(9/7 Fall Classes Begin)
9/7 Course Introduction
9/8 Introduction: Why Study Media?
READ: Smith, “Chapter 1: ‘It’s Just a Movie’: Why You Should Analyze Film and Television.”
9/12 Introduction: Media & Convergence
READ: Pavlik & McIntosh, Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, fifth edition: 3-23.
- (background) Baym, “Making New Media Make Sense,” from Personal Connections in the Digital Age: 22-49.
DISCUSS: Media Use Journal Assignment
9/14 Introduction: Media & Convergence
READ: Pavlik & McIntosh (continued): 23-35.
9/15 Introduction: Cultural Studies of (New) Media
READ: du Gay, et al. “Introduction to the First Edition” & “Introduction to the Second Edition” from Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, second edition (Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications: 2013). [To aid with clarity, read in the following order: Part One from “Introduction to the Second Edition” (pp. xi-xiv), “Introduction to the First Edition” (pp. xxviii-xxxii), and Part 2-4 from “Introduction to the Second Edition” (pp. xv-xxvii).]
9/19 Making Sense of the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 1.1 to 1.2, pp. 1-7 [Chapter 1 PDF]
- Bruno Latour, “Technology is society made durable” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 112)
9/21 Making Sense of the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 1.3-1.5, pp. 7-12
9/22 Making Sense of the Walkman
Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding.”
9/26 DUE: Media Use Journal
(9/27 Last day to drop Fall classes without a “W” grade)
9/28 Making Sense of the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 1.6-1.7, pp. 13-20
- Axel Bruns, “Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 117)
- Walter Benjamin, “The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 122)
- Raymond Williams, “Mobile privatization” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 126)
9/29 Making Sense of the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 1.8-1.9, pp. 20-35.
- Ana Andjelic, “Time to rewrite the brand playbook for the digital” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 128)
10/3 Producing the Sony Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 2.1-2.3, pp. 37-46.
- Nick Lyons, “Scratching a global dream” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 130)
- Shu Ueyama, “The selling of the ‘Walkman’” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 131)
10/5 Producing the Sony Walkman (for Consumers)
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 2.4, pp. 46-54.
10/6 Production Case Study: South Park
South Park, “HUMANCENTiPAD,” (S15E01, 2011, 21′)
10/10Columbus Day, NO CLASSES
10/12 Production Case Study: South Park
The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air (2011, 42′)
10/13 Production Case Study: South Park
DISCUSS: Midterm Exam
10/17 Designing the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 3.1-3.3, pp. 56-64.
- Thomas A. Harvey, “How Sony Corporation became first with kids” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 133)
- Lev Manovich, “There is Only Software” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 136)
10/19 Designing the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 3.4, pp. 64-69.
10/20 IN-CLASS MIDTERM EXAM
10/24 Media/Technology Design Case Study: iPhone
READ: Cannon & Barker, “Hard Candy.”
10/26 Media/Technology Design Case Study: iPhone
READ: Jonathan Sterne, “Your new iPhone will soon be trash, and that’s the point.”
10/27 Designing the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 3.4, pp. 64-69.
10/31 Sony as Global Media Firm
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 4, pp. 71-77.
- Jonathan Zittrain, “The Personal Computer Is Dead” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 139)
11/2 Media & Globalization Case Study: Pokémon
Pokémon, “Pokémon, I Choose You!” (1998, 20′); South Park, “Chinpokomon,” (1999, 22’)
11/3 Media & Globalization Case Study: Pokémon
READ: Iwabuchi, “How ‘Japanese’ is Pokémon?” in Tobin, Pikachu’s Global Adventure.
DISCUSS: Mixtape Assignment [PDF]
11/7 Consuming the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 5.1-5.2.2, pp. 79-89.
- Rey Chow, “Listening otherwise, music miniaturized: a different type of question about revolution” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 142)
11/9 Consuming the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 5.2.2 Back to the Future, pp. 89-90.
- Ross Kaminsky, “Iran´s Twitter Revolution” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 150)
- Tim O´Reilly, “What Is Web 2.0” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 152)
- Mirko Tobias Schäfer, “Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 157)
11/10 Consuming the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 5.2.3-5.2.5, pp. 91-102.
- Lain Chambers, “A miniature history of the Walkman” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp.161)
11/14 Consuming Media Case Study
11/16 Consuming Media Case Study: Black Lives Matter
READ: Yancy & Butler, “What’s Wrong with All Lives Matter?” New York Times [PDF Version]
11/17 Consuming Media Case Study
11/21 DUE: Mixtape Assignment
11/23-11/25 Thanksgiving Recess, NO CLASSES
11/28 Regulating the Walkman
READ: Doing Cultural Studies 6, pp. 104-111.
- Vincent Jackson, “Menace II society” (Doing Cultural Studies, pp. 164)
11/30 Regulating Media — Case Study
12/1 Regulating Media — Case Study
12/5 Course Wrap-Up
DISCUSS: Final Exam [PDF] [DOCX]
(12/7 Last Day of Fall Classes)
12/7 Course Wrap-up
(12/8 Last day to drop Fall classes with a “W” grade ; 12/8 Reading Day ; 12/9-12/16 Final Exams)
12/12 FINAL EXAM DUE
DUE: Final/Take-Home Exam, Uploaded to Blackboard by 12:00pm.