Courses

Current Courses

School of Media Studies, The New School:

SPRING 2012

ROBOTS AS MEDIA
As robots begin to move outside of factories and into a variety of new roles—from vacuuming floors to performing surgeries, disarming bombs, and driving cars—it is clear that they represent a radical new form of mediated information and agency. predator drone robots have become the primary tool of the U.S. government in its war on terror, and, at the same time, journalists continue to refer to military robots as “Terminators.” These observations raise the question of how our ongoing development and use of robotic media is being shaped by media representations of robotics. This course examines the complex relationship between robots and the media, from both the perspective of representations of robots in the media—including film, television, and news media—and the development of robots as a new form of media. In the first part of the course we consider the types of narrative roles that robots have occupied, as well as how the concepts of robotics and automation are reflected in the social and cultural contexts in which those media are produced. The second part of the course explores recent developments in robotics as forms of digital media, both continuous with and distinct from other types of digital media. We assess how contemporary debates about the potential uses and social impacts of robotic media intersect with popular narratives about robotics, both pessimistic and optimistic. The class also considers what makes contemporary discourses on robotic unique, and what that might tell us about contemporary society and culture. Course materials include readings from a variety of popular, academic, and literary sources—among them texts by Katherine Hayles, Ken Goldberg, Rodney Brooks and Philip K. Dick—and video clips from TV and films including Blade Runner, Robo-Cop, Battlestar Galactica, Surrogates, and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Students are expected to produce a short mid-term, and longer final assignment—either a research paper, film or digital media project.

DESIGNING METHODOLOGIES FOR STUDYING MEDIA
This course explores the design of research methodologies for the systematic study of media—how and why media are made, distributed, used, and understood. Because media systems can be very complex, and studied from various perspectives, it is important for media researchers to be able to deploy a range of techniques, and especially to combine techniques, in ways that allow for meaningful, clear, and critical research. The course emphasizes the framing of questions, as well as the choice of best methods for research, and how the choice of methods influences the significance, meaning, and impact of the results. This includes ethical considerations of research, such as protecting subjects' privacy and anonymity. The class will give a survey of various types of empirical methods, including qualitative ones, such as ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, interviews, auto-ethnography, and rhetorical analysis; and quantitative ones, such as sampling, surveys, content analysis, audience analysis, "follow the money" techniques. We look at different examples of how these methods can be effectively combined, and at various resources or studying media, especially on-line information and data. Assignments will consist of several small research projects involving different methods, and a larger research project employing an original methodology.

Past Courses

School of Media Studies, The New School:

FALL 2011

DIGITAL WAR: RHETORIC, RISKS & REALITIES
In the late 1990s the US military committed itself to pursuing Network-Centric Warfare and Full-Spectrum Dominance, which eventually led to the largest military R&D contract in history--the Future Combat Systems program. Several years, two wars, and many billions of dollars later, those digital technologies are finding their way onto the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror. This course focuses on exploring the technologies and media that are having the greatest impact on the way war will be fought in the near future, as well as the cultural meanings of warfare, and the propensity to war itself. We explore how these technologies are changing the nature of warfare, and the rhetoric that is used to justify the development and use of these technologies. The course critically examines the claims that technologies can produce increasingly risk-free, or even bloodless, wars, and considers how the risks of engaging in armed conflict are being redistributed. Topics discussed include the military's use of video games for recruitment and training, the use of video game interfaces for real-world technologies, the use of database systems to manage vast quantities of information in warfare, and the increasing use of military robotics including armed Predator and Reaper drones. Readings will include Peter Singer's Wired for War, Paul Edwards' The Closed World, James Der Derian's Virtuous War, and texts by Tim Lenoir, Paul Virilio, and Slavoj Zizek, as well as various public military documents.

MEDIA STUDIES: IDEAS
This course is required of all first-year Media Studies students; students may be advised to take the course either concurrently with or in the semester after Understanding Media Studies. Media Studies: Ideas overviews the major schools of academic thought that have had an influence on the field of Media Studies, as they pertain to three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments. This course replaces Foundations of Media Theory.

DESIGNING METHODOLOGIES FOR STUDYING MEDIA
This course explores the design of research methodologies for the systematic study of media—how and why media are made, distributed, used, and understood. Because media systems can be very complex, and studied from various perspectives, it is important for media researchers to be able to deploy a range of techniques, and especially to combine techniques, in ways that allow for meaningful, clear, and critical research. The course emphasizes the framing of questions, as well as the choice of best methods for research, and how the choice of methods influences the significance, meaning, and impact of the results. This includes ethical considerations of research, such as protecting subjects' privacy and anonymity. The class will give a survey of various types of empirical methods, including qualitative ones, such as ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, interviews, auto-ethnography, and rhetorical analysis; and quantitative ones, such as sampling, surveys, content analysis, audience analysis, "follow the money" techniques. We look at different examples of how these methods can be effectively combined, and at various resources or studying media, especially on-line information and data. Assignments will consist of several small research projects involving different methods, and a larger research project employing an original methodology.

SPRING 2011

ROBOTS AS MEDIA
As robots begin to move outside of factories and into a variety of new roles—from vacuuming floors to performing surgeries, disarming bombs, and driving cars—it is clear that they represent a radical new form of mediated information and agency. predator drone robots have become the primary tool of the U.S. government in its war on terror, and, at the same time, journalists continue to refer to military robots as “Terminators.” These observations raise the question of how our ongoing development and use of robotic media is being shaped by media representations of robotics. This course examines the complex relationship between robots and the media, from both the perspective of representations of robots in the media—including film, television, and news media—and the development of robots as a new form of media. In the first part of the course we consider the types of narrative roles that robots have occupied, as well as how the concepts of robotics and automation are reflected in the social and cultural contexts in which those media are produced. The second part of the course explores recent developments in robotics as forms of digital media, both continuous with and distinct from other types of digital media. We assess how contemporary debates about the potential uses and social impacts of robotic media intersect with popular narratives about robotics, both pessimistic and optimistic. The class also considers what makes contemporary discourses on robotic unique, and what that might tell us about contemporary society and culture. Course materials include readings from a variety of popular, academic, and literary sources—among them texts by Katherine Hayles, Ken Goldberg, Rodney Brooks and Philip K. Dick—and video clips from TV and films including Blade Runner, Robo-Cop, Battlestar Galactica, Surrogates, and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Students are expected to produce a short mid-term, and longer final assignment—either a research paper, film or digital media project.

DESIGNING METHODOLOGIES FOR STUDYING MEDIA
This course explores the design of research methodologies for the systematic study of media—how and why media are made, distributed, used, and understood. Because media systems can be very complex, and studied from various perspectives, it is important for media researchers to be able to deploy a range of techniques, and especially to combine techniques, in ways that allow for meaningful, clear, and critical research. The course emphasizes the framing of questions, as well as the choice of best methods for research, and how the choice of methods influences the significance, meaning, and impact of the results. This includes ethical considerations of research, such as protecting subjects' privacy and anonymity. The class will give a survey of various types of empirical methods, including qualitative ones, such as ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, interviews, auto-ethnography, and rhetorical analysis; and quantitative ones, such as sampling, surveys, content analysis, audience analysis, "follow the money" techniques. We look at different examples of how these methods can be effectively combined, and at various resources or studying media, especially on-line information and data. Assignments will consist of several small research projects involving different methods, and a larger research project employing an original methodology.

FALL 2010

MEDIA STUDIES: IDEAS (Monday 4:00-5:50pm)
MEDIA STUDIES: IDEAS (Wednesday 8:00-9:50pm)
This course is required of all first-year Media Studies students; students may be advised to take the course either concurrently with or in the semester after Understanding Media Studies. Media Studies: Ideas overviews the major schools of academic thought that have had an influence on the field of Media Studies, as they pertain to three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments. This course replaces Foundations of Media Theory.

FALL 2008

MEDIA STUDIES: IDEAS
This course is required of all first-year Media Studies students; students may be advised to take the course either concurrently with or in the semester after Understanding Media Studies. Media Studies: Ideas overviews the major schools of academic thought that have had an influence on the field of Media Studies, as they pertain to three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments. This course replaces Foundations of Media Theory.

Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University:

SPRING 2008

01:730:329. MINDS, MACHINES, AND PERSONS(3)
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
Comparison of the nature of the human mind and that of complex machines. Consequences for questions about the personhood of robots.

Department of Philosophy, University of Illinois:

Film Series: