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SCHEDULE
Copyright (c) 2004 by T.V. Reed. This is not an official site of Washington State University |
Instructor: T.V. Reed, American StudiesProfessor's Office Wilson 104. Office Hours: Th 3-4:30 & Fri 10-11:30, and at other times by appointment at ext 5-1560.E-mail Professor Reed at reedtv@wsu.edu This course provides an introduction to critical
issues in the study of "cyberculture." While these categories of "difference" are not inherently meaningful, they are among the factors upon which US culture has placed the greatest importance in shaping people's life opportunities. While our readings may at times separate out race from gender from sexuality etc for purposes of emphasis in their analyses, we should always keep in mind that these various categories of social and cultural difference are lived multiply -- we each have racial, gender, class, national and sexual preconceptions placed upon us that we are structurally forced to challenge, or embrace, or ignore and let others define for us. While we will focus on the medium of cyberspace, our ultimate topic is the larger issue of inequality in the US and the wider world. In what ways does cyberspace reinforce existing "offline" inequalities? In what ways does cyberspace transform, undermine or resist or even destroy some aspects of inequality? What new opportunities for social change are made possible by new technologies? What barriers to change may limit the potential of these new means of digital communication? Our approach to these issues will reflect the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of the field of American Studies. That means we will be reading analyses from an array of academic areas including communications, ethnic studies, sociology, psychology, history, women's studies, cultural studies, and American studies. We will learn these approaches through readings, discussions, assignments, and teaching them to others. Teaching them to others will take the form of "publishing" your work on the World Wide Web itself via our class site on "The Bridge". Part of the work of the class will be to analyze, and work to improve the Web resources pages connected to the course in order to make them more effective tools for other students and scholars to use [http://libarts.wsu.edu/amerst/digdiv/]. You will not, however, be graded on your technical
expertise, and support for any of the Web work done in the course will
be provided upon request. I also expect that students will be willing
to assist each other in these matters. Indeed, "team" projects
are encouraged for the final, web-based projects. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS are available for
students who have a documented disability. Please notify the instructor
during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for this
course. Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to
be unavailable. All accommodations must be approved through the Disability
Resource Center (DRC) in Administration Annex 205, 335-1566. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Plagiarism of any kind, whether
from books, paper archives, or Internet sources, is grounds for immediate
failure of the course. You may also be subject to further punitive action
from the University, up to and including dismissal. REQUIRED TEXTSDavid Gauntlet, ed. Web Studies [Note
the useful Glossary at back] (available at the Bookie GRADING REQUIREMENTS & ASSIGNMENTSActive participation in class discussions.
Grade value 15% Digital Journal (DigiJourn).
Grade value 20%. Over the course of the semester each student will
keep a journal noting and analyzing your own experiences with the
World Wide Web. In particular you will reflect upon your own race,
class, gender, sexual orientation and nationality as forces that interact
to shape your experiences in cyberspace. You will e-mail me your DigiJourn
at midterm and end of semester, but will use it throughout to prepare
for class quizzes and assignments.DUE March
4 (in progress) and April 29 (final version)
Quizzes.
Grade value 15%. Web Site
Review (3-4pp.). Grade value 20%. Take two of the articles we have read, summarize
their main interpretive ideas, then apply them to an analysis of a selected
web site. The purpose of the assignment is to demonstrate your ability
to analyze issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, nationality
or other aspects of diversity as manifested online. Final Website. Grade value 30%. A PRELIMINARY PROJECT DESCRIPTION will be DUE
April 8 for feedback from the instructor, and on April 15th we will
do ONLINE PEER REVIEWS of the work in progress. The preliminary description
should include a brief list of books, articles and web sites you will
consult in making the project. I am also willing to look at first drafts
of final projects, provided the URL is given to me at least 10 days
before they are due. Projects involving two or more people are welcome,
and I am happy to discuss ways to insure that each member of the team
is fairly and individually evaluated. The class will work to collectively
identify projects we think members the class should undertake. FINAL WEBSITE URL IS DUE ON 'THE BRIDGE' BY 4:30pm ON WEDNEDAY MAY 5th No late projects will be accepted. |
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE:
WEEK 1 * T
Jan 13 -- Course Overview and Brief Introductions
Th Jan 15 -- Key Concepts in Cyberculture Studies
WEEK 2 * T Jan 20 -- Who is Online and Why? Questions of the 'Digital Divide' and Beyond
REQUIRED READING:
Carvin, "Mind
the Gap: The Digital Divide as the Civil Rights Issue of the New Millennium"
Warschauer, "Reconceptualizing
the Digital Divide"
REQUIRED READING:
Hill, "Beyond Access: Race, Technology and Culture" (CR)
REQUIRED WEB VISIT:
Visit one of the following sites and analyze its usefulness and limits as an approach to bridging the digital divide.
Urban Tech
Plugged In
Community Technology Centers Net
WEEK
3 * T Jan 27 -- Critical Cyberculure Studies
REQUIRED READING:
Gauntlett, "Web Studies" (WS)
Silver, "Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards: Cyberculture Studies, 1990-2000"
(WS)
Th Jan 29 -- 'Reading' the Web, or the Semiotics of Cyberspace
REQUIRED READING:
Brunett and Marshall, "The Look of the Web"(CR)
REQUIRED WEB VISIT:
Go to Yahoo! and analyze it, verifying, challenging, comparing your observations to those of Brunett and Marshall
WEEK 4 * T Feb 3 -- The Cyberian "I"
Cheung, "A Home on the Web: Presentations of Self on Personal Homepages"(WS)
REQUIRED READING:
WEEK 5 * T Feb 10 -- Community and/or Commodity: Collective Identities Online
REQUIRED READING:
McLaine, "Ethnic Online Communities: Between
Profit and Purpose" (CR)
Gamson, "Gay Media, Inc.: Media Structures, ... and Collective Sexual
Identities"(CR)
Th Feb 12 -- How to Read Online Communities
REQUIRED READING:
Whitney, "The
Other: Self-Representation on the Internet"
Silver, "Margins in the Wires: Looking for Race, Gender, and Sexuality
in the Blacksburg Electronic Village"(CR)
WEEK 6 * T Feb 17-- Constructing Race in and out of Cyberspace
REQUIRED
READING:
REQUIRED WEB VISIT:
Visit the PBS site "Race: The Power of an Illusion" and write a 1-page essay (in lieu of a quiz today) on the degree to which the site does or does not go beyond Nakamura's notion of a "menu-driven" concept of race.
Th Feb 19 --REQUIRED READING:
Kolko, "Erasing @race: Going White in the (Inter)Face"(CR)
** SHORT PAPER DUE IN CLASS (Don't forget to also post it on 'The Bridge')**
WEEK 7
* T Feb 24 --
REQUIRED
WEB VISIT:
Surf carefully
around the WSU website and analyze it as a representation
of race in our community, utilizing techniques derived from Nakamura, Kolko
, Silver and the other scholars we've read .
Feb 26
--
REQUIRED
READING:
REQUIRED WEB VISIT:
Visit the Heritage Preservation Association site and examine it in light of McPherson's analysis and other work we've read..
WEEK 8
* T Mar 2 --
REQUIRED READING:
Pellow and Park, "The Political Economy of Work and Health in Silicon Valley" (CR)
WEB SITE VISIT:
View a partial inventory of toxic chemicals in a typical computer fabrication plant from a Silicon Valley fire department.
Th Mar
4 --
**DIGI-JOURNS
IN PRGRESS DUE; POST ON 'THE BRIDGE' BY CLASS TIME**
WEEK 9
* T Mar 9 --
REQUIRED READING:
di Filippo, "Pornography on the Web" (WS)Sampaio and Aragon, "Filtered Feminisms: Cybersex, E- Commerce and the Construction of Women's Bodies in Cyberspace"
Th Mar
11 --
REQUIRED
READING:
Gilbert, "On
Space, Sex and Stalkers"
SPRING BREAK Mar 15-19
WEEK
10 * T Mar 23 --
REQUIRED READING:
McChesney, "The
Titanic Sails On: Why the Internet Won't Sink the Media Giants "
Th Mar
25 --
Chow, "The Revenge of the Yellowfaced Cyborg
Terminator" (WS)
Visit the Shadow Warrior site.
Berry and Martin, "Queer 'n' Asian on -- and off -- the Net" (WS)
REQUIRED WEB VISIT:
Go to any major search engine, type in the word "Asian," and analyze the results.
WEEK 11
* T Mar 30 --
REQUIRED
READING:
Woodland, "Queer Spaces, Modem Boys and Pagan Statues" (CR
Th Apr
1 --
REQUIRED READING:
Sterne,
"The Computer Race Goes to Class: How Computers in Schools Helped Shape
the Racial Topography of the Internet" (CR)
Rajagopal,
"A Gendered World: Students and Instructional Technologies"
WEEK 12
* T Apr 6 --
Arnold and Plymore, "The Cherokee Indians and
the Internet" (WS)
Fair, "Becoming the White Man's Indian" (CR)
Visit Native web's Indian nations page, and by following links to a few official tribal homepages analyze the way they reinforce, contradict or expand upon the types of tribal sites discussed in the articles.
Th Apr 8 -- The Internet as Transnational Force
**PRELIMINARY
OUTLINE OF FINAL WEB PROJECT DUE IN CLASS AND POSTED ON 'THE BRIDGE'**
WEEK 13 * T Apr 13 -- Fun and Games, War and Peace
Thurs, "Bringing the War Home: The New Military-Industrial-Entertainment Complex at War and Play"LA High School Students, "Tropical America Game"
Th Apr 15 --
WEEK
14 * T Apr 20 --
Cybracero
Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System
The Natural Order of Things
Bindi Girl
Invisible America
Or any of the other sites from the "Race in Digital Space Art Exhibition" at USC
(many different sites to explore)
Th Apr 22 --
WEEK
15 * T Apr 27 --
Vegh, "Hactivism
or Cyberterrorism?"
Th April 29 -- Diverse Modes of CyberResistance
Andrychuk, "Online Activism: The Internet as a Vehicle for Social Movements"
Hara and Estrada,"Hate and Peace in a Connectied World"
Then come to class prepared to discuss what you think are the most effective
kinds of alternative cyberculture making and unmaking. Your arguments should
be based in what you have learned about production, sexuality, and audiences,
and be rooted in historical analysis.
** YOUR FINAL DIGI-JOURNS ARE DUE TO BE POSTED ON 'THE BRIDGE' BY CLASS TIME **
FINALS WEEK SESSION: Website
Presentations & Peer Evaluations
**
FINAL PROJECT URLS DUE TO INSTRUCTOR (AND POSTED ON 'THE BRIDGE') BY 4:30PM,
ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 5th.
NO LATE PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.