COURSE DESCRIPTION

The purpose of this course is primarily to establish an intellectual context within which other, often more advanced, graduate work, such as in the field of Communication, can be put into perspective.  The premise of the course is that technology plays a fundamental role in the formation of thinking and generally in all arenas of human enterprise.  In seminar format, and with special emphasis on the interrelationship between technology and communication, the course examines the complex ways in which technology constructs—and is constructed by—society.  Discussions will focus on how technological change is expressed in  literature, art, architecture, philosophy,  and social movements, and how they, in turn, influence the future direction of technology.  Within these contexts, the course will also consider theories of invention, literacy, ethics and esthetics.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. 2nd Ed. Mahwah, NJ and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.

Bronk, Oppen and Schwerner. Sample Poems.

Hardison, O. B. Disappearing through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century. . New York: Viking Penguin,1988.

Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cibernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

_____. Writing Machines. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 2002.

Malloy, Judy. Its Name Was Penelope. Eastgate Systems, Inc., 1993. (Do not purchase this.)

Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London and New York: Routledge, 1982.

Stone, Allucquère Rosanne. The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.

Strickland, Stephanie. The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot (http://wordcircuits.com/gallery/sandsoot/).

Electronic Literature Directory

New Media Series

Humanities Computing Links

Writing Guides

Documentation Guides (including annotated bibliography samples)

Annotated Bibliography Sample

E-Server TC Library (for bibliographies of work on technical communication)
 

                                    Other Recent Books of Interest:

Arseth, Espen J. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding Mew Media. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.

Boyer, Christine M. Cybercities: Visual Perception in the Age of Electronic Communication. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996.

Greco, Diane. Cyborg: Engineering the Body Electric. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1995.

Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Nostalgic Angels : Rearticulating Hypertext Writing. Norwood, NJ : Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1997.

Joyce, Michael. Moral Tales and Meditations: Technological Parables and Refractions. Afterword by Hélène Cixous. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001. http://www.moral-tales.com.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines. New York: Viking, 1999.

Lunenfeld, Peter. Ed. The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 2000.

_____. Snap to Grid: A User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, Cultures. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 2000.
 

Mitchell, William J. City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.

Rothenberg, David. Hand's End: Technology and the Limits of Nature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Ullman, Ellen. Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1997.
 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

* Discussion Questions (one sentence or more posing a question based on the week's reading) - every class
   member will furnish one question each week (except the class member furnishing a book report for the week - see
   below); i.e., each week every class member will pose a question to the class, based on the reading assigned for that
   week, the week's collective questions forming the basis for open-ended and otherwise unstructured examination by
   the class of the week's reading.
* Book Reports (no less than twelve-hundred and no more than eighteen-hundred word summaries of weekly
    reading); one class member will furnish a report each week, and so each class member will have to do at least
    one book report and most likely no more than one in all.
* End of term research paper of no less than four thousand and no more than seven thousand words, topic to be
   decided and developed in conference with instructor.
* Final Examination of no less than two thousand words (to be done at home).
* Term Paper Announcement (consisting of: Working Title, Thesis Statement, One Paragraph Description of Project, and
   Bibliography).
* Annotated Bibliography of sources to be used in the research paper.

All writing must be spell checked, and to the best of one's ability grammar checked.  If on occasion use is made of the ideas or words of someone else in one's writing, then the source(s) of those ideas and/or words must be cited; that is, when appropriate, papers must be fully documented (you must cite sources--using footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical documentation, which include specific page numbers keyed to particular passages in one's text, and complete bibliographical information). Papers not meeting these requirements will not be credited. The expectation is that participants in this course will adhere fully to the NJIT Honor Code (see: http://www.njit.edu/academics/honorcode.php).

N.B.: Students who do not participate in weekly class activities risk having their papers and exam be disqualified.
 

COURSE SCHEDULE

I.:     Analysis of poems by William Bronk, George Oppen, and Armand Schwerner
        (available here).
II:     Ong,  Orality and Literacy (pages 1-77).
III:    Ong, Orality and Literacy (pages 78-179).
IV:    Bolter,  Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print (pages xi-120).
V:     Bolter,  Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print (pages 121-214); Malloy, Its Name
        Was Penelope; Strickland, The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot (http://wordcircuits.com/gallery/sandsoot/).
VI:    Hardison, Disappearing through the Skylight (pages xi-179).
VII:   Hardison, Disappearing through the Skylight (pages 180-349).
VII:   Stone, The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age (xi-97).
IX:    Stone, The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age (99-183).
X:     Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (xi-xiv, 1-130, especially: xi-xiv, 1-63, 84-130).
XI:    Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (131-291, especially: 131-67, 188-251, 279-291).
XII:   Hayles, Writing Machines, (4-45).
XIII:  Hayles, Writing Machines, (46-143).
XIV:  Oral Reports on Research Projects.
XV:   Final Exam and Research Papers Due.
 

Course Grade:
Book Report and Presentation, 20%
Final Examination, 35%
Term Research Paper, 35%
Term Paper Announcement, 5%
Annotated Bibliography, 5%
 
 

Sample Book Report
Sample Poems
Poems and Book Report
Essay on literacy and identity by Prof. Kimmelman
Histories of Writing, Art
Semiotics Links

How-To Guide for Student Presentations