About this course Syllabus Paper topics Course links Student links Add a link Raves & rants		Week 1 essay questions 1) Provide an analysis of how the issues and contexts raised in The Railroads That Tamed America and America on Wheels can be seen to suggest important frameworks or perspectives regarding our contemporary Age of the Infobahn. What aspects of these documentaries seem especially (perhaps even surprisingly) pertinent? How so? Are there insights to be derived from aspects of the films that don't seem similar to our own age? Focus on at least three significant topics, and be sure to address both events/facts as well as approaches to history. 2) Provide an analysis of how the issues and contexts raised in The World of Tomorrow and our course readings on World's Fairs can be seen to suggest important frameworks or perspectives regarding our contemporary Age of the Infobahn. What aspects of these texts seem especially (perhaps even surprisingly) pertinent? How so? Are there insights to be derived from aspects that don't seem similar to our own age? Focus on at least three significant topics, and be sure to address both events/facts as well as approaches to history. Week 2 essay questions 1) Compare and contrast either the Lubar essay (pp 72-163) or the Simon and Goodman documentary (The Telephone) to at least one of the xerox and library readings for week 2 (Marvin, Carey, Fischer, Postman), especially as regards the historical implications to be derived from the study of these media. Which implications seem especially significant, and why? Week 3 essay questions 1) Examine how the Douglas and Boddy readings offer alternative emphases to radio history than does Empire of the Air, especially as regards the historical implications to be derived from the study of media. Which "version" of this history seems especially pertinent to thinking about contemporary media issues, and why? Week 4 essay questions 1) Utilize any two of the readings for Week 4 to disscuss the themes of spirituality and subjectivity in relation to technology in The Devil Commands. In what ways does the film continue, alter, or move beyond such notions already evident regarding previous tech? 2) Compare and contrast the Cartwright, Schwarz, or Gunning reading for Week 4 with at least two previous course readings, regarding issues of the relationship(s) between technology, subjectivity, and spectacle. What role do historical specificity and technological specificity play in this comparison? Week 5 essay questions 1) Examine It's Always Fair Weather and/or A Face in the Crowd regarding their depictions of television and its apparent social significance and impact. How are the aesthetics and programming tendencies of TV configured? How are they seen as determinant of TV's impact, especially in contrast to the aesthetics of the films themselves? Week 6 essay questions 1) Discuss any two of Allen, Boddy, Feuer, or Vianello regarding the implications of their work on issues of history and television. What issues and concepts do they raise that might otherwise be ignored? What is the value of these? What aspects of their work seem most pertinent regarding out contemporary media environment? Week 7 essay questions 1) Utilizing at least two of the essays by Cerruzzi, Lyon, and Miller, discuss Desk Set in its relationship to early conceptualizations of the computer age and information society. Be sure to address both social/cultural and technological aspects of these historicized issues. 2) Utilizing at least three of the essays for this week, debate the apparent concerns that have historically arisen regarding the aesthetics of computers and cyber-culture. What issues exist today that were not apparent earlier on? What can we learn from this disjuncture? Week 8 essay questions 1) Utilizing the course readings for this week, re-conceptualize the aesthetic and experiential aspects of at least two previous media of communication we have addressed in this course. What would the readings suggest is significant to recognize about these media, in constructing a historical line toward what interests them about new media? What aspects of these prior media might be significant in their deletion from such a line? 2) Utilizing at least two of the essays for this week, discuss Twister as an example of contemporary motion picture spectaculars. You might consider its relation to previous media, as well as its relation to computer games. Be sure to address social/cultural and narrative/experiential aspects of these historicized issues. Week 9 essay questions 1) Discuss prominent aesthetic, legal, and ethical issues related to digitization, based on the presentation by Fillia Makedon and the course readings for this week. You may focus on issues specific to activities in museums, etc., or more broadly based issues about contemporary society. 2) Utilizing at least two of the essays from this 3-week section, discuss Until the End of the World in its relationship to issues of privacy, commerce, and subjectivity in the impending information society. Be sure to address both social/cultural and technological aspects of these historicized issues.