New Media /Digital Culture Topics

Off-Book (PBS Online) 

Idea Channel (PBS Online) 

Other Sources (TED, Ubu, Big Think, etc.) and tutorials, homework, etc. 

INTRODUCTION: INTERSECTIONS OF ART/MUSIC/TEXT + TECH + CULTURE WHAT'S A MULTIMEDIA OBJECT? 

• How to be Creative

• 100th Episode - What Idea Channel Tries to Do

• MANOVICH: DATABASE AS SYMBOLIC FORM
• Catalog (1961)by John Whitney 
• My Body by Shelly Jackson 
• Eminem site by SoFake 
• Hoggebrugge's Modern Living, 
• Projek Iaght  by Yours Truly (viewed in class, plus a roadmap)
•  A famous example from Mr. Buonarroti —the actual frescos, not this particular YouTube video— (and here's a roadmap, and one of his self-portraits).

TEXT AND WEB BASED MEDIA + CULTURE

• Are Emoticons the Future of Language?
• Is Code the Most Important Language in the World?
• Rise of Web Comics
• World of Viral Video
• Art of Web Design
• Impact of Twitter on Journalism
• Book Art

• How Did Sherlock Holmes Pave the Way for 50 Shades of Grey?
• Is CSS and Web Design a Fashion Statement?
• Is Homestuck the Ulysses of the Internet? 
• Do We Need a Better Archive of the Internet? 
• When Do Internet Memes Stop Being Funny?

• Flarf Poetry: overview and tutorial.

AESTHETICS, CREATIVITY, CONVERGENCE

• Art of Creative Coding
• Art of Glitch
• Evolution of 8-Bit Art
• Lego Art 
• Hacking Internet Art and Culture with FAT Lab
•  Generative Art: Computers, Data, and Humanity (and two hours of HD Electric Sheep
• NOVA–New Art and the Young Artists behind it 
• )

• Are the Olympics a Model for Creating Geniuses?
• How Does Glitchy Art Show Us Broken Is Beautiful? 

• Chairlift: Evident Utensil 
• *Embrace the Remix- On Originality *
• * Steal Like an Artist: Austin Kleon * 
• Leon Botstein   (at least watch the last 5 minutes: Ars longa, vita brevis)

• Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius  (TED talk)
•  The Radical Capacity of Glitch Art: Expression through an Aesthetic Rooted in Error  by Lital Khaikin

VISUAL MEDIA + CULTURE

• Is Photoshop Re-Mixing the World?
• Typography
• Tattoos
• Art of Logo Design
• Art of Illustration
• Universal Arts of Graphic Design
• Effect of Color
• The Art of Portrait Photography
• Product Design
• Light Painting  (and  Light Painting Video Effects and Steel Wool Photography) 
• Steam Punk

• Is the Internet Replacing the Art Gallery?
• Are LOLCats and Internet Memes Art?
• What's Santa and Wrestling Have in Common?
• Are Memes and Internet Culture Creating a Singularity?
• Does Nail Art Prove Anything can be a Canvas for Artistic Expression?

• Can Fandom Change Society?
• Fan Art

• Future of Fandom

• Street Art 

• The Art of Illegal Street Art (TPL Disrupt)
• Banksy Site
• Banksy - B Movie 
• What is Street Art and How Can We Define It? 

CINEMA/TV/MOTION MEDIA

• Frame by Frame: The Art of Stop Motion
• Are YouTubers Revolutionizing Entertainment?
• 25th Anniversary of the Animated GIF
• Animated GIF: Birth of a Medium
• Art of Film + TV Title Design
• Retro Media: Vinyl, VHS, Tapes + Films
• Art of Animation and Motion Graphics

• Is Community a PoMo Masterpiece?
• Why Do We Love Zombies? 
• Is Nostalgia Why Adventure Time is Amazing? 
• Is Vine the Future if Cinema? 
• Can You Make A Movie So Bad It's Good On Purpose? 
• Did How I Met Your Mother Earn Its Ending?

• Gary Hill, Site/Recite (a prologue)
• Nam June Piak, Beatles Electroniques
• Maya Deren
• Joseph Beuys

MUSIC, SOUND MEDIA + CULTURE

• The Evolution of Music Online

• Is Dubstep Avant-Garde Musical Genius?
• Is Sad Music Actually Sad? 
• Are MP3s and Vinyl Better Than Live Music?
• Should Happy Birthday be Copyrighted?
• What do MP3's and Magic Spells Have in Common?

•  American Masters Series on John Cage. Watch video and be able to answer these questions.
• Autechre Ganz Graf video

IDENTITY, BIOGRAPHY, MEMORY VIRTUALITY, ARTIFICIAL REALITY, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

• Rise of Artificial Intelligence
• The New Rules for Robot/Human Society

• Is Miku Hatsune A More Authentic Pop Star than Lana Del Rey? 
• Do Bronies Change the Definition of Masculinity?
• Are You a Hipster? 
• Is Futurama the Best Argument Against TransHumanism?
• Is Facebook Changing Our Identity?
• How is Orphan Black an Illustration of Simulacrum?
• Are Cellphones Replacing Reality?
•  There's No Such Thing as Offline
• Is Developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethical? 

• Occulus Rift Video
• Osmose by Char Davis
• The Matrix, Lawnmower Man, Strange Days, BrainStorm, Blade Runner, and other SciFi Examples. 

• Doll Clothes by Cindy Sherman
• Shelly Jackson My Body
• Hoggebrugge: Modern Life
•  Eminem Site (SoFake)
• Donna Harraway, The Cyborg Manifesto 

PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE
ONLINE BEHAVIOR, SOCIAL MEDIA + CULTURE

• Online Privacy: How Did We Get Here?
• Bad Behavior Online
• Culture of Reddit
• Can Hackers be Heros?
• What's the Deal with Internet Comedy?
•  

• The Experience of Being Trolled (Nuance Alert!)
• What Does the Russian Meteorite Tell Us About Surveillance?
• Choosing Privacy 

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, DATA, COMPUTING

• Future of Wearable Technology
• Art of Data Visualization 
• Beauty of Space Photography
• Beyond the Human Eye

• Is Math a Feature of the Universe or a Feature of Human Creation? 
• Is the Universe a Computer? 
• Will Space Travel Save Us All?
• Does the Kinect Make Microsoft an Arts Benefactor?

• Jeff Han: Multitouch Interface (2006 TED talk)
• Hans Rosling: Data Visualization and Debunking Third-World Myths (2003 TED talk)
• WIRED links on Kinect
• Edward Tufte links
•  

EDUCATION

• Is MineCraft the Ultimate Educational Tool?
• Is YouTube Making Us Smarter?
•  

• Harvard Goes All In For Online Courses
•  

ECONOMICS, BUSINESS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, CONSUMER CULTURE

• Rise of Video Game Economies
• Impact of Kickstarter, Creative Commons & Creators Project
• Will 3D Printing Change the World?

• Will Kickstarter Replace Hollywood?
• Are BitCoins and Unusual Hats the Future of Currency?
• Do Knockoffs Prove the Value of Brands?
• Is Buying Call of Duty a Moral Choice? 
• Is Piracy Helping Game of Thrones?
• Will Minecraft and the Makerbot Usher In the Post-Scarcity Economy?
• Is Diablo III Turning Virtual Economies into Real Ones?
• How is Jurassic Park a Commentary on Capitalism?

• Adbusters: The Production of Meaning (UBU) 
• Design Anarchy (.PDF)

GAMES

• Rise of Competitive Gaming + E-Sports
• Creativity of Indie Videogames
• Dungeons & Dragons and the Influence of Tabletop RPGs 
• Cosplay Changes Lives

• Can Dungeons and Dragons Make You A More Confident and Successful Person?
• Can Video Games Become the Next Spectator Sport?
• Top Five Most Artful Video Games
• Super Mario Brothers is the World's Greatest Piece of Surrealist Art? 
• Does it matter what Evangelion's Creator says?

MISCELLANEOUS

• Is a DOS Attack a Weapon? 
• Do We Want the World to End?
• How are Justin Bieber, Franz Liszt, and Jerusalem Connected?
• Is Nicholas Cage the Intersection of YOLO and Taoism?
• Is William Gibson a Modern-Day Oracle?