I’ve gone through all of the critical responses up to and including Jan 24th and commented where I think your discussion question might make a good topic for paper one, paper two, or the web project.
Please don’t hesitate to email me or see me during office hours if you have questions on my comments or if you would just like to discuss another paper idea.
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From Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing About Literature.
Getting Ideas for Writing About Poetry.
Getting Ideas for Writing About Fiction.
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Developed by Jules Prown for the analysis of art, this three-step method offers a guide to critically analyzing any text. Read the rest of this entry »
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There is no “right” method for critical reading. Perhaps the most important strategy is to ask questions of the text and to note areas of interest; this strategy is used in all three methods outlined below. You may not like any of these methods and that is fine. With practice, you will arrive at a method or a combination of methods that works well for you. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Online Writing Lab at Purdue has an excellent Guide to MLA Style.
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Oftentimes, the most difficult part of writing a paper is just getting started. Listed below are several techniques that may help you discover new ideas or articulate / organize the ones you already have. Read the rest of this entry »
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I have added a “create page” box to the main page of our Wiki. Now, to start a new page, just search to make sure it doesn’t already exist, and then type the name of the new page in the box and click “create.”
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Although there is no substitute for in-class discussion, I would like us to try to make up for the lost session today with the following assignment:
Sometime today, please post a reply to one or more discussion questions posted by your peers in the class forum.
Replies should be a thoughtful attempt to engage with the question posed and should consist of more than “I agree” or “I disagree.” Although there is no minimum word count per se, I imagine it would be difficult to substantially respond in less than 75 words.
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Please note that the page numbers on the W.J.T. Mitchell assignment for Tuesday have changed. See the class schedule for details.
If you are an English major and considering adding the Literature and Culture of Information emphasis to your degree, I have good news! Students currently enrolled in an English 10 LC course may count that class toward the requirements of the emphasis.
If you are not currently registered for the emphasis and decide to do so later, you may still count the class toward the requirements.
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My lecture notes and powerpoint from January 10th are now available in the Schedule section. Look for the post entitled, “Tue, January 10th.”
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I was in the bookstore today and there is an ample supply of Writing Machines on the shelf.
All of these books are available at the UCSB bookstore.
Gaiman, Neil. Marvel 1602. New York: Marvel Enterprises, 2004.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 1984.
Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing Machines. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: WW Norton, 1996.
The course readings include a number of online texts: both traditional print texts that can be found online and those written exclusively for use with a computer.
Principle among the digital texts will be three hypertext novels:
Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl (Found in the Transcriptions Studio)
Judy Malloy’s l0ve 0ne
Geoff Ryman’s 253
See the course schedule for other texts.
*At the moment, there are several texts that are listed but do not have links. I am in the process of scanning and uploading these and will update the syllabus as they are available. You are not required to purchase any texts beyond what is listed above.
Due each class period, unless otherwise noted.
1 – 2 paragraphs, 125 words minimum, plus one discussion question. Critically respond to one or more of the readings due.
Responses should be posted in the class forum prior to the beginning of the class period. Although the assignment is online, treat it as a formal assignment – complete sentences and well-organized paragraphs, no IM speak, and no emoticons, please.
If you need ideas for a response, consider the following:
Were there any sections of the text that you found particularly interesting or exciting? why?
Were there any places where you found yourself disagreeing with the author? why?
What new concepts did you learn through the text and how do they relate to what you already knew or thought you knew?
Is the author leaving anything out? What didn’t he or she talk about that you wish they had?
The purpose of the Critical Response assignment is twofold: it prepares you for class discussion and starts you thinking about topics that may be appropriate for paper one or paper two.
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Ongoing Due Dates.
Each student will contribute 3 entries to a class Wiki. Terms will be assigned in class. See the Schedule section for terms and due dates.
Based upon our reading and your use of dictionaries and other sources, you will craft a definition for each term. Some words, such as “focus” have many meanings, but you will want to base your entry off of the meaning that is appropriate to our class. Each entry should be a minimum of 50 words to fully convey the meaning of the term.
Please note: Entries should be written in your own words.
If your definition includes the use of other terms in the wiki, you should link them using an “internal link.”
See the entry on materiality for an example.
Instructions for posting in class wiki
Please note: The first, full-length draft of each term is due on the date it is listed in the schedule. I will give you feedback on your entry following that date, and the final draft is due Tue, March 14th. This is so you have a chance to refine the definition as you find that it applies to the different genres and texts we will encounter throughout the quarter.
The class wiki will become a collaborative resource for use in writing your papers and preparing for the extra credit final exam.
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Ongoing Due Dates.
Groups will compose a wiki entry for a text or genre to be presented to the class.
The entry should include information about the author and context of the book, a brief plot summary (if applicable), key issues, links to relevant literary terms, and links to at least two outside sources. Entries should be a minimum of 200 words (links will not be included in word count).
See the Writing Machines entry for an example.
Instructions for posting in class wiki
Please note: A full-length draft of your wiki entry is due on the date of your presentation, including summary, context, key issues, and external links. I will give you feedback on your entry after your presentation, but final drafts are not due until Tue, Mar 14th. This is so you have a chance to link to all relevant terms, etc.
The class wiki will become a collaborative resource for use in writing your papers and preparing for the extra credit final exam.
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Due via email Friday, Feb 3rd by 5:30 p.m.
Purpose:
To formulate a thesis based upon close textual analysis.
To provide development and support for your ideas.
To demonstrate your ability to structure a clear and effective essay.
Texts:
Writing Machines*, Marvel 1602, or one or more poems.
No outside sources required. Read the rest of this entry »
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Due Friday, March 3rd by 5:30 p.m.
Post in the class forum
Paper Two
Mini Research Paper
Purpose:
To formulate a thesis based upon close textual analysis.
To provide development and support for your ideas.
To effectively utilize outside sources as part of your argument.
To demonstrate your ability to structure a clear and effective essay.
Texts:
Frankenstein, Patchwork Girl, l0ve 0ne, or Neuromancer.
Special allowance: If you would like to look forward to Robot Stories, any of the short stories, or the gaming section, you may do so. This of course, requires that you do the reading ahead of time. However, if you choose not to write about any of the texts listed above, on Thu, Feb 23rd, you must turn in a one-paragraph topic proposal at the beginning of class.
Outside Sources:
A minimum of 3 outside sources; you must find at least two of these through the use of library research. In other words, at least two must be sources that do not appear on the class schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
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Due Sun, March 26th by 5:30 p.m.
To formulate a thesis regarding one or more texts from the class.
To provide experience in writing for the web, an increasingly important format.
To demonstrate your understanding of audience.
Texts:
Any of the texts from the syllabus. You may use a text that is not on the syllabus, either a literary or cultural artifact, but you must clear it with me prior to the first draft being due.
Background: Read the rest of this entry »
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Includes attendance and quizzes.
To receive full participation points, you must visit me at least once during office hours after the first draft of your first paper. We will discuss any assignments you are currently working on as well as your general progress in the class.
From the UCSB General Catalog: “Materials submitted to fulfill academic requirements must represent a student’s own efforts. Any act of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism or other forms of cheating, is unacceptable and will be met with disciplinary action.”
Plagiarism will result in a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment and possible disciplinary action by the university. We will review the proper way to use outside sources in order to avoid plagiarism; however, I encourage you to meet with me if you are at all uncertain about whether your writing could be misconstrued as plagiarism.
As we will undoubtedly discover in class, the finer points of online communication can be tricky. Emotions are difficult to express and read. Our many online assignments will require vigilance to ensure that we are always preserving an atmosphere of mutual respect. Disagreements may arise and consensus may not be possible. We can, however, respect each person’s right to an opinion. Name calling or menacing behavior will not be tolerated.
Since we are, after all, focusing on the culture of information, I have done my best to make the class as “paperless” as possible. As such, papers will be turned in via email. In addition, you are encouraged to contact me with questions, paper ideas, general comments, etc. via email.
Please be aware that I respond to most email messages within 24 hours Monday – Friday. If you send me an email and I do not respond during this timeframe, chances are that I did not receive it. It is your responsibility to re-send the email or to contact me another way.
Much of the most valuable information will come out of our class discussions and your participation is necessary for our success. It is important that you come to every class prepared and on time. To be “prepared” means that you have thoughtfully engaged with the reading, completed the critical response assignment, are prepared to discuss it and that you are equipped with the supplies necessary to participate in class (books, paper, writing instruments, etc.)
Because your presence in class is important, three or more absences will impact your final grade. In most circumstances, six absences will result in failure. Three instances of tardiness will equal one absence.
Cell phones and pagers are to be turned off and kept out of my sight. If your phone or pager rings during class, or if I see you checking your messages / pages during class, you will be marked absent. No exceptions.
Critical Response Due. Post in class forum.
Terms: New media, technotext, material metaphor, hypertext, media-specific analysis.
Readings Due:
• N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines, Preface, Ch. 1, Ch. 2 and Lexicon Linkmap, (p 4 – 33, 72).
• Hayles, Writing Machines Online Lexicon Linkmap Peruse linkmap with particular attention to materiality and form (click on web supplement and then on the picture of the open book to access the linkmap).
• Erik Loyer, “Webtake” on Writing Machines.Read webtake with particular attention to materiality and form
• Reading Eye Dog. Browse site to get a sense of the Reading Eye Dog’s purpose and its status as technotext
Visual Genealogies: Shaped Poetics and the ImageText
Critical Response Due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – Marvel 1602: Taylor and Leah
Readings Due:
George Herbert, “The Altar” and “Easter Wings”
William Blake, “Introduction” (Songs of Experience) and The Tyger
* if the links are not working, go to http://blakearchive.org, select “US Home” at the bottom of the page, illuminated works, and then Songs of Innocence and Experience. You will then be able to find “Introduction” and “The Tyger.”
Stephen Mallarmé, “One
Toss of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance”
Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602, Peter Sanderson’s Introduction and Parts 1 & 2.
W.J.T. Mitchell, excerpt from Picture Theory (p 89-92, 95 – 97 Par 1, 99 Par 2, 106 par 2 – 107).
Scott McCloud, excerpt from Understanding Comics (Ch 6 p 138 – 161).
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Critical Response Due in class forum.
Terms: shaped poetics (Krystal), imagetext (Krystal), frame (Krystal), disjunction (Alex), synthesis (Alex), heterogeneous representation (Alex).
Readings Due:
Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602, Parts 3 – 8, Afterword, browse Script and Sketches
Scott McCloud, excerpts from Understanding Comics. Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 8.
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Readings Due:
William Wordsworth, “The Solitary Reaper”
Christina Rosetti, “Cousin Kate“
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Duns Scotus’s Oxford”
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro”
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), Mid-day
Wallace Stevens, “ Of Modern Poetry and Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock
William Carlos Williams, “This is Just to Say”
e.e. cummings, “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r”
Gwendolyn Brooks, ”We Real Cool“
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Preface and Sections 1 – 5)
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – New Media Poetry (Krystal)
Terms: rhythm (Gabrielle), free verse (Gabrielle), tropes (Gabrielle), metaphor (Amber), metonymy (Taryn), simile (Amber), personification (Amber), and synecdoche (Taryn), poetic diction, cacophony (Katy), euphony (Ashley), modernism (Katy), postmodernism (Katy).
Readings Due:
Peter Howard, “A Poppy”; Also read the plain text version.
Dan Waber, “Strings”
Komninos Zervos, “Invention (CyberPoetry)”
Ana Maria Uribe, Select 2 – 3 Anipoemas at Vispo.com
Bob Grumman, “MNMLST Poetry
N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines. Ch 3
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Monday, January 30th
A full-length (i.e. minimum four page) draft of Paper One to be posted to the class forum no later than 5:30 PM.
Please read your workshop partner’s draft before coming to class on Tuesday.
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No Critical Response due.
Paper Workshop – Bring two copies of a full-length draft of your paper to class.
Readings Due:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Editor’s Preface, Author’s Preface and Vol I of Frankenstein (p vii – 59).
Read your paper workshop partner’s paper prior to coming to class.
Secondary Readings:
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve” in Frankenstein (p 225 – 241).
Barbara Johnson “My Monster/My Self” in Frankenstein (p 241 – 251).
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki presentation – Frankenstein (Linh and Amber).
Terms: realism (Candace), narrative (Candace), epistolary novel (Candace), gothic, linearity (Taylor), aporia (Kai), epiphany (Linh).
Readings Due:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Vol ii (p 59 – 102)
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Friday, Feb 3
Paper One is due on the class forum no later than 5:30 p.m. No Exceptions.
Insert your images in the midst of your text if they are small enough, or at the end of the paper. Just be sure to include a reference such as (see image 1) and then label them 1, 2, 3, etc.
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Critical Response due class forum.
Readings Due:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Volume III (p 103 – 157).
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve,” Frankenstein (p 225 – 240).
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Frankenstein and a Critique of Imperialism,” Frankenstein (p 262 – 270)
Secondary Readings
Donna Haraway, “Cyborg Manifesto”
Familiarize yourself with the layout and workings of Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl (available in the Transcriptions Studio).
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – Patchwork Girl (Katy and Nicole)
Terms: Interactive fiction (Jessica), closure (Jessica), reading paths (Jessica), heterarchy (Taryn), linking mechanism (Linh).
Readings Due:
Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl. Available in the Transcriptions Studio.
Espen Aarseth, excerpt from Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature (Ch 4 p 76 – 97).
Secondary Readings:
Alan Sondheim and Stelarc “On Stelarc”.
N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines, Ch 7 (p 100 – 108).
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – l0ve 0ne (Ashley and Daniel).
Readings Due:
Judy Malloy, l0ve 0ne.
Marshall McLuhan, “Media Hot and Cold.”
Secondary Readings:
Marshall McLuhan, “The Medium is the Message”.
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Terms: interface (Jenna), setting (Jenna), spatial writing (Jenna), hot and cool media (Ashley), ideology (Nicole).
Readings Due:
Judy Malloy, l0ve 0ne.
Bill Nichols, “The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems.”
Time permitting, review Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Preface and Sections 1 – 5)
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Readings Due:
William Gibson, Neuromancer, parts 1- 2 (pages 1 – 98)
N. Katherine Hayles, “The Seduction of Cyberspace.”
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Wiki Presentation – Neuromancer, Alex and Jessica
Critical Response due in class forum.
Terms: narrator (Daniel), point-of-view (Daniel), cyberpunk (Daniel), cyberspace (Kai), visual narrative (Kai), identity (Nicole).
Readings Due:
William Gibson, Neuromancer, Parts 3, 4 and Coda.
Secondary Reading:
Julian Dibbell, “A Rape In Cyberspace; or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a Society.”
Michael Heim, “The Erotic Ontology of Cyberspace.”
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Monday, February 27th
Draft of Paper Two is due in the class forum no later than 5:30 p.m.
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No Critical Response due.
Screening of Robot Stories.
Readings Due:
Lisa Nakamura, “Race In/For Cyberspace.”
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Wednesday, March 1st
Respond to your paper workshop partner’s online draft in the class forum no later than 5:30 p.m.
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Group Wiki Presentation – Robot Stories (Jenna and Candace).
Terms: lighting (Taylor), dialogue, editing, transition, shot, camera movement (Taylor), camera angle (Nicole), focus (Taylor).
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Friday, Mar 3
Paper Two no later than 5:30 p.m. No Exceptions.
Post papers on the class forum.
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – Short Stories (Taryn and Gabrielle).
Readings Due:
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Garden of the Forking Paths.”
James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), “The Girl Who Was Plugged In.”
Larissa Lai, “Rachel.”
Secondary Readings:
Charles Saunders, “Why Blacks Should Read (and Write) Science Fiction.”
*****Dreamweaver Workshop******
SH 2509, 2pm – 4pm
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Critical Response due in class forum.
Group Wiki Presentation – Gaming (Kai).
Terms: subculture (Linh), gaming (Ashley).
Readings Due:
Felis Rex, LambdaMoo: An Introduction
LambdaMoo Your computer will launch a “telnet” window. In the window that says LambdaMoo at the top, type “connect Guest” to get started. I highly recommend typing “@tutorial” right away to help you find your way around. Spend some time exploring and interacting with people.
Linden Labs, Second Life (register for a free
basic account and spend a couple of hours playing).
James Paul Gee, “Why Game Studies Now?
Secondary Readings:
David J. Leonard, “Not a Hater, Just Keepin It Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies”
Toby Miller, “Gaming for Beginners”
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Draft of Web Project due.
Final draft of Wiki glossary and group entries due.
The following students will present their web projects-in-process and receive feedback:
1. Jenna
2. Amber
3. Jessica
4. Alex
5. Kai
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The following students will present drafts of their web projects and receive feedback:
1. Gabrielle
2. Candace
3. Krystal
4. Daniel
5. Katy
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The following students will present their web projects and receive feedback:
1. Taylor
2. Linh
3. Ashley
4. Taryn
5. Nicole
Extra Credit Final Exam: An extra credit final exam will follow the web presentations and will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions on terminology and texts from the entire quarter.
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Web projects are due, i.e. must be online, by 5:30 p.m. You must email me the URL (web address) to let me know the project is complete.
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