CIMS 1030 Television and New Media

MW 3:30-5pm

Room: FBH 401

Prof. Peter Dechermey (decherne@upenn.edu)(FBH 211)

ASSIGNMENTS

1) Class attendance (10 points) 3 unexcused absences will result in a reduction of your final grade.

Before every class meeting, upload a phrase or sentence that you heard or read during the previous class session or that you read or heard in preparatory material on the syllabus. If you miss a class, you are still responsible for submitting a phrase from the reading. If you miss three of these submissions, you will be marked down a grade (for example A to A-).

3) 60-Second Assignments (there are two)

a) In-Class Presentation (10 points)

Sign up for and do a 60-second in-class oral presentation. You will watch an episode of a 20th century TV show (i.e. made before 2000). In 60 seconds in-class, you will describe and analyze the episode. Using the material we’ve learned in class, what can you tell us about the context (production, cultural, format, etc.)?

b) Video (to be screened in class)(10 points)

Make a 60-second video. The video may be a parody technology commercial or a video in one style of fan video work.

4) Collaborative Annotated Bibliography (20 points)(DUE NOVEMBER 14)

Choose a focused research question (foe example: How did networks use Neilson ratings in programming decisions in the 1950s and 1960s? How did Twitter impact the Arab Spring?). Then identify 5 GREAT sources (articles or book chapters) that help you answer your research question. Write 300-words on each source, describing (a) the conclusions of the source as well as (b) the methods of research that supports it. These entries will be collated in a permanent and public database. You may not include more than one chapter from an individual book. Readings assigned for class do not count. You may use no more than one newspaper or magazine article; the remainder of your sources must come from books and journals.

5) open book midterm (Oct 17) / final (date TBA) (20 points each)

There will be an in-class midterm and a final during the finals period. Please make appropriate travel plans. Booking an early flight is not an excuse for missing your final. The exams are not cumulative. The fist exam will cover the fist section on the course on the history of TV and related topics. The second exam will cover the development of the internet and related topics. Exams are open book, so you are encouraged to take good notes.

READING/VIEWING

All readings and videos will be made available through Canvas.

CLASS MEETINGS, READINGS, and VIEWING

August 31 – Death By Television

Sept 5 – Labor Day – no class

Sept 7 – Guest Speaker: Bill Guttentag

Sept 12 – Shaping the Public Sphere

Robert Darton, “An Early Information Society”

Debora Spar, from Ruling the Waves

Sept 14 – Inventing Television

Steven Johnson, “Error”

Malcolm Gladwell, “In the Air”