Assignments

* Note: detailed assign­ment descrip­tions will appear online in posts (Exer­cises) and on pages (Assignments).

 
Exer­cises

(4 total; 10 points each; 500 words with media)

Posted to per­sonal blog, these infor­mal com­po­si­tions illus­trate atten­tive read­ing of assigned texts, progress toward project, and engage­ment with class top­ics rel­a­tive to sched­ule. Credit is assigned for (1) sub­mit­ting on-time; (2) demon­strat­ing atten­tion to class top­ics, con­tent knowl­edge, and crit­i­cal think­ing, par­tic­u­larly by describ­ing insights and con­nec­tions; (3) pro­vid­ing thought­ful and rel­e­vant responses to prompts, through spe­cial­ized dis­course; (4) with spe­cific exam­ples from per­sonal knowl­edge and/or respec­tive read­ings, (5) while extend­ing rhetor­i­cal knowl­edge and mas­tery of writ­ing con­ven­tions, prac­tic­ing effi­cient prose (i.e. min­i­miz­ing /avoiding sum­mary, rep­e­ti­tion, digres­sion, and unnec­es­sary dis­cus­sion). Ten­ta­tive prompts:

• Exer­cise 1 (due 23-Jan): Bio­graph­i­cal Sketch (with media) — Instruc­tions
• Optional exer­cise (extra credit): Cri­tique (250 words → 25 words → 140 char­ac­ters → image)
• Exer­cise 2 (due 03-Apr): Art Event review
• Exer­cise 3 (due 11-Apr): Art Event/Exhibit Update: Pro­posal for Net­work Media
• Exer­cise 4 (due 02-May) CraftScreen (web­site: C.V. + Artist State­ment + Portfolio)
• Optional Exer­cise (due 03-May): Rhetor­i­cal Analy­sis (Genre & Audi­ence) of Class Writ­ing (3 Projects/Units)

 
 
Project 1: Tech­nol­ogy & Aes­thet­ics —ana­lytic web­text

• 20 points; due 21-Feb
• Instruc­tions Page

Overview:

A research essay dis­cussing crit­i­cally an artist, work, and medium of your choice, as well as the aes­thetic processes/techniques
and impact of technology—proposing a new under­stand­ing from your analy­sis, for a spe­cial­ized audi­ence (dis­course community).

Note: Extended guide­lines and rubric will appear on the assign­ment page online.

• Before com­pos­ing this essay, you will com­pile an Anno­tated Bib­li­og­ra­phy (5 schol­arly sources) prac­tic­ing infor­ma­tion lit­er­acy skills. (5 points; due 09-Feb)

Web­texts: “screen-based schol­arly arti­cles that use dig­i­tal media to enact the authors’ argu­ment.” (Ball)

 
 
Group Project: Net­work Curat­ing of Visual Culture

• 30 points total; last com­po­nent due 21-Mar
• Assign­ment Page

Col­lab­o­ra­tion: Main­tain site (through week 11) post­ing dig­i­tal exam­ples of visual culture—medium/form selected as group

• Plat­form options: Pearl­Trees, Tum­blr, Pin­ter­est, Storify, Word­Press; social net­work account (decide as group)

Observe & dis­cuss new prac­tices & cul­tural forms across Inter­net plat­forms, art activities/events, artist Web pres­ence
Use Storify to doc­u­ment your posts (on blog)
* Anno­tate reflec­tion with “screen­caps” and/or videos

Audi­ence: pub­lic and spe­cial­ized read­ers in field (dis­course com­mu­nity); class­mates plus out­side class (social networks)

Objec­tives

1. In con­text of net­work media and dig­i­tal cul­ture, exam­ine new/current forms of art works and dis­course (dis­cus­sion).
Start by select­ing one visual-culture form as a group for focus (e.g. film/video, museum/gallery, pho­tog­ra­phy)
 
2. Doc­u­ment recent and emer­gent exam­ples of inter­est, with per­spec­tive con­nect­ing art and media/technology
—observ­ing forms, prac­tices, audi­ences, recep­tion, responses, and “institutions”(?)

Com­po­nents (indi­vid­ual work):

• Anno­ta­tions (of your posts) 10 points; due F 20-Mar
• Rhetor­i­cal Analy­sis & Cri­tique 10 points; due S 14-Mar
• Reflec­tion 5 points; due S 21-Mar
• Pro­posal 5 points; due S 21-Mar

 
 
Project 2: Illus­trated Pro­posal for New Art Praxis

• Mul­ti­modal Assem­blage (20 points; due 27-Apr)
  — dig­i­tal rhetoric: use Word­Press, Wix, Wee­bly, or another website
  • Vari­ety of writ­ing styles and mul­ti­ple media to sup­port — illus­trate, sim­u­late, con­vey, express — your pro­posal update/innovation ideas
     
• Poet­ics (5 points, 500 words; due 28-Apr; post on your blog)
   
• Reflec­tion (5 points, 500 words; due 28-Apr; post on your blog)

 
 
Overview: From research, obser­va­tions and expe­ri­ence, spec­u­late and illus­trate idea(s) for updat­ing cre­ative praxis and crit­i­cal dis­course in your medium/discipline.

 
Objec­tives

1) Apply lessons and insights from the semes­ter and your course/field work
about tech­nol­ogy, media, and art in net­work media ecol­ogy:
pro­pose new praxis for art dis­ci­pline (your field/medium/major) con­sid­er­ing data­base media, dis­trib­uted aes­thet­ics, “post-Internet,” embod­ied, etc.
 

2) Beyond spec­u­lat­ing in dis­cus­sion and show­ing exam­ples, use mul­ti­me­dia pur­pose­fully to con­vey, illus­trate, express your inno­va­tion ideas and expe­ri­ence of the chang­ing net­worked media conditions.

• This “assem­blage expres­sion” will include diverse ele­ments in mul­ti­ple modes; dig­i­tal rhetoric and cul­tural logic; and mate­ri­als from your entire “per­sonal data­base”: details from autobiography/experience, school/field, social/community, and art/entertainment.
   
  The media used — video, audio, images of all sorts — will be com­bi­na­tion of found & original/created, digitally-manipulated.
   
  We will test and prac­tice using var­i­ous soft­ware through­out the term; no prior expe­ri­ence with dig­i­tal author­ing is necessary!

Blog Work

10 weekly entries (min­i­mum) for term: 200 words + class­mate com­ment (Credit/no credit assigned)
 
Every stu­dent will cre­ate and main­tain a blog through­out the semes­ter, begin­ning week 2 and due each Wednes­day except when noted (e.g. project weeks). Entries are infor­mal (ungraded); con­sider as “Exper­i­ment Jour­nal,” test­ing ideas relat­ing to text­book & read­ings: e.g. note obser­va­tions, post asso­cia­tive links & media, pose ques­tions, describe insights—particularly con­nec­tions between texts/issues and infor­ma­tion or exam­ples exter­nal to class. Prompts, sug­ges­tions, and fur­ther instruc­tions will appear online through­out the term; stated sim­ply, the main “tem­plate” is com­bin­ing one spe­cific point from class with per­sonal exam­ple. An enjoy­able and pro­duc­tive effort toward our study, this work offers oppor­tu­nity for sev­eral objec­tives: prac­tice engag­ing issues crit­i­cally; artic­u­lat­ing ideas, devel­op­ing schol­arly voice in writ­ing; dis­cussing mate­r­ial with class­mates (through comments/replies) beyond class­room meet­ings. Like­wise, one com­ment to a classmate’s entry is required.

»Blog­ging serves a key func­tion in our learn­ing process, par­tic­u­larly as reflex­ive knowl­edge: com­pil­ing notes on dig­i­tal media “relays” for later appli­ca­tion, rec­og­niz­ing rel­e­vant mod­els from all data­bases, and test­ing new types of writ­ing with media and web design. The “Inven­tory” of notes com­piles “mate­ri­als” and rhetor­i­cal ideas for projects, updated peri­od­i­cally as prepa­ra­tion for stu­dio work­shops led by groups.

Extra Credit Opportunities

1) Com­ment upon or “blog about” a classmate’s Exer­cise (150–200 words; for par­tic­i­pa­tion credit).

* Note: all com­ments must be pro­duc­tive, rel­e­vant, per­cep­tive, and above all respect­ful in order to receive credit.

2) Com­pose an addi­tional blog entry (blog credit), for instance Project self-evaluation and/or reflection

3) For assign­ment credit, com­pose an addi­tional response. (see prompts)