Film, Television & Media Studies University of Auckland

2010

FTVMS 712 DIGITAL MEDIA (30 points, Semester 1, 2010)

Class times: Tuesdays 10am-2pm (workshops 10am-12pm in HSB160 Mac lab; seminars 12-2pm, room to be advised) Staff: Luke Goode (Convenor); Martin Hansen (Media Technician)

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STAFF CONTACT DETAILS Luke Goode: Luke can be contacted via email (l.goode@auckland.ac.nz), by phone (University extension 86030) or in person during office hours (Fridays 9.30-11.30am). If you cannot attend during Luke's scheduled office hours, please contact him to arrange an alternative time. Martin Hansen: Martin will not normally be available to provide technical support outside timetabled class hours. Martin’s email is: m.hansen@auckland.ac.nz COURSE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This course explores debates in digital media and provides an opportunity to combine theoretical analysis with online media practice. Our study will be framed by the concept of ‘intervention’. It’s commonly claimed that digital media open up a range of new possibilities for intervention into public, popular and visual culture. What are the characteristics of these new modes of intervention? To what extent are they actually ‘new’? Are they necessarily an occasion for celebration? In this course, we will examine such questions through critical reading of recent academic research in the field and through our own interventions. We will spend the first half of the course focusing on critical readings and, through introductory workshops, the development of an online project plan that will explore one or more of the issues raised by the academic debates we’ve been studying. This first part of the course will be workshop- and seminar-based and will involve weekly group discussions of both the readings and the development of project plans. We will also introduce some of the digital media tools available to pursue those projects (these will be introductory with no prior experience required or assumed). During the second half of the course, we will focus primarily on the development of the online projects and research essays. CLASS FORMAT Weekly workshops will run from 10am-12pm in the Mac lab (HSB 160 – entry via Wynyard St.). After a lunch break we will move to a seminar room (venue to be advised) for our seminar. This format will hold for the first six weeks of the course. The second half of the course will be tailored towards supervision of student projects and research essays. Supervision will be run on an individual or small group basis. We will also continue to meet as a full class on a regular basis. WORKLOAD This is a 30-pt course, comprising one half of a full-time workload across the semester. The University of Auckland’s expectation is that a 30-pt course requires 20 hours of study time per week (including class time). CECIL CECIL will be used to post course announcements (including any changes to details included in this document), weekly notes and references, and further resources where applicable. You are responsible for ensuring that you are able to access CECIL. Contact cecilhelp@auckland.ac.nz immediately if you experience any difficulties.

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WIKI A class wiki exists at http://digitalmedia712.pbworks.com/ The purpose of this wiki is to allow you to ‘sign up’ to present your reading responses in class and to provide links to your individual blogs (see information on assessment below). We will discuss ‘rules of engagement’ and appropriate ‘etiquette’ for the wiki in class but please treat others in this space with the courtesy you would expect to be treated yourself. CLASS SCHEDULE Please note the following schedule for the first half of the course. Any changes will be discussed in class and advertised on CECIL.

WEEK

WORKSHOP

SEMINAR TOPIC

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Web tools: introduction

Digital media - an introduction

2

Blogging

Web 2.0

3

Podcasts

The politics and culture of blogging

4

Online video

Digital audio

5

News and journalism

YouTube and online video

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Project planning

Citizen journalism

WEEKLY READINGS You are expected to read thoroughly and undertake independent research. The following reading lists for each seminar topic provide a guide to some of the most recent academic literature in the field. You will need to select ONE reading per topic on which to present your 500 word responses at the seminar and on your blog (see assessment details below). You may select alternative academic readings of your own choice to present to the class but, bear in mind, they must be relevant to the topic and roughly equivalent in length to a standard academic journal article. You should provide a full reference on your blog for other students to follow up. You will need to sign up for a reading (one per person) using the class wiki: http://digitalmedia712.pbworks.com/ . This does not apply to Week 1. All the readings shown here are available either via the electronic library journals database or open-source online. If you have difficulty accessing any of the articles, please contact Luke for assistance. Make sure you have read at least the abstract before signing up to present on a particular paper!

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WEEK 1: DIGITAL MEDIA - AN INTRODUCTION You are not required to do any preparatory reading for this seminar. However, some introductory sources you may find useful to read beforehand are: Martin Lister et al (2009). New Media: A Critical Introduction (second edition), London: Routledge. Luke Goode (2007). Digital. In Ritzer, G. (ed) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Oxford: Blackwell, pp1159-64 [available electronically via Voyager]. WEEK 2: WEB 2.0 Matthew Allen (2008). Web 2.0: An argument against convergence. First Monday. Vol. 13(3): http://firstmonday.org David Beer (2009). Power through the algorithm? Participatory web cultures and the technological unconscious. New Media & Society, Vol. 11(6), pp985-1002. Graham Cormode and Balachander Krishnamurthy (2008). Key differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. First Monday. Vol. 13(6): http://firstmonday.org Christian Fuchs (2009). Information and Communication Technologies and Society: A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy of the Internet. European Journal of Communication, Vol. 24(1), pp69-87. Luke Goode (2009). Social news, citizen journalism and democracy. New Media and Society. Vol. 11(8), pp1287-1305. Teresa Harrison and Brenda Barthel (2009). Wielding new media in Web 2.0: exploring the history of engagement with the collaborative construction of media products. New Media and Society. Vol. 11(1-2), pp155-78. Beth Simone Noveck (2008). Wiki-Government. Democracy. Issue 7 (Winter), pp31-44. [NB If you select this paper, please also read the following (short) response paper: Andrew Keen (2008). The foolishness of crowds. Democracy. Issue 8 (Spring), pp78-84.] Stefanie Panke and Birgit Gaiser (2009) ‘With My Head Up in the Clouds’: Using Social Tagging to Organize Knowledge. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Vol. 23(3), pp 318-49. Trebor Scholz (2008). Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0. First Monday. Vol. 13(3): http://firstmonday.org Sue Thomas (2006). The end of cyberspace and other surprises. Convergence. Vol. 12(4), pp383-91. José van Dijck (2009). Users like you? Theorizing agency in user-generated content. Media, Culture and Society. Vol. 31(1), pp41-58. José van Dijck and David Nieborg (2009). Wikinomics and its discontents: a critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos. New Media and Society. Vol. 11(5), pp855-74. Michael Zimmer (2009). Renvois of the past, present and future: hyperlinks and the structuring of knowledge from the Encyclopédie to Web 2.0. New Media & Society, Vol. 11(1-2), pp95-113.

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WEEK 3: THE POLITICS AND CULTURE OF BLOGGING Elizabeth M Bucar and Roja Fazaeli (2008). Free speech in Weblogistan? The Offline Consequences of Online Communication. International Journal of Middle East Studies. Vol. 40(3), pp403-20. Mark Cenite et al (2009). Doing the right thing online: a survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices. New Media and Society. Vol. 11(4), pp575-97. Larry Dailey et al (2008). Newspaper Political Blogs Generate Little Interaction. Newspaper Research Journal. Vol. 29(4), pp53-66. Ashley Esarey and Xiao Qiang (2008). Political Expression in the Chinese Blogosphere: Below the Radar. Asian Survey. Vol. 48(5), pp752-73. Henry Farrell and Daniel W. Drezner (2007). The Power and Politics of Blogs. Public Choice. Vol. 134(1-2), pp15-30. Lucas Graves (2007). The affordances of blogging: a case study in culture and technological effects. Journal of Communication Inquiry. Vol. 31(4), pp331-46. Melissa Gregg (2009). Banal Bohemia: blogging from the ivory tower hot-desk. Convergence. Vol. 15(4), pp470-83. Paul Hodkinson (2007). Interactive online journals and individualization. New Media and Society. Vol. 9(4), pp625-50. Svetlana V. Kulikova and David D. Perlmutter (2007). Blogging down the dictator: The Kyrgyz Revolution and Samizdat Websites. The International Communication Gazette. Vol. 69(1), pp29-50. Lori Kido Lopez (2009). The radical act of 'mommy blogging': redefining motherhood through the blogosphere. New Media and Society. Vol. 11(5), pp 729-47. Vincent Miller (2008). New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture. Convergence. Vol. 14(4), pp387-400. Michael C. Munger (2008). Blogging and political information: truth or truthiness? Public Choice. Vol. 134, pp125-38. Abigail Schoneboom (2007). Diary of a working boy: creative resistance among anonymous workbloggers. Ethnography. Vol. 8(4), pp403-23. Cass Sunstein (2007). Neither Hayek nor Habermas. Public Choice. Vol. 134, pp87-95. Leon Tan (2008). Psychotherapy 2.0: MySpace® Blogging as Self-therapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy. Vol. 62(2), pp143-64. Nikki Usher (2008). Reviewing Fauxtography: a blog-driven challenge to mass media power without the promises of networked publicity. First Monday. Vol. 13(12): http://firstmonday.org

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WEEK 4: DIGITAL AUDIO David Beer (2008). The Iconic Interface and the Veneer of Simplicity: MP3 players and the reconfiguration of music collecting and reproduction practices in the digital age. Information, Communication and Society. Vol. 11(1), pp71-88. Richard Berry (2006). Will the iPod Kill the Radio Star? Profiling Podcasting as Radio. Convergence. Vol. 12(2), pp143-62. Michael Bull (2005). No Dead Air! The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening. Leisure Studies. Vol. 24(4), pp343-55. Sheri Crofts et al (2005). Podcasting: A new technology in search of viable business models. First Monday. Vol. 10(9): http://firstmonday.org Troy Cooper (2009). Appropriating visual form: the iPod ‘Silhouette’ campaign as representative form. Visual Communication Quarterly. Vol. 16(2), pp90-107. John Farnsworth and Terry Austrin (2005). Assembling Portable Talk and Mobile Worlds: Sound Technologies and Mobile Social Networks. Convergence. Vol. 11(2), pp14-22. Simone Murray (2009). Servicing ‘self-scheduling consumers’: public broadcasters and audio podcasting. Global Media and Communication. Vol. 5(2), pp197-219. Ami Sengupta et al. (2007). The Sada Says `We Women Have Our Rights': A Gender Analysis of an ICT Initiative in Afghanistan. International Communication Gazette, Vol. 69(4),pp335-35. John Shiga (2007). Copy-and-Persist: The Logic of Mash-Up Culture. Critical Studies in Media Communication. Vol. 24(2), pp93-114. Miriam Simun (2009). My music, my world: using the MP3 player to shape experience in London. New Media & Society, Vol. 11(6), pp921-41. Jonathan Sterne (2006). The Mp3 as cultural artefact. New Media & Society, Vol. 8(5), pp825-42.

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WEEK 5: YOUTUBE AND ONLINE VIDEO Elisabetta Adami (2009). ‘We/YouTube’: exploring sign-making in video-interaction. Visual Communication, Vol. 8(4), pp379-99. Kari Andén-Papadopoulos (2009). US Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War on YouTube. Popular Communication. Vol. 7(1), pp17-27. Susan Antebi (2009). The talk show uploaded: YouTube and the technicity of the body. Social Identities. Vol. 15(3), pp297-311. Aymar Jean Christian (2009). Real vlogs: The rules and meanings of online personal videos. First Monday. Vol. 14(11): http://firstmonday.org Donna Chu (2009). Collective behavior in YouTube: a case study of 'Bus Uncle' online videos. Asian Journal of Communication. Vol. 19(3), pp337-53. Maggie Griffith and Zizi Papacharissi (2010). Looking for you: an analysis of video blogs. First Monday. Vol. 15(1): http://firstmonday.org Lucas Hilderbrand (2007). YouTube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film Quarterly. Vol. 61(1), pp48-57. Aaron Hess (2009). Resistance Up in Smoke: Analyzing the Limitations of Deliberation on YouTube. Critical Studies in Media Communication. Vol. 26(5), p411-34. Brian Jackson and Jon Wallin (2009). Rediscovering the "Back-and-Forthness" of Rhetoric in the Age of YouTube. College Composition and Communication. Vol. 61(2), pp374-96. Julia Kennedy (2009). Don’t you forget about me: an exploration of the ‘Maddie phenomenon’ on YouTube. Journalism Studies [forthcoming article available via Informaworld through University journals database] Patricia G. Lange ‘(Mis)conceptions about YouTube’ in Lovink, G. and Niederer, S. (eds) Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008. Download under Creative Commons License here: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/inc-readers/videovortex/ Mitchell S. McKinney and Leslie A. Rill (2009). Not Your Parents' Presidential Debates: Examining the Effects of the CNN/YouTube Debates on Young Citizens' Civic Engagement. Communication Studies. Vol. 60(4), pp392-406. Melissa Wall (2009). Africa on YouTube: Musicians, Tourists, Missionaries and Aid Workers. International Communication Gazette, Vol. 71(5), pp393-407.

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WEEK 6: CITIZEN JOURNALISM Stuart Allan et al (2007). Bearing witness: citizen journalism and human rights issues. Globalisation, Societies and Education. Vol. 5(3), pp373-89. Axel Bruns (2008). Life beyond the public sphere: Towards a networked model for political deliberation. Information Polity, Vol. 13(1-2), pp71-85. Serena Carpenter (2010). A Study of Content Diversity in Online Citizen Journalism and Online Newspaper Articles. New Media and Society. [forthcoming article available via University journals database] Mark Deuze (2006). Participation, Remediation, Bricolage: Considering Principal Components of a Digital Culture. The Information Society. Vol. 22(2), pp63-75. Joyce Y. M. Nip (2006). Exploring the second phase of public journalism. Journalism Studies. Vol. 7(2), pp212-36. Zvi Reich (2008). How citizens create news stories. The ‘news access’ problem reversed. Journalism Studies. Vol. 9(5), pp 739-58. Sue Robinson (2009). 'If you had been with us': mainstream press and citizen journalists jockey for authority over the collective memory of Hurricane Katrina. New Media & Society. Vol. 11(5), pp795-814. Ben Scott (2005). A contemporary history of digital journalism. Television and New Media. Vol. 6(1), pp89-126. Einar Thorsen (2008). Journalistic objectivity redefined? Wikinews and the neutral point of view. New Media & Society. Vol. 10(6), pp935-54. Neil Thurman (2008). Forums for citizen journalists? Adoption of user generated content initiatives by online news media. New Media & Society, Vol. 10(1), pp139-157. Apart from these topic-specific papers, you will find a more general list of recommended reading at the end of this course outline.

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ASSESSMENT

There are FOUR assessment components for this course:

• Online review (approx. 2000 words) 20% • Class presentation (4 x 5-minute reading responses) 10% • Research essay (approx. 4000 words) 40% • Digital project 30%

1. Online review Word length: approximately 2000 words Course weighting: 20% For this assignment, you will set up and maintain an online journal. A blog (using WordPress or Blogger) is recommended but if you have alternative ideas you can discuss this with Luke in the first week. This journal should constitute an ongoing self-reflective review of your engagement with both academic debates in digital media and the practical web tools you’ve been exploring during the first half of the course. Ideally, you should aim to reflect on the relationship (connections and tensions) between these academic and practical dimensions. The journal must be written episodically across the first six weeks of the course and should comprise a number of different ‘entries’ (at least one per week). When reviewing your engagement with academic debates, you should highlight your independent research and not merely your engagement with sources referenced in this document. You can write this journal in an informal style and in the first-person if you wish. You should treat this space as a forum for ‘thinking out loud’ about ideas you are developing (that may feed into your subsequent research essay or project) and responses to readings, web tools you’ve explored etc. You will be asked to provide a URL for your online review and this will be made available to other members of the class (who will also be encouraged to post comments). Submission deadline: this assignment needs to be completed by the end of week six (i.e. 23rd April). 2. Class presentation Word length: 4 x 5-minute reading responses to be given in separate weekly seminars. For this assignment, you need to select and sign up for a reading prior to the seminar and then come prepared with a 5-minute response. In that 5-minute period, you need to very briefly describe the topic, approach (including research methods, if appropriate) and thesis (or findings) of the reading and frame at least one question arising from the paper for the class to discuss. You may also highlight what you think are particular strengths or weaknesses of the reading, though this is not compulsory (it is more important to focus on providing questions for discussion). NB This assignment will be graded on a pass/fail basis only, with 2.5 points allocated for each 5-minute presentation that fulfils the above requirements. Course weighting: 10% Submission deadline: this exercise needs to be completed by week 6 (the last date to present is Tuesday 23rd April). There are five weeks in total that you can present in, so if you miss one week it is still possible to gain full marks if you present in the other four.

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3. Research essay Word length: 4000 words Course weighting: 40% Submission deadline (hardcopy and Turnitin): 4pm, Friday 21st May, 2010. Assignment instructions: Based on seminars, readings and independent research, you will devise your own topic for this research essay. You should start formulating your ideas for this essay early on in the course, using the online review assignment where appropriate and discussing your ideas as they progress with the convenor and in class. You need to have agreed on your topic and approach with the convenor at least a fortnight prior to submission. Your research essay may dovetail with your online project or you may prefer to pursue a separate topic. Notes on submission of coursework: Written coursework MUST be submitted BOTH electronically to turnitin.com and in hard copy to the Department by the deadlines specified below. Essays not submitted to turnitin.com by the deadline will not be given a mark and will not count towards your final grade. The FTVMS 712 coversheet MUST be completed and the declaration signed by the student. Cover sheets will be available at the submission box. Please submit all assignments in appropriate box in the FTVMS reception area. Do not hand assignments in to a lecturer or tutor. The Department accepts no responsibility with regard to loss or lateness for assignments handed in this way. Receipt of the assignment via the assignment box and by turnitin.com is the only way student work can be officially received, dated and recorded within the Department. Keep a copy of your essay, preferably in both electronic and hard copy. All work must be typed in a plain 12pt or larger font. Please double space your work and allow sufficient margin for marker's comments. Please use either the Chicago or MLA citation system for all coursework on this course (both require in-text citations AND bibliography or ‘works cited’ list. If in doubt, follow the instructions given at: http://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz Turnitin.com details for this class:

• class ID: 3154372 • password: maclab

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4. Digital project Word length: there is no set word length but this project will be assessed as equivalent to a 3000 word research essay in terms of workload expectations. Course weighting: 30% Your online project may take the form of a web site, hypertext document, blog or other Web 2.0 project. The project must be related to one or more of the issues we have explored in seminars and readings during the first half of the course. You will not be assessed on the technical sophistication of the project but, rather, on the ideas driving the project and how successfully they are reflected in the end project. Where your project includes original content (not previously used for assessment in other assignments or courses), this can also be assessed. But the project must in some way explore the medium of the web. This may be a project that explores a particular facet of web culture, for example, or it may explore more formal aspects such as navigation, interface or information architecture. We will be discussing and developing project proposals throughout the course. You may submit a one-page (maximum) description of your project (aims, scope, reflections on strengths and limitations) to accompany your project, but this is optional. NB Any content included in your project needs to be copyright-compliant. Submission deadline: 4pm, Tuesday 10th June, 2010 The mode of submission (e.g. URL, standalone file etc.) should be agreed with the convenor prior to the deadline. DEADLINES AND EXTENSIONS Deadlines for coursework are non-negotiable. In extenuating circumstances such as illness (we may require a doctor’s certificate) you may seek an extension. All late assignments will be penalised ONE MARK PER DAY. This includes each day of the weekend. The FTVMS office is not open Saturday or Sunday and therefore all assignments handed in over the weekend are not processed until Monday morning. Very Late Assignments: Coursework that is handed in after that coursework is handed back to the rest of the class and before the end of lectures will not be marked but will be placed in the exam folder and may be used for consideration regarding final marks. PLAGIARISM All cases of plagiarism will be brought before the Department’s Disciplinary Committee. Please visit the following web page to learn about the University's approach to plagiarism: http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/honesty/ A useful interactive guide to academic honesty and referencing can be accessed here: http://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz/ University statement on plagiarism: The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting his or her learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the world-wide web. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

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Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review. STUDENT EVALUATIONS AND FEEDBACK Your feedback (whether positive, negative or neutral) during and after the course is most appreciated. A student class representative will be elected by the class in the first two weeks. Please let the convenor know as soon as possible if you wish to be nominated for this role. As part of a rolling programme of student evaluations within FTVMS, the lecturer evaluation survey will be undertaken at the end of the course. Your participation will be greatly appreciated. Please do not wait until the final summative evaluations to provide your feedback, however. You can contact the lecturer, tutor or class representative to comment on or raise any concerns about the course at any time during the semester. MAC LAB ACCESS Please note that the Mac lab (HSB 160) is open to all students between 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday. Outside of these times, students with swipe card access to the Faculty of Arts Graduate Centre will be able to access the Mac lab during the Graduate Centre opening hours. FURTHER RECOMMENDED READING Chris Anderson The long tail: why the future of business is selling less of more [revised edition], New York: Hyperion, 2008. Yochai Benkler The wealth of networks: how social production transforms markets and freedom, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. Mark Bauerlein The dumbest generation: how the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future (or, don’t trust anyone under 30), New York: Penguin, 2008. Manuel Castells Communication power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Dan Gillmor We the media: grassroots journalism by the people, for the people, Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2004. Henry Jenkins Convergence culture: where old and new media collide, New York: New York University Press, 2006. Andrew Keen The cult of the amateur: how today’s internet is killing our culture, New York: Doubleday, 2007. Laurence Lessig – Remix: making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy, London: Bloomsbury, 2008. Vincent Mosco The digital sublime: myth, power, and cyberspace, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. John Palfrey & Urs Gasser Born digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives, New York: Perseus Books, 2008. Howard Rheingold Smart mobs: the next social revolution, Cambridge, CA: Perseus Books, 2003.

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Clay Shirky Here comes everybody: the power of organizing without organizations, New York: Penguin, 2008. Lee Siegel Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob, New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2009. Cass Sunstein Republic.com 2.0, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Don Tapscott Grown up digital: how the net generation is changing your world, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Jonathan Zittrain The future of the internet – and how to stop it, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.