RTF 331R/393Q Fall 2007 Unique # 07460/07880
An ACTLab New Media Course -- Bridging Production and Studies
Weird Science!
Action Between The Worlds
www.actlab.us/weird
Instructor: Sandy Stone (sandy@actlab.us, phone: 302-9933 cell: 695-6732)
Office: The ACTLab.  Office hours by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Joseph Lopez, ludwigvan968@actlab.us, phone: 413-7832t
Guest Lecturer:  Brandon Wiley, brandon@blanu.net
Guest Weird Scientist:  Jerry Chamkis, jchamkis@bga.com
Class meets in the ACTLab Wed 1-4

In the boundaries between hard science and total fakery lies the realm of Weird Science -- where certainty doesn’t exist and people called “experts” battle for control of the meaning of words like “proof” or “fact”.  This course is about that science and those battles.

There are no written exams in ACTLab classes. Instead you will use the theories and tools you acquire during the semester to make stuff about some aspect of weird science. What you make can be in any form: sound, installation, video, computer animation, collage, sculpture, assemblage, performance. You will do this in stages, starting with simple projects and moving to more complex ones, using humor, irony, and unusual approaches and techniques.  We encourage your own interpretation and voice.

Class is in studio and discussion format. This means that your active participation is a course requirement. During the semester I expect you to contribute your own ideas and arguments to the discussions, and to be willing to take the risks such contributions imply.  In ACTLab courses we assume a high level of motivation on your part and your willingness to self-start, set your own goals, think independently, collaborate with others, seek help when you need it, and take risks. Let's make it an interesting semester!

Readings and Resources:  Some class readings are available on the Resource webpage, http://www.actlab.us/weird/resources.html . Some of the resources are there for you to browse as you feel the urge. Also, remember your best resource is always your own curiosity, and Google or Dogpile or Clusty are your best tools. Experiment with keywords and see what happens. When you find something interesting, share it, either in person or via the mailing list weird@actlab.us .

Other ACTLabbies are your greatest resource. A number of people in this class have taken ACTLab New Media classes before, and understand the way we do things. (We call them repeat offenders.) They can be your best resource for how to approach and complete your projects and documentation (see the documentation requirement below).

Critical information

The following six things are required for you to receive a grade:

1.  Attendance at all classes.
2.  Reading all assignments and coming to class prepared.
3.  Participation in discussion.
4.  Successful completion of two mini-projects and one final project.
5.  Successful completion of documentation. See documentation requirement below.
6.  Full cleanup of the ACTLab following final presentations.  Leave it the way you found it -- no better, no worse.

Documentation requirement:

You must provide complete documentation of your work in the form of a web site.  A web site consists of a home page that says something about you, and additional pages for each project as necessary.

Documentation means a description of each project, how it was made, its relationship to the readings and discussions (i.e., its theoretical grounding), your thoughts about the project, etc., together with sound recordings, video, and/or still photos of the work in progress and the completed project.

You will make the web site in four stages.  Each stage consists of documentation of one of the three projects, plus a fourth stage consisting of the homepage with your bio, external links, and whatever additional information you think is relevant.  Stages one and two are due in class the week following project presentations one and two.  Stages three and four are due no later than 5:00 p.m. December 16.

Your web site and all its content must be on the actlab server, nowhere else.  No links to your own content on other servers are allowed, although you may provide "for further information" links to other web sites.  Absolutely no links to UT Webspace are allowed, because Webspace is ephemeral and will break your actlab site later.

All sound files, videos, links, etc., must work, and video and audio must stream.  Videos should be in QuickTime format using Sorensen3 compression hinted for streaming.

We suggest you look at other actlab students' websites, such as http://home.actlab.us/~samanthap02  or http://home.actlab.us/~mckibben, to see what they did.

Grading:

Participation in discussion  		25%
First mini-project			  5%
Second mini-project			20%
Final project    				25%
Documentation (Web site)    		25%
Total    					100%

End of critical information
The books you are required to have for the course are:

Bruno Latour: Science In Action
Sigmund Freud:  Eros and Civilization
Mary Shelley:  Frankenstein

Readings in the Weird Science Reader, available later in the semester:

Shapin and Schaffer:  Leviathan and the Air-Pump
Brian Winslow:  Breakages Limited
Donna Haraway:  Teddy Bear Patriarchy
Donna Haraway:  A Manifesto for Cyborgs
Catherine L. Covert:  We May Hear Too Much
Keir Keightley:  "'Turn it down!' she shrieked"
Lynn Spigel:  Installing the Television Set
James Clifford:  Writing Culture
Sharon Traweek:  Beamtimes and Lifetimes
Bruno Latour:  Science In Action
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari:  A Thousand Plateaus

Some readings will be available on the class Resources website.  A selection:

Hakim Bey:  TAZ
Howard Becker:  Tricks of the Trade
Howard Becker:  How I Learned What a Crock Was

Other resources linked to the class website are there for you to browse as you feel the urge.  Also, remember your best resource is always your own curiosity, and Google or Dogpile or AltaVista are your best tools. Experiment with keywords and see what happens. When you find something interesting, share it, either in person or via the Weird Science mailing list weird@actlab.us .

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Aug 29	Introductions, administrative-fu, intro to methods of this class: what we expect from you, what to expect from us.  A peek at some projects from other Weird Science classes.  Business, such as issuing ACTLab server accounts.

Sept 5	
For Sept 12, read chapter 1 of Howard Becker's "Tricks of the Trade: How to Think About Your Research While You're Doing It" (available online; visit the Weird Science "Resources" page).

Intro to journalling.  Scheduling tutorials.  Today's theme: Science, Dream, and Fantasy.  Points for discussion:  Difference(s) between science and technology, between progressive innovation and leaps of genius.  Understanding "logic".  Dream-logic and waking-logic.  How different cultures differentiate between dreamstate and awakestate.  Great moments in science that originated in dreams.	
(Break)
Science and fantasy: a mutually interacting system?  SciFi literature and films.  In-class film: Melies' "Trip To The Moon", clips from "Destination Moon"; the FBI calls on Robert Heinlein; clips from "Forbidden Planet".  Discussion.    Also discuss first in-class projects.

Sept 12	
For Sept 19, read "Leviathan and the Air-Pump"; "Breakages Limited".

Today's theme:  Science and power.  Points for discussion:  Was Boyle doing "science"?  Or, what was Boyle doing, and how does it relate to last week's discussion of great moments in science?  Does Winston's theory about scientific innovations and technological change explain what happened?  In-class film clip:  "Things To Come", an example of H.G. Wells' writing, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's design, and Alexander Korda's power; and "ExistenZ". Do we have time for this?
(Break)
Discussion, including discussing first in-class projects.  Progress reports.

First project equipment requests:  If you need equipment, make sure you coordinate with Joe no later than Sept 19.

Sept 19
For Oct 3, read "Teddy Bear Patriarchy", "A Manifesto For Cyborgs".
Optional and note that the material is mature:  Watch "Poison" directed by Todd Haynes.  Available at the UGL audio visual library:  VIDCASS 7007 UGL Audio Visual Collection. 

Today's theme:  Gender, Fantasy, and Science.  Points for discussion:  How does symbol in the largest sense (e.g., space, sound, mimetics) influences -- or maybe creates -- subjectivity?  The human experience of awe.  Semiotics of the cathedral and other sacred spaces.  In-class slide show: Androids, the first robots.  Progress reports on the in-class presentations that are due next week. 

Sept 26: FIRST MINI-PROJECT PRESENTATIONS 
No readings for Sept 26.

Oct 3
Readings due for in-class discussion Oct 10:  "We May Hear Too Much"; "'Turn It Down!', she shrieked"; "Installing the Television Set".

Discussion of first in-class presentations.  Journal review.  Discussion:  What are the problems with diffusion of new science?  Technology and gender.  Pushing the boundaries of science.  Cost and risk, "Big Science".

Oct 10
For Oct 17, read the excerpts from "Nobel Dreams" and "The Cancer Cure That Worked", and surf the web sites on Weird Science.

Today's theme:  Daring Too Much?  Discussion: Nobel Dreams and its implications.  Boundary questions: Where do science and quackery meet?  Discussion about Tesla, Reich, Royal R. Rife, Heironymus and the "Psi Machines".  Talk about second in-class presentation on the theme of daring.

Oct 17
For Oct 24, read "Frankenstein".

Today's theme:  Risk and technoscience; substituting quasi-guys for technicians as effort to stabilize innovation.  Points for discussion:  Who's doing the science in "Science In Action"?  The romance of risktaking in a safe age.  Risk in the cinema of technoscience, good and bad.  Driven men.  Science as savior.  Science and death.  In-class film clips:  "Frankenstein" (the original), "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", "Frankenstein" (Andy Warhol).

Second project equipment requests:  If you need equipment, make sure you coordinate with Joe no later than Oct 24. 

Oct 24	TBA

Oct 31: SECOND MINI-PROJECT PRESENTATIONS 

Nov 7
For Nov 14, read the excerpts in Group One from "A Thousand Plateaus".

And then came postmodernism... Science and the invisible; science and metaphor; science and the viral.  Discussion: Rhizomatics, deterritorialization, and the idea of scientific progress.  In-class films: Clips from Cronenberg's "The Fly"

Nov 14
For Nov 21, read the excerpts from "TAZ" and the excerpts in Group Two from "A Thousand Plateaus".

Last in-class discussion!  Give us something to remember you by.  The remainder of class time between now and semester's end will be devoted to the final in-class presentations.
	
Nov 21	TBA

Nov 28	TBA
Studio time. The Teaching Assistants, tutors, and I will be available for support, response, assistance...

Dec 5
Studio time. The Teaching Assistant, tutors, and I will be available for support, response, assistance...

Saturday, Dec 8: FINAL PRESENTATIONS. Bring friends and family.  Refreshments provided.  Wrap-up, farewells.  Have a great, great holiday!

Sunday, Dec 16: Drop Dead Date for web pages.

Dec 18, 9:00 a.m.: Drop Dead Date for professors to submit grades. You know what that means. 

The Fine Print:

This syllabus is V.1.0. It may be updated from time to time as necessary.

Regarding Scholastic Dishonesty: The University defines academic dishonesty as cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process. Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false or misleading information to receive a postponement or an extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting this syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to them. Scholastic dishonesty damages both the student's learning experience and readiness for the future demands of a work-career. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. For more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student Judicial services Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/.

About services for students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

About the Undergraduate Writing Center: The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in the FAC 211, phone 471-6222, offers individualized assistance to students who want to improve their writing skills. There is no charge, and students may come in on a drop-in or appointment basis.

Warning: This class may include explicit representations of, or may advocate simulations of, one or more of the following: Nudity, satanism, suicide, sodomy, incest, bestiality, sadomasochism, adultery, murder, morbid violence, paedophilia, bad grammar, deviate sexual conduct in a violent context, the use of illegal drugs or alcohol, or offensive behavior. But then again, it may not. Should your sensibilities be offended at any time, you are free to leave the classroom without penalty provided that you notify either the instructor or teaching assistant when you do so.

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