FAV103 Comparative Theory of Media

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2005
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Tomáš Dvořák (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Comparative Theory of Media Archaeology of interactivity The objective of the course is to introduce and critically assess contemporary conceptions of interactivity through pursuing an archeology of both the very term interactivity and the so-called interactive processes and practices. In most contemporary media and social theories interactivity defines a new mode of perception or interaction with media technologies. It is usually defined in opposition to the traditional modes of consumption, especially against the idea of the passive mass media recipient (we hear of the shift from the viewer to the user or participant etc.). The course assumes that this conception of interactivity strongly idealizes and mythologizes its subject: the main reason then resides in the one-sided and equally idealized view of the mass media (press, radio, film, television...) audience, in relation to which most of the conceptions of electronic media interaction situate themselves. Therefore the course will put great emphasis upon the genealogy of the modern mass spectator, on the conception of this figure in the second half of the 19th century and its firm establishment during the 20th century. It will describe the critical reactions which rose against such a passive, manipulable, and non-reflective subject from the 1960s on (especially in the context of neomarxist philosophy and sociology and the cultural studies), yet it will equally point out that these are often an extreme reaction to an opposite extreme: replacing one methodological fiction by another and so failing to adequately historicize modes of perception and interaction. It is this general, methodological problem that constitutes the background of the course: how should we conceptualize historical changes in experience, perception, and interaction in relation to the development of media technologies. The general framework of these examinations is constituted by social theory, especial the question of agency (the structure-agency theories, attempts to overcome this dichotomy, and the emphasis put upon the figure of the agent in most contemporary approaches) and the examination of interactivity within the framework of audience and public sphere theories, and the philosophy of technology and media dealing with the human-machine encounters (analyses of the concepts of mechanization, automation, cybernation, interactivity, interface etc.). Assessment: an essay. Basic literature: Margaret S. Archer, Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory. Cambridge UP 1996. Michail M. Bachtin, François Rabelais a lidová kultura středověku a renesance. Praha: Odeon, 1975. Jean Baudrillard, La société de consommation; Le systéme des objets. Gallimard 1968. Jay David Bolter Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media. The MIT Press 2000. Roger Caillois, Hry a lidé: maska a závrať. Praha 1998. Michel de Certeau, LInvention au quotidien I: Arts de faire. Gallimard 1980. Jonathan Crary, Techniques of the Observer, The MIT Press 1990; Suspensions of Perception: Attention, Spectacle, and Modern Culture. The MIT Press 1999. Johan Huizinga, Homo ludens: o původu kultury ve hře. Praha: Dauphin 2000. George P. Landow (ed.), Hyper/Text/Theory. Johns Hopkins UP 1994. Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media. The MIT Press 2001. Marie-Laure Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Johns Hopkins UP 2003. Teorie vědy: archeologie interaktivity. Roč. 26, 2004, č. 2. Noah Wardrip-Fruin Nick Montfort (eds.), The New Media Reader. The MIT Press 2003. Noah Wardrip-Fruin Pat Harrigan (eds.), First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. The MIT Press 2004.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Povinně volitelná přednáška. Ukončení - kolokvium: esej. Požadavky k ukončení kurzu: vypracování kritické studie (cca 10 normostran) na jedno ze zadaných témat (po konzultaci s pedagogem si studenti mohou zvolit i téma vlastní). Jejich seznam, spolu s vybranými texty představujícími povinnou literaturu (cca 250 stran) a úplným seznamem literatury doporučené obdrží studenti na začátku semestru.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: středa 20.4. 15.00 - 18.00 a čtvrtek 21.4. 10.00 - 12.30, pondělí 2.5. 11.45 - 14.45 a úterý 3.5. 10.00 - 13.00, středa 18. 5. 15.00 - 18.00 a čtvrtek 19.5. 10.00 - 13.00.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2004.
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