STS 348, Spring 2006 |
|
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to lay bare the interrelationships among technology and other human enterprises that shape a society, paying special attention to the arts, and thereby to understand society in terms of its various dynamics. A central activity in the course is the pursuit of certain definitions, with an eye to the human technological enterprise; these definitions--of sublimity, beauty, art and esthetics--shade one into the other, as each helps to comprehend the others and technology as well.
COURSE TEXTS
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Illuminations. Tr. Harry Zohn. Ed. Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. (This essay must be downloaded at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm.)
Hardison, O. B. Disappearing through the Skylight. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989. (This book is out of print but there are used copies available from various sources; if necessary, it can be purchased from the NJIT bookstore as a photocopy that is not especially inexpensive.)
Heidegger, Martin. Poetry, Language, Thought. Tr. Albert Hofstadter. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.
Perloff, Marjorie. Radical Artifice: Writing Poetry in the Age
of
Media. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Rutsky, R. L. High Techne: Art and Technology from the Machine Aesthetic to the Posthuman. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.
Humanities Computing Links (various)
Modern Art and Art Movements Links
Modern
Times by Charlie Chaplin
Recommended:
Bolter, Jay David, and Diane Gromala. Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
Mitchell, William J. The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post Photographic Era. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
* Oral/Visual reports based on class readings and on the end of term research project (see below).Term Paper Announcement:
Consists of 1) a descriptive paper title, including a subtitle to show
focus and specificity, 2) a one-sentence focused and polemical thesis
statement (one
sentence only--it can be a very long sentence and can employ one
semicolon) that includes the point of your argument, the breadth of
that argument, and the argument’s significant concepts and details, 3)
a one-paragraph description of the writing strategy to be employed in
your paper (i.e., not what will be in your paper but HOW you will prove
your thesis, make your case), 4) a bibliography in MLA format and
alphabetized. For the purposes of this assignment, use must be made of
at least three secondary research sources (including at least one
non-Internet source, i.e., including at least one hard copy
source--though you may use, say, an article you find on a database,
which was originally in hard copy) excluding textbooks, encyclopedias
and dictionaries.
COURSE GRADE
Midterm Examination 10%
Term Paper Announcement 5%
End of Term Research Paper 30% (15% for Draft 1)
Final Examination 35%
Oral Reports 20%
COURSE PORTFOLIO
At the end of the term an organized and otherwise neatly arranged
portfolio must be submitted, consisting of ALL your work,
including all drafts of essays as well as materials used in preparing
for and delivering oral reports.
1. Punch holes in your papers to coincide with the holes in, and
bind the papers within a three-holed binder.
2. Place a gummed label (or equivalent) on outside with:
Your Name
STS 248
Spring, 2006
Dr. Kimmelman
3. All papers should be arranged with the latest revised version of
a paper on top of earlier versions, followed by the previous
version, and so on (i.e., in “descending” order). The Portfolio should
be arranged in sections, with the
first section comprised of the first paper assignment, the second
section the second paper assignment, and so on (i.e., in “ascending”
order).
4. At the front of the portfolio place your course syllabus followed
by a Table of Contents that lists each assignment, the date it was
submitted, and the grade (if any) it received. Any assignment
that still needs to be graded should be indicated as such.
Abbreviation Meaning
A
-
Article
Agr
-
Agreement
CS
-
Comma Splice
Dic
-
Diction
Exp
-
Explain
FS
-
Fused Sentences
RO
-
Run On Sentence
SF
-
Sentence Fragment
Sp
-
Spelling
SS
-
Sentence Structure
Syn
-
Syntax or Word Order
Tr
-
Transition
Un
-
Unclear
Uncl
-
Unclear
Us
-
Usage
V
-
Verb
Va
Vague
VF
-
Verb Form
VT
-
Verb Tense
WW
Wrong Word