Literature/Performance/Visual Narrative in Digital Space

ENG 566 (Sp 09)

M 18.15-20.45

Albertus 303

Dr. Kathryn Laity

Office: 423 Western

Phone: 518.485.3778

Email:

Office Hours: M 1.15-2.15 & 4-5, T 12-2

or by appointment

What the hell has the internet done to us?! Or to put it more academically, how has the digital age effected a change in the way we interact with narrative, with literature, with visual images (moving and still) and with ourselves? How do we use digital space? How do we read images? How do we negotiate the bricolage world of the web where file sharing, sampling and retweeting are the order of the day? How do we present ourselves on the web? How do we read others' performances of self? Is it possible to "know" anything anymore? Do we really need books anymore? Do I need a computer for this?

Texts:

Performance: a critical introduction. 2nd ed. Marvin Carlson.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Cory Doctorow.

One! Hundred! Demons! Lynda Barry

Valis. Philip K. Dick.

Arcadia. Tom Stoppard.

Assignments:

100 points total (93=A, 90=A-, 87=B+, 83=B, 80=B-, 77=C+, 73= C, etc.)

Active Participation including Facebook20

Twitter short story10

Graphic narrative/(auto)biography20

Performance piece20

Critical analysis of a performance10

Digital Biography20

OBJECTIVES:

Our primary objective is to think critically about how we engage in the digital arena as readers, performers, creators and critics. Your task is to demonstrate this visually, verbally and physically via work in different media (4 credit hours).

BLACKBOARD ():

Our daily assignments will be listed on the calendar of our home page. Additional information including reading assignments may also be posted there, so be prepared to check Blackboard frequently.

GENERAL POLICIES:

  • Active participation includes attendance; if you are not attending, you are not participating. Missing more than two classes will result in a grade penalty of 5 points off your total grade for each successive absence. Active participation also includes being prepared for class.
  • DEADLINES: Add/Drop Jan 16; Convert to Pass/Fail Jan 26; Withdraw Mar 27.
  • Always bring the day’s reading to class with you. You may wish to refer to the text during our discussions or while you work on an in-class writing assignment or quiz.
  • Papers are due at the beginning of class; late papers are penalized.
  • CSR policy prohibiting the use of cellular telephones with text messaging and camera features in classrooms and testing locations will be enforced in this class. Failure to abide by the policy may result in college disciplinary action.
  • Similarly, tardiness also disrupts the other students, and is unacceptable.
  • If you are a student with a documented disability and require academic accommodations, please register Lynn Cantwell, the Coordinator of Special Services, located in the Academic Support Center on the 2nd Floor of St. Joseph Hall (campus extension 2335 or 337-2335, off campus) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable academic accommodations. After you have made arrangements with that office, please see me to discuss your accommodations.
  • All students are subject to policies set forth in the Catalog and Student Handbook.
  • Students at The College of Saint Rose are expected to be honest in every aspect of their academic work. Plagiarism, cheating, academic misconduct, or any other submission of another's work as one's own is unacceptable. Students working in groups are each individually responsible for the academic integrity of the entire group project. In a situation where the course instructordetermines that, more likely than not, a breach of academic integrity has occurred, the incident will be reported according tothe Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT (All future assignments are on our Blackboard calendar):

Carlson:Skim the intro and read chapters 1 & 2. Be prepared to discuss the ways we can analyze performance according to these two disciplines.

Doctorow:Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Be prepared to talk about the effects of participatory fan culture and the concept of "whuffie" and how we might employ it in social critique.

Rough schedule (subject to SUBSTANTIAL change):

Jan19 HOLIDAY

Jan 26 Carlson 1& 2, Down & Out

Feb 2 Carlson 4 & 5, Glad well, Sontag

Feb 9 Baudrillard, Flash Fiction, Social Networking

Feb 16 The rhetoric of YouTube, Lethem

Feb 23 Paprika, Twitter story presentations

Mar 2 Intro to Comics, American Splendor

Mar 16 One! Hundred! Demons!

Mar 23 & 30 Valis

Apr 6 Home of the Brave, Performance Art

Apr 20 Arcadia

April 27 Aracadia, Art in Public

May 4 Class Performances