COMM 101
WINTER QUARTER 2007
INSTRUCTOR:
Michael Korolenko
OFFICE
HOURS: by appointment
TEXTBOOKS:
Telecommunications
by Lynne Schafer Gross
In The
Absence Of The Sacred by Jerry Mander
(For
Special Credit)
High-Tech
Heretic by Clifford Stoll
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
This course
will provide an overview and study of the current and emerging media
technologies and what impact these technologies will have on the students and
their future. This will be accomplished through a series of lectures,
discussions, and a variety of film and video clips and demonstrations. 20% of
the course will be devoted to both a historical and technological background of
telecommunications, 30% will focus on its current standing and uses, and 50%
will focus on the Future - both in terms of new applications and what this
means for various job markets.
COURSE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To teach students an understanding of
just what is meant by the term digital technology.
2. To enable students to identify a variety
of new terms including the following: fiber optics, enabling technology, world wide web, and virtual reality, and head mounted
display.
3. To give students a working knowledge of
the various applications of digital technology, including an understanding of
how to write and produce for the new technologies.
4. To show students where digital technology
stands today, and to enable students to discuss new technologies social and
economic implications.
5. To teach students an understanding of
where the field of digital media may be headed.
6. To give students a clear understanding of
the ethical and moral concerns inherent in the new technologies and to enable
the students to express those concerns in a concise and intelligent manner
during in-class discussions.
7. To have students develop and write a
written critique on how one or more of the new technologies might impact them
personally either at home or on-the-job.
8. To have students, in teams, develop
chosen critiques into case studies to be presented orally to the rest of the
class.
THE COURSE
ONLINE
Online, the
class will be structured like a museum or World's Fair exhibit called The
Cybernetic Futurama. Different "corridors" will take students into
different areas such as Chat Rooms, A History of the Future, The Lecture Hall,
Technology Experts and Futurists, etc. Students will be required to create
three brief reports/presentations discussing and detailing the areas covered
during the quarter. Students will, for their final, be put into groups and give
an Online presentation on one of the following
technologies: Multimedia Entertainment, Multimedia Education, Virtual Reality
Entertainment, Virtual Reality Education, Interactive Television, and
Nanotechnology.
WEEKLY
TOPICS AND DISCUSSIONS
Week 1 -
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
ASSIGNMENT
First day of class - Read Chapter 1, Growing Up with Technology (pages 11 - 24)
in In The Absence of The Sacred and the Prologue and Chapter 1 in
Telecommunications
1. What we mean by the "Digital"
Future.
2. 1890s - 1990s - H.G. Wells' and Robert
Paul's first patented interactive multi-media time machine; Hugo Gernsback and
early radio pioneers.
3. Radio enters its Golden Age ("War of
The Worlds" broadcast); Television technology, from Felix the Cat in 1928
to the
4. German radio and television during the
30s and 40s - what their uses might have been, what they still may be;
"The Making of Television."
5. The 50s - Technology and the creation of
the first true youth culture - "technology favors the young"
6. The 60s: the Space Race pushes us forward
7. The 70s and "Future Shock"
8. The 80s and a restructuring
9. The 90s and the Future begins
ASSIGNMENT
FOR WEEK TWO - read Chapters 2, 3, 5 & 6 in In The
Absence of The Sacred and Chapter 2 and Chapter 11 in Telecommuniciations
Week 2 -
MODERN MEDIA'S ROLE IN AMERICAN CULTURE
How Does
Modern Media Keep Us Informed (or does it?)
1. Nixon and television
2. TV/LA and new myths
3. The content of our culture
4. The experiences of Radio, Film, and
Television (as covered in Jerry Mander book reading assignments)
5. The Medium is The Metaphor - 1984 or
Brave New World
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK THREE - Chapter 4 in In The Absence of The Sacred and the first part
of Chapter 6 in Telecommunications
Week 3 -
PERSONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS
1. Brief history - the real revolution of
the 1960's video and computers (both leaping out of the space program).
2. From behemoths
to desktops to laptops to palmtops
3. Chip technology d. Mr. Bell's grand
machine - from dialing to touch tone, from faxing to cellular phones to
videophones.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK FOUR - Chapters 5 and 6 in In the Absence of the Sacred and the first
part of Chapter 5(pages 139-152) and the first part of Chapter 14
(pages394-407) in Telecommunications
Week 4 -
WORKING IN TODAY'S DIGITAL WORLD
PRESENTATION
1 DUE THIS WEEK
1. Consuming Images and The
Digital Revolution
2. Electronic Media Forms
3. Today's Production Equipment and Personal
video - from VCRs to disc players to video games (to the beginnings of Virtual
Reality and what this may bode)
4. Specialized Communications - for
minorities and the disabled
5. New Production Equipment or - everyone
going into film or video now has to be computer literate. Film
vs. Video - the differences; the merging of film and video through new
technology.
6. Digital video and a new era
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK FIVE - Study On Site Glossary for Multimedia terms
Week 5 -
MULTIMEDIA
1. What it used to mean, what it means
today, what it may mean for the future.
2. Multimedia today - and the future
promise.
3. Interactive Networks and New Revenues -
PC's from Print To MTV?
4. Today's Products and Specifications.
5. Writing and Creating for Multimedia - or
non-linear (digital) thinking.
ASSIGNMENT
FOR WEEK 6 - STUDY INTERNET TERMS (see Glossary) and read second part of
Chapter 5 (pages 152-163) in Telecommunications
Week 6 -
COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTERS, AND NETWORKS
or - The
Transformation of Our Civilization Through The Fusion of Computing and
Communications Technologies.
1. Computers, Networks, and Education.
2. The Technologically Advanced Family
3. Building
4. Data Banks.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK SEVEN - Chapters 7 & 8 in In The Absence of The Sacred and second
part of Chapter 14 (pages 407-416) in Telecommunications
Week 7 -
HDTV and THE "TELECOMPUTER"
PRESENTATION
2 DUE THIS WEEK
1. High Stakes in HDTV
2. HDTV in
3. Life After
Television?
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK 8 Second part of Chapter 6 (pages 189-195) in
Telecommunications
Week 8 -
NEW DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
1. If you thought video games were something . . .
2. Computer Animation - 3D and otherwise.
3. Morphing, surfing, and other digital
trends.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK 9 - Chapters 9 & 10 in In the Absence of the Sacred
Week 9 -
LOOKING GLASS WORLDS AND THE USES OF VIRTUAL REALITY
1. From medicine to
"travel" to "lighting" a set to . . .
2. . . . shopping
malls?
3. Human/Computer Interface.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR WEEK 10 - Epilogue (pages 377-395) in In The
Absence of The Sacred
and
Epilogue in Telecommunications
Week 10 -
THE FUTURE ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE
FINAL
INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION GIVEN
1. Will the written word become superfluous?
(some like Professor Donald A. Norman think so).
2. Brave New Worlds of entertainment or -
are you ready for "Feelie" Movies?
3. The coming era of the nanocomputer and
nanotechnology. Is this the beginning of a "Postindustrial" society?
Week 11 -
FINAL EXAM AND PRESENT FINAL GROUP PRESENTATIONS
Extra
Credit piece due this week
MAJOR
ASSIGNMENTS
There will
be three individual presentations. All three are to be typed, double spaced,
and submitted as Word documents, except for the second one which may also be
submitted as an html file.
1. An essay no more than three pages long on
what would have happened if the computer revolution took place at the same time
as the industrial revolution.
2. A presentation no more than three pages
long, using both text and visuals, on how a technology related to what we are
studying in class this quarter will impact on you personally and professionally.
3. A one page essay describing how one of
the following subjects we have studied in class will affect you twenty-five
years from now--Artifical Intelligence, Computer Networking, Nanotechnology,
Virtual Reality.
Students
will also be required to work in teams towards presenting group projects
online. Students must also be prepared to discuss all reading assignments in
assigned texts, reserved articles, and hand-outs.
There will
be a final online test consisting of multiple choice questions.
EXTRA
CREDIT
For special
credit and by permission of the instructor, students can read High Tech-Heretic
and give a presentation on the book, critiquing what the author has to say, and
stating whether you agree or disagree with the authors' views and why or why
not.
ONLINE
ETIQUETTE
Just as in a classroom, disruptions and
impoliteness are not tolerated, neither will they be
tolerated within the confines of our online "classroom." Students are
to show respect towards each other and their instructor, which includes respect
and tolerance for each others ideas. Any sort of disrespect will, at the very
least, impact negatively on your class participation grade.