What: ENGL 457S, New Media, a Spring 2010 Course at the University of Mary Washington
Where: Combs 348
When: 9:00 - 9:50 MWF

Web: http://code.zachwhalen.net

Instructor

Dr. Zach Whalen
E-mail: zwhalen [at] umw.edu
Office hours: 2:00 - 4:00, MWF (or by appointment)
Office: Combs 308
Phone: 540 654 2355
Web: www.zachwhalen.net
Twitter: @zachwhalen

Objectives

In this seminar, students will explore the concept of code as both a figure in and function of 20th century culture, specifically postmodern literature. The texts we examine in the course of this intensive study will either treat code thematically or figuratively, or they will literally involve the reader in decoding content. Some texts will be “born-digital” works of electronic literature. Taken together, the texts in this class will reside within the realm of the literary postmodern, broadly considered. Secondary readings will also include relevant critical theory, philosophy, or technical documentation as appropriate to inform our study.

Requirements

Books

• Danielewski, Mark Z. Mark Z. Danielewski's House of leaves. Random House, Inc., 2000.
• ---. Only Revolutions. Pantheon Books, 2007.
• Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Macmillan, 2008.
• Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing Machines. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002.
• Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Reprint. Anchor, 2000.
• Stephenson, Neal. Cryptonomicon. HarperCollins, 2000.

Other Requirements

• A USB Flash Drive, at least 2 GB. This should be something you don't mind having erased, since it will be reformatted for the purpose of running a Linux operating system.

Notes

• Twitter. I strongly recommend that you use Twitter as a backchannel or note-taking space for this class. You're even welcome to use it during class for that purpose. Please use the hashtag #engl457. Please Note: You are welcome to follow me on twitter. But if you do, I will follow you back, so you should consider the implications of having a professor reading your tweets. (If I don't follow you, I'll only be reading your tweets tagged #engl457.)
• Status of student work. I require all work created for this class to be made publicly accessible through our website (or possibly other websites), including the blog assignment, note taking, and the seminar paper. This means that a public audience will be reading your work, and you should write in such a way that you engage and address that audience as much as possible.

Assignments

Class Lead [10% of final grade]
Each student will teach the class for one day. In the first week, you'll sign up for a day of class and a text, which you will proceed to become an expert on. On your chosen day, you'll be in charge, lecturing to the class and leading the discussion.  In addition, you will prepare a precis for your text and distribute it to the class no later than the class meeting prior to your day.

Class Respondent [5% of final grade]
This assignment complements the class leadership assignment. On each day with an assigned student leader, an assigned respondent will prepare a short response to the class leader's discussion.

Notes [10% of final grade]
Each week, a team of students will be responsible for documenting our class's discussions and posting them to the course website.

Seminar Paper [35% of final grade]
This is the major project of the semester –- a long paper (~20 pages) on a topic of your choosing. You will work on this in stages throughout the semester, including a proposal, bibliography, and two draft stages. Topics must be relevant to the course material.

Blogging [20% of final grade]
You should anticipate writing approximately one entry per week, and these entries should contribute significantly to the discourse of class. Your blog writing will be evaluated continually throughout the semester, and your final grade will be determined by your best 8 blog entries.

Quizzes and homework will comprise 10% of your final grade, and a Participation grade will cover the final 10%.

Grading

Distribution

Scale

Where it applies, the following letter-to-number equivalence will be
in effect:

Policies

Attendance

Because this class depends heavily on class discussion, you should be in class every day we meet, ready to contribute to the conversation. The work we do in class each day is a major part of how you demonstrate your learning in this course. Unless emergency arrangements have been made, missing more than five classes will thus result in a zero for participation, and any student who misses an excessive number of classes will automatically fail the course.

Use of Electronic Devices in Class

Students are allowed, even encouraged, to bring laptops or other electronic devices to class for the purpose of taking notes. However, activities such as surfing the web, reading e-mail, or text-messaging are not allowed. Also, turn off your cell phone ring, and -- unless there is an emergency -- please do not answer it if you forget and it rings . If you are browsing Facebook instead of participating in class, I will consider you absent for the day. Furthermore, if I determine that you are abusing this policy, I reserve the right to ban use of electronic devices either for you individually or for the class at large.

Academic Dishonesty

The UMW Honor System is in effect for our course. I may authorize specific exercises as collaborative work (the notes assignment, for example), but all other work must be your own, as per Article 1, Sections 1 and 2 of the University of Mary Washington Student Honor Code.

Late Work

Unless otherwise indicated, all assigned work is due at the beginning of class on the specified due date. Work that is submitted after this time will be considered late and will be subject to a significant grade penalty. Work that is later than four days after the due date will not be accepted under any circumstances. If you miss a quiz or other in-class assignment because you are absent, you may not make up that assignment.

Decorum

Students are expected to treat the instructor and fellow students with the appropriate degree of respect, both in class and in online discussions. Communication, either in person or through electronic media, that is deemed abusive, threatening, or harassing in nature will not be tolerated. Students who fail to abide by this policy will receive a participation grade of 0.

Unsatisfactory Mid-Semester Reports

Students with a grade average below 68% or with more than 3 unexcused absences by February 24 will receive an unsatisfactory grade report at the mid-term. Also, if you have not created a blog entry by February 24, you will be receiving an unsatisfactory report.

Students with Disabilities

The Office of Disability Services has been designated by the University as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you already receive services through the Office of Disability Services and require accommodations for this class, get in touch with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodation needs. Please bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment. I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise. If you have not contacted the Office of Disability Services and need accommodations, (note taking assistance, extended time for tests, etc.), I will be happy to refer you. The office will require appropriate documentation of disability. Their phone number is 540-654-1266.

Schedule

The class schedule of readings and assignments will be posted and updated through the Calendar on the course website. Naturally, the schedule is subject to change as need dictates, and while I will usually announce changes in class or through e-mail, you should be aware of any date information posted to the calendar. Check it frequently, in other words.