C O N V E R G E N C E 

Professor Leo Aristimuno | FALL 2009

Dept. of Visual & Performing Arts | Rutgers University, Newark

 

 

description

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blog

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schedule

 

 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

 

Updated 12/9 2009 

 

Also, check course blog regularly

for developing stories related to class.

(http://vpaconvergence.blosgspot.com)

 

 

Sept

 

Oct

 

Nov

 

Dec

2

 

 

5

7

 

2 

4

 

 

2

8

9

 

12

14

 

9

11

 

7

9

14

16

 

19

21

 

16

18

 

 

21

23

 

26

28

 

23

25

 

  DEC 18th5:30pm

28

30

 

 

 

 

30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

09/02 - Wed

Introduction to Class

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

Textbooks used for this course:

Rodman: Mass Media in  a Changing World

Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture

 

WEB RESOURCES

(CHECK course blog for developing stories related to class)

 

  http://vpaconvergence.blogspot.com/

 

KEY QUESTIONS:

Who are we? Why are we here?

What can we expect from the course?

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/08 - MON

The Big Picture (1)

The Mass Media Industries: Key Issues & Concepts (A)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

Closely examine the following pages:

?         Rodman: Mass Media in  a Changing World

?         Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

?         Who Owns What: Media Ownership in Age of Convergence 

?         "Convergence Map" *** important***

?         http://www.sho.com

?         http://abc.go.com

?         www.nytimes.com

?          

 

KEY QUESTIONS

What is Convergence? How does convergence affect the mass media industries? How does Convergence affect our culture? How can we learn about such a broad topic?

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/9 - Wed

 The Big Picture (2)

 The Mass Media Industries: Key Issues & Concepts (B)

 

The Evolution of the Web

Conceptual Paradigms, Collective Knowledge,

We = Machine

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         "The Future is Smart Machines (and Soup)," Miko Cofey,

?         "We Are the Web," Kevin Kelly, Wired On-Line

?         “Lost in the Cloud” NYTIMES Article

?         Facebook Exodus NYTIMES ARTICLE

 

  

The Internet as content. The Internet as a medium. The Internet as the Cloud. The Internet as Big Brother. The Internet as God.

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

?         What are the key differences between web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0?

?         How much of the content of the web has been created by its users?

?         Was this expected?

?         Is the cultural paradigm of the Internet culture one of participation or one of consumption?

?         How is the Internet evolving to contain our “collective knowledge”?

?         How is “the machine” resembling a living organism, a collective brain?

 

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/14

 - MON

  The Big Picture

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

 

 JENKINS: "Worship at the Altar of Convergence," Convergence Culture, INTRODUCTION.

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/16 - WED

The Big Picture (3)

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

Take Home Quiz distributed today

 

QUIZ #1: on “THE BIG PICTURE: Key Characteristics of Convergence Culture”

 

In Class:

JENKINS: "Worship at the Altar of Convergence," Convergence Culture, INTRODUCTION. 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/21 - MON

The Big Picture 4

 

?         TAKE HOME from QUIZ #1 DUE TODAY (PRINTED and handed to Prof. Aristimuno at the beginning of class, NO LATE SUBMISSIONS)

 

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/23 - WED

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (1)

Key Historical Concepts & Moments

Television Industry

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         Mass Media in a Changing World:"Television" (from reading packet)

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 09/28 - MON

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (3)

Changing technologies: Television Goes On-line

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

  Read articles

?         From Wired Magazine: a series of articles describing the "Television of Tomorrow." Available at:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/

 

Article 1: Reinventing Television & TV 2.0

Article 2: The Super Network

Article 3: ESPN Thinks Outside the Box

  AND

Article 4 (not from Wired)

"Where have the TV viewers gone?" Associated PressMay 8,2007. Available at this link

 

ALSO:

?         "MEDIA FUTURE: Al Gore on TV and the threat to American Democracy"available at: http://mediagiraffe.blogspot.com/2005/10/media-future-al-gore-on-tv-and-threat.html

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

http://www.current.tv/

http://www.mtv.com

http://abc.go.com/

http://amc.com

http://hulu.com

http://www.hulu.com/watch/80987/the-office-identity-theft

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 9/30 - WED

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (4)

New Forms of Storytelling: Knowledge Communities (A)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         JENKINS, CHAPTER 2: Spoiling Survivor.

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/05 - MON

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (5)

New Forms of Storytelling : Knowledge Communities (B)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         Fandom & LOST @ COMICON 2009 (See esp fan videos)

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

http://www.getmiro.com/

http://youtube.com

http://video.yahoo.com/

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/07 - WED

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (5)

New Forms of Storytelling : Loyal Fans (B)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 JENKINS, CHAPTER 2: Buying Into American Idol. 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/12 - MON

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (6)

Evolution of Media for Children (A)

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         ·         Convergence For Tots Articles

?         ·         http://vpaconvergence.blogspot.com/2007/10/convergence-for-tots.html

?         ·         "Disney Acquires Web Site for Children." New York Times, August 2, 2007. Available at this link.

?         "Great Expectations: Younger Set Demands Strong Complementary Online Experience." Available at this link.

?         "Young Canadians Talk About the Internet" Leslie Shade, Canadian Journal of Communications, Vol. 30 (2005) 503-526. Available at this link

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/14 - WED

TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE (7)

 

QUIZ # 2 HANDED OUT:

on TELEVISION & CONVERGENCE

 

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         Youth Video Exchange Network

?         Where Youth Media is the Media

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

www.listenup.org

www.mnn.org

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/19 - MON

F

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

 

?          

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/21 - WED

MOVIES IN THE AGE OF CONVERGENCE (1)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

 

?         RODMAN: MASS MEDIA IN CHANGING WORLD (chapter on Film)

 

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

What were some of the structural frameworks of the film industry before digital convergence? How was it a one way street?

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/26 - MON

 MOVIES & CONVERGENCE (2)

General Intro to Changes in "Movie"-making in age of Convergence |Transmedia Storytelling | Synergistic Storytelling | Additive Comprehension| Movies for Web | Movies for Small Screens

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         ·        New Studio Market Videos for Web, N Y Times, 7/11/2007 Available at this link

?         Little Films on Little Screens, N Y Times, 3/18/2007, at this link

 

JENKINS : CHAPTER 3 : "Searching for the Origami Unicorn"

o        Intro

o        What is The Matrix

o        Synergistic Storytelling

o        Dawsons Desktop (side)

o        From Appointment TV to Engagement TV (side)

o        Additive Comprehension

   

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 10/28 - WED

MOVIES AND CONVERGENCE (3)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 


JENKINS : CHAPTER 3 : "Searching for the Origami Unicorn"

o        Intro

o        What is The Matrix

o        Synergistic Storytelling

o        Dawsons Desktop (side)

o        From Appointment TV to Engagement TV (side)

o        Additive Comprehension

 

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 11/2 - MON

MOVIES & CONVERGENCE (4)
Fan Culture | Folk Culture | Grass Roots Creativity | An Industry in Transition? | Fandom & Co-creativity | How do Studios Adapt?

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

JENKINS: CHAPTER 4: "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?"

?         pp 136 -164.

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 11/4 - WED

MOVIES AND CONVERGENCE (5)

 

READINGS & SITES DUE TODAY

 

 

QUIZ #3:

WIKI EXAM

ON FILM & CONVERGENCE CULTURE

 

CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 QUIZ #3: WIKI EXAM

 

ANSWERS ARE Due MONDAY 11/11/09

All submitted answers will be printed out at 5:00pm

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

 

DATE

TOPIC

 11/16 - MON

NEWS & JOURNALISM (1)

Key Concepts & Moments in the history of the News Industries (TV & Newspaper)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

 RODMAN: Mass Media in a Changing World: "Newspapers" (Available on-line here)

RODMAN: Mass Media in a Changing World:"Electronic News" (Available on-line here)

 

KEY CONCEPTS TO KNOW:

·        Format of newspapers

·        Roles of Newspapers: what did newspapers DO for the country & their audiences?

·        Editorial/Hard News/Feature News

·        Distribution of Newspapers

·        Journalistic Standards

·        Objectivity

·        First Amendment

·        How do each of the following media transform the way news is created and delivered.

·        Newsreels

·        Radio News

·        Broadcast TV

·        News on Internet

  • News Values
  • Political Bias
  • News as Entertainment
  • Role of Advertising

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

What is the role of journalism in a democracy?

How was journalism a one-way medium?

What role does objectivity play in journalism?

How have the different media through which news were distributed changed the news content itself?

IN the age of conglomerates and media consolidation, how is local news coverage suffering?

 

DATE

TOPIC

 11/18 - WED

 

NEWS & JOURNALISM (2A)

The consequences of Consolidation: Limited perspectives or streamlining for digital delivery?

 

Changing Technologies : The "New" Newspaper

 

Merging Platforms,  Synergy, Readership, Standards, Personalized Delivery | Writing for the Bots

 

BRING NEWSPAPER TO CLASS:

Star-Ledger or NY Times

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

  • "News That Comes to You," Annenberg Journalism Review, 1/23/2003. Available here
  • How Google news is Changing the Way Newspaper Headlines are Written. CollisionDetection.net, 4/9/2006. Available here
  • "Bring It On-Line: TV stations take on newspapers, Yahoo! and all challengers on the Internet to claim new viewers and boost profits," by Allison Romano, Broadcasting & Cable, 12/12/2005. Available here.
  • "The Video Question," Bill Adee, ChicagoTribune.com, 7/30/07. Available here. Also be sure to visit the Chicago Tribune Site (below)
  • "New News: Deconstructing the Newspaper," Jeff Jarvis, 1/18/06,buzzmachine.com available here

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 http://www.chicagotribune.com

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/front

http://www.news12.com/

http://www.nytimes.com

Time Magazine

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

DATE

TOPIC

 11/23 - MON

NEWS & JOURNALISM (2B)

Citizen Journalism

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

  • "OhMyNews Makes Every Citizen a Reporter," Yeon-Jung-Yu, Japan Media Review, 9/17/2003 Available here
  • Have a Cell Phone: Yahoo Wants You. Saul hansell, N.Y. Times, 12/4/2006 Available here
  • Young Pakistanis Turn to the Web to Protest (Associated Press via Yahoo!) here
  • Is Twitter the CNN of a New Generation? here

·        "From the Screen to the Streets," Howard Rheingold, In These Times. com, 10/28/03 Available here

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

  Online Journalism A Few Years Ago vs Today

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

NOT COVERED

in Fall 2009

NEWS & JOURNALISM (3 A)

Knowledge Communities: Blogging & Citizen Journalism

 

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 BLOGGING

Weblogs and the Epistemology of the News: Trends in Online Journalism, Donald Matheson, New media & Society, Vol 6(4), 2004. Available

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES : SAMPLE BLOGS --- familiarize yourself with some of these, use as examples in Quiz answers

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/(politics/news/culture/group blog) - see index of bloggers

 

http://www.theagitator.com/ (politics/news/left)

 

http://www.drudgereport.com/ (politics/news/right)

 

http://dangillmor.com/blog/(media/journalism)

 

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/topnews/blog-index.html (N.Y.Times BLOGS)

http://news.yahoo.com/you-witness-news

Yahoo Citizen News Service discussed above

 

http://citmedia.org/blog/

This is the website for the Center for Citizen Media, a new initiative aimed at helping to enable and encourage grassroots media, especially citizen journalism, at every level.

 

www.indymedia.org

ÒIndymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

NOT COVERED

Fall 2009

Personal & Special Interest Communities BLOGGING  (2)

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

http://www.technorati.com(community based filtering system mentioned by Rheingold in “Moblogs” article)

 

http://www.opendemocracy.net

 

http://www.boingboing.net/(tech/culture/oddities)

 

http://flavorpill.com/newyork(culture)

 

http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/ (BLOG FROM SOLDIERS IN IRAQ)

 

 

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 11/30 - MON

  CIVIC PARTICIPATION & CONVERGENCE CULTURE

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

?         Jenkins Chapter 6: Photoshop for Democracy

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 12/2 - WED

  CIVIC PARTICIPATION & DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

 

?         Revolution, Facebook-Style (NY TIMES)

?         Egyptian Political Dissent Unites Through Facebook (WSJ)

?         We Asked You Answered: Suggestions for the 44th President (NYTimes & Facebook)

?         Obama Voters Protest his Switch on Telecom Immunity (NYTimes)

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

  

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 12/7 - MON

 POLITICS IN THE AGE OF YOUTUBE

 

READINGS DUE TODAY

 

Jenkins, AFTERWORD. available here

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~aristim/convergence2007/Jenkins-Afterword.pdf

 

WEB RESOURCES

 

 

?         Barack Obama's official web site

?         Brave New Films (1) 2006 (2) 2008 (watch videos)

?         Tech President: Banking on the Phone

?         McCain's Young Backers Push Elders to Embrace Obama Web Tactics

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BPnnvI47Q

Snowman Question

Romney Slams Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA5JAuGAkaY

Snowman responds to Mitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtU9ReDhFiE

John Edwards feeling Pretty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q

Bush Blair – endless Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nupdcGwIG-g

I’m a Democrat I’m a Republican

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNyDMj7zLI

Obama Girl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU

 

 

KEY QUESTIONS

How do Political campaigns engage Convergence Culture?

How has News Coverage embraced Convergence Culture?

How has Convergence Culture affected the way we interact in/with the political process?

  

 

 

 

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 12/9

WED

POLITICS IN AGE OF YOUTUBE

 

WIKI EXAM ON CONVERGENCE & THE PUBLIC SPHERE

DUE 12/21

 

 

  

 

 

DATE

TOPIC

 12/21

 

 ALL FINAL WORK IS DUE TODAY – Official Exam Date

 

 

QUIZ #4: DUE TODAY

WIKI EXAM ON CONVERGENCE & THE PUBLIC SPHERE

will be printed out at 5:00 Noon sharp

 

 

 

FINAL PROJECT DUE TODAY

 

You must submit the URL for your project by 12 pm today. All projects should be live online by then.

 

Send your URL and your project description (3p)

to Prof. A by e-mail

aristim@andromeda.rutgers.edu

 

 

ALL REWRITES DUE TODAY by 12noon

Must be printed out and delivered WITH originals

To 322 Bradley Hall