Am ST Digital Media Popular Culture

AmSt 470
Media Worlds: Digital Media and Global

Popular Cultures
Summer II 2014
M/T/W/Th 11::00-12:20
College Apartments 9
Instructor: Ali Colleen Neff
E-Mail: alineff@wm.edu
Office: 2nd Floor College Apartments
Office Hours: By appointment
Overview
From digital samples of African voices on hip-hop albums,
youtube documentaries on emerging arts scenes, and the
influence of Japanese youth culture on Western fashion
websites, the digital age has brought American popular
culture into new conversation with global cultures and
local subcultures. Meanwhile, social media sites Twitter
and Instagram have the power to influence global political
change. Not only do new digital media shape the routes
by which global cultures work across the world stage, they
are also shaped--often in surprising ways--by the various
political, economic, social, and creative interests of the
people who engage them. In this class, we will explore
classic media studies and cultural theory as well as
cutting-edge thinking about emerging digital media forms
to ask how new media works both to control and to
empower new ideas, cultural forms, and discourses.
Goals
In this course, we work toward a dual series of goals as we engage the topic of media
studies in our progress toward becoming better critical thinkers and writers.
1.We will better understand the role of media technologies in cultural formation, and
how they shape and are shaped by the groups who engage them
2.We will learn to design projects, and to communicate complex, critical ideas clearly and
with a measure of personal and intellectual style.
We will gauge our progress toward these goals by checking in with course keywords
(listed for each week) and through a series of discursive writing assignments leading to
our final research project.
Requirements
1. You will be graded on a series of reading presentations, a final project, a keyword-
based midterm and class participation.
2.Complete and critically engage all required reading and media
3.Complete all assignments on time and with intellectual and academic integrity
4.Participate fully in the classroom community
5.Communicate your needs and issues with your classmates and teachers responsibly.
6.Turn off all internet and social media when in the classroom (very important)
7. Grow intellectually, as an emerging authority on the world of culture, and as a critical
thinker and writer
Materials
Course materials for this multimedia course can
be found by class date in this syllabus.
1 Most materials are available as articles
through our Blackboard site, or e-books
through Swem Library
2 It is recommended to print these materials
and mark them up, and to engage them
specifically in class discussion.
Milestones
Readings and discussions
Understand how new cultural movements
emerge, and practice methods in writing about
them; apply theoretical and topical readings to
course goals
Keywords
Engage basic concepts and practices in media
studies and articulate critical arguments about
how processes of power work through them
Cultural Studies
Know how to do research in media and cultural
studies
Attendance, Participation, Delays
1. Attendance is required at all lectures and
discussion sections; more than two
unexcused absences will result in a full final
grade letter grade deduction
2. While all students prefer different modes of
engagement, participation in classroom
discussion is a must; communicate with me if
you have issues
3. Late work will, unless excused by a
documented medical emergency, be docked
a full letter grade per day
4. As a rule, communicate responsibly and
mindfully about any issues ahead of time
WEEK 1: Popular Culture and the Media WEEK 1: Popular Culture and the Media WEEK 1: Popular Culture and the Media WEEK 1: Popular Culture and the Media WEEK 1: Popular Culture and the Media
6/30 Digital Media and American Popular Culture
1. A Tribe Called Red: http://atribecalledred.com
2. RookieMag: http://rookiemag.com
3. Bronies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2EOfhvvURY
4. Turfing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRRnAhmB58
5. Roller Derby: http://rivercityrollergirls.org
6. Politics: http://mashable.com/2011/11/17/ows-tea-party/
Digital Media and American Popular Culture
7/1 Read this summary of Stuart Halls Argument on what The Popular means: culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com
and read this excerpt from Stuart Halls Representation textbook. Its challenging and well unpack it in class, but it
contains all of the seeds of the work we are about to do on culture, communication, the popular, and especially,
media studies. You can skim up to page 43, but thoroughly read p. 44 on, including the excerpts at the end.
http://kassanoff.wikischolars.columbia.edu/file/view/stuart%20hall%20representation%20ch.%201-2.pdf
Read this summary of Stuart Halls Argument on what The Popular means: culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com
7/2 1. Greg Tate, Black Jazz in the Digital Age: http://www.criticalimprov.com/article/view/287/431
2. Selections from Danah Boyds Apophenia:
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2009/08/16/twitter_pointle.html
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2009/12/29/race_and_social.html
http://www.danah.org/papers/2009/WhiteFlightDraft3.pdf
3. Read Barry Shanks The Political Meaning of Music Beauty in PDF on Blackboard
1. Greg Tate, Black Jazz in the Digital Age: http://www.criticalimprov.com/article/view/287/431
7/3 No Class. Watch Copyright Criminals on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIoR3PYpduo
Follow and fill out the worksheet (on Blackboard) that will help you design your final project so that you can share
your potential topic with us on Monday
No Class. Watch Copyright Criminals on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIoR3PYpduo
KEYWORDS: KEYWORDS: KEYWORDS: KEYWORDS: KEYWORDS:
WEEK 2: Thinking about Media, Digitally WEEK 2: Thinking about Media, Digitally WEEK 2: Thinking about Media, Digitally WEEK 2: Thinking about Media, Digitally WEEK 2: Thinking about Media, Digitally
7/7 7/7 1. Read the short article Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message: http://engl114-
pressman.commons.yale.edu/files/2008/08/medium-is-the-message2.pdf
2. And skim his entire book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man: http://beforebefore.net/80f/s11/
media/mcluhan.pdf
1. Read the short article Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message: http://engl114-
media/mcluhan.pdf
1. Read the short article Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message: http://engl114-
media/mcluhan.pdf
7/8 7/8 1. Instagram and the impact of immediate visuality: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/20/
instagram-vine-and-the-evolution-of-social-media/
2. Moira Burke and Robert Kraut, Social Capital on Facebook: Differentiating Uses and Usershttp://
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.227.6644&rep=rep1&type=pdf
3. Jessica Winter, Instagram is even more depressing than Facebook. Heres why.http://www.slate.com/
articles/technology/technology/2013/07/
instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html
1. Instagram and the impact of immediate visuality: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/20/
7/9 7/9 1. Nick Salvato Out of Hand: YouTube Amateurs and Professionals, TDR: The Drama Review, Volume 53,
Number 3, Fall 2009 (T 203) , pp. 67-83 (PDF on Bboard))
2. Maria A. Kopacz (bio) and Bessie Lee Lawton Rating the YouTube Indian: Viewer Ratings of Native
American Portrayals on a Viral Video Site (PDF on BBoard)
3. William Merrin , Still Fighting the Beast:Guerrilla Television and the Limits of YouTube (PDF on BBoard)
1. Nick Salvato Out of Hand: YouTube Amateurs and Professionals, TDR: The Drama Review, Volume 53,
1. Nick Salvato Out of Hand: YouTube Amateurs and Professionals, TDR: The Drama Review, Volume 53,
7/10 7/10 1. Esther Milne , FCJ-010 Email and Epistolary technologies: Presence, Intimacy, Disembodiment http://
two.fibreculturejournal.org/
2. Christine Bacareza Balance, How It Feels to Be Viral Me: Affective Labor and Asian American YouTube
Performance (PDF on BBoard)
1. Esther Milne , FCJ-010 Email and Epistolary technologies: Presence, Intimacy, Disembodiment http://
1. Esther Milne , FCJ-010 Email and Epistolary technologies: Presence, Intimacy, Disembodiment http://
WEEK 3: Digital Innovation, Social Media WEEK 3: Digital Innovation, Social Media WEEK 3: Digital Innovation, Social Media WEEK 3: Digital Innovation, Social Media WEEK 3: Digital Innovation, Social Media
7/14 7/14 7/14 No class. Watch The Matrix on your own time.
Also, Read selections from Dave Thompkins, How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to
Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks (Available through amazon.com) We will use this book as a basis for our
presentations and discussion this week.
No class. Watch The Matrix on your own time.
Also, Read selections from Dave Thompkins, How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to
Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks (Available through amazon.com) We will use this book as a basis for our
presentations and discussion this week.
7/15 7/15 7/15 Read these two articles on social media:
1. Article contextualizing digital utopia: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/25conn.html?
pagewanted=all
2. Ulises A. Mejias, FCJ-147 Liberation Technology and the Arab Spring: From Utopia to Atopia and
Beyondhttp://twenty.fibreculturejournal.org
Read these two articles on social media:
1. Article contextualizing digital utopia: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/25conn.html?
pagewanted=all
2. Ulises A. Mejias, FCJ-147 Liberation Technology and the Arab Spring: From Utopia to Atopia and
Beyondhttp://twenty.fibreculturejournal.org
7/16 7/16 7/16 Read these three short articles on social media:
Read these three short articles on social media:
7/17 7/17 7/17 MID-TERM MID-TERM
WEEK 4: Pop Goes the World WEEK 4: Pop Goes the World WEEK 4: Pop Goes the World WEEK 4: Pop Goes the World WEEK 4: Pop Goes the World
7/21 7/21 7/21 Visual Representations and the Vice Documentary
1. Watch two vice documentaries (to be assigned)
2. Read Stuart Hall, from Representations, Chapter 5 (Blackboard)
Visual Representations and the Vice Documentary
1. Watch two vice documentaries (to be assigned)
2. Read Stuart Hall, from Representations, Chapter 5 (Blackboard)
7/22 7/22 7/22 Digital Cosmopolitanism and Afrofuturism
1. Browse and read 5 articles from the website http://africasacountry.com and be prepared to share what
youve read in class
2. Read Alondra Nelson, Future Texts from Social Text 20.2 (2002) 1-15
Digital Cosmopolitanism and Afrofuturism
1. Browse and read 5 articles from the website http://africasacountry.com and be prepared to share what
youve read in class
2. Read Alondra Nelson, Future Texts from Social Text 20.2 (2002) 1-15
7/23 7/23 7/23 1. R. Niezen, 2005, Digital Identity: The Construction of Virtual Selfhood in the Indigenous People's
Movement, Comparative Studies in Society and History 47.3, 532-551 (PDF on BBoard)
2. Lisa Nakamura and Peter A. Chow-White , eds., Race After the Internet (Selection) (PDF on BBoard)
1. R. Niezen, 2005, Digital Identity: The Construction of Virtual Selfhood in the Indigenous People's
Movement, Comparative Studies in Society and History 47.3, 532-551 (PDF on BBoard)
2. Lisa Nakamura and Peter A. Chow-White , eds., Race After the Internet (Selection) (PDF on BBoard)
7/24 7/24 7/24 Selections from )_Media Worlds_ (Bboard) Selections from )_Media Worlds_ (Bboard)
WEEK 5: Case Studies WEEK 5: Case Studies WEEK 5: Case Studies WEEK 5: Case Studies WEEK 5: Case Studies
7/28 7/28 7/28 7/28 Case Study: Senegalese Hip-Hop
1. Ali Colleen Neff, The New Masters of Eloquence(PDF on Bboard)
2. Social Text Online article: http://www.socialtextjournal.org/periscope/2011/11/in-one-all-senegalese-
women-freestyle-artists-unify-the-global-ghetto.php
3. Freestyle video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qg05IBWKGM
7/29 7/29 7/29 7/29 Course Review: Putting it all in perspective; where do we go from here? Reread the Stuart Hall article from
the first week of class: http://kassanoff.wikischolars.columbia.edu/file/view/stuart%20hall
%20representation%20ch.%201-2.pdf
7/30 7/30 7/30 7/30 In-Class Presentations
7/31 7/31 7/31 7/31 Final Paper Due
Graded Item Number of points (of 100 total)
Assignment Sheets will be available for each assignment as it is presented in class
Graded Item Number of points (of 100 total)
Assignment Sheets will be available for each assignment as it is presented in class
Two in-class featured reading presentations and precis (an example will be given to you) 20
Mid-Term Exam on keywords (7/17) 20
Final paper due. This is a case study for which you will receive an assignment design
worksheet the rst week of class; these will be self-directed.
25
Final Presentation: You will give a ten-minute presentation of your research project 10
Course Participation 25

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