HON 106-1
Technologies of the Word
(The Human Prospect)
5 credit hours
Winter 1998
M W F -- 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Alternating between Wheeler 110 and Wheeler Hall Macintosh Lab
Dr. Robert M. Fowler
Department of Religion
rfowler@bw.edu
http://www2.bw.edu/~rfowler
Office: Marting 320
Office Phone: 440-826-2173
Home Phone: 440-826-1162
Secretary: Marting 307--440-826-2076
Course Description:
This course is an exploration of the history of communication
media from ancient oral culture to the Electronic Age. The course title is borrowed from
Walter Ong, perhaps the greatest contemporary student of the history of communication
media. Ong's studies have ranged from the earliest days of primary oral cultures, to the
development of various writing systems, to Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, to
our own age of instantaneous, global, electronic communication. We will explore this
broad history in this course. We will place particular emphasis on digital, electronic media,
which are absorbing all prior communication media into themselves, and which are
thereby serving to place the whole history of communication media into a sharp, new
focus. Throughout the course we will write in hypertext, using Storyspace hypertext
software on the Apple Macintosh computer. We shall also explore cyberspace in the form
of the Internet, today's manifestation of the "Information Superhighway."
Goals and Aims of the Course:
(1)
Following Walter Ong, to explore the
distinguishing characteristics of the major eras of communication history: (A) primary
orality; (B) chirographic (manuscript) culture; (C) typographic (print) culture; (D) secondary
(electronic) orality.
(2)
Especially to explore the crucial differences between primary orality and print
literacy, and
(3)
the possible return of many facets of orality in a secondary, electronically induced
phase.
(4)
To entertain a hypothesis of 'soft technological determinism'--i.e., that
technologies, and especially communication technologies, deeply influence (but fall short of
determining) certain personal (cognitive, psychological) dispositions and social (political,
economic, moral) structures.
(5)
To plunge into the debate between the technological optimists (technophiles?)
and the technological pessimists (technophobes? Luddites?) with regard to communication
technologies.
(6)
To give students the opportunity to exercise various communicative skills; e.g.,
speaking and writing. But especially
(7)
to learn to exploit the possibilities of "computer mediated communication"
(=CMC), by becoming familiar with the Apple Macintosh computer,
Storyspace hypertext
software for the Mac, and the Internet (email; MOOs/MUDs; World Wide Web; etc.).
(8)
To explore the "human prospect" that faces us now, thanks to the transformation
of communication media in the Late Age of Print and the dawn of the Electronic Age.
Time Requirement:
For a student to be successful in this course, she or he should expect to invest of a
minimum of 150 hours in the course.
(For every hour spent in class, a student should spend a minimum
of two hours outside of class in preparation for that class. A five-hour course meets for approximately fifty hours
over ten weeks, which means that a minimum of one-hundred hours should be spent in study outside of class. 50
hours in class + 100 hours studying outside of class = 150 hours total.)
Required Texts:
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. (New York: Ace, 1984).
Moulthrop, Stuart. Victory Garden(Hypertext). (Watertown, MA: Eastgate, 1991).
Vitanza, Victor J. CyberReader. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996). [See also
<http://www.abacon.com/cyber/public_html/Cyber.html>.]
Wheeler Macintosh Lab:
Except when reserved for classes, the Wheeler Macintosh lab is open and available for use
from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. On Friday afternoon it closes at
4:30 p.m. It is also open on Sunday afternoon from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. The following
are times when the lab is reserved for classes in the winter quarter and therefore is not
available for general use: 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon and 1:00-2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, and 7:00 - 9:30< Thursday evenings.
In addition, there will be times when the lab is closed for special, one-time classes.
Check the schedule posted by the door of the lab to keep track of times when the lab will be
reserved.
We are working on installing several new Macintoshes in other locations on
campus. Once these machines are in place, we will install Storyspace on them and you can
do your work on those machines when the Wheeler lab is unavailable. You may also come
to the Religion Department office and use the Macintosh in the student work area there.
However, the Wheeler Macintosh Lab is the best place on campus for you to do your work,
especially when it comes to Storyspace projects. Schedule for yourself regular times to work
in the Wheeler Mac Lab throughout the quarter.
Email discussions:
Students will be expected to get familiar with email immediately and use it regularly to
discuss course material. Balance frequency of postings with quality. Everyone should
contribute at least one or two substantial email messages every week.The frequency and
quality of email comments will weigh heavily in your class participation grade.
Research Projects:
Students will select a topic early in the quarter.
See below for possible topics.
Traditional library research, as well as online Internet research, will be required.
At mid-term, students will give a brief oral report on their research projects
Nearing the end of the quarter, a Storyspace hypertext treatment of the research topic
should begin to take shape.
Supplies:
Get a small plastic carrying case and at least 2 high-densityfloppy disks (used on the
Mac, these will hold up to 1440 kilobytes (= 1.44 megabytes) of information; they cost about
$1 each at the bookstore). (Get used to maintaining a minimum of three copies of your
course work: e.g., Fowler; FowlerBackup, and FowlerBackupTwo.
A small, inexpensive, stereo headset, for listening to Mac sounds without disturbing
others
Student World Wide Web Home Pages:
Creating one's own World Wide Web home page is not rocket science; everyone can do it. Early in the course we'll make
sure that everyone has at least a rudimentary home page in place.
Here are the home pages for students in this class:
Bruckner, Jay
Hutchings, Duke
Kostrubanic, Mary
Tentative Course Schedule
Monday, January 5 / meet in Wheeler 110
*introduction to the course; walk through syllabus
*video samples of communication technologies at work:
*AT&T "Connections" tape
*Apple's famous "Knowledge Navigator" tape
*
Frontlinestory: "High Stakes in Cyberspace" (there's a great web site for this
episode of Frontline, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cyberspace/). Also, the PBS web
site has some good, helpful, introductory stuff on the Internet/WWW.
*READVitanza,Preface and Introduction, vii-xvi;
Chapter 1,Cyberspace (Virtual Reality, Hyperreality)
*Read Introduction--2-4
*Woolley, 5-15
*Heim, 16-30
*Ponder questions--50-52
*Skim notes--53-58
Wednesday, January 7 / meet in Wheeler Macintosh Lab (basement)
*bring disk caddy with at least one "high density" floppy disk
*finish Frontlinevideo?
*introduction to the Apple Macintosh computer
*do online Tutorial for the Macintosh
*if needed, work with mouse basics
*log onto the BW network and begin to get familiar with "pine," our Internet email
software
*if time permits, set up a mailing list within pine for the entire class (once in pine, go
to "Main Menu" and then to "Addressbook")
Friday, January 8 / meet in Macintosh Lab
*review Macintosh basics, as needed
*review and extend work on pine; subscribe to a listserve discussion group???
*brief introduction to hypertext and begin to play with Storyspace
*READVitanza, Chapter 4,Hypertext (Virtual Books, Multimedia)
*Read Introduction--184-86
*Birkerts, 203-214
*Bolter, 215-31
*Bolter, 273-93 (from Chapter 5)
*Ponder questions--245-47
*Skim notes--247-50
Week 2 / Monday, January 12 / meet in Macintosh Lab
*discuss reading on hypertext
*start to read Moulthrop's Victory Garden
(There is a limited, sample version of Victory Garden available online at
http://www.eastgate.com/VG/VGStart.html.)
*jump briefly into lynxand Netscape
*point to online resources on hypertext
*distribute and start reading Burke, Ong, Eisenstein, and Fowler reading
We will be begin to view a series of videotapes on the history of communication media:
*James Burke video, "A Matter of Fact" from The Day the Universe Changedseries.
(I know of two very nice web sites where can read further about Burke's work. One is sponsored by the Discovery Channel and deals with the topic of
"connections." The other is someone's general
James Burke site. Both are well worth checking out.
*view the Michael Woods video, "The Singer of Tales," from The Search for the Trojan
War
*McCowan and Rhoads oral performances of Mark 5
*"Out of the Tombs" 'MTV'-style music video "translation" of the Gerasene Demoniac
(plus other two ABS videos??)
*Star Trek: Next Generation: "Darmok"??
Friday, January 16 / meet in Wheeler 110
*continue to view and discuss videotapes
Week 3 / Monday, January 19 / ***Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday--NO
CLASS***
Wednesday, January 21 / meet in Wheeler 110
*read and discuss the section of Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacyon the
"psychodynamics of orality"
*discuss this material by using the chart on orality vs. literacy
*read and discuss the article by Elizabeth Eisenstein, "Some Conjectures about the
Impact of Printing on Western Society and Thought"
Friday, January 23 / meet in Macintosh Lab
*return to "lynx" and "Netscape," interfaces for navigating the World Wide Web
*set up a bookmark file for everyone--this can grow into your "home page" on the
World Wide Web
*as time permits, do WWW tours of the WWW
Week 4 / Monday, January 26 / meet in Wheeler 110
*Read and discuss Ong, "Writing and the Evolution of Consciousness" and
"Technology Outside Us and Inside Us"
*Read and discuss Fowler paper on "How the Secondary Orality of the Electronic
Age...."
*Discuss ethical, political, cultural issues raised in this paper, and identify which to
consider in this course
*Related to that, READVitanza, Chapter 3,CyberWars (Flame Wars, Sexual Politics,
and Netsex/"Porn"/Violence)
*Read Introduction--132-33
*Kantrowitz, 134-140
*Tannen, 141-43
*Herring, 144-54
*Rheingold, 164-170
*Ponder questions--175-76
*Skim notes--176-81
|
*Skim notes--332-36
|
(Note--the material in these two chapters of Vitzana is likely to be of special interest for
possible research project topics)
Wednesday, January 28 / meet in Mac Lab
*spend the time reading Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden, with the primary goal of
gaining familiarity with the characteristics of hypertext (E.g., what techniques does
Moulthrop use that you might imitate in your hypertext essay on communication media?)
*formulate questions on Victory Gardento be discussed in class and eventually in
hypertext essays
Friday, January 30 / meet in Mac Lab
*catch-up day
*Construct a hypertext(roughly the equivalent of a 5-page paper) on the earliest
"technologies of the word": orality, manuscript, and print. What difference(s) does a
communication medium make? In particular, what are the major differences between oral
and written communication? What can we say already about the difference(s) that
electronic communication media make?
Week 5 / Monday, February 2 / meet in Wheeler 110
*selected bits of the video from the 1993 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy annual
conference (ethical, political issues of cyberspace)
*READVitanza, Chapter 2,Freedom/Censorship (Security/Hackers)
*Read Introduction--60-62
*Mentor, 70-71
*Harper Forum, 72-91
*Barlow, 92-115
*Ponder questions--122-23
*Skim notes--123-129
Wednesday, February 4 / meet in Wheeler 110
*Discuss Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden, as hypertext fiction (how does Victory
Garden workas a story? how is the experience of readingthis hypertext fiction
similar/dissimilar to other kinds of reading? what are the strengths/weaknesses of this
narrative? are they in the narrative or in the reader?)
Friday, February 6 / meet in Wheeler 110
*show "Cyberpunk" video (regarding issues of "future culture" in cyberspace)
*READVitanza, Chapter 6,Cyberpunk/Cyborg
*Read Introduction--338-39
*Elmer-Dewitt, 340-46
*Sirius, 352-54
*Leary, 355-63
*Haraway, 372-412
*Ponder questions--413-414
*Skim notes--414-19
Week 6 / Monday, February 9 / meet in Wheeler 110
*BEGIN ORAL PRESENTATIONS ON RESEARCH TOPICS, 1 of 2
Wednesday, February 11 / meet in Wheeler 110
*FINISH ORAL PRESENTATIONS ON RESEARCH TOPICS, 2 of 2
Friday, February 13 / meet in Mac Lab
*work day in lab
*Construct a hypertext (roughly the equivalent of a 3-page paper) on Moulthrop's
Victory Gardenand on the characteristics (and the pros and cons) of hypertext fiction.
*distribute Bladerunner and Philip Dick FAQs. (For the latest online
version of the Bladerunner FAQ, see
http://www.uq.oz.au/~csmchapm/bladerunner/. Another Bladerunner site may be found at
http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi/br/off-world.html.
For the Philip Dick FAQ,
see
http://www.users.interport.net/~regulus/pkd/pkd-int.html.)
Week 7 / Monday, February 16 / meet in Wheeler 110
*begin to view Bladerunner
*discuss Bladerunner and Phillip Dick FAQs
Wednesday, February 18 / meet in Wheeler 110
*finish viewing Bladerunner
*discuss Bladerunner and Phillip Dick FAQs
*general lab work
Friday, February 20 / meet in Wheeler 110
*start discussion of William Gibson's Neuromancer
*
read anything you can find on William Gibson (Especially consult
the voluminous Neuromancer web site at
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html. There is a nice collection of interviews with Gibson at
http://www.vt.edu:10021/J/jfoley/gibson/gibson.html.)
Week 8 / Monday, February 23 / meet in Mac Lab
*continue discussion of Neuromancer
(One of our own, Duke Hutchings, has a page on his web site that can assist us in creating our own web pages. See Duke's "Webpage Help Index.")
Wednesday, February 25 / meet in Mac Lab
*continue (finish?) discussion of Neuromancer
*open lab
Friday, February 27 / meet in Mac Lab
*introduction to HTML basics; creating your own home page for the World Wide Web
*Construct a hypertext (roughly the equivalent of a 3-4-page paper) on cyberpunk,
Neuromancer, Bladerunner, the machine/human interface, and/or cyborgs. In the
Electronic Age, what does it mean to be human? machine? Is there really a difference any
more?
*distribute technophobe-realist-critical-Luddite literature: Plato, Johannes Trithemius,
Postman, Phillips, Birkerts, Stoll, etc.
Week 9 / Monday, March 2 / meet in Mac Lab
*start discussion of the critics of technology and/or "technopoly"-- Plato, Phaedrusand
The Seventh Letter; Johannes Trithemius, In Praise of Scribes,Neil Postman, "Amusing
Ourselves To Death"; Gerald M. Phillips, "A Nightmare Scenario: Literacy and Technology"
*open lab
Wednesday, March 4 / meet in Mac Lab
*finish discussion of the critics of technology and/or "technopoly"-- Plato, Phaedrus
and The Seventh Letter; Johannes Trithemius, In Praise of Scribes,Neil Postman,
"Amusing Ourselves To Death"; Gerald M. Phillips, "A Nightmare Scenario: Literacy and
Technology"
*open lab
Friday, March 6 / meet in Mac Lab
*READVitanza, Chapter 7,MUDs/MOOs
*Read Introduction--422-25
*Hafner, 426-28
*Germain, 429-430
*Bruckman, 441-47
*Dibbell, 448-65
*Ponder questions--466-67
*Skim notes--467-72
*MOO session???
Week 10 / Monday, March 9 / meet in Mac Lab
*discuss Vitanza readings on MOOs/MUDs
*open lab
Wednesday, March 11 / meet in Mac Lab
*open lab
Friday, March 13 / meet in Mac Lab
*Begin demonstrations of hypertext research projects.
Final Examination Period / Wednesday, March 18, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
*Finish demonstrations of hypertext research projects.
Final Hypertext Essay / due Wednesday, March 18, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
*final hypertext course evaluation and synthesis, including consideration of:
*the technologies of the word: what difference(s) does a medium make? (Ong,
Burke, Eisenstein, et al.)
*the problems and promises of hypertext, multimedia, CMC(Bolter, Moulthrop, et
al.) in the Electronic Age
*the problems and promises of the human/machine interface(Gibson, Haraway,
et al.)
*the changes in culture developing due to 'being digital'(Woolley, Heim, Barlow,
Leary, et al.)
*the merits of Luddite critique (Plato, Trithemius, Postman, et al.)
*linking all of the above to your own research project
Weighting for Grades (a rough approximation):
*Class participation (f2f and email) = 15%;
*Hypertext on the history of communication media (Ong, Burke, Wood, Eisenstein, et al.)
= 15%
*Hypertext on Moulthrop, Victory Garden, and hypertext fiction = 10%
*Hypertext on Neuromancer, Blade Runner, etc. = 10%;
*Oral presentation of research project= 5%;
*Hypertext presentation of research = 25%
*Comprehensive hypertext final examination of the course = 20%
-- Prepare thoroughly for each class session.
What you get out of class depends upon what you put into it.
-- Read the assigned readings actively and aggressively.
Don't read passively; aggressively question and analyze what you are reading.
Preview/View/Review.
Take careful notes on your reading, and/or highlight or underline sparingly the main points in the
reading, and/or construct an outline of the material.
Read everything at least twice; then, if you still don't understand it, read it again, and again, and again.
-- In class, take copious notes.
Write down every wordthat is said in class, and more.
That is, when you review your notes (which you should do regularly), add your own comments and
explanations to your already exhaustive written record of class discussions.
Many students find that typing their class notes immediately after class makes the notes more readable,
and at the same time it helps them to review and master the material.
-- In class and out of class, ask questions.
It's hard to get answers if you don't ask questions! Learning is fundamentally a matter of asking
questions. She or he who does not question does not learn. Often the questions are more enduring, and therefore
more important, than the answers.
-- Ask for help.
Ask for help from fellow students, from your professor, from college staff, and from any of the many
services on campus: the Writing Lab, the Learning Center, the Health Center, etc.
-- Come see your professor.
Professors are thrilled (and very impressed) when students come to their offices to ask questions, to
discuss course material, or just to chat. Professors at this college are available to students, so come see us!
-- Grading scale.
On objective quizzes and examinations, I usually consider 90% and above A work, 80% and above B work,
etc. However, if the objective scores are uniformly low, I will grade "on the curve," thus bringing all grades up.
My grading system is even more finely-tuned than the college's official plus and minus system. On
papers and examinations I use the following grades:. . . . C-, C-/C, C, C/C+, C+, C+/B-, B-, B-/B, B, B/B+, B+,
B+/A-, A- . . . . etc. When it comes time to assign final course grades, I boil these grades down and use simple
pluses and minuses:. . . . C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A- . . . .
According to my standards, a C is a respectable, average grade; a B represents clearly superior work; an A
is for unusually strong work and is a rare achievement.
Criteria for Evaluating Written Work:
These are the qualities I shall look for in the book reports, and in student performance generally. The
following are listed in ascending order of significance:
(1)Doing the Work. This is the absolute minimum that any instructor can expect of a student:coming to
class, doing the reading, writing the reports, etc.
(2)Understanding. It is possible, I suppose, to do one's academic work in a perfunctory way and gain
nothing from it. For example, it is possible to hear a good lecture without understanding it, or to read a good book
without understanding it. But it is far better to understand! I shall gladly assume the responsibility of assigning
understandable reading and presenting understandable lectures, but the responsibility for achieving
understanding is ultimately the student's. Understanding is something you can only achieve for yourself.
(3)Language skill. Even if you do the work and understand it to a degree, the depth of your
understanding will be limited if yourlanguage skills are limited. Moreover, without good language skills, it is
difficult, if not impossible, to communicate your understanding to other people in a clear fashion. With sharp
language tools, however, it becomes possible to cut deeply to the heart of the material you are studying, and to
share your insights with others in a clear and compelling way.
(4)That Something Extra. This is the most difficult quality to define, but we all 'know it when we see
it.'This is the realm of not just doing the work, but doing it extraordinarily well, and doing more of it than is
expected. This is the realm not just of understanding, but of seeing things that others do not see, making
connections that others have not made, asking questions that others have not dreamed of. This is the realm not
just of skill with language, but of surprising and exciting skill with language. In short, this is the realm of
superlatives, the realm of extraordinary accomplishment, made possible by extraordinary creativity,
perseverance, and skill.
How do these qualities correspond to the grading system? The C student does the work, understands it in
a satisfactory manner, and demonstrates satisfactory language skills, both in the comprehension and in the
expression aspects of his or her learning. The B student does the work, and sometimes extra work, understands it
very well, and consistently demonstrates very good language skills. The B student will occasionally demonstrate
"that something extra" but not consistently. The A student consistently does all the work and then some,
consistently understandsit thoroughly, consistently demonstrates an impeccable command of language, and
consistently demonstrates "that something extra" in surprising and exciting ways.
Sample Research Project Topics:
*artificial intelligence (and what this means for human identity)
*robots and robotics(and what this means for human identity)
*hackers and crackers (are they good, bad, or benign?)
*computer viruses (beyond the nastiness and fear, can we learn from them?)
*hip-hop as new oral tradition
*industrial and postindustrial music as signifiers of electronic culture
*online political action organizations, such the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Computer Professionals
for Social Responsibility, etc.
*interactive CD-ROMs as the future of education and entertainment?
*cyberpunk science fiction (or do an individual author: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, et al.)
*the information superhighway--what is it? where is going? is it the Internet? Or something else that
might succeed the Internet?
*Al Gore versus Newt Gingrich on the political and economic ramifications of the "information
superhighway"
*the merger of telephone, cable TV, movies, and computer networks
*electronic communication as a force for democracy (Soviet Union; East & West Germany; South Africa;
China)
*history of various communication technologies (ancient writing systems; the alphabet; the printing
press; telegraph; telephone; computers)
*computer graphics used in movie-making
*virtual reality
*the inclination toward collaborative labor in cyberspace
*the restructuring of organizations, including businesses, in the Electronic Age
*creating and maintaining "virtual communities"
*the political system (elections; legislation; governmental information and other services; etc.) going
online
*The fate of the author's moral claim to intellectual property rights and the legal claim to copyright
*Who will provide and who will receive services in cyberspace? Who will pay and who will profit?
*The ethics and etiquette of electronic communication (flaming; sexual harassment; etc.)
*The question of human identity and the human/machine interface; the cyborg motif
*Sex and gender in cyberspace ('dating'; gender roles; cybersex; etc.)
*Civil liberties in cyberspace(privacy; first amendment freedom of speech; data encryption
*Cyberlaw
*the use of electronic technology in education (computer assisted instruction; distance learning;
electronic classrooms; etc.)
*pornography; censorship
*encryption to ensure privacy
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