(1/11 Spring Classes Begin)
1/11 Course Syllabus & Introductions
1/14 Introducing Imperfection: Why Study Failure?
READ: Judith (Jack) Halberstam, “Low Theory,” from The Queer Art of Failure, pp. 1-25.
- (background) Judith (Jack) Halberstam, “The Queer Art of Failure,” from The Queer Art of Failure, pp. 87-121.
1/18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, NO CLASSES
1/21 Introducing Imperfection: Glitch Studies Manifesto
READ: Rosa Menkman, “Glitch Studies Manifesto” [ver 1.0]
1/25 The Ontology of the Photographic Image
READ:
- Roland Barthes, sections 9-15 on the studium and the punctum, in Camera Lucida, pp. 23-38.
- Roland Barthes, sections 25-36 on the ontology of the photograph, in Camera Lucida, pp. 63-89.
- (optional) André Bazin, “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” and “The Myth of Total Cinema.”
1/28 The Ontology of the (Moving?) Image
DUE: Reading Reflection #1. Draw at least one connection between Mitchell or Garland-Thomson and our previous readings.
READ:
- W.J.T. Mitchell, “Image” from Mitchell & Hansen (eds.) Critical Terms for Media Studies, pp. 35-48.
- Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, “Why Do We Stare?” and “What is Staring,” from Staring: How We Look, pp. 3-15.
- (background) W.J.T. Mitchell, “What Do Pictures Want?” in What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images, pp. 28-56.
- (background) Aikira Lippit, “Universes” and “Modes of Avisuality,” in Atomic Light (Shadow Optics), pp. 1-12; 35-60
(2/1 Last day to drop Fall classes without a “W” grade)
2/1 Analog / Digital
READ:
- Laura Marks, “Video’s Body, Analog and Digital” in Touch: Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media, pp. 147-160.
- Graham Harwood, “Pixel,” in Fuller (ed) Software Studies / a Lexicon, pp. 213-217.
- (background) Laura Marks, “How Electrons Remember” in Touch: Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media, pp. 161-175.
2/4 Analog / Digital: Flickering Signifiers
DUE: Reading Reflection #2. Address/explore how Vivian Sobchack’s use of the term nostalgia is similar to or different from Laura Marks.
READ:
- N. Katherine Hayles, “Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers,” from The Visual Culture Studies Reader. (Expanded version in How We Became Posthuman, pp. 25-49).
- Vivian Sobchack, “Nostalgia for a Digital Object: Regrets on the Quickening of Quicktime.”
2/8 Snow Day, CLASSES CANCELLED
2/11 Digital Folds
VIEW (before class): Comet (Esmail, 2014, 91’). The film is available to stream on Netflix. The film can also be rented/purchased on iTunes or Amazon.
OPTIONAL READING: Anna Munster, “Sampling and Folding,” in Materializing New Media, pp. 25-54.
- (background) Anna Munster, An Aesthesia of Networks.
- (background) Erin Manning, “Coloring the Virtual.”
2/15 President’s Day, NO CLASSES
2/18 Post-Cinematic & Digital Aesthetics
DUE: Reading Reflection #3. Aim to provide a definition for “affect” based upon how Shaviro situates the concept in relation to the “post-cinematic.” While doing so, consider why (as Shaviro argues elsewhere) “affect is not a particular quality; rather it designates the fact that every moment of experience is qualitative and qualified.”
READ: Steven Shaviro, “Post-Cinematic Affect,” pp. 1-35 (esp. 12-35)
PRESENTATION: Larissa
2/22 Codecs & Compression
READ: Jonathan Sterne, “Format Theory” in MP3: The Meaning of a Format, pp. 1-31.
PRESENTATION: Natalie
2/25 Codecs & Compression
READ:
- Adrian Mackenzie, “Codecs,” in Fuller (ed) Software Studies / a Lexicon, pp. 48–55.
- Sean Cubitt, “Codecs and Capability,” in Lovink & Niederer (eds.) Video Vortex Reader: Responses to Youtube, pp. 45-52
PRESENTATION (on Cubitt): Paloma
2/29 Rude Aesthetics
DUE: Reading Reflection #4. Consider how, as Manon suggests
For your reading response, locate a media object to illustrate the dynamics of “rude [digital] aesthetics” Manon describes. You can respond to other passages by Manon but be sure to include an upload or link to the media object you have chosen. We will all discuss our objects.“When digital technology fails, by and large it fails catastrophically. Indeed, the only thing surprising about those moments at which digital fails is people’s surprise when it happens. … This is different from the analog era—the era of PGF—where discernible small defects as well as large-scale failures, while objectionable, were also expectable—no explanation necessary.”
READ:
- Hugh Manon, “Rude Aesthetics in the Digital Mainstream.”
- Hito Steyerl, “In Defense of the Poor Image.”
PRESENTATION (on Steyerl): Matt
3/3 Glitch
READ:
- Manon and Temkin, “Notes on Glitch.”
- Goriunova and Shulgin, “Glitch,” in Fuller (ed) Software Studies / a Lexicon, pp. 110-118.
3/7 – 3/11 Spring Break, NO CLASSES
3/14 Glitch Aesthetics
READ:
- Rosa Menkman, The Glitch Moment(um)
- “A Technological Approach to Noise,” pp. 12-27.
- “The Perception of Glitch,” pp. 28-32.
- “A Phenomenology of Glitch Art,” pp. 33-45.
- (background) Douglas Kahn, “Significant Noises,” in Noise, Water, Meat, pp. 20-67.
- (background) Moradi et al., Designing Imperfection.
- (background) Iman Moradi, GLTCH Aesthetics.
PRESENTATION: Gabby
3/17 Glitch Aesthetics
DUE: Glitch Object.
- Purposefully glitch a media object (such as an image, audio, or video file). You should be able to find a range of sites providing information about how to produce a glitch.
- Based upon our discussion about why process is important for our understanding of glitch, track the process you used to produce the final, glitched object. If possible, aim to create and justify the method you use to manipulate your object, e.g. a pattern for altering the data.
- Provide an interpretation about how your glitch reveals insight about the format/platform of your media object. For example, you can address what your glitch reveals about the structure of information within a JPEG, MP3, or PDF format.
- E-mail me a copy of the original file and your final, glitched object before class begins. We will be discussing your objects in class.
3/21 Remix, Sampling, & Noise
READ:
- Kim Cascone, “The Aesthetics of Failure: ‘Post-Digital’ Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music.”
- Paul D. Miller / DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid, “In Through the Out Door: Sampling and the Creative Act,” from Sound Unbound, pp. 5-19.
- (background) Eduardo Navas, “Introduction: Remix and Noise” and “Ch. 1: Remix[ing] Sampling,” in Remix Theory, pp. 1-31.
PRESENTATION: Maura (on Cascone) ; Jordan (on Miller)
3/24 Remix, Sampling, & Noise
3/28 Failing in Games
READ:
- Jesper Juul, “Fear of Failing? The Many Meanings of Difficulty in Video Games,” in Perron (ed) The Video Game Theory Reader, pp. 237-252.
- Peter Krapp, “Gaming the Glitch: Room for Error” in Noise Channels: Glitch and Error in Digital Culture, pp. 75-92.
- (background) Jesper Juul, The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games.
SOME GAMES TO CONSIDER:
- Sometimes You Die (link to iOS App Store)
- Dark Echo (iOS | Amazon)
- Limbo (iOS | Amazon)
PRESENTATION: Mason (on Juul)
3/30 – 3/31 SCMS Conference (NO CLASS)
4/4 E-Jects
DUE: Final Paper Proposal
READ: E-Ject: On the Ephemeral Nature, Mechanisms, and Implications of Electronic Objects.
- (background) Mel Y. Chen, “Introduction: Animating Animacy” and “Language and Mattering Humans,” in Animacies, pp. 1-20; 23-55.
- (background) Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Programmed Visions: Software and Memory.
4/7 The Machine Question
READ: David Gunkel, “Thinking Otherwise: Ethics, technology and other subjects,” Ethics and Information Technology 9 (2007): 165-177.
- (background) David Gunkel, Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology.
- (background) David Gunkel, The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics.
4/11 The Machine Question
VIEW (before class): Her (Jonze, 2013, 125’). The film can be rented/purchased through various online sites, including iTunes or Amazon.
4/14 Course Wrap-up
4/18 Patriot’s Day, NO CLASSES
(4/21 Last day to withdraw from classes with a “W” grade)
(4/20 Last Day of Spring Classes ; 4/21 Reading Day ; 4/22-4/29 Final Exams)