NWMEDIA R1B-001 | Session D | 3 units
SYNTHETIC VOICES
Adrian Montufar
M-R | 10AM - 12 PM | Dwinelle 134
The voice calls us like nothing else, often framed as an expression of humanity and individuality, but we’re surrounded by voices with no person behind them, and they’re getting better and better. In this class, we will consider the histories of vocoders, vocaloids, speech synthesis (Siri and Alexa), and AI-assisted vocal deepfakes, reflecting on how these technologies extend and disrupt how we listen to the voice, and how this relationship to technology is raced and gendered.
NWMEDIA 90-001 | Session C | 3 units
EXAMINING SOCIOCULTURAL ISSUES THROUGH TIKTOK
Meg Everett
T, R | 2 - 5PM | Cory 237
TikTok has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times worldwide. Apps like TikTok shape culture while simultaneously being a product of it. Thus, it is the goal of this course to disentangle and deconstruct the multiple and overlapping relationships between the platform, markets, and governance with creators, consumers, communities, and content. We begin the course with a high-level view of platform studies and consider a variety of approaches for investigating TikTok and the ethical implications of these methodologies. Turning to TikTok’s algorithm, we will work to uncover how lines of obscure code have a very visible impact on the content we see, the information we consume, and the communities we create. We then shift to critical perspectives on identity and performance, knowledge-making and dissemination, creator visibility, and content moderation. We conclude the course with a discussion on what TikTok’s culture of remix and collaboration reveals about the politics of authorship within the new attention economy.
NWMEDIA 90-002 | Session D | 3 units
THE DIGITAL INFODEMIC
Wan Nurul Naszeerah
M, W | 12 - 3PM | Social Sciences 174
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a parallel crisis has emerged – the infodemic. As misinformation spread alongside accurate information during the crisis, navigating the digital information landscape becomes challenging. This 6-week course, "The Digital Infodemic," immerses students in the heart of this crisis, offering a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between new media technologies, public health, and communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NWMEDIA 90-003 | Session E | 3 units
INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGIES
Sierra Edd
MTWRF | 9AM - 12PM | Room TBA
This course delves into contemporary Indigenous issues, particularly those intertwined with new media and technology. Guiding the course discussions will be Sierra Edd (Diné), a Coordinator of the Indigenous Technologies program. The course is designed to address pressing topics, including Indigenous representations in film, Indigenous Futurisms, the #LandBack and rematriation movement, Environmentalism, and Indigenous Food systems. These discussions stem from the framework by previous Indigenous Technology lectures which explore the intersection of technology, new media, and conversations about Indigeneity and settler-colonialism to critically envision a sustainable technological future.
NWMEDIA 151AC | Session C | 4 units
TRANSFORMING TECH
Matthew Berry
Online (asynchronous)
In this course, we will study major tech industry controversies and heavily criticized tech products, policies, and effects, including technologies used at the U.S.-Mexico border, social media platforms’ spread of disinformation and fake news, racial bias in algorithms, and internet trolling and harassment. We will also examine tech companies’ long-running tendency to exclude women and non-Asian minorities, and how tech workers have occasionally come under fire for the industry’s harms. Students will be required to brainstorm and design their own interventions into the workings of the tech sector to make it more inclusive, equitable, and diverse.
NWMEDIA 191-001 | Session E | 3 units
INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Nicole Starosielski
M-R | 1-3:30 PM | Valley LSB 2040
M-R | 3:30-5 PM | Social Studies 60 (101), Dwinelle 205 (102), Dwinelle 247 (103), Dwinelle 250 (104)
The digital “cloud” is a real place. It is a patchwork of subsea fiber optic cables (the highways of the internet), internet exchanges (the transit hubs of the internet), and data centers (the interconnection points and storage centers of the internet). Although almost all global digital communications transit these infrastructures, they remain largely invisible—even to businesses, governments, and publics that rely on them. The challenge of this course will be not only to learn about these infrastructures, but to develop innovative representations of them, based on your own original research into the internet’s “plumbing.” Central questions of the course include: How does the internet really work? Who builds it? What challenges do they face? How do we capture and represent this invisible system?