HUM 480W : Media and Experience

Media have a long history. The term refers to the means of encoding and transmitting information beyond its original setting. It covers all technologies of inscription, not only the latest ones: from rhyme and writing to the Internet and virtual reality. "Mediology" (or the science of the media) argues that transmission alters the nature of the message -- the world encoded is the world reconfigured to be otherwise than it used to be. Do media function as prosthetic enhancements of our senses? Or do they bend hearing, seeing and sensing into shapes that would never emerge in the first place? Does the experience of the media obscure the nature of their impact? Who is the media subject: Narcissus or Orpheus? In addition to classic theories of the media (Marshall McLuhan, Walter Benjamin, Niklas Luhmann), this advanced seminar will also consider the emerging environmental media theories.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.