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--- media_activism:syllabus [2015/11/28 18:20] – [Units] nathanairplane
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-# Media Activism
-Depending on whom you ask, online activism is either a silver bullet or a lost cause. It's often both at the same time. Through a hands-on examination of the strategies and tactics of movements, past and present, we'll discover how media can shape social change and become more savvy media activists ourselves.
-The central theme of the course is the craft of agency in media for social change. Whom does a particular media choice empower, and whom does it render as a passive consumer? How do we choose our heroes, and what are the consequences of those choices? How can we tell stories of change that invite people to take part in changing the world?
-Our work will consist of close reading, familiarizing ourselves with relevant debates, and honing our own practice.
-## Expectations
-In this course, we learn about media activism while doing it. Students are expected to participate through their passionate, strategic, pragmatic advocacy. The assignments are oriented toward applying the texts we study toward creative media interventions.
-The reading assignments are substantial, and students are expected to complete them. This does not necessarily mean close reading of every page, but it does mean engaging rigorously with portions of particular interest, as well as familiarizing oneself with the works as a whole and thinking critically about their interconnections.
-### Weekly
-Each week, students are expected to turn in a one-page sketch that articulates a) a challenge or problem found in the week's texts and b) an outline for an original media intervention that addresses it. The purpose of this assignment is to exercise our own sense of agency. It can take the form of any media that fits on one side of one page.
-In class, students should be active participants and make contributions to the discussion that reflect strenuous engagement with the assigned texts.
-### Final
-Each student will complete a final project in the form of a critical media intervention that is ready to deploy upon completion. In the proposal, the project's objective and medium should be explained and justified, citing relevant texts and reflecting on the agency of the producer and the intended audience. Students will constructively review each other's drafts before submitting the final draft.
-Group projects are encouraged, but each student should complete and turn in a discrete portion of the larger project.
-### Evaluation
-  * Class participation: 30 points
-	* Demonstrate active, strenuous engagement with the texts and discussions
-	* Please discuss any missed classes with the instructor
-  * Weekly interventions: 30 points
-	* Demonstrate sophisticated grasp of the text at hand and adventuresome thinking
-  * Final project: 40 points
-	* Proposal: 15 points
-		* Explain and justify the project idea in an 800-to-1,000-word text explaining the background, objective, and rationale, citing relevant texts
-		* Revise until approved by instructor
-	* Project draft: 10 points
-		* Complete a draft of the project that meets the expectations agreed upon in the proposal
-	* Peer review: 5 points
-		* Provide constructive feedback for at least 3 fellow students' drafts
-	* Final draft: 15 points
-		* Turn in a ready-to-deploy, polished draft demonstrating evidence of improvement informed by peer review
-## Agreements
-  * We will work together to foster a respectful, accessible community based on creativity, accommodation, and attention.
-  * When problems arise, we will seek to address them collaboratively---first through dialogue, then through revision of these agreements, then through recourse to the instructor or administrators.
-  * We respect one another's privacy. Content shared in class or online will not be shared with anyone outside of the class.
-  * We will keep use of screen devices in class time to a minimum, for such purposes as referring to course readings. Note taking should be done on paper.
-  * We adhere to basic university standards regarding accessibility and academic integrity; we take responsibility for understanding them and the relevant procedures.
-## Units
-  * [[media_activism:unit:agency|Agency]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:power|Power]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:protagonism|Protagonism]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:confession|Confession]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:manifesto|Manifesto]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:process|Process]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:leaks|Leaks]]
-  * [[media_activism:unit:danger|Danger]]
-### Fact
-  * Science-based activism
-  * Infographics
-  * And deception: The Yes Men
-### Networks
-  * Account of ancient underground cells?
-  * Castells, _Networks of Outrage_...
-### Publishing
-  * Martin Luther or Diggers
-  * Walt Whitman's temperance writings
-  * Coleman on Indymedia?
-  * A history of pamphleteering or samizdat
-  * Business of Books
-### Memory
-  * Solnits on the telling of the story of 1999
-  * Something from Calabrese (ed), _Communication Rights and Social Justice: Historical Accounts of Transnational Mobilizations_
-### Bureaucracy
-  * Some evaluation of effectiveness of online activism
-  * Political campaigns
-  * Harrison interview
-  * Purpose, Kony, etc.
-  * Facebook: http://is.gd/Ge9VYW
-  * Peter Dauvergne and Genevieve LeBaron, _Protest Inc.: The Corporatization of Activism_ (Polity, 2014)
-### Apocalypse
-  * Climate
-  * May Day
-  * Keller
-  * Le Guin, "The Day Before the Revolution"
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-*This syllabus is a living document. Any part of it may be brought up for discussion and modified by a consensus of those present during any official class period.*