Digital Literatures: Computing, Culture, & Creativity

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course offers an entwined introduction to digital literatures and the history of computing. Our approach to both subjects is animated by one common question: how might we imagine the world otherwise? As we explore a range of digital literary works, including hypertext narratives, interactive fictions, poetry robots, video games, and net art, we’ll also examine what these artifacts reveal about the social life of computing technologies. By studying how computing and network technologies have developed over time, as well as how they work, we’ll consider what kind of technological future we want, and how to build it. Indeed at the heart of this course is an exercise in creative world-building that will require us to move beyond bright-eyed optimism and paralyzing pessimism both toward an up-close, critical examination of the technologies and platforms that shape our lives together.