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, an endeavor 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. Class meetings will include discussions of theoretical readings, examinations of creative work, and explorations of computing tools and methods (including hypertext, digital media, and programming fundamentals). Over the course of the semester, students will develop a host of original projects: critical essays, new media stories, and new worlds. To be successful in this course you must: tinker, play, build, make, tweak, experiment, hack, and break things. You will push your boundaries and the boundaries of your tools, ask many questions of yourself and your peers, be confused and/or frustrated and/or lost, dig yourself out of those traps and think deeply about computation and its infrastructures. This course is not about gaining mastery of particular tools, but rather building the skills and experience that will allow you to be comfortable and confident engaging with and evaluating new and familiar technologies. Familiarity with specific technologies or programming languages is NOT a prerequisite for this course.