Department of English

How and when do media become digital? What does digitization afford and what is lost as worlds become digitized? As lots of things around us turn digital, have we started telling stories, sharing experiences, and replaying memories differently? What has happened to television and life after New Media? What are the environmental consequences of producing and consuming digital media? The course aims to engage with these among many other questions related to digital media through a constellation of approaches such as media archaeology, cultural studies, and political economy.

Media technologies and phenomena discussed in the course include cloud computing, Internet of Things, trolls, distribution platforms, algorithmic cultures, optical fiber cables, surveillance tactics, social media, and race in cyberspace. Course activities such as Tumblr blog posts and Instagram curations have participation points. The final project could take the form of either a critical essay (of 2200 words) or production of media artwork.