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Introduction to Digital Media Studies (MDST 2010-100)

Tuesdays/Thursdays 3:30-4:45

Clark Hall 101

Francesca Tripodi – fbt8pa@virginia.edu

Office Hours Thursdays from 12:30-2:30

Office: Levering 208

Introduction

This class is an introduction to digital media studies. It explores the impact digital media has on various aspects of contemporary culture including identity, privacy, community, property, security, and inequality. By combining political, sociological, communication, and media studies theory the goal of the class is to provide students with the background necessary to critically assess the proliferation of digital media forms in today’s society. This class is a requirement for both the major and minor in Media Studies.

Some of the major questions we ask in this course include:

+ What is the relationship between privacy, transparency, security, and secrecy in a digital mediated world?

+ Who holds the “power” in a digital media ecosystem?

+ How should we think and talk about technological change in culture and society? Can technologies make the world a “better” place?

+ What does it mean to live in a culture of surveillance?

+ What are some of the myths surrounding digital media?

Requirements:

2 Exams (the exams will be take-home open book/open note in essay format)

6 Quizzes (these will be given during lecture periodically throughout the semester. The lowest grade will be dropped).

Active participation in weekly discussion sections (Missing more than two sections will lower your grade a full letter grade. Missing more than three sections results in a failing grade).

Creating & Maintaining an ePortfolio (including 5 digital trends)

Grades:

Two exams: 100 points each = 200 points

Five quizzes: 20 points each = 100 points

Discussion/ePortfolio = 100 points

Portfolio: 

Over the course of the semester students will create and develop an e-Portfolio. The goal of the e-Portfolio is to provide students with a tangible resource that they can continue to build during their time at UVa and take with them on the job market after graduation. Student's e-portfolios will only be accessible by the professors and will not be made public until individuals wish to share them.  The purpose of the assignment is to get students familiar with WordPress (an increasingly important tool in digital communication) and provide them with a platform to showcase their professional and personal accomplishments.  In addition to individual exhibition, students will also be required to write a series of “digital trends” during the semester. The goal of the digital trends is to give students a space for critical thinking outside of the classroom and provide real-world context with lecture material. More details regarding the portfolio are available on Collab.

Evaluation and Policies:

A:    Rare and outstanding work that shows thought, enterprise, and attention to detail (spelling, grammar, structure, citations). Do not expect an A in this class.

B:     Very good work that shows care for and understanding of the material.

C:    Fair work that demonstrates superficial familiarity with the material.

D:     Unsatisfactory work that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the material.

F:    Failure because work was not submitted, the student missed more than three sessions, or the student committed an abrogation of academic trust and a commitment to honesty.

A polite and respective environment is essential for learning. I expect that students will treat myself, the TAs, and peers with the utmost respect throughout the semester. Etiquette is not reserved for the classroom and should also be upheld in electronic correspondence.

EMAIL: I request that students only e-mail me in order to set up an in person meeting. As students of digital media I feel that it is important we think more about our usage habits and as students at the University of Virginia I feel we need to engage more with our learning environment. I am available every Thursday from 12:30-2:30 but can also make appointments outside of office hours if needed.

Readings:

The following books are required – all remaining readings on the syllabus are available on Collab under “resources”

1. BAYM / PERSONAL CONNECTIONS IN THE DIGITAL AGE - 978-0-7456-4332-8 – $19.95/$15.00

2. VAIDHYANATHAN / GOOGLIZATION OF EVERYTHING - 0-520-27289-7 – $24.95/$18.75

3. BREVINI / BEYOND WIKILEAKS - 1-137-27573-1 – $28.00/$21.00

4. MARWICK / STATUS UPDATE - 0-300-17672-4 – $27.50/$20.65

Week 1 (August 26/28) Why study “digital” media?

• Vaidhyanathan, Siva. "Why Thomas Jefferson would Love Napster," , July 3, 2001.

• Peters, John Durham (1999) Speaking Into the Air –A History of the Idea of Communication – Chapter 1 “Dialogue and Dissemination.”
 


• Mosco, Vincent (2005). When Old Myths Were New. The Digital Sublime. Cambridge: MIT Press.

No discussion sections this week

Week 2 - How does the Internet work? Why do Networks Matter?

September 2 Read:  

• How Stuff Works: How the Internet Works: 

• How Stuff Works: How the Internet Infrastructure Works:  

September 4 Read:

• Benkler – Wealth of Networks – Chapter 1 “Introduction: A Moment of Opportunity and Challenge” ()

• Baym – Chapter 1 “New Forms of Personal Connection”

• Ableson et al – Blown to Bits - Chapter 1  ()

Guest Lecture – Scholars Lab

Week 3 September 9/11: Network Neutrality

Show in class on 9/9 – John Oliver Net Neutrality Skit

Read:

• Wu, The Master Switch (excerpts available on Collab – read Chapter 20/21 only)

• Meinrath, Sascha & Pickard, Victor (2008). Transcending Net Neutrality: Ten Steps Towards an Open Internet. Journal of Internet Law, 12(6), 1, 12-21

• Zittrain, The Future of the Internet – Introduction – Chapter 1 (pages 1-35) ()

• Marvin Ammori On Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality ()

• McChesney, R. (2012). What is the Elephant in the Digital Room. Digital Disconnect. New York: New Press. (pages 1-16)

Week 4 September 16/18: Surveillance Culture

Read:

• Andrejevic, Mark (2002). The kinder, gentler gaze of Big Brother: Reality TV in the era of digital capitalism. New Media & Society 4(2):251-270

• Draper, Nora (2012). Group Power: Discourses of Consumer Power and Surveillance in Group Buying Websites. Surveillance & Society 9(4): 394-407

• Marwick, Alice (2012). The Public Domain: Social Surveillance in Everyday Life. Surveillance &Society 9(4): 378-393

September 16: Guest Lecture – Lisa Woolfork, PhD

Week 5 September 23/25: Corporate Surveillance

Read:

• The Googlization of Everything: Introduction through Chapter 3

• Turow – Daily You (excerpts available on Collab)

Week 6 September 30/October 2: Government Surveillance (Wikileaks, Snowden, and the NSA)

Read:


• Beyond Wikileaks: Introduction through Chapter four; Chapters 12 through 16.

First exam will be released on Friday, October 3rd

Week 7 October 7/9: Youth Usage

Watch in Class: Frontline: Digital Nation

Read:

• "White Paper" of Ito, et al.Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media. Chicago: MacArthur Foundation, 2008. Available at

• Vaidhyanathan, “Generational Myth,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2008. Available on Collab.

• boyd, It's Complicated, Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2. Book available in PDF on Collab.

Week 8 October 14/16: Reputation Management: Identity & Anonymity

No class October 14, 2014 (reading day)

Read:

• Smith, Zadie, "Generation Why," The New York Review of Books. Available on Collab.
 


• Vargas, "The Face of Facebook Opens Up," from The New Yorker. Available on Collab.

• Marwick Status Update

• Draper,'N.A.'(under&contract).'The'new'reputation'custodians:'Examining'the'industrialization'of'visibility'in'the' reputation'society.'In'L.A.'Lievrouw'(ed.)'Challenging&Communication&Research'(Working'Title).'New'York:' Peter'Lang.

Guest Lecture: Nora Draper, PhD

FIRST EXAM DUE WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15th 11:59pm

Week 9 October 21/23: Privacy, Transparency, Security, and Secrecy

Read:

• Fallows, James. "The Connection has been Reset." The Atlantic. March 2008

• MacKinnon – Consent of the Networked

• Blown to Bits Chapter AOL Case (legal dynamics) – Chapters On-line!

Week 10 October 28/30: Can Digital Media Change the World?

Watch in Class: Sec. Clinton on Internet Freedom

Read/Listen:

• NPR Story: "Twitter, Facebook As Political Tools In Arab World" (Interview with Jillian C. York). Link available on Collab.

• Malcolm Gladwell "Twitter, Facebook, and Social Activism" from The New Yorker (available on Collab)

• Henry Jenkins on Gladwell (available on Collab)

• Zuckerberg, Mark. Letter to Investors. Available on Collab.

• Morozov, To Save Everything, Click Here. Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2.

• Shirky (excerpts from Here Comes Everybody)

Week 11 November 4/6: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Read:

• Baym – Chapter 2 “Making New Media Make Sense”

• Carr, “Is Google Making us Stupid,” The Atlantic, July 1, 2008. (Available on Collab)

• Chad Wellmon, "Why Google Isn’t Making Us Stupid…or Smart" from The Hedgehog Review. Available on Collab or 

Guest Lecture: Chad Wellmon, PhD

Week 12 November 11/13: The “Crisis” of Journalism?

Read:

• McChesney, R.W. & Nichols, J. (2010). The Death and Life of American Journalism. Philadelphia: Nation Books. Chapter 1: The Crisis of Journalism. (Collab)

• Curran, J. (2010). The Future of Journalism. Journalism Studies, 11(4), 464-476. (Collab)

• Gerard Goggin . (2008). ‘The Models and Politics of Mobile Media’. Fibreculture Journal 12. Available at:

• Starkman, "Confidence Game." Columbia Journalism Review (available on Collab)

• Copps, Michael J. “From the Desk of a Former FCC Commissioner – Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet” – Colombia Journalism Review (Available at: )

 

Week 13 & Week 14 November 18/20/25: Citizen Journalism 


Read:

• Rosen, J. (2008, 14 July). A most useful Definition of Citizen Journalism. Pressthink. At: .

• Usher, N. (2011). Professional Journalists, Hands Off! Citizen Journalism as Civic Responsibility. In R.W. McChesney & V. Pickard (Eds.), Will the last reporter please turn out the lights: The collapse of journalism and what can be done to fix it, (pp. 264-276). Philadelphia: Nation Books. (Collab)

• Atton, C. (2009). Alternative and citizen journalism. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen and T. Hanitzsch (eds) The Handbook of Journalism Studies (pp.- 265-278). London: Routledge. Available at: researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/2482/1/Atton_chapter_revrev.doc‎

• Wendy Robinson and David Robinson. (2007). ‘Tsunami Mobilizations: Considering the Role of Mobile and Digital Communication Devices, Citizen Journalism, and the Mass Media’. in The Cell Phone Reader eds. Kavoori and Arceneaux. op. cit: 85-105.

Guest Lecture: Brian Wheeler – Charlottesville Tomorrow   

Week 15 December 2/4: Education & Gamification

Read:

• Kamenetz DIY U (excerpts)

• Vaidhyanathan, Googlization, Ch. 5

• N. Baker on Video Games (New Yorker article on Collab)

• S. Johnson, "Your Brain on Video Games," from Discover Magazine. (On Collab).

• S. Johnson on IQ (Wired article on Collab).

• Bogost, How to Do Things with Video Games (chapter on education?)

• Bogost – Newsgames – how designers are using videogames & journalism.

FINAL EXAM RELEASED – Thursday December 4th

FINAL EXAM DUE

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 11:59PM

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