Instructor: Janine Solberg | jlsolber@english.umass.edu
Office: Bartlett 210A
Office hours: Tu Th 12:30-1:30 + by appt

Syllabus, course policies: PDF

Many thanks to the UMass Amherst Center for Teaching for the grant and other support that helped make this course possible.

Tentative 382 course schedule:

Tu Jan 27 — Introduction to the course
> course policies, books, etc.
> sound technologies survey
> Robinson, “Do schools kill creativity?”

Th Jan 29 (DuBois) — Blogs
> prep: have read "Blogging Outloud: Shifts in Public Voice"; locate + bring a photo of yourself
> in class: setting up your UMass blog

homework: finish customizing and posting to your blog; download Audacity to your home computer

.............. week 2 ..................

Tu Feb 3 (DuBois) — Audacity
> in class: intro to Audacity; download The North Wind and the Sun and Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto

homework: familiarize yourself with the Audacity user's manual; begin reading the Intro and Ch 1 of Born Digital -- also: you might flip/browse through the book's contents, making a note of anything that grabs your interest as a possible topic for your final research paper/project

Th Feb 5 (DuBois) — Audacity, Voice
> prep: bring your USB mic to class if you can
> in class: sound exercise, post sound file to blog

article of possible interest: How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook ... Safely

.............. week 3 ..................

Tu Feb 10 (DuBois) — Were You Born Digital?
> prep: have read the Intro and Ch 1 of Born Digital
> in class: discuss reading (quiz possible), introduce technology autobiography assignment
> using iTunes to convert wav to mp3

homework: have a written draft of your tech autobiography to share on Thursday

Th Feb 12 (DuBois)— Technology Autobiography
> due: written draft of your tech autobiography to share, perform + workshop
> watch: Identity 2.0

homework: For Tues, listen to On the Media's "Pulling Back the Curtain" (11 minutes -- click "Listen Now" over on the left); revise your narrative and record it. For Thurs, read chapter on "Privacy" (also recommended: chapter on Dossiers)

.............. week 4 ..................

M Feb 16 — Presidents Day

Tu Feb 17 —Technology Autobiography
> prep: listen to OTM's "Pulling Back the Curtain"; record your essay and bring the sound file

Th Feb 19 — Technology Autobiography
> prep: read Ch 3 "Privacy" in Born Digital, bring in-progress sound files
> recommended: read or skim Ch 2 "Dossiers"

> in class: discuss BD reading, review + troubleshoot process for posting your MP3s online

.............. week 5 ..................

Tu Feb 24 —Technology Autobiography Presentations
> in class: listen to your audio essays
> due: Technology Autobiography assignment completed and posted to your blog

homework: read Ch 5 "Creators" Ch 7 "Quality" in Born Digital (change announced in class on Thurs, Feb 19 -- we will read/discuss Ch 5 next week)

Th Feb 26 —Technology Autobiography Presentations
> we will finish technology autobiography presentations if we don't get through them all on Tues

.............. week 6 ..................

Tu Mar 3 — Creators
> prep: have read Ch 5 "Creators" in BD
> discuss search strategies

homework: bring ideas to brainstorm on Thursday

Th Mar 5— Brainstorming your research topic
> prep: Bring ideas to brainstorm in class; try to generate some questions that you can use to guide your initial research/reading for the proposal memo.

.............. week 7 ..................

Tu Mar 10 — Intro to Zoom recorders, Center for Teaching visit
> due: proposal memo and bibliography

Th Mar 12 — No class meeting
> use this time to work on your job materials and research paper

.............. week 8 ..................

spring break

.............. week 9 ..................

Tu Mar 24 — What did you hear today?: Soundscapes and ambient noise
> in class: Zoom recorder activity, hand back memos and technology autobiographies

Th Mar 26 — Progress report and annotated bibliography due
> prep: TBD, depending upon your feedback
> homework: read through soundscapes handout and listen to recordings from Jesse Seay

.............. week 10..................

Tu Mar 31— Soundscapes and podcasts
> prep: have read soundscapes handout and listened to recordings from Jesse Seay
> in class: discuss readings, time to work on your sound piece

Th Apr 2 — Sound project #2 due and posted online
> in class: Listen and respond to your sound projects

.............. week 11 ..................

Tu Apr 7 — GarageBand
> due: draft of research paper (submit hard copy to me; see your handout for details)
Please include questions/concerns, or additional information about your plans for the paper -- these can be included at the end of the draft or clipped to the front as a note or memo. This will help me prepare for our conference.

homework for Thurs:
> watch: Ira Glass, (On radio storytelling part 1, 2, 3, 4, This American Life, NPR) (video, approx 18 min)
> by Thursday, post a short response on your blog discussing your reaction to the piece above

Th Apr 9 — Conferences
> prep: prepare notes/questions about your research paper
> homework: brainstorm ideas for final sound piece, work on your research paper
read BD Ch 11 "Learners" (237-253); watch "A Vision of Students Today" (4th video down))

.............. week 12 ..................

Tu Apr 14 — Conferences
> prep: prepare notes/questions about your research paper
> homework: brainstorm ideas for final sound piece, work on your research paper
read BD Ch 11 "Learners" (237-253); watch "A Vision of Students Today" (4th video down)

Th Apr 16 — Learning and Technology; Cristina Prior, Eze Castle, guest speaker
> prep: brainstorm/share ideas for final sound piece

.............. week 13 ..................

Mon Apr 20 — Patriots' Day
Tu Apr 21— No class (follow Monday schedule)

Th Apr 23 — Copyright
> due: research paper (see handout for details)
> prep: none
> homework: complete copyright reading + short blog response for Tuesday

.............. week 14 ..................

Tu Apr 28 — Copyright, Piracy
> prep: (1) have read Ch 6 "Pirates" (BD 131-153) and (recommended) Copyright and American Culture (17-34, from me), (2) post a short response to the reading on your blog by Monday night
> homework: draft of your in-progress sound piece for Thursday

Th Apr 30 — In-progress draft of sound project due
> in class: workshop drafts; post a summary of your group members' feedback to your blog

.............. week 15 ..................

Tu May 5 — Course evals, exit survey, finishing touches
> in class: time in class to work on your final sound projects; bring what you need

Th May 7 — Presentation of final sound piece

.............. week 16 ..................

Tu May 12 — Presentation of final sound pieces

Sat May 16 — PWTC reunion!

............................................

Below are additional sources (readings, video, and audio pieces) I've gathered that may be relevant to your research papers, or simply of general interest in the context of the class.

Copyright, fair use, remix

> Lessig, “Free Culture.” (Flash presentation, approx 30 minutes; text here)
> Pogue, “The Generational Divide in Copyright Morality.” Online.
> read: “Old+Old+Old=New: A Copyright Manifesto for the Digital World”
> listen: Lessig, CCCC Keynote: “Remix Culture”
> Lessig On the Media (Oct 2008)
> read: SV, Generational Myth
> listen: The Comedies of Fair U$e (NY Institute for the Humanities)
> There are also some interesting issues around copyright and the "plagiarism detection service" TurnItIn

............................................

Web 2.0, misc.

> watch: Harris, "The Web's Secret Stories." TED Talk
> watch: Wesch, “Information R/evolution” (video, 5:29)
> watch: Wesch, “The Machine is Us/ing Us.” (video, 4:33)
> read: Bruce and Hogan, “The Disappearance of Technology.” (269-281), recommended
> recommended viewing: Hirshberg, "The Web and TV, a Sibling Rivalry" (video, 31:39)
> Miller, “The Future is Now.” (video)
> “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies.”

............................................

Literacy, visual stuff

> In the news: “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” NYT
> In the news: "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" NYT
> In the news: Errol Morris, “Photography as a Weapon.” NYT

> Watch: "Photography connects us with the World"
> Read: "A Layperson's Guide to Graphic Design"
> watch: Hirshberg, "The Web and TV, a Sibling Rivalry" (video, 31:39)
> read: Bolter and Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media

............................................

Listening, sound

> watch + listen: La Jetee (video, 26:20) [how is sound used to create mood, elicit emotion?]
> read: Powers, “How to Speak a Book.” NYT Magazine.
> read: Comstock and Hocks. “Voice in the Cultural Soundscape.”
> read: Sterne, et al. “The Politics of Podcasting.”