Attention, Procrastinators
I've extended the
Turnitin.com deadline. Get you papers in now.
Schedule
This Friday (November 14) we will meet in Skiles 357, one of the computer labs, to give you time to work on your group projects.
The following Friday (November 21), we will meet in Skiles 302, the computer lab we used last week, again to give you time to work on group projects.
Later this week, we'll take time in class to schedule your group project presentations.
Happy Monday.
Reloaded
Nope, not the film...Instead, it's a reading assignemnt for Monday by Tara McPherson available on electronic reserves. McPherson discusses how the web creates an illusion of "liveness" analogous to the experience of watching TV. She also discusses the illusory promioses of transformation associated with consumerism, specifically in the context of online shopping. You will have a blog due on the reading assignment on Monday by noon.
As you read, begin thinking about how the essay treats this concept of liveness and mobility. What are the benefits? What are the flaws? Keep in mind that McPherson is writing in 2002, after the web has become fairly commonplace, if not ubiquitous, in our lives. Also pay careful attentiion to Raymond Williams' description of television viewing in terms of flow. Most importantly, pay careful attention to McPherson's discussion of how the web structures human experience.
Key terms:
- phenomenology: "A philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness." (American Heritage Dictionary online).
- materiality: the state of having matter
- Fordism: refers to the development of the assembly line, which is characterized by mundane, repeated tasks, usually requiring little skill. Neo-Fordism would refer to a contemporary return to some aspects of Fordist models of production.
- media-specific analysis: focus on the specific nature of a medium (whether television, cinema, the web, print, or other technology)
If you have any questions let me know.
