DMS 219 - DIGITAL LITERATURE - Course Requirements

Spring 2003 T R, 16:00 - 17:50, 112 CFA Reg. #459956
Dr. Glazier <glazier@buffalo.edu> Office hours (245 CFA): T 15:00-16:00, or by appt.*
Course Web Site http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/219/

Required text: Glazier, Digital Poetics: the Making of E-Poetries (Tuscaloosa: Univ. of Alabama Press, 2002). Available at Talking Leaves Books, 3158 Main Street, Buffalo, 837-8554. PLUS ADDITIONAL READINGS AS ASSIGNED.

• Course requirements: Class attendance (25%), oral report (25%), midterm (25%), final exam (25%). READINGS ARE ESSENTIAL! BE PREPARED IN CASE i CALL ON YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTS ON A GIVEN READING. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CHECK THE COURSE WEB SITE FOR UPDATES TO SYLLABUS. (It is best to check the course web site whenever you do your work for class AND the night before and the day of each class.)

• Class attendance (25%): You are allowed only three unexcused absences. After three absences you will loose 5% of your grade per absence.

• Oral report (25%): In consultation with the teaching team, you will present and informally explicate a work of digital literature, explaining the work's content, its architecture or mode of navigation, its ideological framework or mode of engaging the medium, and its meaning. See sources below.

• Midterm (25%): The midterm will cover the text and material presented in class during the first half of the semester. You will be tested on the following material (approximately): digital poem analysis (15), Digital Poetics pp. 1-83 (50), John Cage (15), Questions on other presentations (10), analysis of print text (15).

• Final exam (25%): The final exam, to be taken in class, will cover the text book and material presented in class during the entire semester.
  

Extra credit (10%): By arrangement with me, research one digital author and turn in a list of links to be added to their entry on the EPC E-Poetry page. Must be done early in the semester!

Sources for digital literature: Electronic Poetry Center (http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/e-poetry/), Ubu Web (http://www.ubu.com/), Arras (http://www.arras.net/), New Media Poetry Gallery (http://www.uiowa.edu/~iwp/newmedia/gallery.html)

I am giving this class to offer expanded horizons to you as artists and thinkers. This class is designed for your needs specifically. Don't miss out on learning all you can. This content might not be available to you in any other class!

ATTENDING CLASS WIDE AWAKE AND ALERT IS CRUCIAL! MUCH OF THE INFORMATION THAT WILL BE COVERED IN THE EXAMS IS OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE! YOU ALSO NEED TO SEE PRESENTED MATERIAL YOURSELF SINCE WHAT COUNTS ARE YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS. YOU WILL NOTE THAT I COUNT ATTENDANCE AS 25% OF GRADE - THAT IS BECAUSE I EXPECT YOU TO ATTEND CLASS!

*It is best to let me know in advance if you plan to see me in my office so I know to expect you. If you send e-mail to me, include the course number DMS 219 in the subject line, so I can try to give your message the attention it deserves. Class will be taught with contributions by John Long <iwooh@hotmail.com>.