MIT OpenCourseWare
  • OCW home
  • Course List
  • about OCW
  • Help
  • Feedback
  • Support MIT OCW

Readings

Readings are also listed by session.

Required Texts

Mitchell, William. The Reconfigured Eye. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. ISBN: 0262631601.

Manovich, Lev. The Paradoxes of Digital Photography. Edited by Hulbertus v. Amelunxen, Stefan Iglhaut, Florian Rotzer, Alexis Cassel, and Nikolaus G. Schneider. Basel, Germany: G&B Arts International, 1996. ISBN: 9057011018.

Spinello, Richard. "Code and Moral Values in Cyberspace." Ethics and Information Technology 3 (2001): 137-150.

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1994. ISBN: 0472095218. (Excerpt)

Hansen, Mark. New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. ISBN: 0262083213. (Excerpt)

Kittler, Friedrich. "There Is No Software." Ctheory.net (October 18, 1995).

Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1997. ISBN: 0684833484. (Excerpt)

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." In Illuminations. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1969, pp. 217-252. ISBN: 0805202412.

Cascone, Kim. "The Aesthetics of Failure: 'Post-Digital' Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music." Computer Music Journal 24, no. 4 (Winter 2000): 12-18.

Balsamo, Anne. Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0822316986.

Douglas, Christopher. "You Have Unleashed A Horde of Barbarians." Postmodern Culture 13, no. 1 (September 2002).

Friedman, Ted. "Civilization and Its Discontents: Simulation, Subjectivity, and Space." In On a Silver Platter: CD-ROMs and the Promises of a New Technology. Edited by Greg Smith. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1999, pp. 132-150. ISBN: 0814780814.

Dick, Philip K. Minority Report. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2002. ISBN: 0375421874.

Spielberg, Steven. Minority Report. 2002. (Film showing)

Readings by Session


WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
Unit One: Comparing Two Images
1 How to Read an Image
2 Discussion of Essay One Assignment

In-class: Critique of 5-para Essay (PDF)

Workshop P1.1
Mitchell, William. The Reconfigured Eye. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 0262631601.
3 Group Debate About M vs. M

Conference One Signup
Manovich, Lev. The Paradoxes of Digital Photography. Edited by Hulbertus V. Amelunxen, Stefan Iglhaut, Florian Rotzer, Alexis Cassel, and Nikolaus G. Schneider. Basel, Germany: G&B Arts International, 1996. ISBN: 9057011018.
4 Conferences
5 Workshop Full Draft of D.E1

Conferences
Unit Two: The Ethics of New Media
6 Internet Ethics Selected Essay on Internet Ethics.
7 Group Speed Essay Writing Newspaper Articles on Ethics.
8 Exercise Spot the Plagiarism
9 Workshop P2.2
10 Peer Editing of D.E2
Unit Three: The Culture of the Computer
11 Workshop D.E2

Workshop Paragraphs of D.E2
Exposé Article (Lévinas).
12 Present S1

Speech on E2
13 Present S1

Speech on E2 (cont.)
14 Kim Cascone Cascone, Kim. "The Aesthetics of Failure: 'Post-Digital' Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music." Computer Music Journal 24, no. 4 (Winter 2000): 12-18.
15 In-Class: Read Asimov

Read Benjamin
Asimov.

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." In Illuminations. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1969, pp. 217-252. ISBN: 0805202412.
16 Workshop P3.2
Unit Four: Films and Games
17 Read Hansen

Workshop P3.3
Hansen, Mark. New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. ISBN: 0262083213. (Excerpt)
18 Conferences

Exercise Peer Critique of Drafts

Workshop D.E3
19 Conferences
20 Read Computer Game Articles

Film Minority Report will be shown one day after this session
Computer Game Articles.
21 Discuss How to Read a Film

22 Workshop P4.1
23 Course Evaluations
24 Concluding Activities