English 312-204
Topics in Film Studies: Media and Internet Culture
Instr: Poster, Jamie
Office: CRT 405; 229-5912
e-mail: poster@uwm.edu
Office hours: TBA
Course Information: Online Web course
Course Description
Media and internet culture, abbreviated: Web 2.0, blogs, mp3s, MMORPGs, copyright and copyleft, identity theft, internet personas, e-commerce (shopping!), culture jammers, media activism, digital art, web communities, file sharing, the new "nerd chic", hackers, pornography, viral video, instant messaging, fan sites, online comics, online identity, open source and free software debates, dot com economics, censorship, media giants, digital archiving, and a lot more.
In this completely online course, students will examine, participate in, and respond to the many technologies, issues and activities listed above. Each student will carry out a semester-long project, employing several research methods (new media theories, ethnography, textual analysis, participant observation, critical theories, and cultural studies). As an advanced course, the aim will be to develop critical knowledge of the primary issues and research strategies of digital media studies. We will discover and interrogate the ways in which elements of new media challenge our assumptions about identity, community, media specificity/convergence, consumerism, nationality/globalization, democracy, copyright, privacy and surveillance, activism, sexuality, gaming and many others.
