MEmorials
First, I want to let Michelle present her MEmorial.
Shipka
Second, I want to spend time thinking about Shipka’s Toward a Composition Made Whole. I got the page numbers wrong in the homework section last week (I meant for you to read to page 38), but I still think we can trace out what Shipka means by making composition whole.
In a few weeks, when we are finished with the Kalman project, I will ask you to design a “wholistic” assignment (preferably for FYC, but it could also be for any other class you teach). The assignment sheet will have to include a discussion of Shipka (so be on the look out for quotes that might serve as the basis of an assignment).
On delicious, I have been keeping a tag with this project in mind, my inspiration tag. This is where I store project ideas, things I might try here or in my undergraduate new media class. As we are working on the Kalman project, I will ask you to keep your eyes open for projects that inspire you. Tweet them to me (or, if you use delicious, just tag them and share with me).
A few very different projects to stimulate your imagination:
- Warren Ellis’ MORNING COMPUTER (daily writing / reading notes)
- If you haven’t read Ellis’ Freak Angels, you should. It is free.
- Prince Ea’s “Why I Think the World Should End” (digital manifesto)
- 20 Parking Spaces (installation)
- Facebook cover photos
- Parking Signs (redesigning reality)
- Noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com
Kalman Project
First, I want to watch something. Or somethings.
I am drawn to Kalman’s work because I am interested in the extent to which new media can help steer us away from “thinking” and toward “feeling.” By us, I mean to frame both scholars and teachers (K-Grad School). In short, I believe our institutions place too much emphasis on the power and importance of thought (research, knowledge, etc) and not enough on feeling, which I would connect, via Levinas, rhetorics of pathos, Ulmer + Barthes’ “sting” of the punctum, feminism’s validation of subjective experience (the ME of a MEmorial). Ultimately, I believe cultivation of feeling is key to developing an ethical rhetoric, one less based on agonism/argument and more sensitive to cooperation/tolerance.
But that’s my spin on Kalman. Today, I want you to think through her work in order to develop what you have read into a “wholistic” assignment. To help do this, I am going to ask that you play a little bit of code switching, translating Kalman’s products into a potential process: specifically, I want you to create a recipe for how to make a Kalman. Use the genre of the recipe as literally as you see fit.
So, right now, working in groups of two, I will ask you to make a short video (2 minutes) detailing your recipe. The video needs to have at least one audio track. Preferably two (one track of dialogue, one track of intro/outro music). The video should involve at least one still image. The video needs to follow Stockman’s rules for video that doesn’t suck.
OMG I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO. Yes, you do. It is easy. If you are on a PC, then you have Windows Media Maker. If you are on a mac, then you have iMovie.
Homework
Hi all, I ran out of time last night, and I realize things might be confusing. Let me try to clear things up. Right now, we are working on 4 things.
- First, keep up with SuperBetter and with sf0. Our 4th project is Rhetoric, Gaming, and the Real World. Next week, we’ll open class sharing what quests we have done.
- Second, there is the Kalman recipe–the assignment we worked on in groups last night. This project has two aims: 1) to get you thinking about what Kalman is doing, and how you might do something similar, 2) to get you working with a video editing software. These videos should be 2 minutes. We will look at these in next week’s class.
- Third, there is Project 2, the Kalman project. This is a longer project, in which you will make a Kalman. You may follow the recipe your group made, or you can make something new. You will have until October 17th to make something. That something could/should involve:
- A place
- A dominant narrative
- A subjective experience / a walk
- Details
- Whimsy
- ?
- Fourth, and finally, there is the Shipka project. This is project 3. We will start this project after the Kalman project. Project 3 asks you to design your own project. I want to plant this seed early, so you are looking for inspiration and thinking about possibilities for the next few weeks. If you were teaching a course in new media, what might you teach?
