Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
Unit name |
Past, Present and Futures |
Unit code |
INOV20001 |
Credit points |
10 |
Level of study |
I/5
|
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
Unit director |
Dr. Williams |
Open unit status |
Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None
|
Co-requisites |
None
|
School/department |
Centre for Innovation |
Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
The unit will consider key moments and texts in the history of creative technology and its associated media networks. Specifically, the unit will explore historical transformations of creative media technologies as they pertain to the intersections of art and science. Each year, the unit will focus its case-study approaches through the annually chosen programme thematic (e.g. Health, Environment and Learning).
The unit aims to:
- develop knowledge and critical understanding of histories of creative media technologies, through considering key conceptual and material underpinnings of how our contemporary culture is designed as and through media, using a case-study approach in both teaching and assessment;
- develop an in-depth understanding of theoretical contexts of creative media technologies, ranging from classic texts by Marshall McLuhan and Raymond Williams to the current focus on media ‘archaeologies’;
- develop the ability to analyse and evaluate competing perceptions of creative media technologies;
- develop the ability to describe, evaluate, analyse and critique creative media technologies;
- develop the ability to design and undertake a site-specific case study of a creative media technology as part of a complex network of human and non-human actors.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of histories of creative media technologies;
- engage in a detailed and informed fashion with the theoretical contexts of media technologies;
- analyse and evaluate competing perceptions of media technologies;
- work constructively and creatively in a group-based case-study;
- work independently and reach individual/personal judgements within a collaborative context;
- undertake a site-specific case-study approach to producing an ‘archaeology’ of a media technology or network within the university.
Teaching Information
A combination of interactive lectures and workshops, research and case-study fieldwork (group-based).
Assessment Information
1500 group case study report detailing the histories, contemporary uses and future implications of a single technology of their choice. To be presented as a PDF, in the style of an industry-facing report. (50%) ILO 4-6
2000-word individual reflexive account of group project, which draws on key historical and theoretical contexts (50%) ILO 1-3. Assessed using I Level Criteria
Reading and References
- Jenkins, Henry. 2008. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. NYU Press.
- Kittler, Friedrich. 1999. Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. Stanford University Press
- McLuhan, Marshall. 1994. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. MIT Press.
- Parikka, Jussi, 2012. What is Media Archaeology? Cambridge: Polity Press
- Suchman, Lucy. 2007. Human-Machine Reconfigurations. Cambridge University Press.
- Williams, Raymond. 1971. Television: Technology and Cultural Form. London: Technosphere