it's a media production class and i expect my students to produce a lot of media. for fifteen weeks, we will make digital media using facebook, flickr, blogs, twitter, google maps, online video, yelp, zotero, google docs, and wikipedia. readings and discussions about digital media culture and theory will accompany our production and participation.
the course readings come more from popular magazines than academic articles or books. for example, to better understand facebook and flickr, we are reading clive thompson's "brave new world of digital intimacy" from new york times magazine. to learn about blogs, we'll read emily gould's "exposed" from new york times magazine and andrew sullivan's "why i blog" from the atlantic. to help us understand wikipedia, we'll be reading stacy schiff's "know it all: can wikipedia conquer expertise?" from the new yorker and marshall poe's "the hive" from the atlantic. and to further our understanding of fanfic and user-generated content, we'll read henry jenkins's "why heather can write" from technology review. course readings also include short (think common craft), shorter (10-20 minute), and longer (one hour) videos to be watched prior to class.
question: can you suggest any other feature articles from similar sources that explore twitter or yelp?
over winter break, i've been reading books about black mountain college, the unique and inspiring experimental college (1933-1957) near asheville, north carolina. i am particularly struck by the teaching practices of josef albers. albers' class met twice a week and classtime was spent not making art but discussing art - student art. as martin duberman notes in his book black mountain, albers' students were admitted into class only if they brought with them some work they had done in the interval between classes. albers would then spread all the art on the floor and each student would take turns explaining his or her work. after the brief presentation, the student was critiqued, challenged, and praised by their fellow students as well as by albers.
digital media production meets on tuesdays and thursdays. on tuesdays, we'll discuss the readings. on thursdays - demo days! - we'll demo our work.
