Syllabus: Explorations in Participatory Culture

 

Professor: Andrew Lynn

lynna2 @ rpi.edu

 

MEETINGS

Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 6p-7:50p

 Location: West Hall 211

 

OFFICE HOURS

by appointment in room G2, West Hall 

 

COURSE WEBSITES:

syllabus: http://breathingplanet.pbwiki.com/ParticipatoryCulture

class blog: http://rpiparticipatoryculture.blogspot.com/

Please check both of these website at least once per week.  It WILL change.  Events and assignments will be added and removed as the semester unfolds.  

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course blends theory and practice to examine how new media production and distribution intersect with advancements in our understanding of media literacy.  We will discuss the tools and techniques, as well as the ethics and challenges that arise from new modes of populist content distribution, like videoblogging and podcasting and the ubiquity of online community, collaborative creation, and appropriation.  Students will be expected to both produce and analyze.

 

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION

... are both required and will be monitored.  If you miss any classes, you are expected to inquire about and make up the missed work on your own and communicate with the professor regarding the reason for your absense(s).  Participation refers primarily to contributions to discussions both in class and online.  Commenting regularly on the blogs of your class peers is a requirement in this class.   Lapses in attendance and/or a lack of participation will most certainly factor poorly into your final grade.

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

You will be evaluated as follows:

Attendance (10 pts.)

Class Participation (30 pts.)

Collective Assignment (20 pts.)

Assignment #1 (30 pts.)

Assignment #2 (30 pts.)

Assignment #3 (30 pts)

Final Project (50 pts.)

 

Each Student's Final Grade is a percentage out of a total of 200 pts.

for example 172/200 = 86% = B

 

Informal Pop-Quizes WILL also happen.  Be prepared & participate.

 

READINGS

There is not a textbook for this class.  But, there is reading.  You will be asked to read, digest, and discuss assigned writeen material.  Readings will be handed out on occasion, but more often linked from the online syllabus.  For certain readings you will be asked to post blog responses to the reading - the completion of which will count towards your grade.  The readings have been carefully selected for their relevance and quality.  They will GUIDE OUR DISCUSSIONS IN CLASS and you are required to participated.  Furthermore, not doing readings will result in less knowledge for you and will undoubtedly be reflected in your grade.

 

 WRITING

You will be expected to write in this class.  We are not concerned with improving your writing skill or technique.  We are interested in a fluid, frequent, and critical, dialogue amongst all participants in the class through the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and media.  Towards that end, the bulk of the writing for this class will be done on your personal blog, which will be linked to the class blog.  You will be expected to read the class blog, and comment on the articles posted there.  You will also be expected to submit one written work on paper, as outlined in the ASSIGNMENTS section.

 

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS

#1 - Research Assignment

Create a public blog/network/journal/channel with a valid rss feed

Create a del.icio.us account for yourself

Create personal collection of videos and multimedia links

Compose a 1-2 page (single spaced) statement outlining some of your personal interests and curiosities with respect to participatory culture, online commnunities, digital storytelling,  new media distribution, and/or other web 2.0 phenomena.  If you are lacking ideas, it is suggested that you surf some of the links on the Class Blog

From your del.icio.us bookmarks, create an RSS slideshow of some of your research, and post the link to your blog.

 

#2 - Make Media all the Time

 For this assignment, you will be making 3 consecutive media posts to your blog over the course of approximately 4 weeks.  The medium you choose can vary from post to post but their should be a topical OR conceptual thread which connects them.  These pieces do NOT need to be polished  works.  Instead, focus on process and concept.  We will talk more about process and concept in class.  Please do NOT sit in front of a webcam and recount your life at university to the world.  Such acts of laziness will be poorly graded.

Tech Tips for Videoblogging & Podcasting

 

 

#3 - Open Research Document/Project

Paper Specs: 1500-2000 words.

 This project can take one of the following forms (you may also propose thoughtful alternatives):

-Position Paper : Select an issue related to digital media and present various points of view before taking a stand on the issue. [Examining the pros and cons of electronic voting is one example.]

-Research Paper: This research paper will explore an industry, product or technology. Provide historical view, current status, and project future development/problems/issues. The paper must include at least three external references; two out of three of these references must be scholarly and/or reputable sources (not personal web sites or Wikipedia).

 

 

#4 Final Open Media Project

 

 

COLLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT

This class is part of a larger Arts Department-wide residency project in which four theorist/artists wil be visiting RPI from different part of the world and interacting with Arts  students on campus and making new work.  These artists will visit Participatory Culture class to present their work and talk with us!   For our part, we will be working as a group to create an interactive web portal which will be an outlet for media and textual components of the residency program.  The portal will ideally host online discussions throughout the semester.  We can keep an open mind about this, and make it whatever it needs to be within the limits of our time together.  For this assignment, students will be asked to take on different parts of the project which appeal to their interests and skills.    Student's will be assigned a grade for their participation in the collective assignment.

 

SCHEDULE  (REMINDER: Readings will change... check back each week)

REMINDER: READINGS WILL CHANGE - check back each week.

 

DATE	TOPICS	ASSIGNMENTS	RESEARCH	DUE
1/15	Introduction to syndication (including rss, atom, news aggregators) Course networking tools: blogger, bloglines, del.icio.us, flickr; ning LAB: Blog set up
1/17	DISCUSSION: What is Participatory Culure? Inroduction to the camera: In-Class video workshop: Group In-Camera PSA project		research the world wide web and prepare RSS slideshow using del.icio.us	Group Project in-class
1/22	-Into iEAR Residencies and Collective Assignment   visit from professor Branda Miller -History of the Internet -DISCUSSION of reading -REPORT on research	READING: "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture" by Henry Jenkins; Pew Internet & American Life Project; A Short History of the Internet by Bruce Sterling (1996); As We May Think by Vanbevar Bush (Atlantic Monthly, 1945)		blog post on part. culture research with hyperlinks. RSS slideshow
1/24	LAB: Audio recording techniques & tools goal: EVERYONE can successfully post audio/video and has a plan for assignment #2  VIEW: Ira Glas on Stroytelling
1/29	NO CLASS TODAY - work on audio/video assignment.  reading ---->	The Cult of the Amateur - Introduction by Andrew Keen Ch. 5 - The Laws of the Jungle from Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger		blog post - commentary on reading
1/31	Media Democracy or Sea of Mediocrity? discussion of reading and looking at assignments			First mixed-media piece (assignment #2) DUE (posted on your blog)
2/05	Rights, Wrongs VIEWING Lawrence Lessig's lecture + flash presentation  CC Animation LINKS: Creative Commons; Internet Archive -begin to develop proposal for web portal -introduction to Drupal and our collective drupal 'sandbox'	READING Chapter 4 of <Free Culture> [downloadable pdf] by Lawrence Lessig VIEWING Lawrence Lessig's lecture + flash presentation
2/07	visit from Bryan Holmes lecture on Participatory  Culture
2/12	Where do computers come from? -thinking about issues of sustainability, globalization, 'progress'	READ: INTERACTIVE AUDIENCES?  THE 'COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE' OF MEDIA FANS by Henry Jenkins		Concept due for Assignment #3
2/14	LAB			Second mixed-media piece DUE (posted on your blog)
2/19 - No Class Monday's schedule	no class	Networked Publics: Introduction [html] by Mizuko Ito; Forthcoming in Kazys Varnelis Ed., Networked Publics. Cambridge: MIT Press. [downloadable .pdf]
2/21	visit from Bryan Holmes finalize  & review the blog
2/26	Media, Community & Technology	READ   "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace" by Danah Boyd
2/28	view & discuss students' assignments
3/04	Our Evolving Species  -second life -gaming -mobile phones -RFID	READ  Introduction & Chapter 1 from The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell (2002)
3/06	Visting Artist Waafa Bilal			Third mixed-media piece DUE (posted on your blog)
3/11&3/12 - Spring Break	no classes
3/18	meet at Ilium Cafe at 6PM google map	Reading Packet (handout)
3/20	Wafaa Bilal Case Study
3/25	screening documentary 'i'	What's My Damage A call for Mental Environmentalism By: Bill McKibben Tragedy of the Mental Commons By: Kevin Arnold		Assignment #3 DUE (on blogs)
3/27
4/01	Participatory Economics and Power to the People -the activism of consumerism	The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (Wired, 2006)   READ  The Second Superpower by James Moore (Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 2003)
4/03
4/08	Visiting Artist: Leonard Helmrich Retel HelmrichRetel Helmrich
4/10	LAB
4/15	Film Screening: This Film is Not Yet Rated	reading: Contesting Cultural Control: Youth Culture and Online Petitioning
4/17	LAB presenting works in progres
4/22
4/24	LAB
4/29 - Last Day of Class	Final Project Crits			final project due