History of Communications COMS 200 – CRN 125 03 Credits Fall 2010 Tues./Thurs. 13:05­14:25 in Arts W­215

Instructors: Lisa Sumner & Stefana Lamasanu [email protected], [email protected]

Office hours: Thursdays, 14:30‐15:30h, W‐245.

TA: Ryan Diduck

[email protected]. Office hrs: TBA

Course Description: The course surveys the social and cultural implications of major developments in communications from prehistory to the electronic era. We will examine transformations in and relations between communication technologies from antiquity to the new media technologies of today. The course aims to expose students to the mutual interplay of technological innovation and cultural and historical context in producing changes in communication. Restriction: Not open to students who have ENGC 200. McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/ for more information).

Class and Reading Schedule

Thursday, September 2: Hand out syllabus.

September 7­9: introduction and early communication technologies Harold A. Innis. “The Bias of Communication.” Daniel Drache (ed.) Staples, Markets, and Cultural Change: selected essays of Harold A. Innis. Montreal: McGill‐Queen’s University Press, 1995. p. 325‐349.

Peggy Orenstein. “Growing up on Facebook.” The New York Times Magazine. March 15, 2009.

Stephen Burt. “Always On.” London Review of Books. volume 32, number 11, 10 June 2010, pp. 21‐22.

1 Hand out Assignment One. Due Thursday, September 16th at the start of class. Worth 20% of final grade.

September 14­16: books and reading before printing Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier “Introduction.” Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier (eds). A History of Reading in the West. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. p. 1‐36. Screening: Excerpt from The Name of the Rose. Neue Constantin Film; produced by Bernd Eichinger; screenplay by Andrew Birkin, Gerard Brach, Howard Franklin, Alain Godard ; directed by Jean‐Jacques Annaud. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2005.

Printing Transforms Knowledge. Co‐produced by BBC‐TV and RKO Pictures; produced by John Lynch. Los Angeles, CA: Churchill Films, 1986. 52 mins.

Assignment One due at the start of class on Thursday, September 16th .

September 21­23: printing press Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. "The Unacknowledged Revolution." The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communication and Cultural Transformations in Early­Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. p. 3‐11.

Guest Lecture: Brian Morgan, Art Director, The Walrus. “Unpacking Times New Roman”.

September 28: news and newspapers Raymond, Joad. “Introduction: What news?” The Invention of the Newspaper: English Newsbooks 1641­1649. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 1‐19. Baldstay, Gerald J. "Introduction." E.W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. p. 1‐8. Screening: Excerpt from Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. A film by Mark Achbar, Peter Wintonick , produced by Peter Wintonikc, Mark Achbar, Adam Symansky; produced by Necessary Illusions in co‐production with the NFB/ Telefilm Canada. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada; Mongrel Media ; Métropole Films Distribution, 2007.

September 30: telegraphy Czitrom, Daniel. "Lightning Lines." Media and the American Mind: from Morse to McLuhan. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982. p.3‐29. Screening: The Great Transatlantic Cable. A Green Umbrella film for American Experience;

2 written and produced by David Axelrod; directed by Peter Jones. Alexandria, VA: PBS Home Video, 2005. 60 minutes.

October 5: magazines and mass culture Ohmann, Richard. “The Origins of Mass Culture.” Selling Culture: Magazines, Markets, and Class at the Turn of the Century. London & New York: Verso, 1996. p. 11‐30.

Fraser Sutherland. "Introduction: Portable Receptacles." The Monthly Epic: A History of Canadian Magazines 1789­1989. Markham, Ont.: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1989. p. 1‐13.

Screening: Excerpt from Helvetica. Producer, Matt Grady. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Plexifilm ; Swiss Dots Ltd., 2007.

October 7: advertising & consumerism Arvind Rajagopal. “Advertising, Politics and the Sentimental Education of the Indian Consumer.” Visual Anthropology Review. Vol. 14, no. 2, Fall‐Winter 1998.

Guest Lecture: Anthropologist Mandeep Basi. “Entering and Entreating an Emerging Market: Advertising and the Local­Global Interface in India”.

October 12: In­class midterm exam (worth 30% of final grade).

October 14: CLASS CANCELLED.

October 19­ 21: early film Mast, Gerald. 1992. “Birth” in A Short History of the Movies. Toronto: MacMillan, p.9‐ 26.

Hansen, Miriam. 1991. “Early Audiences: Myths and Models: Introduction” in Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 60‐68.

Screening: Excerpts from The Movies Begin: a Treasury of Early Cinema: 1894­1913. Film Preservation Associates; BFI, produced by David Shepard and Heather Stewart. Kino on Video, New York, NY: 2002. Excerpts from Dawn of the Eye. CBC/BBC/History Channel, CBC Learning, Toronto: 2007.

October 26­28: the film industry Schatz, Tom. 2008. “The Studio System and Conglomerate Hollywood” in The Contemporary Hollywood Industry, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, p. 11‐42.

3 Screening: Excerpts from: In the Shadow of Hollywood, National Film Board of Canada/ONF, written by Sylvie Groulx, produced by Eric Michel, 2000. Excerpts from Dawn of the Eye. CBC/BBC/History Channel, CBC Learning, Toronto: 2007.

November 2­ 4: radio Douglas, Susan J. 2004. “Exploratory Listening in the 1920s” in Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination, from Amos ‘n’ Andy and Edward R. Murrow to Wolfman Jack and Howard Stern. New York: Times Books/Random House, p. 55‐82.

Marvin, Carolyn. 1999. “Early Uses of the Telephone” in Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society. New York: Addison Wesly Longman, pp. 155‐162.

Peters, John Durham. 1999. “Radio: Broadcasting as Dissemination (and Dialogue)”, in Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 206‐211.

Screening: War of the Worlds (audio recording), written by H, G Wells, starring Orson Welles, Metacom, Plymouth: 1994. Excerpts from Radio Days, Orion Pictures Corporation, HBO Video, New York: 1987 (originally released in 1977). Excerpts from Cold Waves. Directed by Alexandru Solomon. Paul Thiltges Distributions, 2007

November 9, Tuesday: television Assignment Two due at the beginning of the class. Guest Lecture: Andrea Braithwaite. Spigel, Lynn. 1992. “Television in the Family Circle” in Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postward America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 36‐72.

Screening: Excerpts from Dawn of the Eye, CBC/BBC/History Channel, CBC Learning, Toronto: 2007.

November 11, Thursday: the broadcast industry Raboy, Mark. 1990. “Introduction” in Missed Opportunities: The Story of Canada’s Broadcasting Policy. Montreal: McGill‐Queen’s University Press, p. 5‐15.

Armstrong, Robert. 2010. “Copyright, Broadcasting, and the Internet”, in Broadcasting Policy in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p.192‐204.

4 Screening: Excerpts from Dawn of the Eye, CBC/BBC/History Channel, CBC Learning, Toronto: 2007.

November 16, Tuesday: the internet Guest lecture: Ryan Diduck Carr, Nicholas. 2008. “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains,” in Atlantic Magazine, July/August 2008. Available online: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is‐ google‐making‐us‐stupid/6868/

Screening: Excerpts from Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Zeitgeist Films. 2006.

November 18­23: convergence Jenkins, Henry. 2006. “Introduction” in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York and London: New York University Press, p.1‐24.

Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. 2000. “Introduction: the Double Logic of Remediation”, in Remediation, Understanding New Media. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2006.

Manovich, Lev. 2002. “How Media Became New” and “The Myth of Interactivity” in the Language of New Media. MIT, p. 45‐49 and 70‐74. Available online: http://www.manovich.net/LNM/Manovich.pdf

Screening TBA.

November 25, Thursday. copyright and the public domain Screening: Excerpts from: Rip! A Remix Manifesto. http://films.onf.ca/rip‐a‐remix‐manifesto/

Good Copy Bad Copy, http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/

Steal This Film. http://www.stealthisfilm.com

November 30, Tuesday. Wrap­up. Lipartito, Kenneth. 2003. “Picturephone and the Information Age: The Social Meaning of Failure” in Technology and Culture 44 (1): pp. 50‐81.

Screening: Towards 2000. CTV special report on new technology. Aired on March 7, 1993. http://www.opensourcecinema.org/node/5502

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December 2. No Class. Final essays are due.

Assignments

September 16th: Assignment One (worth 20% of final grade): Due at the start of class. Peggy Orenstein suggests Facebook safeguards against loneliness and maintains continuity with the past, which she sees as a potential barrier to personal growth. Do digital technologies support permanence and tradition? How does online social networking challenge or complement Harold Innis’s ideas surrounding communication media? Write a 3‐4 page (double‐spaced) paper informed by Innis’s arguments about the nature of different communication media which critically analyzes Orenstein’s assumptions about Facebook. Use the Stephen Burt article ‘Always On’ to support and expand the points raised in your paper. Late assignments will be deducted 10% for each day late unless a valid medical note is presented.

October 12th: In­class midterm exam (worth 30% of final grade): The exam will cover all course material (readings, lectures, screenings) from the start of the class to October 12th. You will write the exam in­class on October 12th. Details about the exam’s format will be announced in class. A valid medical note explaining why the student was absent from class THE DAY OF THE EXAM is required to write a makeup exam.

November 9th: Assignment Two (worth 10% of the final grade): Proposal paper for the final essay. Due at the start of class.

December 2nd: Final take­home assignment (worth 40% of final grade): Analyse a recent media event, using two readings and one lecture (including audio‐visual material) from the last half of the course, in order to show how it is constructed as a cultural, economic, and/or political product. Details will be provided in class, after the midterm exam. Papers will be due December 2nd, by 4pm in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies. We will be in our office to receive them between 3 pm and 4 pm. If you arrive earlier just leave it in the departmental drop box.

Late policy: It is the student’s responsibility to keep up with course material and turn work in on time. Assignments are due at the start of class on the date they are due. Late assignments will be deducted 10% for each day late. In the case of

6 exams, a valid medical note explaining why the student was absent from class THE DAY OF THE EXAM is required to write a makeup exam. No exceptions. Please be advised that your instructors reserve the right to determine the acceptability of submitted documentation.

Email Policy Be advised that we generally won’t answer emails on the weekend, during holidays, the day before an exam, and that we will respond to emails as time permits and depending on their urgency. If your email requires more than a 3‐line answer, come see us during office hours or make an appointment.

Webct It is the student’s responsibility to come to class and take notes from the lecture material. Your instructors will decide what and when they post, or do not post, on webct. Technical difficulties with webct do happen and they are not an excuse for a student’s performance on assignments and exams.

Policy On Mobile Computing Laptops are fine for class use provided they are used exclusively for course work. THIS MEANS NO FACEBOOK, ONLINE GAMES, ETC., DURING CLASS. Your instructors and fellow students find such behaviour inappropriate and distracting.

Additional University Resources: The Writing Centre: Room 244 Education Bldg., 398‐6960 [http://www.mcgill.ca/writing/]. The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) provides a broad range of support and services to assist students, faculty, and staff with disabilities. They are located in suite 3100 Brown Student Services Bldg., 398‐6009 (voice), 398‐8198 (TDD), [http://www.mcgill.ca/osd/]. The Counseling Service provides personal, academic, and career counseling to undergraduate and graduate students. They also offer workshops on study skills, multiple choice exams, text anxiety/stress management. They can be found at suite 4200 Brown Student Services Bldg, 398‐3601 [http://www.mcgill.ca/counselling/].

Language You may submit your work in either French or English.

Office for Students with Disabilities If you require special testing accommodations or other classroom modifications, please notify us and Office for Students with Disabilities by the end of the first week in which you are enrolled in the course. They are located in suite 3100 Brown Student Services Bldg., 398‐6009 (voice), 398‐8198 (TDD), [http://www.mcgill.ca/osd/].

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