Week by Week Breakdown

M/W September 12&14: Originality? Meet the Digital

  • Urbanski, Introduction
  • Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture, Introduction.
  • Also check out: Randy Kennedy, “The Free Appropriation Writer.”
  • Little Seagull Handbook, 2-13.
  • Initial blog reflection: choose one piece of digital media culture that you love and/or one that you hate, and write about why they evoke strong responses to you. Consider why you think your chosen examples are important or worth considering. 250-500 words. Due by Tuesday night at midnight, so we can discuss them on Wednesday.

Screening: Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig: Fair Use, Politics, and Online Video

September 19&21 Creativity & Networked Publics

Screening: Danah Boyd on “Embracing a Culture of Connectivity”

September 26&28: Researching (in) the Digital Realm

  • Melissa Ames, “The Inter(Active) Soap Opera Viewer: Fantastic Practices and Mediated Communities.” (Urbanski)
  • Roberta Pearson. “‘Good Old Index’ or The Mystery of the Infinite Archive.” (Moodle)
  • Little Seagull Handbook, 46-65.

Screening: Sherlock Episode 1

October 3&5 Blogging and New Modes of Authorship

  • Michael R. Trice. “Going Deep: What Online Sports Culture Teaches Us About the Rhetorical Future of Social Networks.” (Urbanski)
  • Little Seagull Handbook, 68-92.

Screening: selections on blogging

October 10&12: Class Collective Interests

  • Reading/assignment: Begin your secondary research for U-Pick Creativity course. Choose two related readings to write distillations for. Come to class on Monday October 10th with worksheets or file cards with two main points from each reading (one point per file card)  that you’d like to share with your classmates for discussion.
  • (Adjustment!) October 11th at midnight: Distillations due (on your two secondary research choices)
  • October 12th: come to class with two page brainstorm draft of your U-Pick essay and links to examples

Screening: U-Pick!

October 17&19: Uneven Transmedia Landscapes

  • Marina Hassapopoulou, “Spoiling Heroes, Enhancing Our Viewing Pleasure: NBC’s Heroes and the Re-Shaping of the Televisual Landscape.” (Urbanski)
  • ***Extra Credit/Optional: Karen Hellekson, “History, the Trace, and Fandom Wank .” (Urbanski)***
  • October 19th: U Pick final version due

Screening: Heroes (episode 1 & webisodes)

October 24th: Midterm Recess, No Class. Blog responses due by class on Wednesday.

Blog reflection: flickr thoughts. Consider your flickr photos within the class flow. Do you see your photos as reflecting trends witin the class or within flickr as a whole? Other insights about flickr or digital photosharing from this class experience?

October 26: Modes of Creative Engagement: Remix & Transformation (Part 1)

  • Middleton, Kim. “Alternate Universes on Video: Ficvid and the Future of Narrative.” (Urbanski)

Screening: ’24/7 a DIY Video Summit’ on vidding and fanvid lineup

October 31 & November 2: Remix & Transformation (Part 2)

  • (Monday) Final Cut Training & Practice Exercise
  • Pepper, Mark.  “Virtual Guerrillas and a World of Extras: Shooting Machinima in Second Life.” (Urbanski)

Screening: ’24/7 a DIY Video Summit’ on machinima and selected shorts

November 7&9: Modes of Creative Engagement: Play

  • Tom Abba, “Hybrid Stories: Examining the Future of Transmedia Narrative.” Science Fiction Film and Television 2:1 (Spring 2009). 59-75.
  • Andrea Davis, Suzanne Webb, Dundee Lackey, and Danielle Nicole Devoss. “Remix, Play, and Remediation: Undertheorized Composing Practices.” (Urbanski)
  • Also check out: How to Play Muggle Quidditch

Screening:     BYOB: Bring Your Own Broom; The Wizard Rockumentary: A Movie about Rocking and Rowling

November 14&16: Youtube: Possibilities and Limits

Screening: Harry Potter: The Musical excerpts & YouTube lineup

November 21: Alternate Reality Game advanced planning session

November 22nd: Thanksgiving Break

November 28&30: DIY Creative Histories: What Might be Lost in the Shift to the Digital?

  • Alison Piepmeier, “Why Zines Matter: Materiality and the Creation of Embodied Community.” American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography 18.2 (2002). 213-238.
  • Stephanie Springgay, “Knitting as an Aesthetic of Civic Engagement: Re-conceptualizing Feminist Pedagogy through Touch.” Feminist Teacher 20.2 (2010) 111-123.

Screening: Selected Screenings from Etsy.tv

December 29&1 Alternate Reality Games Launch

December 6&8 Sharing Final Remix Projects

  • Blog reflection: flickr final thoughts. Respond to two favorite photos: one of yours and one of a classmate’s.


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