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DMS 415, 515

Cybertheory & Technoculture

Tuesdays, Fall 1998

5:00pm – 8:40 pm

Professor Mary Flanagan

Office hours Noon – 1pm, Tuesday, Thursday

http://mflanagan.fal.buffalo.edu marydot@ibm.net

The objective of Cybertheory is to offer students the chance to explore the development of the cyberpunk movement and various alternate manners of addressing and expressing the postmodern condition through media. Debates such as fiction vs. reality, cybersex and virtual sexuality vs the physical body, are complicated through a selection of readings and electronic media works.Each seminar will focus on advanced readings and fiction pertaining to current or historical "cyberthought." Important issues such as the creation of art in a technological context, the representation of race in a virtual space, and virtual architecture will be critically examined. Students will explore postmodern fiction, the postmodern subject, and subjectivity through the interface. Readings by Hopkins, Sterling, Gibson, and other writers, theorists, and artists will be studied. The course will draw from many media forms and will include screenings of films, videos, multimedia presentations, internet sites, and CDROM.

Each week a small group of students will lead the discussion, and a one page written summary of the reading will be required from each student. In addition, there will be three group projects, two in-class essays on the readings, and a final project. Experimentation with various theoretical ideas, as well as investigation using a variety of media, is encouraged.

Note: * Previous viewing of Bladerunner is required, and reading of William Gibson’s Neuromancer recommended. If you have not seen the film, you must watch it within the first two weeks of the class. The videotape is available for checkout from the main office, 231 Center for the Arts. If several students have not seen the film, we will organize a group viewing. Neuromancer is available on reserve at the UGL.

In Class Discussions.

The goal of the presentation is to summarize the main points of the reading or summarize the storyline and its significant narrative and unique elements. Presentations also raise questions such as Where could the author have gone further? What questions does the text raise? What is its greatest strength? Is this vision problematic? The group will then lead a class discussion of the reading. A one page typed summary describing the readings will be required weekly from each student.

Manifestations.

Participants will actively observe, analyze, and construct new technology artifacts--manifestations of the theory--for all course projects. These manifestations are your chance to work through ideas. The manifestations could take the form of a research paper about an aspect of technology and culture; a web page designed for expressing the relationship between the future of the body and technology, an educational or entertaining website or CD ROM prototype exploring ways humans have imagined their futures throughout time. As a manifestation, students could opt to make projects targeting girls or women. How is the content for a female audience developed? Another type of manifestation might be an interactive website depicting an experience of technology through technology in an expressive context.

One of the major projects--either the Mid-Term project or the final-- must be written as a "research paper." Students may choose which project they will complete in written form, but a written paper must be word processed, double spaced, and must include ideas/readings from class. Papers must also include appropriate citations/footnotes/endnotes/bibliography/works cited information. Please use either MLA , APA, or the Chicago Manual style—and use them correctly. See your instructor if you need help finding information on styles. Proper use of style, as well as punctuation, spelling, etc is important and will weigh in the overall grade.

Mid Term Projects.

A paper version of this midterm project should be 7-10 pages. An electronic/creative form will be judged on effort, originality, appropriateness to the course, and execution/ skill of design. NOTE: Technology training is not a part of the course. Advanced students are encouraged to pursue new tools/areas in which they can expect a high learning curve.

Final Paper/Project.

A final manifestation is due in class December 8 and will be presented. Papers should be 10-12 pages for undergraduates, and should examine some aspect of the course is greater detail. For example, the paper could examine some aspect of community on the Internet cyberculture -perhaps the gendered features of such rhetoric; etc

Graduate Student Requirements: The final paper for graduate students should be a paper of publishable quality approximately 20 - 30 pages. In addition, the student must note three journals to which they will submit the paper. The instructor can help you with finding the appropriate journal.

In class requirements: Grad students will also individually lead a course discussion during the semester.

Course Policies:

Attendance:

Attendance is MANDATORY. Don’t be late. After 2 unexcused absences you will lose 5 percentage points off of your entire course grade. This policy is severe because we only meet once per week.

Work:

All written work created for the class other than the listening journal must by typed. All of the work you do in class must be original work, ie your own, and cannot be used to fulfill the requirements in another course unless proposed in writing and worked out in advance with the instructors.

Late Assignments:

Except in circumstances pre-approved by the instructor, late assignments drop an entire grade per day late, with failure at 5 days. I will not accept projects later than 5 days.

Lab Fee:

This course carries a $75.00 lab fee. This fee defrays the cost of wear and tear on equipment, is used to purchase and upgrade software, and makes more stations available to the students.

If you have a disability (physical, learning, or psychological) which may make it difficult for you to carry out the coursework as outlined, and/or requires accommodations such as recruiting note takers, readers, or extended time on exams and assignments, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 25 Capen Hall, 645-2608. Also, inform your instructor during the first two weeks of class. ODS will provide you with information and will review appropriate arrangements for reasonable accommodations.

Assignments & Grade Breakdown:

Grades.

The grade will be based on class participation, readings and reading summaries, attendance, the group projects, the mid term project/paper, and the quality of the final paper. Attendance is mandatory. All take home written exercises must be typed. Late assignments drop one letter grade per day late, with failure at five days.

10% Exercise One, Group Project: Bodies

Manipulating text, graphics, interactivity, audio; writing fiction, dialogue, or conducting suveys; using paper, still graphics, Director projects, the web, live performance, installation, or video-- the exercises are your chance to experimentally explore some of the concepts related to the Body. You could choose to do a performance about gender stereotyping in chat rooms, create a short animation depicting future notions of the body, or make a video in which cyberpunk fiction gender roles are reversed. It’s open. Exercises are meant to be fun and provocative projects in which you engage the ideas discussed in class or outside of class.

10% Exercise Two, Group Project: Cybersex, Body Art, the Body as a Machine

Study cyborg images, create your idea of body art, define the body as machine, or as something new! Explore some of the concepts related to cybersex through graphics, audio, VRML; write fiction, dialogue, machine romances, or conduct studies; use paper, photos, the web, performance, installation, or video-- the exercises are your chance to explore "theory" experimentally. You could choose to do a performance about online sex, use your own body as art, write a story about cyborg love, or make a video in which online pornography is questioned. It’s open. Exercises are meant to be fun and provocative projects in which you engage the ideas discussed in class or outside of class.

10% Exercise Three, Group Project: Virtual Space, Social Impact of Technology, Identity

What do you think the impact of technology has been in our present time? What will it be? Use media and create "texts" that challenge current notions, fears, and dreams about technology. Define new technologies. You could choose to do a web site for underrepresented groups, write a paper examining virtual space, make a presentation exploring different kinds of virtual spaces, or make a video in which identity is questioned. It’s open. Exercises are meant to be fun and provocative projects in which you engage the ideas discussed in class or outside of class.

15% MidTerm Paper/Project

The MidTerm project is your chance to explore any of the issues touched upon during the class.

A paper version of this midterm project should be 7-10 pages. An electronic/creative form will be judged on effort, originality, appropriateness to the course, and execution/ skill of design. NOTE: Technology training is not a part of the course. Only advanced students are encouraged to pursue new tools/areas in which they

can expect a high learning curve.

35% Class Participation: Attendance, Weekly summaries, Quizzes, Group Presentations

Every week students will hand in reading summaries, lead and participate in discussion, and attend class for the duration of the session unless previously excused. If it is your group’s turn to present, you may decide upon any presentation style you wish. Bonus points will be awarded to groups that bring additional media or other materials, or to those who present in innovative ways (for example, one year students created a short performance piece based on ideas from the readings). Undergrads will work in groups of appx. 4 people and present twice a semester.

20% Final Project

Required texts

(BOOKS AVAILABLE AT TALKING LEAVES, 3158 MAIN STREET; READER is ACROSS THE STREET AT IMAGE SOLUTIONS, 3173 MAIN STREET)

DERY, MARK. ESCAPE VELOCITY: CYBERCULTURE AT THE END OF THE CENTURY. NY: GROVE PRESS, 1996 ISBN: 080213520X ; (15.00)

William Gibson. Idoru. Hardcover at Amazon.com ($3.74)

(September 1996) Putnam Pub. Co.; ISBN: 0399141308 ;

Mass Market Paperback - (September 1997) Berkley Publishing Group; ISBN: 0425158640 (6.99)

Nalo Hopkinson. Brown Girl in the Ring. Warner Books:July 1998. ISBN: 0446674338 (12.99)

TOTAL BOOK COST 34.98 + READER