MEDS 250 - Medium Specificity

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Medium specificity is a consideration of what makes a medium a medium. The emergence of so-called new media has called attention to the ways in which new forms borrow upon or “remediate” older forms. By asking what aspects a particular medium can surrender to another without losing its particularity, we can form provisional representations of the essential aspects of a given medium, new or old, which differentiate it from others. The course considers old and new media including literature, photography, film, television, computer games, immersive computer environments, new media art, and digital image manipulation, sometimes viewing them comparatively in order to isolate those cultural, economic, and ideological structures which have led to the construction, identification, and conservation of a specific medium.

Topic for 2013/14a:The Book as Medium. A study of the rise of print technology in the west and its impact on the development of the book. Insofar as possible, the method of the class is empirical; class meets in the special collections seminar room where printed books of all sorts are available for inspection. In addition to studying the book as object, the course treats questions concerning the sociology of texts, the influence of books on the nature of reading, the relations between form and content in printed books, and the effects of publishers and printers on the construction of literature. This fall a special focus of the course is on books of knowledge: dictionaries, encyclopedias and other books that try to organize and present the sum of what is known in arts and sciences. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. Mr. DeMaria and Mr. Patkus.

Prerequisite(s): MEDS 160 or permission of the instructor.