Below is a draft weekly schedule for a final year undergraduate unit I am teaching second semester this year. The unit is titled Communication Technologies & Change. I am inheriting the unit and the previous iteration focused on ‘new media’ and the various affordances of online technologies. The brief I was given was to shift from a ‘media’ focus and address ‘communication’ more broadly. There is a relatively diverse range of students, some are studying ‘communication’ and others ‘public relations’, ‘marketing’ and ‘journalism’. Some could come from very different areas of the faculty (design, media arts, writing, etc.). The uni is design to engage with the everyday use of comunication technologies and to guide students to critically reflect on the technologial assemblages of which they are part.
It has not been approved as yet and I am contemplating changing some of the readings and in particular adding some ‘easier’ readings (as some of them are pretty hard core, albeit fun). If anyone has any suggestions or criticisms please leave a comment or email me at glen (dot) fuller (at) canberra (dot) edu (dot) au. The two major assessment items will be an in-class presentation and a final research essay on a particular assemblage of communication technology.
Any suggestions of film clips I can show during lectures in any of the weeks would be greatly appreciated also!
Lecture topics
Week | Date | Topic |
1 | 15/8/12 | Definitions: Communication as Techné |
2 | 22/8/12 | Definitions: Technological Objects & Systems |
3 | 29/8/12 | Definitions: Change: Obsolescence & Progress |
4 | 5/9/12 | Assemblages: Audience & Media |
5 | 12/9/12 | Mediated Sociality & Community |
6 | 19/9/12 | Home & Away & Work |
7 | 26/9/12 | Commerce & the Economy |
Mid Semester Break | ||
9 | 10/10/12 | The Apocalypse & Other Lessons from Science Fiction |
10 | 17/10/12 | Government & Media Policy |
12 | 24/10/12 | Information Technologies, Memory & Memorialisation |
12 | 31/10/12 | Geographies of Communication Technologies & Reality |
13 | 7/11/12 | Crisis & Technologies of Communication |
14 | 14/11/12 | Future, practices of anticipation |
WEEK 1
Definitions: Communication as Techné
Etymology of technology, ‘techné’ and ‘logos’. Introducing themes of unit: 1) Tactical and strategic approaches to communication technologies. 2) Introducing communication technologies as assemblages.
Required reading | Unit outlineWilliams, R. (1976). “Communication” Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society Glasgow: Fontana. Pages 62-63.
Sterne, J. (2006). Communication as Techné. In G. J. Shpherd, J. S. John & T. Striphas (Eds.), Communication as…: Perspectives on Theory London: Sage. Pages 91-98 |
Recommended reading | Parry, Richard, (2008) “Episteme and Techne“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/episteme-techne/ |
Tutorial | No tutorials |
WEEK 2
Definitions: Technological Objects & Systems
Thinking about technology beyond the technical object. Brief survey of different approaches:
- Actor-network theory and socio-technical networks, networked economy
- Simondon, technics and collective individuation
- Delanda and techno-historical assemblages
- Parikka, media archaeology and rethinking media and communication assemblages
Required reading | Lury, C. (2009). “Brand as Assemblage.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 2(1-2), 67-82. |
Recommended reading | Parikka, J. (2010). Introduction: Insects in the Age of Technology. Insect Media: An Archaeology of Animals and Technology Minneapolis, London: University Of Minnesota Press. Pages ix-xxv [Particularly the ‘Assemblages’ section xxiv-xxvii] |
Tutorial | Discussion: Introduction of unit. Details of assessments. Allocation of readings for the presentation assignment. Discussion of potential topics of the research essay assessment. |
WEEK 3
Definitions: Change: Obsolescence & Progress
How to think about ‘change’? Think beyond individual objects to the broader networks and social assemblages of whom they are always part. Disruptive innovation, not a new ‘object’ but a different network of relations. Fetishisation of the ‘new’. Planned Obsolescence.
Required reading | Packard, V. (1960). “Progress Through Planned Obsolescence.” The Waste Makers. Brooklyn: Ig Publishing. Pages 65-78.Slack, J. D., & Wise, J. M. (2005). Progress. Culture + Technology: A Primer. New York: Peter Lang. Pages 9-25. |
Tutorial | Discussion: When was the last time you ‘upgraded’ anything? Why? Is Packard’s critique still relevant? Do you take photos with your phone? Do you use Instagram or similar? How does the aestheticisation of ‘old’ technologies as ‘new’ change our sense of progress? |
WEEK 4
Assemblages: Audience & Media
This week we think about the relation between technology, media and audiences in terms of assemblages. Further develop assemblage theory. Techno-historical assemblages of the media. Power of the audience, audience studies. Attention economy.
Required reading | Goggin, G. (2009). “Assembling media culture.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 2(1-2), 151-167.Crogan, P., & Kinsley, S. (2012). “Paying Attention: Towards a Critique of the Attention Economy.” Culture Machine, 13, 1-29. http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/463/482 |
Recommended reading | Bratich, J. Z. (2005). “Amassing the Multitude: Revisiting Early Audience Studies.” Communication Theory, 15(3), 242-265. |
Tutorial | Discussion: What is your involvement in media assemblages? How does your participation relate to Crogan and Kinsley’s four ways of “thinking about how attention is commodified, quantified and trained” (3)? |
WEEK 5
Mediated Sociality & Community
Community and communication. Scales of community, local, national, international. Collective intelligence
Required reading | Levy, P. (1999). “From the Molar to the Molecular: The Technology of Collective Intelligence” Collective Intelligence: Mankind’s Emerging World in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Pages 39-55. |
Recommended reading | Shirky, C. (2010). “Means” Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. London: Penguin Books. [Chapter 2] |
Tutorial | Discussion: What does Levy mean by ‘molecular’ and ‘molar’? How is the ‘national’ imagined in the contemporary era if it is in part a consequence of the communication technologies of modernity (telegraph, print newspapers, then radio etc)? Do you think the character of friendship has changed because of social media? |
WEEK 6
Home & Away & Work
Constitution of the ‘home’, production of domestic space. New composition of relations premised on the separation of public/private, work/home. Intervention of the telephone. The flexible workplace.
Required reading | Gregg, M. (2011) “Selling the flexible workplace” Work’s Intimacy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 1. Pages 23-38. |
Recommended reading | Yates, J., & Orlikowski, W. J. (1992). “Genres of Organizational Communication: A structurational approach to studying communication and media.” Academy of Management Review, 17(2), 299-326. [Examination of the history of the ’email’ as genre of organizational communication.] |
Tutorial | Discussion: Do you juggle various work responsibilities with other aspects of your life? Could you do this without contemporary communication technologies? Would you feel comfortable using your Facebook account for work purposes? What relation does Gregg describe between communication technologies and workplace intimacies? |
WEEK 7
Commerce and the Economy
Transformations of economy, emergence of global market. Globalisation. Function of credit cards as technology of communication/identity. eBay, Steam and online commerce. Amazon.com and the algorithmic production of surplus value.
Required reading | Merskin, D. (1998). “The Show for Those Who Owe: Normalization of Credit on Lifetime’s Debt.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, 22(1), 10-26. [Particularly the section “A brief history of credit”] |
Recommended reading | Roberts, J. M. (2012). “Poststructuralism Against Poststructuralism: Actor-Network Theory, Organizations and Economic Markets.” European Journal of Social Theory, 15(1), 35-53. |
Tutorial | Discussion: Have you used your credit card online and felt anxious? Do you have a credit card debt? How important is reputation for online commerce? Have bought items directly from overseas? |
WEEK 8
Mid-semester break
WEEK 9
The Apocalypse & Other Lessons from Science Fiction
Apocalypse as ultimate ‘planned obsolescence’. Technological change of the apocalypse. ‘Industrial-military complex’. Internet as communication technology of the apocalypse.
Required reading | Jameson, F. (1982). “Progress Versus Utopia; or, Can We Imagine the Future?” Science Fiction Studies, 9, 147-158. |
Recommended reading | Grusin, R., 2004. “Premediation.” Criticism, 46(1) 17-39.Stockwell, S (2011) “Messages from the apocalypse: Security issues in American TV series.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 25(2), 189-199 |
Tutorial | Discussion: What is your favourite representation of the apocalypse? What aspects of this apocalyptic setting are Utopian? Would a world of perfect communication be Utopian? Why or why not? |
WEEK 10
Government & Media Policy
Guest lecture. TBA
Required reading | Tapscott, D. & Williams, A. (2010). “The Rise of the citizen regulator.” Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. London: Atlantic Books. [Chapter 15] |
Tutorial | TBA [Check Moodle closer to the date.] |
WEEK 11
Information Technologies, Memory & Memorialisation
From the ‘Kodak moment’ to the ‘Facebook moment’. Branded behaviours, branded memories. Have our memories become commodified? Databases and access.
Required reading | Stokes, P. (2011). Ghosts in the Machine: Do the Dead Live on in Facebook? Philosophy & Technology, 1-17.Munir, K. A., & Phillips, N. (2005). The Birth of the ‘Kodak Moment’: Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Adoption of New Technologies. Organization Studies, 26(11), 1665-1687. |
Recommended reading | Geissler, C., (2010) “Pix or It Didn’t Happen: Social Networking, Digital Memory, and the Future of Biography.” In V. Chan, C. Ferguson, K. Fraser, C. Geissler, A.-M. Metten & S. Smith (eds.) The MPub Reader. Vancouver: CCSP Press, 135-141. [Also available at http://tkbr.ccsp.sfu.ca/bookofmpub/pix-or-it-didnt-happen-social-networking-digital-memory-and-the-future-of-biography-by-cynara-geissler ] |
Tutorial | Discussion: Are we suffering from societal ‘TMI’? What moments do you hope to remember and do you try to capture these moments using technology? Do you ‘share’ these moments? |
WEEK 12
Geographies of Communication Technologies & Reality
Maps, spatiality. Political economy of belonging. Borderspaces. Locative media. Augmented reality.
Required reading | Buliung, R.N. (2011) “Wired People in Wired Places: Stories about Machines and the Geography of Activity.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101,1365-1381.Williams, R. (1976). “Communication” Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society Glasgow: Fontana. Pages 62-63. |
Tutorial | Discussion: Do you use satnav or a ‘map app’ to help you find where you are going? What about planning for holidays, do you know exactly where you are going to go? When was the last time you were ‘lost’? What does Buliung mean by the ‘extinction of experience’? |
WEEK 13
Crisis & Technologies of Communication
Social media and communication. Data visualisation. Queensland floods and twitter. Japanese tsunami and Google.
Required reading | Bruns, Axel, Burgess, Jean E., Crawford, Kate, & Shaw, Frances (2012) “#qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods.” [Research report] ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD Australia. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/48241/1/floodsreport.pdf [Particularly pages 7-18] |
Tutorial | Discussion: Have you been caught up in a crisis event? How have you communicated your wellbeing to friends and/or family? How have you found out about and then followed recent natural disasters? What communication channels do you use? |
WEEK 14
Future, practices of anticipation
Techno-historical assemblages are not only ‘historical’ but co-present. What shall exceed us? What assemblages are not yet fully present but currently emerging? What comes ‘next’? ‘New’ iPhones. What are the new assemblages? Has the future become commodified?
Recommended reading | Jones, S.E., 2008. “Anticipating Spore” The Meaning of Video Games: Gaming and Textual Studies New York: Routledge. Chapter 6. Pages 150-173. |
Recommended reading | Grusin, R., 2004. “Premediation.” Criticism, 46(1) 17-39. |
Tutorial | Summary and Q&A. Final paper related questions and feedback |
Draft weekly schedule for the Communication Technologies & Change unit I'm teaching 2nd sem http://t.co/g97kX5Hg Suggestions welcome!
looks great
hey thanks greg!
Interested that you have 14 weeks of lectures. Its 11 weeks (in reality 10) at QUT these days.
I think I will do this course!