Media Literacy COM155, Spring 2008
L111 Meets 9:30a-10:45a, Mondays and Thursdays– LT209
L112 Meets 11:00a-12:15p, Mondays and 9:30a-10:45a, Wednesdays– LT209

Professor Brett Phares, office: LT136A, x:2656
Brett.Phares@marist.edu
Office Hours: M 12:30-1:30pm; W 11a-5pm; TH 11a-12:00pm
Class hub: http://mpotential.org/COM155-SP08
Del.icio.us bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/mpotential/COM155



Overview
It surrounds us 24/7/364, 360 degrees of institutional, corporate and personal media messaging, warning us of wild and wonderful futures. Or a cold and bleak one. Take your pick, we have choice (plus our ways of tuning it all out). Not exactly a history class, not altogether a theory or digital applications class, Introduction to Media Literacy is a hybrid of different ways to shake down and (re)create media to understand how it influences its future as well as our own. Media Literacy comprises film, television, radio, the Web, digital games and metaverse--you see it, we will look at it, not just as consumers but as producers. We will analyze and make sense of the myriad ways that media informs, obscures, propagates, sells and makes whole our sense of individuality and community. Topics include visual signification, digital media boot camp, social functions of the image, and the role of media in the cultural process. These topics will help you to become more critical of our media environment, to become more effective communicators of ideas, perspectives and knowledge. For grading, see Assessment.

Learning Objectives
> Become familiar with different languages in media signification;
> Gain familiarity with tools used in media production;
> Understand technical and meaning-creating practices;
> Distinguish between media;
> Understand how media influences personal and social identity.

Achievement of these outcomes will be evaluated through attendance and participation, blog entries, exercises, midterm and final exams.

Required
Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (Paperback) by Marita Sturken, Lisa Cartwright; Oxford University Press, USA; (2001); ISBN: 0198742711
Account at voicethread.com; for secondary backup, USB 2.0 Flash Drive, min. 1GB

Schedule (by week)
1.Theories and approaches: Course Introduction
Read “Your Divided Attention”, and Practices of Looking [POL], Introduction and Chapter 1

Start an account on tumblr.com, write five paragraphs (or one a day over the course of five days) on media obscured, ex: http://tumbl.us. Find a form of media you had not attended to before, maybe a credit card newsletter or a billboard, that you now see and why you think you had missed it before. Provide image examples on your tumblr blog.

Starting Week Two, maintain blog with one weekly entry on what you are picking up in class and apply it to what you are seeing/reading out on the street, so that by the end of the semester you have at least 10 additional blog entries (excluding exercises and projects) of 3-5 sentences each with examples (image, video, etc.) inserted as needed.

2.Theories and approaches: Power of Images
Studio: Blogging and blogorrhea; finding resources; Read POL Chapter 1 cont.

3.Theories and approaches: Power of Images
Studio: The digital realm, RGB color, bit-depth, pixels, resolution; Read POL Chapter 2

4.Theories and approaches: Making Meaning
Studio: SecondLife introduction, Vector versus bitmap graphics; Read POL Chapter 2 cont.

5.Theories and approaches: Owning the message
Studio: Illustrator protocol, focus on Layers, Character palettes, Selection and type tools; Read POL Chapter 3

6.Theories and approaches: Looking, Perspective and the Gaze
Studio: Page layout, incorporating images and text; Read POL Chapter 4

7.Midterm exams TBD

8.Theories and approaches: Reproduction and Visual Technologies
Studio: SecondLife

9.Theories and approaches: Reproduction and Visual Technologies , continued
Studio: Introduction to Flash, animation; Read POL Chapter 5

10.Theories and approaches: Mass Media; Television Culture and Technology
Studio: More Flash

11.Theories and approaches: Mass Media; Television Culture and Technology continued
Studio: Sound editing

12.Theories and approaches: Mass Media; Television Culture and Technology continued
Studio: Thanksgiving; Read POL Chapter 6

13.Theories and approaches: Consumer Culture and the Manufacturing of Desire
Studio: More Flash, adding sound; Read POL Chapter 7

14.Theories and approaches: Postmodernism, and Popular Culture + The Science of Looking Intro
Studio: Final Project workshop; Read POL Chapter 8 and 9

15.The Science of Looking and Global Flow of Visual Culture
Studio: Final Project workshop

16.Final exams