**This class will be taught on Zoom**
**Note that this class will skip July 4 and end on July 18.**
Media, Technology, and Culture explores communication technologies and how they frame human consciousness and influence society and culture. We begin with speech and writing, then move up the evolutionary ladder to discuss the influence on culture of mass media (books, magazines, radio, television, and film), and finish with a focus on modern digital technologies, (computers, the Internet, social media, video games, AI) and their possible impact on the future.
Week 1. Speech & Oral Culture - What did you say? Approx. 35,000 BC
Theoretical Frame, Definitions & Perspectives
The Great Leap Forward – Speech & The Coming of Culture
Tribalism & The Rise of Mythology
Poetry
Week 2. Reading and Writing - What ya looking at? Approx. 3,300 BC
Social Structures of Visual Cultures
From Hunting/Gathering to Agriculture
Power, Politics & Perspectives
Sign & Symbol Systems
The Rise of Specialization, Hierarchy & History
Prose
Week 3. Print and the Press - Can you repeat that, please? Mid 15th Century
The Gutenberg Galaxy – Thanks, Johannes!
Publishing – Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Flyers
Reproducibility & The Coming of the Industrial Revolution
Shifts in Power - Power to the People
The Rise of Reading, Science & Empiricism
Authorship and Individuality
Tomes
Week 4. Light, Sound, & Electricity - What’s the buzz? 19th Century
The Ascension of Light & Image:
Photography (Light Writing)
Electric Lights
Film
The Reassertion of Sound & Coming of Telecommunication:
Telegraph (Writing at a Distance)
Telephone
Phonograph (Sound Writing)
The Creation of Audiences & Celebrities
The Rise of Social Sciences, Propaganda & Nations
The Coming of Popular Culture
Novels, Magazines, Newspapers, Records, Silent Film
Week 5. Electronic Mass Media – Why am I confused? 20th Century
Audio/Visual Media at the Speed of Light
From One to Many
Records, Radio & the Music Industry
Talkies, Cinema, and the Movie Industry
Broadcast Television, Cable, & Pay Channels
Telecommunications, Satellites, & The Global Village
The Power of Audience Market Research & Polls
The Rise of Subcultures
Week 6. Information Technologies - Why am I nervous? 21st Century
Computers and Digital Media.
The Rise of Interconnectivity, the Internet & Individual Control
Texting, Smart Phones, Streaming Services, Computer Games, Apps
Virtual Reality and Meetings
Social Media
Facebook, X, WeChat, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Personal Control and Content Creation
Desktop Publishing, Presentations, Music, Videos, Websites, Blogs,
Youtube, TikTok
Convergence
The Rise of Influencers and Isolation
Retribalized Culture
AI – What’s real and what isn’t? Who owns what?
What does the Future hold?
