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Aug 27

Course introductions and early skirmishing. Before class begins, please read Richard Lanham, “The Implications of Electronic Communication for the Sociology of Knowledge,” Landow’s “Preface,” and Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths. (Sorry to give you reading for the first day but we can’t afford to waste 3 hours when we only meet once a week.)

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Aug 29

Last day to add/drop courses without Dean’s permission

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Sept 1

 Winthrop is open on Labor Day

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Sept 3

Tonight's focus is the theoretical underpinnings of hypertext. We want to understand the backgrounds for our work this semester.

• Landow, ch.s 1 & 2.

• Richard Lanham, “ECi: What’s Next for Text?” (Make sure to click on all the live links for additional materials).

• Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Amy C. Kimme-Hea, “After Hypertext: Other Ideas.”

• Johndan Johnson-Eilola, "The Gestalt of a Website" (handout)

Before class, surf around Landow's "Cyberspace, Hypertext and Critical Theory" website.

Bring to class your personal set of goals for the course so that we can share them; it will be easiest if you put these in a Word document on your flash drive.

If you have not created a web page for yourself at Winthrop, go to www.birdnest.org by Tuesday morning Sept 2 and create one (the computer has to recycle for it to become “active” and this can take up to 24 hours, depending on when the system accepts your request). You and a partner will be collaborating on a literary website for your team presentation in a few weeks, so I want you to get comfortable with playing with websites early. The labs now use ExpressionWeb; here's a cheatsheet from EDUC 275, courtesy of Dr. Jones: http://coe.winthrop.edu/educ275/06_ROLO/EXP_Web_cheat_sheet.pdf

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Sept 9

Last day to elect or change S/U status. Short Take 1 due by 5 pm attached to an e-mail to Dr. K.

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Sept 10

The focus today is on the way we perceive and work with literary texts. What makes something a "good" source? What are our criteria? What tools do we use? Do we perceive electronic texts and databases as the same, different, better, worse, than their print equivalents?

• Landow, ch. 3 (Reconfiguring the Text); Ed Folsom, "Database as Genre: The Epic Transformation of Archives."  PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1571-1579.

• O'Donnell, chs. 1 & 2

• Explore the Whitman Archive before class begins: http://www.whitmanarchive.org/ .

• Jane Yellowlees Douglas, The End of Books—Or Books Without End?, ch. 1 ("Introduction: The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book!") and ch. 3 ("What Interactive Narratives Can Do That Print Narratives Cannot"). You may need to set up a Google Books account to read this.

• Before class, read at least four of your classmates' Short Takes to discuss.

• Don't forget to fill out and bring back the questionnaire I sent you.

• If you're good we will play with Wordle.

We will look at some of your 3-D text attempts and discuss Short Take 2. Here's a link to the Expression Web manual.

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Sept 17

I would like you to drop by my office this week to discuss Short Take 1 and plan its revision. Today's focus will be the strengths and weaknesses of doing literary research using databases and online materials. As you read today's materials, think about Short Take 1 and the standards you are evolving for Short Take 2. What criteria other than accessibility and expedience are starting to emerge for you? How do these responses to Folsom's exuberant claims make you refine your standards? Readings:

• Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google. (And probably, in response, you should look at James Bowman's "Is Stupid Making Us Google?" in the Summer 2008 issue of New Atlantis, http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/is-stupid-making-us-google.)

• Peter J. Nürnberg, John J. Leggett, Erich R. Schneider, "As We Should Have Thought"

• Landow, Ch. 4 (Reconfiguring the Author), and responses to Folsom (and Folsom’s reply to them):

• Stallybrass, Peter, “Against Thinking.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1580-87.

• McGann, Jerome, “Database, Interface, and Archival Fever.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1588-92.

• McGill, Meredith L., “Remediating Whitman.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1592-96.

• Freedman, Jonathan, “Whitman, Database, Information Culture.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1596-1602.

• Hayles, N. Katherine, “Narrative and Database: Natural Symbionts.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1603-08.

• Folsom, Ed, “Reply.” PMLA 122.5 (Oct. 2007): 1608-12.

After our discussion there will be time to work on Short Take 2.

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Sept 24

Short Take 2 due by 5 PM so people can peek before class. Send the URL to the class e-mail list. You'll each be presenting your draft site from the podium tonight.

Today's focus will be on collaborative knowledge--its advantages and its drawbacks. The main reading (The Eyre Affair) is meant to be fun, but also provocative--who decides what version of a text survives? Is considered "official"? How is that changing in the age of electronic texts? I want to really discuss some of the implications in the theory as well as talking about Fforde's novel. Readings:

• Landow, Ch. 5 ("Reconfiguring Writing"--focus especially on the last three sections).

• O'Donnell, Chs. 3 and 4 ("From the Codex Page to the Home Page" and "The Persistence of the Old and the Pragmatics of the New")

• The Eyre Affair.

Tonight we will also explore wikis and social bookmarking; discuss their advantages and drawbacks. We should probably mention texting, LOL.

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Oct 1

As we continue to explore the advantages and disadvantages of new media for literary criticism, we'll start to do some of our own comparing and contrasting. Tonight's reading asks you to focus on some of the aspects of literary criticism that you can emphasize in a new media presentation in different (or additional) ways than in a traditional "type on paper" presentation. Discuss Poetry Explication Assignment. Readings:

• Landow, Ch. 6 ("Reconfiguring Narrative").

• O'Donnell, Chs. 5 and 6 ("The Ancients and the Moderns" and "Linear Narratives and Multiple Pathways"

• Lev Manovich, “New Media from Borges to HTML.” 

• Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths (hypertext edition).

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Oct 8

Will and Randall will show us their web pages for Short Take 2. Discuss the ethical and social issues of copyright and plagiarism, with special attention to what you can and cannot use on your own pages and to the concept of the ownership of ideas. Then, it's Geeking Day for the Poetry Explication Assignment: Microsoft PhotoStory. Bring your headphones and photographs and music on your flash drive or Z drive. Readings:

• Johndan Johnson-Eilola, "After Plagiarism"

• O'Donnell, ch. 7 ("The New Liberal Arts: Teaching in the Postmodern World")

• Materials on copyright: the Winthrop Copyright Page, Jacob Loshin's "Secrets Revealed," and Dr. K's handout for faculty on what can be used by teachers

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Oct 15

Preview of Poetry Explication Assignment due. Discuss Collaborative project and Short Take 3.

Tonight we will discuss the kinds of activities and decisions needed to create a hypertext edition of a literary text. Readings:

• Jerome McGann, "The Rationale of Hypertext," from Radiant Textuality. 

• William H. O’Donnell and Emily A. Thrush, "Designing A Hypertext Edition of a Modern Poem" in The Literary Text in the Digital Age (temporary link: http://books.google.com/books?id=xHbXLWRyxvwC&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=Designing+a+Hypertext+Edition+of+a+Modern+Poem&source=web&ots=0TdKfrN17e&sig=l3UkUomWJDY4BAM-YGIoHMtaXy8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA212,M1) (I will get you a hard copy version of this essay)

• Terry Harpold, "The Contingencies of the Hypertext Link"

• And a fun video on the effect of fonts: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

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Oct17

Fall Break. Revisions to Short Take 2 must be uploaded by today (send the URL of the final version to the class discussion list).

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Oct 20

Fall Break

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Oct 22

Advising Begins. Poetry explication (final version) due.

Tonight's focus will be discussing a genre of literature, which is generally known as "cyberpunk," that has evolved in response to technology. We're going to look at a little theory and discuss two iconic presentations of the genre, one video version  and one traditional print version.

• Erich Schneider, "Cyberpunk Literary Style"

• Apple, 1984.

• Begin discussion of Neuromancer. (If you have time, you may want to read Johnny Mnemonic to get some background, especially about Molly.)

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Oct 24

Last day to withdraw from courses (automatic ‘N’) without documentation of extenuating circumstances. Last day to rescind S/U option.

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Oct 29

Geeking day. Work on collaborative project. Discuss major project. Dr. K will have an alternative version of assignments to discuss as well if we abandon the longer project to put more emphasis on your group projects. You should make a conference appointment this week to discuss revisions with Dr. K.

• Discuss Neuromancer. (If you want to read a "modern" Gibson, this one dealing with viral video and 9/11, try Pattern Recognition. )

• Some critical responses to Neuromancer that you may find provocative:

  • Benjamin Fair, "Stepping Razor in Orbit: Postmodern Identity and Political Alternatives in William Gibson’s Neuromancer"

  • Tyler Stevens, "'Sinister Fruitiness': Neuromancer, Internet Sexuality, and the Turing Test"

  • Jason Haslam, "Coded Discourse: Romancing the (Electronic) Shadow in The Matrix"

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Nov 4

Election Day. No classes. University closed.
 

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Nov. 5

Pre-registration begins.  Short Take 3 due.  We'll go over the details for Short Take 4 and the final exam that you agreed on last week.

Tonight's focus is "way out there"--the notions of cyberspace and reality that the theorists have envisioned. We will be talking about social, cultural, and political constructions of hyperspace and their impact on modern society.

• Landow, Ch. 8 ("The Politics of Hypertext").

• O'Donnell, ch. 9 ("The Life of the Mind in Cyberspace")

• John Slatin's take on Barth and the difficulties of creating useful hypertexts--follow the links to the end!

• Margaret Wertheim, from The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace  (any Second Life fans out there?)

• Possibly a bit of Baudrillard on hyperreality and Haraway on simulacra (skim if you have time)

• and a short bit of video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U&NR=1. (Follow-up conversations at http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com).

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Nov 12

Tonight's focus will again be on the future--and some of the fears that technology has engendered in lovers of literature and literary criticism. We will come full circle by returning to the issue of the literary canon and the impact of cyberspace on that concept. Readings:

• Robert Coover, "The End of Books," and some responses to it.

• Astrid Ensslin, from Canonizing Hypertext, chs. 2 & 4. (These are separate .pdf files.) If you know William Carlos Williams' poem "This is just to say," it may be useful in thinking about the issues she argues about in chapter 4.

• "The Electronic Hive"--a debate between Sven Birkerts and Kevin Kelly (and maybe you may want to look at Christine Rosen's "The Myth of Multitasking" as a complicating perspective)

• The Google Books' lawsuit settlement agreement

• Then....Geeking day. Work on major projects/papers.

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Nov 19

Before class, you should visit the EDUC 651 Educational Technology Showcase in Withers 322C to see the work fellow students are doing with cybertechnology in the classroom. You'll be able to attend the 5:15-6:15 session. For more info, see http://coe.winthrop.edu/jonesmg/lti/08whitepapers/.

Guest presentation on Ludology (game theory and narrative) by Jimmy Butts. Collaborative project presentations. If time permits, more geeking time.

Reading: From Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck, chapters 2 and 5. (Two separate .pdf files)

Update (not for class, just FYI): American Library Association White paper on the Google Books Settlement

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Nov 26

Thanksgiving Break begins. No classes.

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Dec 1

Mandatory Conferences with Dr. K on major projects/papers. Times: 9:00 Sara B; 10:00 Megan; 10:30 Sara W.; 11: Kevin; 11:30 Courtney.  1 PM: Sam; 1:30 Eric; 2:00 Chris; 2:30 Julia; 3:30 Randall; 5:00 Will.

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Dec 3

Revisions to the Collaborative Project must be uploaded by today.

Dean Herring has promised we can have the Kindle tonight!

This may need to be a Geek Day; tbd. Evaluations, celebrations, preparation for final exam. Bring milk.

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Dec 8

Last Day of Classes.

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Dec 9

Study Day

Sat

Dec 13
3 PM

Final exam (culminating experience). Graduate Student Book Review due.

You will present your creative or critical final take in a "show and tell" session; we may have outside guests to witness these presentations.

Readings:

• Clarke, "The Nine Billion Names of God"

• Clarke, "The Star"

Travel plans or work schedules are not acceptable reasons for rescheduling examinations.