s y l l a b u s

Gender and Technology Spring 1999

Gender + Technology

An Advanced Theory and Practice Workshop

DMS 414 / 515

4 credit hours

Tuesday, 5 - 8:40 pm

Spring 1999

Gender and Technology will bridge feminist theory, the arts, community service, and media in a hands-on environment that will not only have direct impact for the students involved but will contribute to the community via active participation and consciousness-raising. The course will offer students the chance to explore gender issues relating to the body, language, representation, education-- next to and with technology. At the beginning of the semester, each intense seminar will focus on current topics, such as the role of technology in shaping representation, identity, the body, and the social meaning of technological tools. Through critical essays and theory, the participants in the course will explore both women's and men's relationship to technological fields and computer culture. The course will draw from many media forms and will include screenings of films, videos, multimedia presentations, internet sites, and CDROMs. We will read theorists like Berger, Pearce, Stone, Haraway, and others. Multimedia programs will be taught when needed by the projects.

The first two months of the course are intensive interdisciplinary debating/reading/thinking/viewing seminars in which students get a foundation in feminist theory and activism, especially focusing on ideas and activities related to developmental growth for pre-adolescent and adolescent girls. After these two months of engaging with media work, essays, and hearing from visiting experts from a variety of related fields, students will be challenged with hands-on projects to understand the impact of these issues in the community in a final, collaborative effort between the participants in the course and girls in the Buffalo community.

Each week a small group of students will lead the discussion, kid testing, etc, A one page written summary of the reading will be required from each student and will be posted on the course web site. In addition, there will be three group projects, a mid term progress report on the major project, and the major project.

In Class Discussions.

The goal of the presentation is to summarize the main points of the reading and to discuss questions it raises. Where could it have gone further? What issues does it raise effectively? What is the article's greatest strength? Its greatest weakness? What does the author miss in the argument? A group will then lead a class discussion of the reading and will be encouraged to bring in supplemental materials--videos, tapes, games, scrapbooks, etc.

Group Projects.

There will be two group projects situated in the first month of the semester. These projects should provide students with a fun and comfortable way to address issues raised in class with technology.

Large Project.

Through the media pieces, readings, and theory, participants will see the results of the current relationship between women and technology. How is the content for a female audience developed? One example--statistically, American girls lose their interest in the fields of science, math, and to a lesser degree, history, at the junior high age. Along with a shift of interest, there is a dramatic drop in test scores and esteem.

The final project is a large, collaborative effort between the participants and select localBuffalo schools. A girl's computer club could be organized. Alternatively, media projects could be developed in conjunction with the girls. We'll find out what girls think about their relationship with technology and technological arts. We could also make work that redefines these roles and we could offer content in a compelling technical environment as a healthy and fun alternative for girls.

Participants will actively observe, analyze, and construct new technology artifacts to address these issues. Their endeavors will be manifestations of the theory and will culminate into a final project that involves integrating the real-life community into the classroom. A website promoting girl's interests and an educational game for girls are two projects that could serve as the foundation for the final project.

Grades.

The grade will be based on class participation, readings and reading summaries, attendance, the group projects, the mid term/final project, and the quality and level of involvement in the final project. 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.

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.

Course Policies:

Attendance:

Attendance is MANDATORY. Don’t be late. After 2 unexcused absences you will lose 2% of your Overall grade for each missed class in addition to points off for participation.

Graduate Student Requirements: The final project for graduate students should an extensive piece of work suitable for entry into competitions or festivals. In addition, the student must individually lead a course discussion during the semester.

Work:

All written work created for the class must by typed and put online on the course website 9the IOS system: http://mflanagan.fal.buffalo.edu/cae.htm). 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 instructor(s). Projects from other courses will not be accepted. In addition, media or text "borrowed" from existing work or media cannot be used as the main component of an assignment without obvious signs of interpretation,

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 IF and ONLY IF students wish to use the media resources in the department (ie key to digital lab). 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.

Other:

If anything shown in class is offensive to you and you do not wish to be subject to the material, you may leave during the piece. Contact the instructor within one day about your absence and arrange an alternative assignment for which to be held accountable.

Assignments & Grade Breakdown:

10% Exercise One, Group Project: Identity and Representation

Create original creative pieces or mini-papers about gender identity

10% Exercise Two, Group Project: Stereotypes, Roles, or Reproductive Technology

Create original creative pieces or mini-papers about stereotypical gender roles or reproductive technology.

10% Exercise Three, Individual Project: Technological Art and Gender

What can artwork that critiques gender assumptions through technology tell us? How can you make an art piece that transcends trite representation?

20% Project Planning

Prepare for creative/ research project with the community. Establish roles and workload with collaborators.

20% Final Project

The Final project must creatively incorporate your ideas about the readings with a community-based project. These projects may be in the form of a girls computer club, a study of girls and media use, or others to be discussed in class. The final should be a collaborative project. Graduate students may choose individual or collaborative work.

30% Class Participation

Attendance, Journals, Weekly Summaries and Presentations, Discussions, Attitude.

Required texts

(BOOKS AVAILABLE AT TALKING LEAVES, 3158 MAIN STREET (837-8554; READER is ACROSS THE STREET AT QUEEN CITY IMAGING, 3173 MAIN STREET --832-8100)

Lupton, Ellen. Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office. NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 1993 ($17.95)

Terry, J. and Calvert, M. Editors. Processed Lives: Gender and Technology in Everyday Life. ($23.00)

And a Reader. ($10.04) The course packet will include contemporary excerpts from : Blue Jean Magazine, gaming magazines, educational journals, chapters, and other news sources for discussion of up-to-date issues.

Week 1 Introduction

Tuesday, January 19

Intro to the Course, Course Expectations

See

The F-Word: A Video about Feminism by Marcia Jarmel + Erin Gallagher

Beneath the Skin, Cecelia Condit

Read for the 26th

Reader, "What is Feminism?" One page excerpt from Blue Jean Magazine (written by girls)

Reader, Chapters 1 - 3 from Ways of Seeing, by John Berger.

Week 2 Representation, Media and Control

Tuesday, January 26Discuss Ways of Seeing, What is Feminism?

A brief history of Gender Study

See:

Born in Flames (1984) Lizzie Borden

Autonomous Eye (1992) by Sandra Vida

Read for the 3rd -

Reader, exerpts from The War of Desire and Technology at the End of the Mechanical Age by Sandy Stone

Week 3 Shaping Identity

Tuesday, February 2

See:

No Hop Sing, No Bruce Lee (1998) Janice Tanaka;

Cuz It's Boy (1994) Catherine Saalfield

TNT: Technology Intimidation (1989) by Grace Martini

Read for the 9^th :

Mechanical Brides, by Ellen Lupton

Processed Lives, Chapter 1: "Virtually Female: body and code" by Margaret Morse

ASSIGN: EXERCISE 1

Week 4 Gender Roles: Women, Tools, & the Apparatus

Tuesday, February 9 Course evals 1"

See:

The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980)

TV Commercials (1960) (media services)

Semiotics in the Kitchen, Martha Rossler

Read for the 16^TH:

Processed Lives, Chapter 13: Inseminations: A Video Installation, by Bonita Makuch

Processed Lives, Chapter 14: "Unnatural Acts: Procreation and the Geneology of Artifice," by David Horn

Processed Lives, Chapter 16: "Biotechnology and the taming of women's bodies" by Soheir Morsy

DUE: EXERCISE 1

Week 5 Reproductive Technology

Tuesday, February 16

See:

Them Fucking Robots (1998) Laura Kikauka

Read for the 23^th

Reader: excerpts from wired magazine

Reader: Postmodern Currents: Art and Artists in the Age of Electronic Media, Ch. 5, "Art in the Age of Digital Simulation" by Margot Lovejoy

ASSIGN: EXERCISE 2

Week 6 Gender and Technological Art

Tuesday, February 23

Installation, CDROM, etc.

See:

Anne Hamilton CD
Christine Tamblyn CDs
Banff Collection Tape

Read for the 2^nd:

Processed Lives, Chapter 19, "Home Surgery Instructions"

Reader: "Girl Games; The New Feminine Mystique" by Celia Pearce
Reader: "cyberfeminism, or why women love cyberspace" by Celia Pearce

DUE: EXERCISE 2; ASSIGN: EXERCISE 1

Week 7 Technological Games

Tuesday, March 2

Games for Girls and Boys, Men and Women

See:

After the Montreal Massacre (1990) by Gerry Rogers
Games: (from collection) Zero, Zero, Secret Paths, Madeline, Let's talk about me, quake, temujin, Final Fantasy 7, Tombraider

Read for the 9^th:

No Readings!

DUE: EXERCISE 3

Week 8 Spring Break

Tuesday, March 9

Read for the 16^th:

Processed Lives, Chapter 1: "Virtually Female: body and code," by Margaret Morse

Week 9 Software Development Workshop

Tuesday, March 16

Hands on workshop for final project ideas

Read for the 23^th:

Processed Lives, Chapter 11: "New Technologies of Race" by Evelynn M. Hammonds

Week 10 Ethnicity and Technology

Tuesday, March 23

See:

No Hop Sing, No Bruce Lee (1998) Janice Tanaka (1/2 hour)

Read for the 30^th

Reader: "A Rape in Cyberspace," by Julian Dibbel

Processed Lives, Chapter 7: "Romancing the System:L women, narrative film, and the sexuality of computers" by Andrea Slane

DUE: Project Planning Website

Week 11 Project Design Meetings: Initiations

Tuesday, March 30

Read for the 6^th

Reader: "The Cyborg Manifesto," by Donna J. Haraway

Week 12 Cyborgs

Tuesday, April 6

The Cyborg

See:

Metropolis by Fritz Lang (1926) (Media Services)

Obsession, Queen of Heaven ( 1994) by Judy Cheung
Show excerpts from Bladerunner and Ghost in the Machine, Aeon Flux

Read for the 13^th

Processed Lives, Chapter 5: "The Visible man: The Male Criminal Subject at Bio-Medical Norm," by Lisa Cartwright

Week 13 Supermen

Tuesday, April 13

See:

The Terminator (??)

Heaven (1997) by Tracey Moffatt (1/2 hour)

Read for the 20^th:

Reader: Chapter 7, Women, Art, and Power, "Why have there been no great women artists?" by Linda Nochlin

Week 14 Project work day

Tuesday, April 20

Four to five groups work on their research this week out in the community, in the studio, or in the schools.

Week 15 Final projects due! Last Day of Class.

Tuesday, April 27

Week 16

Tuesday, May 4 13 Finals Week.