prepare/present your responses to the challenges of this project? Let the force guide you.
• See "Projects Guidelines" menu tab for information about preparing written components of this project.
• Revise and edit your project, striving for both creativity and clear communication.
• Submit your project at beginning of first class NEXT week. Include your name and Project #.
• Emailed or late projects not accepted.
• Graded.

Close

Course Evaluation

CHALLENGE

Say something about your course experience. If you have not done so already, please complete the online evaluation for this course. You should have received information about this some time ago, and I have reminded you several times. Please do this. The future of the known universe depends on your evaluation.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ *** Fall Break. No classes this week! ***

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Overview

Fall Break. No classes this week!

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Tuesday, 24 November > Thanksgiving Break

*** Fall Break. No classes this week! ***

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Thursday, 26 November > Thanksgiving Break

*** Fall Break. No classes this week! ***

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Resources > Week #14

Resources to jumpstart your thinking.

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To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Prepare for final presentations.

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Overview > Effective Presentations

WHAT?

Effective presentations provide interfaces to your thinking, problem solving, and creative practices. Being at least comfortable, and at best, skilled, in preparing and delivering presentations will be valuable in your future. This module focuses on writing and speaking as the basis for presentations. Learning goals include
◊ Understanding effective writing as the basis for presentations.
◊ Understanding effective speaking as the primary vehicle for presentations.
◊ Understanding the use of audio-visual materials to augment effective presentations.

SO WHAT?

Effective presentations can provide you with leverage to move ahead. Effective presentations begin with effective writing, and realize your goals through effective speaking. Developing skills and comfort with writing and public speaking will be valuable, in class and beyond.

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Tuesday, 1 December > Presentations > Writing

SUBMIT

Project #13 > Multimodality Space due at beginning of class.

CONSIDER

Effective writing is precise. The meaning and intent are clear. The main idea is well-developed. It shows readers how you think and what you understand. Effective writing helps you synthesize ideas. It is a way of communicating an idea or position. Effective writing is a source of knowledge, opportunity, and power. Effective writing is the basis for every effective presentation. Lecture, workshop, and resources aim to increase your skill and confidence with presentations.

READ

Hamlet on the Holodeck and Narrative in Gaming by Eric Chirnside (PDF)
Chirnside's final presentation in the Media Arts program at Santa Barbara Community College.

ENDURE

Module 15.1 Effective Presentations (PDF)

Close

Thursday, 3 December > Presentations > Speaking

CONSIDER

Speaking publically, in front of other people, is a skill that you will often be called to utilize. But, many people cite public speaking as their top fear, way above getting struck by lightening or bitten by a snake. The way past this fear is increased knowledge of public speaking, how to prepare, and present and effective oral presentation. Lecture, workshop, and resources aim to increase your skill and confidence with presentations.

ENDURE

Module 15.2a Effective Oral Delivery in Ten Steps (PDF)

Module 15.2b Oral Presentation Tips (PDF)

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Resources > Week #15

Public Speaking by John Barber (Webpage)
One of the legendary Dr. John's Eazy Peazy Guides. Speaking publically, in front of other people, is a skill that you will often be called to utilize. But, many people cite public speaking as their top fear, way above getting struck by lightening or bitten by a snake. The way past this fear is increased knowledge of public speaking, how to prepare, and present and effective oral presentation. This resource outlines helpful skills. LEARN more.

Effective Writing by John Barber (Webpage)
One of the legendary Dr. John's Eazy Peazy Guides. Effective writing is precise. The meaning and intent are clear. The main idea is well-developed. It shows readers how you think and what you understand. Effective writing helps you synthesize ideas. It is a way of communicating an idea or position. Effective writing is a source of knowledge, opportunity, and power. Effective writing is the basis for every effective presentation. LEARN more.

Close

Course Evaluation

CHALLENGE

Say something about your course experience. If you have not done so already, please complete the online evaluation for this course. You should have received information about this some time ago, and I have reminded you several times. Please do this. The future of the known universe depends on your evaluation.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ Attend classes.
◊ Deliver Capstone Project presentations.

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Overview

Final presentations.

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Tuesday, 8 December > Capstone Project Presentations

Be prepared to deliver your presentation.

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Thursday, 10 December > Capstone Project Presentations

Final presentations.

Close

Course Evaluation

CHALLENGE

Say something about your course experience. If you have not done so already, please complete the online evaluation for this course. You should have received information about this some time ago, and I have reminded you several times. Please do this. The future of the known universe depends on your evaluation.

Close

To Do This Week

◊ No class.
◊ Comurse completed.

Close

Overview

VMMC 111, *** time to be added when known ***
This date and time reserved in case needed for presentations. But, there is no final exam planned for this course.

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Resources > Week #17

WATCH

Strong Bad. Exempt those exams! (Web article)

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