Here is the official syllabus for English 303, Cyberculture. Please refer to this page when our schedule changes so that you can stay current with the most recent developments in our class. Be sure to check the Announcements page too.
Part I: From Human to Posthuman |
|
| Introduction to course | |
12 |
Romantic Poetry: William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"; first 58 lines from Wordsworth's The Prelude; Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp"; first two chapters from Neil Postman's Building a Bridge to the 18th Century (all in course packet) |
14 |
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, Volume I |
17 |
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, Volume II; Insight Papers due for Group Alpha |
19 |
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, Volume III; Insight Papers due for Group Beta |
21 |
Tony Davies: Chapter One, "The Invention of Humanity" from Humanism (course packet); Insight Papers due for Group Gamma |
24 |
Introduction to HTML: Meet in Arts 1-12; Make sure you have your Campus Computing ID and password! |
26 |
Website in Lab: Meet in Arts 1-12 |
28 |
William Gibson: Neuromancer, to p. 98 |
31 |
William Gibson: Neuromancer, to p. 186; Insight Papers due for Group Alpha |
| William Gibson: Neuromancer, to end | |
4 |
Donna Haraway: "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" (course packet); Insight Papers due for Group Beta |
7 |
Donna Haraway: "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" (course packet) |
9 |
Steve Mann: Cyborg, to p. 76; Insight Papers due for Group Gamma |
11 |
Steve Mann: Cyborg, to p. 174 |
14 |
Steve Mann: Cyborg, to end |
16 |
Katherine Hayles: "Toward Embodied Virtuality," Chapter One from How We Became Posthuman (course packet); Insight Papers due for Group Alpha |
18 |
Vernor Vinge: "Technological Singularity" (course packet) |
21 |
Reading Week |
23 |
Reading Week |
25 |
Reading Week |
28 |
Perl Lecture: Introduction to Programming (meet in Bus 1-6) |
| Perl in the Lab: Meet in Arts 1-12 | |
4 |
Perl Lecture: Arrays, Hashes, and "foreach" loops (meet in Bus 1-6) NEW! |
7 |
Perl Lecture: Algorithms and "while" Loops (meet in Bus 1-6) NEW! |
9 |
Perl in the Lab: Meet in Arts 1-12 |
11 |
Perl in the Lab: Meet in Arts 1-12 |
Part II: Simulacra -- Even Better Than The Real Thing |
|
14 |
Jean Baudrillard: Simulations, to p. 79; Insight Papers due for Group Beta |
16 |
Jean Baudrillard: Simulations, to end |
18 |
Clive Thompson: "The Know-It-All Machine: An Audacious Quest to Teach a Computer Common Sense" (course packet); Insight Papers due for Group Gamma |
21 |
In-Class Film: Fast, Cheap and Out of Control |
23 |
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Perl Programs Due |
25 |
Good Friday -- No Class |
28 |
Easter Monday -- No Class |
30 |
Richard Powers: Galatea 2.2, to p. 84; Insight Papers due for Group Alpha |
| Richard Powers: Galatea 2.2, to p. 170; Insight Papers due for Group Beta | |
4 |
Richard Powers: Galatea 2.2, to p. 256; Insight Papers due for Group Gamma |
6 |
Richard Powers: Galatea 2.2, to end |
8 |
Galatea 2.2 discussion |
11 |
Discussion and Questions |
13 |
Final Comments and Evaluations |
15 |
Term Papers Due |
19 |
Final Websites Due |