courses@JLR

In a culture obsessed with "new" media, we're bombarded with hype about the present as a revolutionary phase of convergence. But everything old was once new, and pioneering media of the past also had to negotiate existing technologies, ideologies, and fantasies. This seminar is organized around case studies of transitional media moments. In exploring the material and discursive aspects of remediation through theoretical, historical, and media archaeological readings, we'll ask: what is a medium and how do they emerge and evolve?

MECHANISMS

This is a small and highly collaborative seminar. You will be expected to complete three substantial readings per week (averaging 100-150 pages). To facilitate an active and productive discussion, you will write a weekly prompt on one of these selections. For two of our eight weeks, you will write a seminar paper and present your analysis of the topic in class.

CourseWork will be the repository for student work and digital copies of the readings (please bring printouts or laptops to class so you can refer to the texts). Food and drink are encouraged since our meeting spans the lunch hour. We'll sign up at least one person to bring snacks each week.

Attendance at all class meetings is required. If you have a conflict or illness that causes you to miss class, contact the professor in advance. More than one absence, even if excused, will necessitate grade penalties.

Late work is discouraged. Most assignments are integrated with class activities and thus do not accommodate lateness. If you are facing extenuating circumstances and need an extension, contact the professor in advance. Grade penalties will be imposed for unexcused late work.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. For more information on avoiding plagiarism and the rest of Stanford's Honor Code, see http://stanford.edu/dept/vpsa/judicialaffairs/avoiding/guide.htm

Students who have a disability which may necessitate an academic accommodation or the use of auxiliary aids and services in a class, must initiate the request with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC), located within the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). The SDRC will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend appropriate accommodations, and prepare a verification letter dated in the current academic term in which the request is being made. Please contact the SDRC as soon as possible; timely notice is needed to arrange for appropriate accommodations. The Office of Accessible Education is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone; 723-1066; TDD: 725-1067).

ASSIGNMENTS

To allocate weekly assignments, students will self-select into four groups (Z-Y-X-W). After letters are divided up according to your desired presentation topics, you're assigned to write your weekly response to the text marked with your letter.

.weekly prompt (due Wednesday by 6pm)Write a substantial discussion question (several hundred words) in response to one of the readings. Here are some approaches you could consider:

• what are key points that you took from the text?
• did you find this argument convincing, and why? o what aspects were difficult to understand?
• how did it relate to another text from this or previous weeks?
• what connections did it suggest with familiar media artifacts?

Post your response to the CourseWork Forum. Before seminar, you should read your classmates' prompts as well as the presenter's essay.

.seminar presentation (essay due Wednesday by 6pm) Compose an informal 3-4 page ( <1000 words) seminar paper expanding on the week's topic to share with the class (via upload to CourseWork). You may choose to focus on a theoretical debate, but you are encouraged to select a relevant media artifact to analyze through the lens of one or more readings.

In class, you'll give a presentation that explains and extends your interpretation. Plan to speak for around 10 minutes and field some discussion. You can also spend 10 minutes showing media examples, if applicable.

.final paper (due December 10 by midnight) Expand one of your seminar papers into an 8 page paper that draws on course texts to analyze a media artifact of your choice. At our final meeting, you'll have the opportunity to present your preliminary topic and get feedback from the class.

ASSESSMENT

Overall, evaluation is based on three criteria:

• understanding of course material
• persuasiveness and originality of analysis
• clarity of presentation

Final grades will break down as follows:

• six weekly prompts and overall participation – 30%
• total seminar paper/presentation – 40% (20% each)
• final paper – 30%

SCHEDULE

[0] INTRO ◊ September 23

recommended: Erkki Huhtamo, "From Kaleidoscomaniac to Cybernerd: Notes Toward an Archaeology of the Media." Leonardo Vol. 30, No. 3 (1997): 221-224 + Wendy Chun, "Introduction: Did Somebody Say New Media?" (excerpt). New Media, Old Media (1-4)

in-class screening: Tron (1982)

[Z] WRITING ◊ September 30

Y) Friedrich A. Kittler, "Typewriter" (excerpts). Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. Stanford University Press, 1999. (183-200, 243-263)

X) N. Katherine Hayles, "Intermediation: Textuality and the Regime of Computation" + "Speech, Writing, Code: Three Worldviews." My Mother Was a Computer. University of Chicago Press, 2005. (15-61)

W) Peter Krapp, "Hypertext Avant La Lettre." New Media, Old Media. Ed. Wendy Chun and Thomas Keenan. Routledge, 2006. (359-374)

[Y] SOUND ◊ October 7

X) Thomas Y. Levin, "'Tones from out of Nowhere': Rudolph Pfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic Sound." New Media, Old Media. Ed. Wendy Chun and Thomas Keenan. Routledge, 2006. (45-81)

W) Tom Gunning, "Re-Newing Old Technologies: Astonishment, Second Nature, and the Uncanny in Technology from the Previous Turn-of-the-Century" + Lisa Gitelman, "How Users Define New Media: A History of the Amusement Phonograph." Rethinking Media Change. Ed. David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins. MIT Press, 2004. (39-80)

Z) Jonathan Sterne, "The MP3 as Cultural Artifact." New Media & Society 8 (2006): (825-842)

[X] IMAGES ◊ October 14

W) Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, "I. Theory." Remediation: Understanding New Media. MIT Press, 1999. (19-84)

Z) Allan Sekula, "The Body and the Archive." The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. The MIT Press, 1992. (343-389)

Y) Nicholas Mirzoeff, "The Shadow and the Substance: Race, Photography, and the Index" + Jennifer Gonzales, "Morphologies: Race as a Visual Technology." Only Skin Deep. Ed. Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis. Abrams, 2003. (111-126, 379-393)

[W] FILM ◊ October 21

Z) Thomas Elsaesser, "Early Film History and Multi-Media: An Archaeology of Possible Futures?" New Media, Old Media. Ed. Wendy Chun and Thomas Keenan. Routledge, 2006. (13-25) + watch Metropolis (1927)

Y) Mary Ann Doane, "The Instant and the Archive." The Emergence of Cinematic Time. Harvard University Press, 2002. (206-232)

X) Charles Musser, "Rethinking Early Cinema: Cinema of Attractions and Narrativity" + Scott Bukatman, "Spectacle, Attractions and Visual Pleasure." The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded. Ed. Wanda Strauven. Amsterdam University Press, 2006. (389-416, 71-84)

[Z] BROADCAST ◊ October 28 Y) Lynn Spigel, "Domestic Ideals and Family Amusements: From the Victorians to the Broadcast Age" + "Television in the Family Circle." Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. University of Chicago Press, 1992. (11-72)

X) Richard Dienst, "The Outbreak of Television." Still Life in Real Time: Theory After Television. Duke University Press, 1994. (3-35)

W) Siegfried Zielinski, "No Longer Cinema, No Longer Television." Audiovisions: Cinema and Television as Entr'actes in History. Amsterdam University Press, 1999. (219-272)

[Y] NETWORKS ◊ November 4

X) Armand Mattelart, "Globalization: The Networks of the Postnational Economy" + "The Fracture: Toward a Critique of Globalization." Networking the World, 1794-2000. University of Minnesota Press, 2000. (75-120)

W) Alexander Galloway, "Introduction" and "Form." Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization. MIT Press, 2004. (3-27, 54-78)

Z) Fred Turner, "The Triumph of the Network Mode." From Counterculture to Cyberculture. University of Chicago Press, 2008. (237-262)

[X] CONVERGENCE ◊ November 11

W) Lev Manovich, "The Interface." The Language of New Media. MIT Press, 2001. (62-115)

Z) Chuck Tryon, "The Screen Is Alive" + "Hollywood Remixed." Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence. Rutgers University Press, 2009. (38-58, 149-173)

Y) William Boddy, "Redefining the Home Screen: Technological Convergence as Trauma and Business Plan" + Constance Balides, "Immersion in The Virtual Ornament: Contemporary 'Movie Ride' Films." Rethinking Media Change. Ed. David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins. MIT Press, 2004. (191-200, 315-336)

[W] BODIES ◊ November 18

Z) Donna Haraway, "The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics for Inappropriate/d Others." Cybersexualities. Ed. Jenny Wolmark. Edinburgh University Press, 1999. (314-366)

Y) Chela Sandoval, "New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and the Methodology of the Oppressed." Cybersexualities (247-263) + Lisa Nakamura, "Cybertyping and the Work of Race in the Age of Digital Reproduction." New Media, Old Media (317-333)

X) Sandy (Allucquère Rosanne) Stone, "Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?" Cybersexualities (69-98) + "The 'Empire' Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto." Camera Obscura 10 (1992): (150-176)

--> Thanksgiving ◊ November 25

[0] CONCLUSION ◊ December 2

presentation/discussion of final paper topics