Space: 335 State Hall / Time: Wednesdays, 6-9 PM / Instructor: Dr. Jeff Pruchnic / Office: 9308, 5057 Woodward (Maccabees Bldg.) / Office Hours: Wednesdays 9-10:30 AM; Thursdays 2:00-3:30 / Phone: 313-577-3060 (office); 814-574-0252 (mobile)
Course Description:
Writing Machines is designed to introduce students to the increased focus within English Studies on the rhetorics, politics, and aesthetics of new media and information technologies. This semester, we will be focusing on the relationship between logos and tekhne in the Western philosophical tradition; although we will turn several times to the “primal scene” of Greek Antiquity in which these two concepts were originally distinguished, the majority of our time will be spent studying the period from the 1940s to the present. Topics covered will include the impact of technology on contemporary critical and cultural theory; the differences between technics, technology, and broader political-economic-aesthetic trends that we will code in this seminar as “techno-logics;” and, most generally, the kind of work on and with information technology and new media and its associated vectors that takes place within English Studies and the Humanities as a whole. Our list of required texts is available here. In addition to a research paper, course deliverables include weekly responses and a presentation version of the research paper.
Requirements
- Seminar Paper (50%): The major requirement for this course is a 15-25 page seminar paper of “publishable” quality. Although you will have fairly free reign in choosing your topic, all papers must be focused on rhetoric and/or new media and have some connection to the ideas we will be discussing in this course. I am more than happy to help you develop your topic and approach throughout the semester; however, unlike your health insurance carrier, I assume you have pre-existing conditions: a research itinerary or interests that can be molded into a project for this course. Your final project is due via e-mail before midnight December 15.
- Weekly Responses (20%): Each week you will compose a response to the material under review and we will begin each class by reading and discussing these responses. Each response should end with a provocative statement and/or a question that can be used as a jumping-off point for class discussion. As we progress further in the course, these responses may also intersect with your work on the seminar paper. Hard copies of this response will be due at the end of class (and will be returned, with an evaluation, during the next class session). Soft copies of these responses will also be due to the course blog with 48 hours after our course meeting.
- Mock Conference Presentation (30%): We’ll spend our last two sessions conducting mock conference presentations of student projects (i.e., the presentation you would do at an academic conference based on the research/argument of your major project for this class). We will spend some time talking about this assignment throughout the semester and a more detailed rubric of its evaluation will be provided in advance.
Attendance
All participants are expected to attend every session of this course. You are also encouraged to make use of office hours either by appearing in my office in person or chatting online via the “virtual classroom” option on Blackboard.
Student Disability Services
If you have a documented disability that requires accommodations, you will need to register with Student Disability Services (SDS) for coordination of your academic accommodations. The Student Disability Services (SDS) office is located at 1600 David Adamany Undergraduate Library in the Student Academic Success Services department. SDS telephone number is 313-577-1851 or 313-577-3365 (TDD only). Once you have your accommodations in place, I will be glad to meet with you privately during my office hours to discuss your special needs. Student Disability Services’ mission is to assist the university in creating an accessible community where students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to fully participate in their educational experience at Wayne State University.
Please be aware that a delay in getting SDS accommodation letters for the current semester may hinder the availability or facilitation of those accommodations in a timely manner. Therefore, it is in your best interest to get your accommodation letters as early in the semester as possible.
Academic Dishonesty
According to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policy on plagiarism, instructors are required to report all instances of academic dishonesty and the responsibility to notify the student of alleged violations and the action being taken. Both the student and the instructor are entitled to due process in all such cases. Acts of dishonesty may lead to failure in a given course, suspension, or exclusion
The above is plagiarized from the Wayne State Policy on Academic Dishonesty; for more about the definition of plagiarism, consult your local library.
