Popular Forms of Public Communication -- Fall 2002 -- Syllabus

Communication 3653
Popular Forms of Public Communication
Fall 2002

Prof. Gil Rodman
CIS 3040 // 813-974-3025 // gbrodman@mindspring.com
Office Hours: Th 4-6p or by appointment

course description and objectives

This is a course on communication and popular culture, but it is not designed to be just a sixteen-week long celebration of comic books, hip hop, the Internet, and the like. Instead, our primary focus will be on the politics of popular culture and we will spend our time exploring several different critical and analytical perspectives on the subject. In particular, we will address such questions as:

What do we mean by popular culture? Is there such a thing as unpopular culture? And just what is "culture" anyway?
Of what value is popular culture -- and to whom is it valuable? Is there really anything more to popular culture than "just entertainment"?
Who controls popular culture, what are they doing with it, and should we be worried about this?
Does popular culture work to maintain and reinforce existing forms of (social, cultural, political) power? If so, how? And is this a problem?
Does popular culture help ordinary people to escape and/or resist existing forms of power? If so, how? And is this a good thing?
And why should we study this popular culture stuff anyway?

Bear in mind that few (if any) of the questions we'll address this summer have easy answers. How well you do in this class will depend on your ability to think critically about the role of popular culture in contemporary society and your to argue your position(s) well, not your ability to memorize and repeat the "right" answers.

If all goes well, by the end of this course, you will:

have a basic familiarity with a broad range of critical approaches to the study of popular culture and the mass media,
be able to assess the relative merits of those approaches in specific cases,
possess a critical vocabulary that allows you to provide nuanced descriptions of the role that popular culture plays in contemporary US society, and
be able to make well-informed and persuasive arguments about the politics of popular culture.

WARNING!!!

Do not think that because our primary focal point this semester is popular culture (i.e., something commonly regarded as fun) this will be a "party" course that you can simply coast through effortlessly. While I hope the course will be interesting (and even fun), it will also demand a great deal of work on your part, none of which will go smoothly for you if you assume that you can simply bull your way through because it's "only entertainment."

required course materials

Books
- Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
- Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics
- Greg Ruggiero, Microradio and Democracy
- Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent
- Neal Stephenson, In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line
- Kembrew McLeod, Owning Culture
- Constance Penley, NASA/TREK
All the books are available at Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia, Tampa (253-2638, inkwoodbks@aol.com).
Movies
- Bamboozled
- Fight Club
You are not required to purchase these movies, but they are required out-of-class viewing. Copies are on reserve at the Media Center (6th floor of the library), though you're also free to rent them and watch them at home.
Reliable, regular access to the World Wide Web
All of your written work for this course will be submitted online. As a result, you will not be able to complete the course successfully without being able to access the Web on a consistent basis. If you don't already have access to the Internet from your home or workplace, you will need to make use of the open-use computer labs on campus.

grading schedule

Quizzes		15%
Attendance/Participation		15%
4 Response Papers (10% each)		40%
Group project		30%

Final course grades will not use the plus/minus grading system.

quizzes

Quizzes will take place every week through 19 November during the first 15 minutes of class. Late arrivals will not be given extra time to complete their quizzes and no make-up quizzes will be given. Missing class (or showing up more than 15 minutes late) on a quiz day earns you a failing grade for that quiz.
Each quiz will consist of short-answer questions on that night's assigned reading/viewing. If you've done the reading/viewing closely enough to discuss it in class, you should be able to pass the corresponding quiz.
Quizzes will be graded on a pass/fail basis. You must pass at least 8 of the 12 quizzes to be eligible for a course grade higher than a C. [And, of course, you must still earn your overall grade. Passing 8 or more quizzes doesn't guarantee you an A or a B, and "settling" for 7 passed quizzes doesn't guarantee you a C.]

attendance/participation

Our regular class sessions will run roughly as follows:

6:00-6:15	quiz
6:15-6:25	course business
6:25-7:25	lecture and/or group exercise
7:25-7:35	break
7:35-8:50	discussion

Exact times may vary slightly from one class session to the next, but this is the schedule that we will aim for every time we meet.

Because issues will be raised in class that will not necessarily be obvious from the readings alone, it's important that you show up every time we meet and that you do so on time. Attendance will be taken at the start of every class, and absences, late arrivals, and early departures will all count against you. If you accumulate more than 1.5 weeks in unexcused absences, I reserve the right to lower your semester grade by more than the normal 15% assigned to attendance/participation.

This is not a course designed for the passive spectator, and you will be expected to contribute meaningfully to our discussions on a weekly basis. The minimum level of participation necessary to earn a D for any given week will be to make one meaningful contribution to our in-class discussions. Additional meaningful contributions -- either in class or online -- will boost your weekly participation score proportionately.

A few additional notes/tips re: participation:

Should you miss class, your attendance/participation grade for that week will consist entirely of your contribution to our online discussions. As such, you should plan to contribute to that aspect of our conversations more extensively during the week immediately following any class you miss.
Because participation grades will be calculated on a weekly basis, it will not help you to "pile on" participation points late in the semester to try and make up for weeks when your participation was low.
I will make a deliberate effort to insure that as many people as possible get to contribute to our in-class discussions, but our numbers this semester are too large to guarantee that everyone will be able to earn the maximum possible participation grade each week solely through their contributions to our in-class discussions. As such, contributing to our online discussions on a weekly basis would be a very good idea.
"Fluff" contributions will not help your grade -- and I reserve the right to penalize people who, in my judgment, make repeated and obvious efforts to pad their participation score with off-topic comments.

Our online discussions will take place on Blackboard, a Web-based educational software package accessible through the USF web "portal": https://my.usf.edu

The portal's front page includes information on how to sign up for the USF NetID you'll need to enter the Blackboard site. Once you've logged into the portal successfully, click on the "Courses" tab at the top of the screen, which will lead you to a list of Blackboard sites for your current courses. In addition to our online discussions, we will use Blackboard in several ways this semester:

as a way to communicate course-related announcements between our weekly class meetings
as an online archive for official course documents that's always accessible
as the place where you will turn in all your written work for the class

response papers

You will write four response papers this semester, each of which should be a well-written, thoughtful, critical response to one of the six major sections of the course. Each of these papers is worth 10% of your final grade and should run roughly 750-1000 words in length. Due dates are listed on the course timetable.

Your response papers must be submitted online in the "Response Papers" forum on the Blackboard Discussion Board by 6 pm on the listed due dates. Because you have six possible chances to turn in four papers, due dates are not negotiable. In the event that I accept late work, I reserve the right to reduce its grade in direct proportion to its lateness. The minimum penalty in all such cases will be one full letter grade.

The 750-1000 word count is an estimate of how much you'll need to write to complete the assignments well. I will not automatically penalize shorter papers, but it's unlikely that you will be able to do "A" work if your papers are shorter than the suggested length.

group projects

This is a research project -- worth 30% of your final grade -- that you will work on in groups of 4-5. Your group will choose a particular popular culture phenomenon to analyze using five of the six approaches to studying popular culture that we'll be examining this semester. Ultimately, your project will consist of two major pieces:

an in-class group presentation/performance on the group's project (worth 10% of your final grade, roughly 20 minutes long)
individual written reports (one from each group member, worth 20% of your final grade, roughly 1500-2000 words)

Further details about this project will be made available on a separate handout, but some relevant dates are as follows:

10 September -- I will make formal group assignments.
24 September -- Each group will submit a written proposal that (1) describes the particular popular culture phenomenon their project will focus and (2) provides a tentative plan for how the research and writing will be divided amongst the group's members.
1 October -- I will respond to the various group proposals and, if necessary, provide suggestions for how you might reframe and/or refocus the project more productively.
3 December -- Each group will make a collective presentation/performance on their research to the class.
10 December -- Individual group members will submit written reports on a selected portion of the group's research.

academic integrity

I assume that the vast majority of students are honest -- and so, presumably, what follows won't be an issue for most (all?) of you. For the record, however, and to avoid potentially disastrous misunderstandings, the following is a partial list of major examples of academic dishonesty:

Plagiarism in any of its forms
Copying another student's work -- on quizzes, response papers, or the final project
Having someone else complete response papers, the final project write-up, and/or take quizzes for you
Attempting to consult notes, books, or other outside sources of information during quizzes. [And, for the record, "other outside sources" includes cell phones, pagers, palm pilots, headphones, and other electronic devices.]

The minimum penalty for violation of these rules is a score of zero (0) for the quiz or assignment in question. Depending on the severity of the violation, I reserve the right to assign you a grade of FF for the course (which, by University rules, is not subject to grade forgiveness).

Further information about the University's official policies with respect to academic dishonesty -- including more detailed explanations of what constitutes "plagiarism" and "cheating" -- can be found online at http://www.ugs.usf.edu/catalogs/0203/adadap.htm

miscellaneous

In keeping with the University Policy on Religious Observances, students who anticipate being absent from class due to a major religious observance must provide notice to me in writing by 3 September explaining which class period(s) you expect to miss and why.
If you wish to, you may audiotape our class lectures and/or discussions, provided you can do so without disrupting the ordinary flow of the class. However, the purchase and/or sale of either written notes or audio recordings of our class meetings is strictly prohibited.
Cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc. are to be turned off or set to vibrate silently before you come to class. This is especially important during quizzes. Students caught checking their phone/pager/etc. for messages during quizzes will receive a grade of zero for the quiz in question (see "academic integrity" above).
The discussion portions of our class sessions may occasionally cover topics that provoke strong differences of opinion within the group. I do not expect us to walk away from all (any?) of our class meetings in perfect and total agreement about the issues under discussion, but I do expect all of our conversations to be characterized by mutual respect and collegiality. Impassioned arguments and strongly expressed opinions are perfectly acceptable in this class; verbal bullying and personal attacks, on the other hand, will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

introduction

questions to consider:: *What is "culture"?; *What do we mean by "popular culture"?

Aug 27

no reading

aesthetics

questions to consider:: *What is "art"?; *Why isn't popular culture "just entertainment"?; *Can popular culture be profitable and artistic at the same time?; *Where does the meaning of a given cultural text come from?; *Do the formulas used in popular culture stifle its capacity for creativity and innovation?
recommended viewing: Crumb (1994)

Sep 3	McCloud, Understanding Comics [all]

Sep 10	McCloud, Reinventing Comics [all]

economics

questions to consider:: *What role should the mass media play in a democratic society?; *How does capitalism shape the range of media available to us?; *How liberal are the mainstream media?; *How diverse are the choices available to us when it comes to popular culture?; *What could/would non-profit mass media do differently?
recommended viewing: The Player (1992)

Sep 17	Response Paper #1 (aesthetics) due
	Ruggiero, Microradio and Democracy [all]

Sep 24	Group project topics due
	Hiaasen, Team Rodent [all]

technology

questions to consider:: *What is "technology"?; *What's the difference between "technology" and "nature"?; *Why isn't the best technology always the most widely used -- even when it happens to be the cheapest?; *What (if anything) is wrong with "user-friendly" technology?; *What harm (if any) does technology cause to our culture?
recommended viewing: The Matrix (1999)

Oct 1	Response Paper #2 (economics) due
	Stephenson, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line, pp. 1-69

Oct 8	Stephenson, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line, pp. 70-151

law

questions to consider:: *What is "intellectual property?" How does it differ from "real" property?; *What does it mean to "own" culture? What powers and privileges does legal ownership of culture confer?; *What is "folk culture"? How does it differ from "popular culture"?; *How do we distinguish between "cultural borrowing" and "cultural theft"?; *What impact does digital technology have on intellectual property and popular culture?
recommended viewing: Being John Malkovich (2000)

Oct 15	Response Paper #3 (technology) due
	McLeod, Owning Culture, pp. ix-99

Oct 22	McLeod, Owning Culture, pp. 109-156, 209-226, 237-264

audiences

questions to consider:: *How does oral culture (e.g., jokes) relate to popular culture?; *How does popular culture relate to official governmental policies and programs?; *What role does popular culture play in (inter)national tragedies?; *What (if anything) is the difference between fans and critics?; *What role do fans play in (re)creating and (re)fashioning popular culture?
recommended viewing: High Fidelity (2000)

Oct 29	Response Paper #4 (law) due
	Penley, NASA/TREK, pp. 1-79

Nov 5	Penley, NASA/TREK, pp. 79-148

representation

questions to consider:: *How do popular culture's representations of various segments of society differ?; *What impact do popular culture stereotypes have on real people's lives?; *Should popular culture producers be held responsible for the effects of their work?; *Can popular culture represent itself in such a way as to criticize itself effectively?; *What is the relationship between popular culture representations and personal identity?

Nov 12	Response Paper #5 (audiences) due
	Bamboozled (2000) [movie]

Nov 19	Fight Club (1999) [movie]

Nov 26	NO CLASS
	Response Paper #6 (representation) due

group projects

Dec 3	Group Project Presentations/Performances

Dec 10	NO CLASS
	Group Project Written Reports due

TEN TIPS ON HOW TO DO WELL IN THIS COURSE

Read your syllabus. This document contains the basic ground rules by which this course works, as well as telling you what to read and write and when you need to do so. And while, under exceptional circumstances (e.g., life and death emergencies), I may be willing to bend some of the rules listed here, ignorance of those rules on your part is not such a circumstance.
Read and view the required course materials as scheduled. This should be self-explanatory. But to drive the point home: most of what you'll do for a grade this semester will depend on how thoroughly and thoughtfully you've engaged the assigned readings and movies. If you blow off the required course materials, it will hurt your grade.
Think about what you read and watch. None of the material for this course is intended to be consumed passively. If you're only reading/watching to absorb facts or to be entertained, you will not do well. And while you're certainly allowed (and even encouraged) to learn new facts and have fun, it's more important that you approach the assigned readings and movies in a critical and thoughtful fashion.
Attend class. Not just because I'll take attendance every time we meet, but because our discussions will raise questions about the course material that won't always be obvious from the readings/movies alone. Our meetings will be spent discussing and debating the assigned books and movies, not summarizing them.
Be prepared to discuss the readings/movies. This means more than simply scanning your eyes across the assigned pages in the texts or half-watching the required movies while you concentrate on something else. It means paying careful attention as you read/watch, and then coming to class having thought about what you've read/watched with some care.
Write clearly. This is not a remedial writing class, so you aren't guaranteed a good grade on your written work simply for constructing grammatical sentences made up of properly spelled words. On the other hand, if your grammar (or spelling or punctuation) interferes with my ability to understand what you're trying to say, your grade will be negatively affected.
Argue your points. Do not merely assert them. For example, simply saying that you think that Eminem is a no-talent hack whose music should be banned is far less convincing (and receives far less credit) than explaining why you think so. On a related note, avoid using terms like "obviously," "clearly," and "of course." In most cases, if you have to say something is "obvious," it isn't obvious at all.
Argue your points well. Make sure the facts support your case. Avoid sweeping generalizations. And, perhaps most importantly, anticipate potential counter-arguments to your position -- especially if your argument runs contrary to ideas we've already covered in the course. You don't have to agree with any of our readings, but if you take a contrary position to an argument made in the assigned course material, you do have to explain why you're right and the material in question is wrong.
Take advantage of my office hours. If you don't understand why you received a given grade, or if the reading has you baffled, or if you just want to chat, come to see either me during my office hours or make an appointment to meet with me at some other time.
Think ahead. The chances of my accepting late work without penalizing you improve dramatically with advance notice and a reasonable justification for the anticipated delay. Also bear in mind that the work required of you this semester takes time. This is not a course where simply memorizing a long list of names and dates in the last week of the session will earn you an acceptable grade. The semester will go by much faster than you think, so plan accordingly.

Do you . . .
   (a) . . . need this course to graduate?
   (b) . . . have a job offer for after this semester is over?
   (c) . . . need to get a certain grade to get off academic probation?
   (d) . . . have a spot on an athletic team that depends on your grades?
   (e) . . . have a scholarship that requires you to maintain a certain g.p.a.?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions (or to similar ones), then you should pay particularly close attention to the information below. (And it wouldn't hurt the rest of y'all to do so either.)

Your grade in this course will be based on your performance, not your effort. Trying hard is a good thing (it's certainly better than not trying at all), but it's not the same thing as succeeding. Hard work may improve your grade, but it does not guarantee that you'll earn the grade you want.
You have to earn your grade in this course; I don't simply give it to you. To get an A, you need to do A-level work. I will not give you a passing grade simply because I like you, because you've paid your tuition, because you're graduating, because you're on the tennis team, because you've never gotten a bad grade before, etc. If you need a particular grade to graduate, keep your scholarship, stay in school, etc., you need to do the quality and quantity of work that will earn you that grade.
The semester lasts sixteen weeks -- and they all count. Your course grade is based on the work you do all semester long, not just part of it. Acing the quizzes will not get you an A for the course if you fail the group project; getting an A on the group project will not make up for D's on all four response papers; etc.
The time to worry about your grade for this course is now. Do not wait until December to try and earn whatever grade you need/want. And definitely do not wait until after final grades have been turned in. Coming to me after the semester is over to plead for a better grade will not work -- especially if you seem to be working harder to persuade me to change your grade than you worked to earn it in the first place.
Your chance to earn your grade ends when the semester does. The only exceptions to this rule involve the sort of major life emergencies (e.g., extended hospitalization, death in the immediate family, etc.) that cause you to miss significant portions of the semester. In such cases, I will generally require independent verification of the emergency in question, and you will receive a final grade of "I" pending the completion of the work that you've missed.
There is no "extra paper" option to boost your grade. The syllabus spells out what work is required for this course, and I will not deviate from that to meet the "needs" of individual students. Do not come to me -- during or after the semester -- asking if you can do extra work to bring your D up to a C (or your C up to a B, etc.): the answer will be "No." Guaranteed.
Don't overburden yourself. You may be someone who thrives on pressure, or who doesn't feel challenged by taking eighteen credit hours while also holding down a full-time job and being a single parent. If so, that's a true gift -- and you should use it wisely. Mere mortals, however, should either respect their own limitations (and not try to take on too much at once) or they should recognize (and accept) that trying to juggle too many time- and energy-consuming tasks will generally cause their performance in at least one (and often more than one) of those to suffer.
Your life outside this class is your responsibility, not mine. Homecoming, rush week, your day job, your wedding anniversary, your mother's birthday -- all of these things and more may distract you from your work for this course. And while in exceptional circumstances (e.g., unforeseeable major life emergencies), I may be willing to cut some slack to a genuinely over-tasked student, the ultimate responsibility for juggling the demands made on your time is yours. If you decide that your position at the Oracle (for instance) matters more to you than this course, that's your prerogative -- but you need to recognize that your coursework (and thus your grade) will suffer if you put this class too low on your list of priorities.