WRIT 028: COMMUNICATIONS (COMM)
Spring 2022 Courses
WRIT 028 302
MW 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Oliver
Netflix Nations
Fulfills the Writing Requirement
As television and video distribution has moved away from traditional broadcast methods, streaming platforms have rapidly become the primary way that we view media content. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of these is Netflix. What began as an online DVD rental store in 1997 has transformed into the world's largest digital streaming service, reaching over 183 million paid subscribers as of March 2020 (which doesn't even include everyone you've given your Netflix password to!). Netflix has also become a powerhouse content producer, and is set to release 70 original movies in 2021 alone. But how has the advent of Netflix altered how we access and create media content, and what are the ensuing cultural, political, and economic concerns? Using Ramon Lobato's Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution, we'll explore how Netflix has revolutionized how we think about global media production, distribution, and consumption. We'll examine the possibilities of global digital media, as well as the national and local policy, trade, and cultural concerns that bound it. Finally, we will consider how different audiences experience Netflix around the world, and consider the implications these streaming platforms have for how we understand global media more broadly. Students will engage with this topic through a variety of assignments that develop foundational writing and analytical skills applicable to academic, professional, and public writing situations.
WRIT 028 303
MW 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Oliver
Netflix Nations
Fulfills the Writing Requirement
As television and video distribution has moved away from traditional broadcast methods, streaming platforms have rapidly become the primary way that we view media content. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of these is Netflix. What began as an online DVD rental store in 1997 has transformed into the world's largest digital streaming service, reaching over 183 million paid subscribers as of March 2020 (which doesn't even include everyone you've given your Netflix password to!). Netflix has also become a powerhouse content producer, and is set to release 70 original movies in 2021 alone. But how has the advent of Netflix altered how we access and create media content, and what are the ensuing cultural, political, and economic concerns? Using Ramon Lobato's Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution, we'll explore how Netflix has revolutionized how we think about global media production, distribution, and consumption. We'll examine the possibilities of global digital media, as well as the national and local policy, trade, and cultural concerns that bound it. Finally, we will consider how different audiences experience Netflix around the world, and consider the implications these streaming platforms have for how we understand global media more broadly. Students will engage with this topic through a variety of assignments that develop foundational writing and analytical skills applicable to academic, professional, and public writing situations.
WRIT 028 304
MW 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Oliver
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Trolls & Culture
Fulfills the Writing Requirement
Who are the trolls, and what's really feeding them? Over the past two decades, trolling has become a pervasive feature of everyday life. Trolls set out to deliberately disrupt and antagonize online communities for their own pleasure and gain, usually though the use of inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive content. Using Whitney Phillips' This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture, this writing seminar examines the evolution of trolling as both a concept and a practice. By considering how trolling reproduces and amplifies existing tendencies in today's media landscape, we'll ask -- do we have a troll problem, or a culture problem? Students will engage with this topic through a variety of assignments that develop foundational writing and analytical skills applicable to academic, professional, and public writing situations.
WRIT 028 305
TR 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Rahman
Custodians of the Internet
Fulfills the Writing Requirement
"Things aren't great, Internet. Actually, scratch that: they're awful." As the Wired magazine staff wrote in their 2016 open letter to the World Wide Web, things are quite messy out there in cyberspace. Getting news, information, and even more in-depth knowledge from online platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Wikipedia has become the new normal in our society. While the digital world gives us a sense of agency in our search for understanding, the platforms themselves often shy away from their own role in knowledge procurement. This writing seminar will explore the concepts of gatekeeping and content moderation as they relate to the oversaturated world of online information. We will critically examine the role of gatekeeping in the past, how paradigms have changed over time, and what our current digitally dependent climate looks like through a variety of case studies featuring specific platforms. This course is designed to foster each student's writing through metacognitive practices, process-oriented project builders, multiple drafts and revisions of papers, and a final portfolio of work paired with an extensive reflection.