CI 367 Syllabus (Fall 23)(1)

Boston University College of Arts and Sciences CI 367 / EN 365 Studies in Non-Cinematic Media: From Elemental Media to New Media Fall 2023 2:00-3:15p Tue, Thu in PSY B53 Instructor: Prof. Alex Denison Office location and hours: Room 243, 236 Bay State Rd, 10:30a-12:00p Tue, Thu (and by appt.) Email address: denison@bu.edu DESCRIPTION OF COURSE What is a medium? Is it a mode of communication or a form of art? Are media exclusively made by humans or do they manifest themselves in the natural world? And how do media impact the way in which we experience, interpret, and act on our environments? We will explore these questions and more this semester through both a philosophical and an ethical lens. While will be studying the history of media and media studies more generally, a great deal of the course will be centered on environmental issues. In the era of climate change and the digital age, it is important to keep in mind the relationship between communication, art, and our world. COURSE EXPECTATIONS Students should be prepared to do a substantial amount of reading this semester, particularly in the first several weeks as we introduce the topic. Although this course is on “Non-Cinematic Media,” you will be required to watch films on some weeks which you will do on your own before the class they are assigned. This course fulfills BU Hub units in Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, and Creativity/Innovation. As such, student will be completing assignments including an analyses of an artwork around the midterm period and their own creative project at the end of the semester. TEXTS Peters, John Durham. The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. Crary, Jonathan. Scorched Earth: Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World . London: Verso Book, 2022. **Both of these books are available online and at the BU Barnes and Noble Bookstore. All additional readings will be available as PDFs or URL links on our Blackboard page** 1

ASSIGNMENTS AND PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE Attendance and Participation (15%) Students are expected to regularly attend classes and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings and films. Students are allowed 4 unexcused absences throughout the semester. Each additional unexcused absence will result in 2 points off of your Attendance and Participation grade. Students should come to class with the readings completed and in hand (either in print or on laptop/tablet) and, on Thursdays, with the film(s) watched ahead of time. Participation is defined as: asking questions, responding to the comments/questions of the instructor and/or other students, courteous disagreement and debate, etc. Participation will be evaluated not in terms of the “quality” of your questions and comments but on the level of your engagement and your demonstration that you have completed the assigned reading/viewing. Biweekly Blackboard Posts (15%) By 10:30a before each class, students will upload short posts (about 150 words) on Blackboard to help facilitate discussion that day. Each post will consist of the following components: one quote from the reading(s) that you find relevant, a couple sentences in which you discuss the significance of the quote you’ve chosen, and one question you have about the reading(s) in general. This question can be something you are confused about, something you are frustrated by, etc. These posts are a way to ensure that you are doing the readings ahead of time and ready to participate in discuss each class. In-Class Presentations (10%) After the first few weeks of the semester, we will begin short in-class presentations on the assigned readings/films. Each student will sign up and present for about 10 minutes on the reading due for that day’s class. These presentations are not meant to evaluate your mastery of the material but are simply way to generate class discussion and an opportunity to hone your public speaking skills. Midterm Paper (30%) Students will write a 5-page analysis of one of the films we watch for the course. The paper will be due in late October and a detailed paper prompt will be posted on Blackboard at least 2 weeks prior to the due date. Final Project (30%) Students will craft a creative project that uses digital tools to explore some of the topics we’ve learned about throughout this semester. This project can a video essay, short film, podcast, website, or some other creation that combines theory with practice. We will begin to learn the basics of some digital software for editing, recording sound, etc. after the midterm and a detailed assignment prompt will be posted on Blackboard one month before the due date. 2

COURSE SCHEDULE **Readings are to be completed and responded to on Blackboard by 10:30a of the date they are listed on the syllabus. Assigned films are to be watched before each Thursday class** Week 1: Introduction - 9/5: No readings (class introduction, overview of the syllabus) - 9/7: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 1 (no Blackboard post this first week) Week 2: The Ocean as a Medium - 9/12: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 2 - 9/14: Mette Bryld and Nina Lykke, excerpt from Cosmodolphins Film: Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) **available at Geddes Language Center** Week 3: Fire and Electricity - 9/19: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 3 - 9/21: Jeffrey Sconce, excerpt from Haunted Media Film: Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas, 2016) **watch at the Cinema & Media Studies Program’s Screening Series on 9/19** Week 4: Space, Sky, and Time - 9/26: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 4 - 9/28: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 5 Week 5: Writing as a Storage Medium - 10/3: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 6 - 10/5: Marshall McLuhan, excerpt from Understanding Media Week 6: The Internet and Its Discontents - 10/10: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Ch. 7 - 10/12: Richard Seymour, excerpt from The Twittering Machine Week 7: The Politics of Digital Technology (Part I) - 10/17: Peters, The Marvelous Clouds Conclusion - 10/19: Crary, The Scorched Earth Ch. 1 Week 8: The Politics of Digital Technology (Part II) - 10/24: Crary, The Scorched Earth Ch. 2 - 10/26: Crary, The Scorched Earth Ch. 3 Film: The Lanthanide Series (Erin Espelie, 2014) **available at the Geddes Language Center** Week 9: Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence - 10/31: Norbert Wiener, excerpt from The Human Use of Human Beings - 11/2: Donna Haraway, excerpt from “A Cyborg Manifesto” 4

Week 10: Digital Tools Workshop - 11/7: No reading (in-class editing/sound workshop) - 11/9: No reading (in-class editing/sound workshop) Week 11: The Rise of Consumer Video - 11/14: No reading (in-class screening) - 11/16: Hito Steyerl, “In Defense of the Poor Image” Film: Auto Focus (Paul Schrader, 2005) **available to stream online with BU login** Week 12: Work Day / Thanksgiving - 11/21: Work day and individual meetings - 11/23: Thanksgiving (no class) Week 13: The Nuclear Bomb - 11/28: Reading TBA - 11/28: Reading TBA Film: The Day After Trinity (Jon Else, 1981) **available at the Geddes Language Center** Week 14: Rough Draft Final Project Critiques - 12/5: In-class project critiques (no reading) - 12/7: In-class project critiques (no reading) Week 15: Summing Up - 12/12: Finish in-class project critiques, course evaluations (no reading) - 12/14: Study Period (no class) 5