The Craft of Writing

This course explores the effects of digital technology on human expression.

What is the relationship between the world as it appears to us in media and the world in which we live? This question looms large in the era of networked media, when so much of what we know about our world comes in the form of digital words and images, circulated in vast quantities at tremendous speeds. This question also serves as the starting point for our course, which will explore multiple theories of the relationship between representation and meaning.

Our first approach examines our daily encounters with born-digital artifacts, such as memes, GIFs, tweets, TikToks, emoji, and new media works of art. Our second approach investigates hidden, physical infrastructure that make new media possible, for example, the undersea fiber optic cable network or cloud storage facilities that connect, protect, and enable digital culture. Our third approach discusses essays on digital culture written by artists, poets, makers, and thinkers.

Technologies of Representation is a writing intensive course that introduces students to the craft of academic research beginning with the following questions:
– What aspects of digital culture do I find most compelling?
– In what ways do new media change the pace and scale of my social interaction?
– How do my answers to these questions fit into ongoing research on digital culture, social media, and the self?