POPULAR ARTS / INTERNET CULTURE

DIGITAL HERITAGE

SCALE AND NEW MEDIA

SELECTED COURSES


SOCIAL COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA ISC 4302

Fourth-Year Undergraduate

Saint Paul University/University of Ottawa/Winter 2015

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines the multiple dynamics of social media. Social media are criticized for the ways that these platforms track user communication, target users through personalized ads as well as violate privacy and copyright. Despite these critiques, user communication and production on platforms have been viewed as leading to progressive change. This change is understood in myriad ways that range from forming identity and community to furthering social movements. At the same time, the ultimate goal of the owners of social media is to monetize the communication and activities of its users. This monetizing is facilitated via technologies like algorithms and platform architecture that are designed to reap corporate profits.


This course addresses the discourses, practices and technologies of social media that shape human interaction within the wider perspective of the business model in which platforms operate. The business model that is at the core of social media platforms is addressed in terms of historical, cultural and economic dynamics. From within this broad approach to social media, numerous specific “social” aspects of social media are analyzed, including the development of identity, community, social change and social movements. Major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are examined while considering other forms of social media like Instagram and Tumblr. The specificity of each platform is taken into consideration while addressing the connections that exist between them. The complexity of social media is addressed through various theoretical approaches, including political economy, actor-network theory and communication/cultural studies. The strengths and weaknesses of particular theories or combinations of theories as they relate to social media are explored. The methodology of the course combines lecture, class discussion, presentations and blog posts. Blogs and social media are integrated into the course to enhance in-class debates and to foster class community. Social media are explored not only through well-researched papers and in-class presentations but also by using and producing the media themselves. By incorporating communication on social media platforms in conjunction with the traditional seminar approach, this course directly engages with the phenomena of social media.


THÉORIES DE LA COMMUNICATION MÉDIATISÉE [THEORIES OF MEDIATED COMMUNICATION]ISC 3700:

Third-Year Undergraduate

Saint Paul University/University of Ottawa/ Fall 2014

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Du point de vue des préoccupations thématiques, ce cours aborde spécifiquement le rôle que jouent les médias dans les processus de communication. Les théories de la communication médiatisée concernent des technologies actuelles, l’analyse spécifique de la matérialité des médias et la logique technologique des médias. Cette perspective, qui est basée sur la matérialité des médias, se situe dans un contexte plus large pour aborder le rôle des médias dans les questions relatives aux transformations sociales et aux changements culturels. Deux questions principales sont soulevées: comment le développement des médias exerce-t-il une influence sur la société et comment les changements dans la société exercent-ils une influence sur la communication médiatisée? L’approche théorique de ce cours résiste à une perspective qui incorpore le déterminisme technologique dans son analyse de la communication médiatisée. Le déterminisme technologique est une théorie réductionniste qui suppose que la technologie d’une société entraine le développement de sa structure sociale et de ses valeurs culturelles. On considèrera plutôt les technologies à la fois comme des causes et comme des effets de l’ordre social dans lequel leur développement se produit selon des facteurs sociaux, des rapports de pouvoir et les besoins de la société.


Par conséquent, ce cours explore les théories de la communication médiatisée tout en prenant compte de la façon dont ces théories sont reliées aux processus historiques, culturels et sociaux ainsi qu’aux technologies actuelles. Les théories de la communication médiatisée sont abordées par le biais d’une gamme de formes de médias : la presse écrite, la photographie, la radio, la télévision, le cinéma et les médias numériques. Cette exploration théorique englobe un large éventail de points de vue du domaine de la communication médiatisée : la théorie littéraire, l’histoire culturelle, la sémiologie, le marxisme, le post-modernisme, les approches basées sur la matérialité des médias (« medium-specific analysis »), les études culturelles (« cultural studies »), la théorie de la refonte des nouveaux médias sur les anciens médias ( « remediation ») et des théories liées aux études du cyberespace, des médias numériques, des nouveaux médias et des études de logiciels (« software studies »).


THÉORIES DES COMMUNICATIONS SOCIALES[THEORIES OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION] ISC3727 :

Third-Year Undergraduate

Saint Paul University/University of Ottawa/Fall 2014

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Du point de vue des préoccupations thématiques, ce cours explore les théories de la communication sociale afin d’offrir aux étudiants un examen approfondi de diverses perspectives théoriques contemporaines. Ces perspectives sont abordées à travers une série de concepts clés qui régiront nos explorations théoriques et qui serviront de structure pour les cours magistraux et les discussions en classe. Le cours est axé dans une large mesure sur des textes théoriques à partir de sources d’origine, même si les sources secondaires sont également fournies. L’objectif principal de ce cours est de fournir aux étudiants les connaissances de base des concepts théoriques de la communication sociale ainsi que la manière dont la théorie est incorporée dans l’analyse critique. Un objectif connexe du cours est d’examiner comment la théorie prévoit la possibilité d’éclairer les enjeux sociaux et culturels dans le cas de la médiation. C’est la raison pour laquelle le matériel du cours comprend des ouvrages théoriques ainsi que des textes critiques qui intègrent la théorie afin d’explorer les préoccupations sociales et culturelles à travers le prisme des médias et de la technologie. L’accent sera mis sur les phénomènes sociaux et culturels au sein de conditions de médiation contemporaines, notamment les médias numériques. En un mot, nous examinerons comment la théorie offre un moyen de percevoir et de contempler le monde qui nous entoure.


Dans les paramètres de ce cours, nous allons plonger dans les diverses façons par lesquelles les théoriciens ont approché les facettes de la communication et leur relation aux questions sociales et culturelles. Nous allons puiser à diverses théories, y compris le post-structuralisme et l’analyse du discours, la sphère publique, la théorie de la vie quotidienne, les théories féministes, les études critiques de race et racialisation, le discours colonial, les théories post-coloniales, les théories de la mondialisation et de la société en réseau. Les concepts qui sous-tendent ces théories comprennent le rapport des « cultural studies » au sein de la théorie de la communication sociale; le pouvoir et le discours; le lien entre la sphère publique, la démocratie et les médias; la transgression et les pratiques quotidiennes; la racialisation ou le rapport entre le pouvoir et la construction du concept de « race »; la construction de l’identité des sexes et le pouvoir; l’approche intersectionnelle féministe qui intègre plusieurs identités y compris le genre, la race, la classe sociale, etc.; le pouvoir et le discours du colonialisme; l’identité, la culture et le pouvoir à l’époque post-coloniale; le concept de l’orientalisme et la construction des imaginaires géographiques à travers le discours; la mondialisation et la culture; des concepts théoriques de la mondialisation, y compris la diaspora et l’hybridation ; et les théories de la société en réseau dans le cadre de la mondialisation et le post-structuralisme. Tout au long du cours, nous intègrerons ces concepts pour analyser les phénomènes sociaux et culturels à travers le prisme de la médiation tout en questionnant et en évaluant le potentiel théorique de ces concepts.


WOMEN, HERITAGE AND DIGITAL MEDIA: POLICIES AND PRACTICES: Third-Year Undergraduate

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Since UNESCO put forward the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH Convention) in 2003, the definition of “heritage” in the international heritage community has expanded to include the living cultures of people. Living heritage refers to a range of practices such as dance, music, rituals, artisanship and social events. Women have traditionally been and continue to be key creators and transmitters of intangible heritage in local everyday contexts. However, the ICH Convention impacts women’s rights within the arena of heritage on the global stage. The intangible heritage of nation-states officially protected under the international ICH Convention often privileges practices that promote the exclusion of women. This exclusion is reinforced through digital representations put forward by UNESCO of the official intangible heritage of nation-states protected under the ICH Convention. In this course we will explore three main issues related to women and intangible heritage in our contemporary digital and global era: (1) the central role that women play in the creation and promotion of intangible heritage in local, national and global contexts; (2) the impact of global intangible heritage policy on women within national intangible heritage; (3) the dual role that digital media can play in both sidelining and promoting women as creators and transmitters of intangible cultural heritage throughout the world.


The three main topics covered in this course are embedded within broader concerns related to (1) heritage definitions and discourses, (2) UNESCO heritage conventions and (3) the field of digital heritage. First, intangible heritage is approached within a wider context that positions it alongside tangible heritage, including sites, buildings, artifacts and natural heritage. Furthermore, the interconnection between tangible and intangible forms of heritage and their relation to women are considered while addressing the specificity of each form. In addition, the issue of intangible heritage and gender is approached in light of conventional heritage discourse that generally positions cultural heritage as part of a “man-made world” where women’s involvement is often rendered invisible. Second, the policies and implementations of the ICH Convention are examined while taking into consideration a prior UNESCO convention that marked the development of the ICH Convention, namely the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). UNESCO’s Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage (2003) is also addressed. Third, the safeguarding of intangible heritage through digital media is approached in this course through the field of digital heritage and its relation to the issue of women and gender. The study of digital heritage addresses the myriad technologies involved in the digital dissemination and transmission of heritage and how each digital medium impacts the dissemination of heritage in accordance with its specific technologies.


SOCIAL MEDIA, GENDER AND WOMEN: Second-Year Undergraduate

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Through a focus on women and gender, this course explores the multiple dynamics of social media. Despite the critiques waged against social media, including the surveillance of users and the potential erosion of privacy, user communication and production on social media platforms are viewed as producing progressive change. This change ranges from identity/community formation to furthering global and local social movements. In this course, we will specifically address social media and its impact on social change in both discourse and practice through the prism of gender and women. At the same time, we will consider how the specific “social” aspects of social media pertaining to women and gender are embedded within business models that structure social media. The ultimate goal of the corporate owners of social media is to monetize the communication and activities of its users rather than promoting social justice and progressive change. This monetizing is facilitated by technologies such as algorithms and platform architecture as well as by corporate policies designed to financially reward the owners of social media. It is from this comprehensive vantage point of the diverse aspects of social media that we will therefore approach the relation between participatory media, social change, women and gender. Major platforms are studied, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia, while also considering other emerging social media sites.


WOMEN, ONLINE VIDEO AND GLOBAL PERFORMANCE: Fourth-Year Undergraduate

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course explores the unofficial archiving of performance via video-hosting services. Although the current range of online video-hosting services is taken into consideration, YouTube is highlighted since this website currently stores the largest collection of moving images of popular performance. This course addresses how the unofficial storing of videos of popular performance on the part of users can both dismantle and reinforce divisions between local and global culture, between the high arts and popular arts, and between popular culture and “traditional” heritage. These divisions are explored through the prism of women and gender. The gendered issues intrinsic to these divisions are analyzed through the exploration of various case studies of popular performance practices that can be traced to the United States, the Caribbean, West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. This course further provides relevant background knowledge needed to analyze the relation between these key divisions, performance and issues connected to women and gender within the media environments of video-hosting services. In this course, we will investigate the following issues prior to approaching the online case studies: (1) theories of performance in relation to identity and the body; (2) online video sites and their relation to the archive; (3) the theoretical dynamics involved in concretizing “live” performance into media; (4) digital methods, including virtual ethnography to analyze performance on video-hosting services. Underlying this approach to the study of popular culture is an interdisciplinary perspective that combines gender studies, critical race/ethnic studies, dance studies, performance studies, archive studies and media studies.


TOPICS IN FEMINIST DIGITAL HUMANITIES:
THE NARRATIVE, ARCHIVE, DATABASE AND SEARCH ENGINE: Graduate Level

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The digital archive, the database and the search engine may be unsettling or reinscribing earlier forms of storing and transmitting knowledge and culture, including the narrative and the traditional archive. Many of the current debates that surround the narrative, archive, database and search engine within the digital era can be situated within the emerging field of feminist digital humanities. These debates are further explored in contemporary digital humanities scholarship yet without reference to feminism as an influential paradigm. Links to feminist approaches in digital humanities scholarship are often not identified as such, thereby passing over the impact that feminism has within this burgeoning field of inquiry. Therefore, this course will identify key concerns in regards to the technologies of the archive, database and search engine and their interconnection with narrative and hermeneutic approaches whose links to feminism are rendered either explicit or implicit in digital humanities research. A selection of these key issues includes identifying technology as a process, unveiling the myth of technological objectivity, challenging the neutrality of technology, foregrounding the power relations embedded in technology, and highlighting the entrenchment of technology within social and cultural contexts stratified by identity, including gender and race. In an analysis of the relation between feminism and digital technology, we will explore the writings of digital humanists whose work combines digital technology, feminism and/ or critical race studies. A selection of these scholars includes Jamie Skye Bianco, N. Katherine Hayles, Jacqueline Wernimont, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Tara McPherson, Elisabeth Losh and Lisa Spiro. The course further incorporates scholarly research not identified as feminist digital humanities whose engagements with archives, digital archives, databases or search engines implicitly emulate feminist approaches in regards to the core issues of the course.


The content of the course combines case studies of digital archives, databases and search engines with critical theory and background knowledge of the specificities of each analyzed technology. For instance, to better understand the database, specifically the relational database, this course will outline some basic elements of Structured Query Language (SQL). To gain insights into the workings of search engines, this course will discuss strategies used by web developers to have web sites rank high on search engine responses to search queries, techniques known as search engine optimization (SEO). This course raises numerous questions about the links between feminist paradigms, critical theory and the technologies of the narrative, archive, database and search engine. Here is a brief selection: 1) Is the interpretation of traditional archival materials as narratives being replaced by the lists of data in digital archives, by algorithmically produced search-engine-listed results or by the tabulations of databases? 2) Can the lists of information produced by digital archives, databases and search engines be interpreted instead as narratives? 3) How does this potential interconnection between the narrative, hermeneutic approaches and these digital technologies relate to feminist engagements with technology?