Mediated Textuality, Data Storytelling (Undergrad)

Spring 2021

Syllabus

Course Information

Credit Hours: 3

Pre-requisite: ATCM 3320

Degree Plan:

  • Required course for Critical Media Studies concentration;
  • Prescribed elective for Design & Creative Production and ATEC BA degree plans.
Instructional ModeOnline. For more information about course modalities, visit https://www.utdallas.edu/fall-2020/fall-2020-registration-information/
Course PlatformMS Teams and Box. Both are named “21S ATCM 4326 Mediated Textuality.” I will add you to each.
ExpectationsEngagement with readings and viewings occurs weekly. Optional discussion meetings occur weekly. Other assignments will be due at various dates throughout the semester.
Asynchronous Learning GuidelinesLink to the asynchronous learning guidelines for the University. https://www.utdallas.edu/fall-2020/asynchronous-access-for-fall-2020/

Course Description

From internet data caps to the census to COVID-19 to police violence, “data” was at center-stage for much of 2020. And 2021 looks to be shaping up similarly. On the surface, data is seemingly straightforward – facts that we use for reasoning or calculations. However, once we consider data as culturally produced and mediated, it makes explicit our need to develop rich and nuanced understandings of it. One of the most primary ways we make sense of things is through storytelling. As such, Mediated Textuality will focus on data storytelling in Spring 2021.

The course introduces students to multimodal composition through the major assignment of the portfolio. We will focus on understanding the signifying strategies of, and relationships among, different media formats, including between analog and digital forms.  The class is divided into four units: Foundations, Visualization, Interaction, and Demediation. The major assignment is a 3-piece portfolio in which you remediate the same assigned data set into different narrative media forms. This work is supported through active course engagement and by developing a nuanced understanding of your data assigned set.

Course Goals

In this course, students will

  • Present ideas, and stories in written, verbal, and multimodal forms;
  • Read and respond to key concepts in narrative theory, semiotics, and the cultural analysis of data;
  • Produce critical creative work in digital and analog media;
  • Evaluate the ethical and social dimensions of media they are producing and be able to apply that knowledge in the creation and analysis of digital media texts.

Instructor Information

I am Dr. Kim Brillante Knight and my pronouns are she/her or they/them. I ask that students address me as Dr. Knight or Professor Knight in our interactions. In addition to serving as the instructor of this course, I am the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and the Area Head of Critical Media Studies in ATEC.

I am also the project director for Fashioning Circuits, a Public Humanities project that engages wearable tech, domestic technologies, and computational craft. We meet weekly on Fridays and you are welcome to join us.

Ways to reach Dr. Knight:

Dr. Knight’s Office Hours

If you need to speak about this course, get feedback on an assignment idea, ask how you are doing in the class, talk about other classes, the CMS concentration, grad school, or whatever, there are multiple ways that can be accommodated. Nothing is too trivial.

  • Drop-in Consultations:
    • After synchronous discussions conclude on Tuesdays, I will hold drop-in consultations. This will be typically 6pm – 7pm. The amount of time I can spend with you will depend on how many people are waiting to speak with me.
  • Standing Appointments:
    • I also have 30-minute appointments available on Wednesdays, 1pm –2pm. These appointments are held on MS Teams for one-on-one or group chat, voice, or video
    • Book via
  • If none of these times work for you, please email me with a list of days and times you are available and a short description of the reason for the meeting. This option generally requires a few weeks’ notice.

Optional Discussion Sessions

  • Optional Discussion Sessions: Tuesdays, 4:00pm in Teams > 21S ATCM 4326 Mediated Textuality Team > Meeting Room
    • Optional weekly group meetings in which we will discuss readings/viewings. This is one way to demonstrate engagement with the course material.
    • Out of kindness to our bodies and brains, we will typically conclude these meetings by 5:30pm.

Dr. Knight’s Contact policies:

  • I generally respond to email and other messages during “business” hours, Monday through Friday.
    • If I do not respond after 2-3 weekdays, check my email address and re-send it. If it was on Teams, make sure you sent me a direct chat, or if it was in a group chat or a channel, be sure to “@” me.
  • Use official UTD email or MS Teams only.

Teaching Assistant Information

The Teaching Assistant for this course is

Required Texts and Materials

  • McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. William Morrow Paperbacks, 1994.  ISBN:978-0060976255
    • Available through the UTD library, UTD bookstore, OffCampus books, and various online used and new book retailers.
  • A comic book or graphic novel of your choosing.
  • Selected chapters and essays, located on Box or through the McDermott library course reserves.

You will also need the following:

  • an email account that you check frequently (either your utdallas account, or an account to which you have forwarded your utdallas email). Add Dr. Knight and Nusrat to your contacts to avoid missing our messages.  
  • MS Teams on a desktop/laptop (preferred) or a mobile device (https://oit.utdallas.edu/howto/microsoft-teams/)
  • a Box account (http://utdallas.app.box.com)

Course Policies

Names and Pronouns

Many people might go by a name in daily life that is different from their legal name. In this class, we seek to refer to people by the names that they go by.

Pronouns can be a way to affirm someone’s gender identity, but they can also be unrelated to a person’s identity. They are simply a public way in which people are referred to in place of their name (e.g. “he” or “she” or “they” or “ze” or something else). In this classroom, you are invited (if you want to) to share what pronouns you go by, and we seek to refer to people using the pronouns that they share. The pronouns someone indicates are not necessarily indicative of their gender identity.  

Accommodation

If you have a disability that requires accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act -2008(ADAAA), please present your letter of accommodations from the Office of Student AccessAbility and meet with me as soon as possible so that I can support your success in an informed manner. If you would like to know more about the University of Texas at Dallas, Office of Student AccessAbility, please contact the office at 972-883-6104 or email: studentaccessability@utdallas.edu. Their office is located in the Student Service Building (SSB), suite 3.200. All discussions with them are confidential.

If you learn a bit differently but do not qualify for, or have the resources to seek, an accommodation, there are still ways I can support your success. Be sure to let me know so we can creatively approach your experience in this class.

Attendance

There are no required meetings for this course. Instead, one of the course grades stems from “engagement,” including how you engage with course materials and class media, assignments, me, and one another. One way in which you might demonstrate engagement is to attend optional synchronous discussion sessions. For more information, see the Engagement assignment sheet.

Online Due Dates

All graded work in the class is turned in online.  Engagement assignments are due before the optional synchronous meetings on Tuesdays at 5:30pm. Most everything else should be turned in no later than 11:59pm on the date listed, unless otherwise noted. My preference is that you convert documents to .pdf before turning them in. 

Late work

Due dates have been set both to help scaffold your coursework in a manageable way, and so that the TA and I can plan time to give you feedback. You should make a concerted effort to turn in all work on-time, in the format outlined on the assignment sheets. Individual assignment sheets will outline the late policy for each respective assignment.

You get two “late” days for the semester to bank for eligible assignments. You can use both days at once, or split into 1 day for two different assignments. Please note that if your first version of any media object assignment is late, it will not be peer reviewed.

Academic Honesty

Academic dishonesty, i.e. plagiarism and other forms of cheating, will be reported to the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students office will investigate the claim, interview any students involved, and determine an outcome. Possible disciplinary action by the university may include failing the assignment, failing the course, expulsion, etc. If you have any questions regarding the proper use of outside sources or the distinction between plagiarism and sampling/remix/adaptation, I encourage you to meet with me.

Online Identity

This class may ask students to participate in various forms of public writing. Writing in public has several advantages for student learning. It creates a closer analogue to offline environments and allows for the creation of writing that is designed to be shared with an external audience, instead of only an instructor. It also allows students to learn from each other. However, some students may have legitimate privacy concerns about participating in publicly accessible assignments. These students may choose to participate in public assignments under a pseudonym, or assumed name. If you wish to request this accommodation for any reason, please contact me immediately.

The Classroom Community and Your Well-being

Our many discussions and online assignments will require vigilance to ensure that we are always preserving an atmosphere of mutual respect in which everyone is welcome to learn. Disagreements may arise and consensus may not be possible. We can, however, respect each person’s right to express an opinion and right to have the opportunity to learn. However, one’s “right to an opinion” does not include language or behavior that is harmful to others. Name calling, harassment, or menacing behavior will not be tolerated.

Conduct Related to COVID-19

Though this is an online course, you may find that you need to visit campus at some point this semester. Please familiarize yourself with the Return to Campus Guidelines found here: https://covid.utdallas.edu/students-families-info/

Students who have tested positive for COVID-19 or may have been exposed should follow required disclosure notifications as posted on the university’s website (see “What should I do if I become sick?”)  

Course Recordings

I may record meetings, or partial meetings, of this course, typically when we are going over assignment instructions and the like. For the most part, the optional discussion session meetings to discuss readings or viewings will not be recorded as there exists a comparable asynchronous option for student engagement. I will typically give warning before I begin recording to allow you to turn off your webcam if you wish. It may be helpful for you to know that the text chat is not captured as part of the video recording.

Any recordings will be captioned and made available to all students registered for this class as they are intended to supplement the classroom experience. You are expected to follow appropriate University policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access recorded lectures. Unless the Office of Student AccessAbility has approved a student to record the instruction, you are expressly prohibited from recording any part of this course. Recordings may not be published, reproduced, or shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments except to implement an approved Office of Student AccessAbility accommodation. If the instructor or a UTD school/department/office plans any other uses for the recordings, consent of the students identifiable in the recordings is required prior to such use unless an exception is allowed by law. Failure to comply with these University requirements is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

University Policies

Please visit http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies for the University’s policies regarding all courses.

Course Requirements and Grading

Grading Scale

See the Assignments folder on Box for assignment-specific grading criteria.

EvaluationLetter GradeDescription
ExcellentA, A-Work that is thought-provoking and well-crafted. The work extends our thinking, or wades into new territory. The form and content enhance one another.
GoodB+, B, B-Work that is thoughtful and well-crafted. The work shows evidence of meaningful engagement. The form enhances the content.
FairC+, C, C-Work that is well-crafted, but remains superficial. The form connects to the content.
PoorD+, D, D-Work is neither thought-provoking nor well-crafted. The relationship between form and content may waver.
FailingFWork that is never turned in, off-topic, or out of alignment with the minimal requirements for the assignment or course.

Overview of Assignments

Assignment sheets with full details and instructions can be found on Box.

Engagement – TBD%

Engagement entails preparation, focus, asking questions, specificity, and presence (synchronous and/or asynchronous). This is made most concrete in weekly annotations of readings and synchronous or asynchronous discussion.

Dataset Analysis – 10%

Critical analysis of an assigned dataset. If more than one student is working on a dataset, they may work together to complete this.

Portfolio – TBD%

Each student will produce a multimedia portfolio in which an assigned data set is remediated into different formats.  The portfolio will be composed of three media objects, plus a short paper.  Each media object will be completed as a first version at various due dates throughout the semester. First versions will receive peer and instructor feedback and will be revised for the final portfolio.

Variable Grading Weights

As you can see, the relative weights of most of your course assignments have not yet been determined. You will assign the grading weights in the first few weeks of the semester, with the caveat that neither remaining assignment can be worth less than 20%. Sometimes a value weight can be an indication of the energy you intend to put toward an assignment or an acknowledgement of where you think you might struggle. At others, a lower value weight allows you to the freedom to be more daring in form or content with less risk for your final grade.

Mid-term Assessment

You can expect a middle-of-the-term progress report that includes a preliminary grade in Engagement. First versions of portfolio pieces will receive peer review as well as instructor feedback, though they won’t be formally graded until the final portfolio. Please note that my administrative responsibilities sometimes mean it can be several weeks before you receive feedback from me. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Schedule

ATCM 4326: Mediated Textuality

Class Schedule for Spring 2021

[Dates and assignments subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor]

Unit 1: Foundations

Week One: Jan 19 – 22 Introduction

  • Preparation
    • Pre-semester survey
    • Download MS Teams
    • Sign up for Box
  • Tuesday, Jan 19
    • 4pm Optional Discussion Session

Week Two: Jan 24 – 30 Narrative Theory

  • Tuesday, Jan 26
    • 3:30pm Screening of “If Anything Happens I Love You” – We will watch it twice.
    • 4pm Reading Annotations of “Introduction” due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Jan 29
    • Extended Annotation due (if you did not attend synchronous session)

Explore Further

  • Pages 3 – 12 of DiYanni, Robert. “An Approach to Critical Reading.” Critical Reading Across the Curriculum. Robert DiYanni and Anton Borst, eds. Wiley, 2017, pp. 3 – 23. (Box)
  • Shore, Zachary. “How to Read, Part 1: Dissecting a Text.” Grad School Essentials: A Crash Course in Scholarly Skills. U of California P, 2016, pp. 8 – 39. (Box)

Week Three: Jan 31 – Feb 6 Semiotics

  • Preparation
    • Complete grade weighting survey
      • Recommended: explore the Engagement and Portfolio assignment sheets on Box. Video overviews of both assignments are available in the Jan 19 Intro video (Engagement) and Jan 26 Portfolio Assignment video. Check TEAMS for the links.
    • Read and annotate
      • Saussure, Ferdinand de. “Nature of the Linguistic Sign.” (Box)
      • McCloud, Scott. “Chapter 7: The Six Steps.” From Understanding Comics. (Box; not currently screen reader accessible)
  • Tuesday, Feb 2
    • 4pm Reading Annotations of “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Feb 5
    • Extended Annotation due (if you did not attend synchronous session)

Week Four: Feb 7 – 13 Data as Cultural

  • Preparation
    •  Read and annotate
      • D’Ignazio, Catherine and Lauren Klein. “Ch. 6 The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves.” From Data Feminism. (Available through UTD Library; does not load in Firefox).
  • Tuesday, Feb 9
    • 4pm Reading Annotations of “The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves” due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Feb 12
    • Extended Annotation due (if you did not attend synchronous session)

Explore Further

Week Five: Feb 14 – 20 Data and Storytelling

  • Preparation – Canceled due to UTD Inclement Weather closure
    • Read and annotate
      • Dietz, Steve. “The Database Imaginary: Memory_Archive_Database v 4.0.” From Database Aesthetics. (Box)
  • Tuesday, Feb 16 – Canceled due to UTD Inclement Weather closure
    • 4pm Reading Annotations due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Feb 19
    • Extended Annotation due (if you did not attend synchronous session)
    • Dataset Analysis due

Unit Two: Visualization

Week Six: Feb 21 – 27 Recovering from Climate and Infrastructure Disaster

  • Focus on asynchronous work on the Dataset Analysis Assignment.
  • No readings or annotations.
  • No organized synchronous meeting, but Dr. Knight will be online Tuesday 4pm – 5:30pm for additional office hours.

Week Seven: Feb 28 – Mar 6 Visual Storytelling

Explore Further

Week Eight: Mar 7 – 13 Peer Review

  • Preparation
    • Create first version of Comic or Data Visualization
  • Tuesday, Mar 9
    • 4pm Visual Storytelling Media Object Due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Peer Review Session
  • Friday, March 12
    • Asynchronous / Synchronous Peer Review Worksheets due by 11:59pm

Spring Break: Mar 7 – 13 Portfolio Revisions

  • Incorporate feedback from peer review to revise your Visual Storytelling Media Object

Unit Three: Interaction

Week Nine: Mar 21-27 Interactive Storytelling

  • Tuesday, Mar 23
    • Second Version Visual Storytelling Media Object due
    • 4pm Reading Annotations of “the Many Forms of Interactivity” due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Mar 26
    • Extended Annotation of “The Many Forms of Interactivity” due (if you did not attend synchronous session)

Explore Further

  • Murray, Janet. “Chapter 5: Agency” and “2016 Update.” From Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, updated edition.
  • Anderson-Barkley, Taylor and Kira Fogley. “Activism in Video Games: A New Voice for Social Change.” In Woke Gaming. Edited by Kishonna Gray.
  • Bertolo, Maresa, Ilaria Mariani, and Eleonora Alberello Conti. “DiscrimiNation: A Persuasive Board Game to Challenge Discriminatory Justifications and Prejudices.” In Woke Gaming. Edited by Kishonna Gray.

Week Ten: Mar 28 – Apr 3 Peer Review

  • Preparation
    • Create first version of game or interactive story
  • Tuesday, Mar 30
    • 4pm Interactive Storytelling Media Object Due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Apr 2
    • Peer Review Worksheets due

Week Eleven: Apr 4 – 10 Portfolio Revisions

  • Preparation
    • Incorporate feedback from peer review to revise your Interactive Storytelling Media Object
  • Tuesday, Apr 6
    • Second Version Interactive Storytelling Media Object due

Unit 4: Demediation

Week Twelve: Apr 11 – 17 Analog Storytelling

  • Preparation
    • Read and annotate
      • Prain, Leann. “Telling Community Stories through S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D.: An Interview with Climbing PoeTree.” Strange Material, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2014, pp. 89 – 93.
      • Knight, Kim Brillante. “’Danger, Jane Roe!’ Material Data Visualization as Feminist Praxis.” Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and the Digital Humanities. Edited by Elizabeth Losh and Jacqueline Wernimont, University of Minnesota Press, 2018, pp. 3 – 24.
      •  
    • Explore
      • W.E.B. DuBois. Data Portraits (Box).
  • Tuesday, Apr 13
    • 4pm Reading Annotations of “Telling Community Stories” and/or “Danger, Jane Roe!” due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session – Nusrat Zahan Chowdhury will lead the discussion section this week!
  • Friday, Apr 16
    • Extended Annotation of “Telling Community Stories” and/or “Danger, Jane Roe!” due if you did not attend synchronous session

Week Thirteen: Apr 18 – 24 Peer Review

  • Preparation
    • Create first version of analog explainer or visualization
  • Tuesday, Apr 20
    • 4pm Analog Storytelling Media Object Due
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Synchronous Discussion Session
  • Friday, Apr 24
    • Peer Review Worksheets due

Week Fourteen: Apr 25 – May 1 Portfolio Revisions

  • Preparation
    • Incorporate feedback from peer review to revise your Analog Storytelling Media Object
  • Tuesday, Apr 27
    • 11:59pm Second Version Analog Storytelling Media Object due

Final Portfolio Revisions

Week Fifteen: May 2 – 8 Short Paper and Portfolio Revisions

  • Preparation
    • Incorporate feedback from Instructor or TA on all storytelling media objects
    • Work on short paper for portfolio
  • Tuesday, May 4
    • 4pm – 5:30pm Optional Portfolio Consultations

Week Sixteen: May 9 – 15 Finals Week

  • Preparation
    • Continue work on short paper and revised media objects
  • Tuesday, May 11
    • Final Portfolio Due