Syllabus!

Rules!

Calendar!

Links!

Syllabus!

The only required texts are:

D. Rushkoff. Media Virus.

N. Postman. Amusing Ourselves to Death.

These two books will frame a discussion about the relationship between humans and their technological culture which will evolve throughout the semester. Students should read both early and refer back to them often.

I will, in addition, put books and articles on reserve in the Library and make reading assignments throughout the course of the term. The Calendar will be updated as time permits, but students should rely on classroom information for "official" assignments.

Assignments.

The Student's Grade will be configured as the combined evaluations of the following assignments (whoa!).

The Web Page.

Each student will generate a web page, the purpose of which will be to demonstrate his/her ability to attract the attention of "consumers." The student will periodically update the rest of us on the success or failure of his/her venture. Any student who succeeds in getting 1,000 "hits" on his or her page will automatically be awarded an "A" on the assignment. Others will be evaluated by the instructor on the basis of his/her strategy and effort.

The Assignment will be worth 10%.

 

Reading Quizzes.

Students will take three quizzes over the assigned readings--one of which will be unannounced.

The Quizzes will be worth 10% each= total 30%.

 

Assessments:

Students will do two assessments of cultural texts within the context of the "Quiet Guy Next Door" case study (see calendar and/or links). One will be in-class, the other will be outside class. The specifics of the assessments will be made available at the time they are assigned.

The In-class assessment will be worth 10% , the other worth 15%= total 25%.

 

Exams.

There will be two noncomprehensive exams (see calendar).

Midterm=15% Final=20% total=35%.

 

In addition, various means of enhancing one's grade will be announced during the semester (But the student should not count on, nor will the instructor feel obliged to offer such inducements in any reliable fashion. So concentrate on the assigned work.).

 

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Course Calender.

Rules!

Most class sessions will feature audio and video materials to which the student will probably not have access on his or her own. Owing to the pervasiveness of scheduling problems and lost materials in the past, none of these texts will be made available to students outside class, so students are strongly advised to attend.

Any student who appears in class more than fifteen minutes late or who misses more than 15% of the total session time will be counted absent. No student with more than three absences will be eligible for extra credit. In addition, no assignment missed because of absence can be compensated by extra credit (extra credit will take the form of a multiplier attached to a given assignment grade--see explanation below).

How Extra Credit Works!

The student's grade is composed of eight (8) assignments. Each of those assignments will be given a letter grade and its corresponding number on the 4.0 scale. I will assign the availability of extra credit (see above) to each assignment, not to the overall 100% grade. Hence, a student who gets extra credit assigned to the midterm would have, say 10% added to the midterm grade
(e.g. grade= 3.3 extra credit= 4.0// 3.3 + .4 [10% of 4.0] =3.7).

Only one extra credit assignment can be done for each class assignment. Only three can be done for the semester. NO extra credit can be obtained for an assignment failed or reduced in grade because of absence or the missing of a deadline.

Deadlines:

In the past, this instructor has been lax about deadlines. The result has been rampant abuse of those deadlines. When deadlines are missed, the course calendar suffers. Therefore, any deadline missed will result in a letter grade drop for every twenty-four hours. Only dire and well-documented cicumstances will alter this policy. If a student is caught manufacturing a "dire circumstance' for the purpose of extending a deadline, that student will fail the course.

Audio-Visual Materials:

If you need a particular machine for the in-class presentation of your work, you must give me at least eight (8) days notice. Teaching Resources needs a week, and I need some padding of that.

Comportment:

No interpersonal aggression toward fellow students (either direct or subversive) will be permitted during discussion. Discussion should be spirited, and the promotion of extreme points of view for the sake of discussion should be not only tolerated but encouraged. To that end, we shoulod remember that civility is necessary and will be enforced.

Other than that, Gosh kids have fun!

If any of these provisions seem harsh or unfair and you wish to discuss the issue, please follow this link.

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Links!

Some of these are directly course-related. Some are background for the rude and obnoxious attacks that I will launch on your favorite personalities over the course of the semester. Some are just too good to pass up. They are presented here in no particular order.

CNET.

The Nation of Islam Online.

The Visual Image: A collection of optical illusions and essay on how people process visual data.

Find a Grave: Just what it says. The locations of the rich, famous and . . . oh yeah . . . dead.

The Internet Movie Database.

The Official Buffy the Vampire Slayer Home Page.

The Selzers: The Rembrants by way of the Ramones.

The Home Page of that Quiet Guy Next Door.

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Credits: