Digital Humanities (iTunes U)

Dr. Gerald R. Lucas prof@litmuse.net Office: Macon H/SS-117 85889 HUMN 2151.01 TR 9:30-10:50A FALL 2012 H/SS-120

Postmodernism and the PC dene our contemporary culture.

This section of HUMN 2151 Digital Humanities will look at the intersection of the humanities and the digital world. We will look at how traditional approaches to the study and creation of cultural texts are being inuenced and changed by microprocessing technologies. Our study will begin in the latter part of the twentieth century, include a primer of postmodernism, and focus on new media approaches to cultural production and consumption. All of the specic assignments and coursework will take place on iTunes U and Humanities Online. Students will make accounts and receive their iPads during orientation the rst week of class.

Goals
Since this class is a requirement for General Studies majors, key assessments of writing and public speaking must be measured. All students must be able to analyze problems in more than one discipline; therefore the course requirements will be directed toward these goals. To develop and enhance the students critical and analytical ability to read and understand the texts of thinkers in various disciplines, their contexts and signicance, through and variety of pedagogical strategies.

HUMN 2151 Fall 2012 Dr. Lucas prof@litmuse.net litmuse.net

 To develop and enhance the students ability to think critically and creatively and to write and to speak eectively about the arts and culture.

Required Texts
The following two texts will be available in the MSC book store, but you may also order them online. However, since this is an iPad supported course, I would prefer you have them in digital form available via iTunes. Sterling, Bruce. Tomorrow Now (2002). Vinge, Vernor. Rainbows End (2006). At several points throughout the semester, your reading assignments will entail short stories that are not in the above texts. These additional readings will be made available to you as etexts to be read on your iPad.

COURSE POLICIES
Assignments
Your work represents you. Therefore, I expect everything you turn into me to exemplify the very best of your professional self. Work should be proofread, rhetorically appropriate, and illustrate your very best writing. No late submissions will be considered for a grade. See Course Requirements and Grading below.

Attendance
This section of HUMN 2151 is a hybrid online course that meets face-to-face only a couple of times during the semester (See Tentative Schedule). Therefore, your attendance for those days is very important; your presence at the rst class meeting is mandatory. Please communicate with me if you plan to miss any scheduled course meetings.

Conduct
As a Macon State College student and as a student in this class, it is your responsibility to read, to understand, and to abide by the MSC Student Code of Conduct from the MSC Student Handbook, available online.

Plagiarism
Willful plagiarism will result in automatic failure of this class and will be pursued to incite the utmost penalty for such dishonesty. Academic falsehood, in any form, will constitute

HUMN 2151 Fall 2012 Dr. Lucas prof@litmuse.net litmuse.net

class failure. The professor reserves the right to use the plagiarism detection service Turn It In at his discretion.

Special Needs
Students seeking academic accommodations for a special need must contact the MSC Counseling and Disability Services (478-471-2985) located on the rst oor of the Math Building (formerly Learning Support), Room 110 on the Macon Campus. I cannot accommodate needs requests without the proper documentation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING

This class grades on the point system. Each assignment will be worth a specic amount of points depending on its relative importance in evaluation. For example, a reading quiz might be worth 10 points, while a midterm exam might be worth 100. See Grades to the right for specic breakdown. Requirements will fall under the following categories:

Grades
A B C D 90-100% of total points 80-89% of total points 70-79% of total points 60-69% of total points

Responses

F 59% or less of total points At least four times during the semester, you are required to respond informally in writing. These responses will usually be posted in an online forum, so the entire class can benet from reading and responding to your thoughts. Further explanation will be forthcoming during the course orientation. Read more on LitMUSE: <http://litmuse.net/resources/writing/forum-directions>.

Essay Exams
A midterm and a nal exam will be given that will test your knowledge of the subject matter (texts, lecture material, and vocabulary), your ability to synthesize this material, and your creativity in going beyond the discussion and reading materials. The nal exam will include vocabulary, identication, and interpretation. All exam grades will be based upon objective knowledge of the material, thoroughness, depth of insight, precision, and originality.

Presentation
All students will be responsible for a 7-minute oral presentation that discusses some aspect of digital humanities: use a text either from the syllabus or one that might have been included on the syllabus as the foundation of your talk. The specic assignment will be covered during orientation. Read more: <http://litmuse.net/assignment/presentation-guidelines>.

HUMN 2151 Fall 2012 Dr. Lucas prof@litmuse.net litmuse.net

Daily Work
Quizzes, other class activities, and homework assignments not explicitly outlined above will be considered daily work.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
This schedule represents the ideal and general outline for our semester, but it is tentative and subject to change. See the course on iTunes U for the most accurate and specic data on assignments.
T 8/21 R 8/23 T 8/28 R 8/30 T 9/4 R 9/6 T 9/11 R 9/13 T 9/18 R 9/20 T 9/25 R 9/27 T 10/2 R 10/4 T 10/9 R 10/11 T 10/16 R 10/18 T 10/23 R 10/25 T 10/30 R 11/1 Course Introduction and Orientation Lecture: (Post)modernism and the Digital Age Video: Jos Chungs From Outer Space; forum response Reading: Coover and Pratt; forum response View: Stelarc; Reading: Miller and Gibson; forum response Reading: Joy, Sterling, and Bear; forum response Reading: Sterling Tomorrow Now Reading: Sterling (cont.) Video: No Maps for These Territories Reading: Sterling and Gibson Video: Technoculture: Finding Our Way in the Terra Incognita Reading: Barlow, Gleick, and Rosenberg Midterm Exam, Part 1 Midterm Exam, Part 2; Last day to submit presentation topics Conferences Conferences Video: You Only Live Twice: Virtual Reality Meets Real World in Second Life Reading: Grosso, Smolowe, and Gladwell Video: Big Thinkers: Sherry Turkle Activity: Second Life; Reading: Brody, Tiptree, and Rheingold Video: Cyberspace: Virtual Unreality? Reading: Dibbell and Stephenson

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

HUMN 2151 Fall 2012 Dr. Lucas prof@litmuse.net litmuse.net

12 13 14 15 16

T 11/6 R 11/8 T 11/13 R 11/15 T 11/20 R 11/22 T 11/27 R 11/29 T 12/4 R 12/6 T 12/11

Video: Kurzweil and the Singularity Reading: Kurzweil, Tiptree, and Liu Reading: Vinge Rainbows End Reading: Vinge Rainbows End (cont.) Thanksgiving Week (No Class) Thanksgiving Week (No Class) Presentations Presentations TBA TBA Final Exam: 10:30a-12:30p

DR. GERALD R. LUCAS

Email: prof@litmuse.net Ofce: Macon Campus, H/SS-117 AIM: drgrlucas Web: litmuse.net humanities.maconstate.edu Ofce Hours: MW 1-3; TR 12-1; by appointment Voice: (478) 471-5761

HUMN 2151 Fall 2012 Dr. Lucas prof@litmuse.net litmuse.net