Digital studies is an emerging interdisciplinary field at the intersection of literary studies, cultural studies, and traditional media studies. Given that the World Wide Web is estimated to consist of some four billion "sites" with fifty times the content of the Library of Congress, little wonder many now speculate openly about the future of books, literature, and the humanities. Digital studies offers a set of critical, theoretical, pedagogical, and practical responses to such speculation. The course is designed to be broadly relevant to all students of texts, language, and literature, regardless of area or specialty. Major topics will include: writing and/as technology; theoretical approaches to electronic textuality; close readings of hypertext and cybertext literature; comparative genealogies of new (and old) media; and a survey of digital projects and initiatives in the humanities to date. We will also pay some attention to other topics, including: the digital divide and the politics of access; intellectual property; the preservation of digital content (some commentators forecast a looming "digital dark ages"); teaching and technology; and the role of digital technologies in addressing what is widely perceived as a crisis in scholarly publishing.
Texts that we will read in whole or in part will likely include: Epsen Aarseth, _Cybertext_; N. Katherine Hayles, _How We Became Posthuman_; Susan Hockey, _Electronic Texts in the Humanities_; Deena Larsen's hypertext fiction _Samplers_; Jerome McGann, _Radiant Textuality: Literature After the World Wide Web_; Lev Manovich, _The Language of New Media_; Walter Ong, _Orality and Literacy_; Charles Petzold, _Code_; and Ellen Ullman's recent novel _The Bug_. About half of the syllabus will consist of online materials for reading, inspection, and exploration.
Requirements include lively participation, an in-class presentation, online responses, a series of short papers and projects, and a final exam. NO PRIOR TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE IS EXPECTED OR ASSUMED.