HAR 380 Media Culture and Theory
This course will survey key benchmarks and documents in the history of media technologies, while also introducing critical readings of 20th- and 21st-Century media culture, both from the theoretical field of media studies and the creative works of artists, filmmakers, and writers. We will explore how media technologies from print and photography through film, radio, television, video, the Internet, games, and social software have been successively introduced, disseminated, and commodified, and how their mediations have profoundly affected the way we experience and interpret our contemporary society and culture. Students will be required to complete readings every week, to contribute to a class Web project including blogs and wiki, and to produce short papers and presentations that respond to and analyze the readings, in-class screenings, and other material we discuss.