General course information

Required Texts

• Bachelard, Gaston. “The House; From Cellar to Garret; The Significance of the Hut.” Chapter 1. The Poetics of Space. 1958. Trans. Maria Jolas. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. 3-37.
• Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra.” Simulacra and Simulation. 1981. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1994. 1-42.
• Baudrillard, Jean. “Simulacra and Science Fiction.” Simulacra and Simulation. 1981. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1994. 121-27.
• Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. 2011.
• Foucault, Michel. “Different Spaces.” 1967. Trans. Robert Hurley. Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology. Ed. James D. Faubion. New York: New Press, 1998. 175-85.
• Galouye, Daniel F. Simulacron–3. 1964.
• Gibson, William. Neuromancer. 1984.
• Jameson, Fredric. “Spatial Equivalents in the World System.” Postmodernism; or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. 97-129.
• Kosinski, Joseph. Tron: Legacy. 2010.
• Lisberger, Steven. Tron. 1982.
• Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. 1992.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. “On Fairy-stories.” 1938, 1947. Tree and Leaf. London: Allen & Unwin, 1964. 11-70.
• Vinge, Vernor. “True Names.” 1981. True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier. Ed. James Frenkel. New York: Tom Doherty [Tor], 2001. 239-329.
• Wachowski, Andrew, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix. 1999.
• Wachowski, Andrew, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix Reloaded. 2003.
• Wachowski, Andrew, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix Revolutions. 2003.

Course Expectations or Outputs

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. position the specific topic within a broader context of media studies and approaches to digital culture.
2. demonstrate an advanced ability to analyze texts in a nuanced and historically informed manner.
3. contribute meaningfully to seminar in a manner that demonstrates a depth of preparation, initiating critical discussion and participating in a sustained scholarly conversation.
4. listen actively to others in seminar and offer informed, critical responses.
5. lead the seminar group in an advanced analysis of a specific topic.
6. formulate a topic for independent research and complete a sustained research paper in which analytical argument is enriched by the judicious use of complex secondary sources.

Course Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course will demonstrate:

1. a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the topic in digital culture.
2. a developed understanding of critical approaches to digital culture and of the theoretical principles that support these approaches.
3. an ability to work independently, using a range of techniques in the generation of complex analyses.
4. an ability to gather and comprehend complex secondary sources and to make effective use of them.
5. an ability to communicate ideas and analyses in clear, correct, and persuasive prose.

Participation and Attendance

Students are expected to prepare carefully for each (and every) class. This involves not just reading the texts that will be covered that day, but also thinking about them, taking notes on them, and preparing questions and statements about them. The more prepared students are for class, the more successful and enjoyable the seminar will be. Participation is a key component of the course. Because this is a seminar, everyone is expected to attend all classes, and everyone is expected to participate in all classes. No part of the participation grade is for attendance alone.

Lateness

• The term essay proposal must be submitted on or before November 21st.
• The term essay is due on December 5th. You may submit it up to and including December 12th without penalty; after that, there will be a 3%/day lateness penalty, including Saturdays and Sundays.