H79.2528 Lecture 4 Credits
Instructor(s): Rushkoff
This course will explore the relationship of media, technology, and text. Most simply, it's a course in reading and writing about interactivity. Students will read some exemplary or seminal literature about new media issues and ideas, and then share their own perspectives in short writing assignments. Weekly sessions will alternate between studying a new form and writing in that form. As the class is open to students of all writing levels, participants will proceed at their own pace, mastering one form before moving to the next. This is not a competition, and students will be graded based not on how many forms they master, but on the dedication they apply. The class is suitable for beginning writers as well as those seeking to write at a professional level (or better). However, it is not a remedial writing class; those struggling with the English language, basic grammar or syntax, should take the appropriate NYU basic writing course. Formats studied and taught will include: • Description of a Technology • Review of a work of art or piece of technology • Artist's Statement of Purpose • Theoretical argument • OpEd (opinion/editorial piece) • Screenplay/Teleplay • Fiction • Hypertext or Non-linear text. Readings will include examples of each of the above. The focus will be on translating multidimensional, hi-tech, and interactive experiences and architectures into linear, textual descriptions. In doing so, it is hoped we will gain a better sensibility about interactive technology as well as what we are pursuing with it. If you can't describe what you are doing, you don't really know what you are doing.
