IML 601 Seminar in Media and Design Studies
Units: 4.0
Tuesdays, 16:00 – 18:50
Course website: IML601.com
Instructor: Kiki Benzon (she/they)
Office Hours: by appointment
Contact Info: kbenzon@cinema.usc.edu
Course Description
In this course, we will delve into a set of media and design discourses toward understanding how they inform our arts research practices. We will investigate and experiment with the methodologies and critical potencies of theory/practice—a hybrid, intrinsically interdisciplinary mode of research that exploits the symbiotic relationship between criticality and artmaking. We will traverse a range of media- making practices and forms—from media-rich narrative and critical game design to interactive documentary and AI-generated/collaborative art.
Learning Objectives
– to deepen our archive of media theory and design practices, especially in relation to one’s own body of work and creative goals
– to familiar ourselves with a range of media arts practices and think about ways these might connect with our own work
– to articulate one’s own research methodology and situate one’s own theory/practice in dialogue with broader critical and cultural contexts
– to develop or extend our technical/crafting skills in studio and workshop sessions
Required Readings and Supplementary Materials
Readings will be provided as PDFs.
Description and Assessment of Assignments
Participation (10%): Active engagement with ideas, activities, and discussions is imperative for your success in the course. You should have read/watched/experienced the assigned texts before each class. You begin the course with full marks for participation; your participation mark will be reduced if you miss opportunities to engage with ideas and works in the course. Honor the research and creations of your peers, in particular.
Weekly (5) Critical Engagements—Writing or Making (5% each). You are asked to engage with the week’s themes and readings through a written reflection (400-500 words) or a creative work. The latter may assume any form that seems appropriate to you or that you would like to experiment with, so long as you are able to articulate its relationship to the week’s topic. So that we all have a chance to engage with your reflection/work before our weekly meetings, I would ask that you submit them to the course website before 19:00 on the Mondays before our Tuesday meetings (having done so is part of your 5% mark.)
Presentation (30%): In the first week of class, you will choose a date/topic for your presentation (60-75 minutes – longer is fine if you are organizing something that will take a bit more time). While it is essential that you engage with and lead discussion on the week’s readings (one of which you will assign at least a week in advance), you may also include an activity or workshop that will deepen our understanding of the week’s topic.
Final Submission (35%): You are invited to submit any of the following: 1) a 15-20 page paper that engages with themes/discourses we have encountered during the course, 2) an arts-based project accompanied by a 5-8 page reflection about its connection to media or design studies discourse, or 3) a 10-12 page research plan that includes a literature review, methodology, and, optionally, a pitch deck.
MA+P Division Absence Policy
MA+P classes depend on group work and in-class critique, which makes attendance crucial. You are expected to be present for every scheduled class session. If you must miss a class, please be sure to get any notes and assignments from a classmate so you do not fall behind. Students are allowed two absences before a reduction in grade. Tardiness or leaving class early for (0 to 15 minutes) will be considered ½ an absence. Missing more than 30 minutes of a class is considered an absence. After your second absence, each additional absence will lower your final grade by 5%.
Grading Breakdown
| assignment | % of grade |
| participation | 10% |
| weekly engagements (5) | 25% |
| presentation | 30% |
| final submission | 35% |
| TOTAL | 100% |
Grading Scale
A 95-100
A- 90-94
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F 59 and below
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: August 27 – Via Zoom (link will be sent out)
introduction to the course
Week 2: September 3
design fictions / speculative prototyping
| assigned | Bleecker, Julian. Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction. Near Future Laboratory, 2009
Dunne, Anthony & Fiona Raby. “A Map of Unreality.” Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. Cambridge: MIT, 2013. 11-32. |
| design activity | The Thing (Film) from the Future |
Week 3: September 10
media studies and arts-based research
| assigned | Schreiber, Rebecca M. “The Work of Arte Urgente: Performative Acts of Political and Artistic Imagination.” Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture. 4. 3: 23–43.
Please also see: https://www.calebduarte.org/obras McPherson, Tara. “U.S. Operating Systems at Mid-Century: The Intertwining of Race and UNIX.” Race After the Internet. Routledge, 2013. Nakamura, Lisa. “Indigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic Manufacture.” American Quarterly. 66.4 (2014): 919-941. |
| suggested | Hall, Stuart. “Encoding/Decoding.” Culture, Media, Language. Edited by Stuart Hall, et al. London: Hutchinson, 1980.
Keeling, Kara. Queer OS. Cinema Journal. 53.2 (2014): 152-157. Smith, Hazel and Roger T. Dean. eds. “Introduction: Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice – Towards the Iterative Cyclic Web.” Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts. Edinburgh, 2009. |
| presentation |
Week 4: September 17
design and failure / making and breaking
| assigned | Kane, Carolyn L. “Colors of Error.” High-Tech Trash: Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic Failure. Oakland: University of California Press, 2019. 29-46.
Steyerl, Hito. “In Defense of the Poor Image.” e-Flux Journal. 10 (2009). Zylinska, Joanna. “Loser Images: A Feminist Proposal for Post-Anthropocene Visuality.” Working at the Intersection: Architecture After the Anthropocene. Harriet Harriss & Naomi House, eds. Taylor & Francis. 2022. |
| recommended | Martínez, Francisco. “Insiders’ Manual to Breakdown.” Repair, Brokenness, Breakthrough: Ethnographic Responses. Martínez and Laviolette, eds. Berghahn Books, 2019. |
Week 5: September 24
narrative across media
| suggested | Combrink, Louisemarié. “A Narratological Perspective on Installation Art.” de arte. 56 (2021): 29-51.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan, eds. MIT, 2004. Tanenbaum, Josh and Karen Tanenbaum. “The Reading Glove: Designing Interactions for Object-Based Tangible Storytelling.” Augmented Human Conference, 2010. |
| presentation |
Week 6: October 1
document and archive
| suggested | Nash, Kate. “Interactive documentary and the political: Civic cultures and convening publics.” Interactive Documentary: Theory and Debate. Routledge, 2022.
Miller, Liz and Martin Allor. “Choreographies of collaboration: social engagement in interactive documentaries.” Studies in Documentary Film. 10.1. (2016): 53–70. |
| presentation |
Week 7: October 8
no class – fall recess
Week 8: October 15
critical play / games of intervention
| suggested | de Certeau, Michel. “‘Making Do’: Uses and Tactics.” The Practice of Everyday Life, 1980.
Flusty, Steven. “Thrashing Downtown:Play as resistance to the spatial and representational regulation of Los Angeles.” Cities. 2. (2000): 149-158. Harvey, Alison. “Twine’s Revolution: Democratization, Depoliticization, and the Queering of Game Design.” Game: The Journal of Italian Game Studies. (2014): 95-107. |
| presentation |
Week 9: October 22
materiality & craft
| suggested | Bennett, Jane. “The Agency of Assemblages Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
Hertz, Garnet and Jussi Parikka. “Zombie Media: Circuit Bending Media Archaeology into an Art Method.” Leonardo. 45.5 (2012): 424–430. |
| presentation |
Week 10: October 29
waste, labor, and media technologies
| suggested | Ensmenger, Nathan. “The Environmental History of Computing.” Technology and Culture. 59.4 (2018): S7-S33.
Crawford, Kate. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press, 2021. Fuller, Matthew and Olga Goriunova. Bleak Joys: Aesthetics of Ecology and Impossibility. University of Minnestoa Press, 2019. Parikka, Jussi. A Slow, Contemporary Violence: Damaged Environments of Technological Culture. Sternberg Press, 2016. |
| presentation |
Week 11: November 5
media art & generative AI
| suggested | Arielli, Emanuele and Lev Manovich. “AI-aesthetics and the Anthropocentric Myth of Creativity.” Nodes Journal of Art and Neuroscience, 2022.
Tao, Feng. “A New Harmonisation of Art and Technology: Philosophic Interpretations of Artificial Intelligence Art.” Critical Arts. 36 (2022). Grba, Dejan. “Deep Else: A Critical Framework for AI Art” Digital. 2.1 (2022): 1-32. |
| presentation |
Week 12: November 12
performance & immersion
| suggested | Barad, Karen. “Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter.” Signs. (2003): 801-831.
Wilson, Harry Robert. “New ways of seeing, feeling, being: intimate encounters in virtual reality performance.” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 16.2 (2020): 114-133. |
| presentation |
Week 13: November 19
| activity | Destiny Handbag and Olafur Eliasson at the MOCA |
Week 14: November 26
| activity | George Washington Carver at the California African American Museum |
Week 15: December 3
final submission demos / wrap-up
Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems
Academic Conduct
Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Section 11, Behavior Violating University Standards https://scampus.usc.edu/1100-behavior-violating-university-standards-and-appropriate-sanctions . Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university policies on scientific misconduct, http://policy.usc.edu/scientific-misconduct. Discrimination, sexual assault, and harassment are not tolerated by the university. You are encouraged to report any incidents to the Office of Equity and Diversity http://equity.usc.edu or to the Department of Public Safety http://capsnet.usc.edu/department/department-publicsafetyonline-forms/contact-us. This is important for the safety of the whole USC community. Another member of the university community – such as a friend, classmate, advisor, or faculty member – can help initiate the report, or can initiate the report on behalf of another person. The Center for Women and Men http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/cwm/ provides 24/7 confidential support, and the sexual assault resource center webpage http://sarc.usc.edu describes reporting options and other resources.
Support Systems
A number of USC’s schools provide support for students who need help with scholarly writing. Check with your advisor or program staff to find out more. Students whose primary language is not English should check with the American Language Institute http://dornsife.usc.edu/ali , which sponsors courses and workshops specifically for international graduate students. The Office of Disability Services and Programs http://sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/home_index.html provides certification for students with disabilities and helps arrange the relevant accommodations. If an officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible, USC Emergency Information http://emergency.usc.edu will provide safety and other updates, including ways in which instruction will be continued by means of blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technology. Course Exam, Project and Paper Retention Policy It is the responsibility of all students in Cinema and Media Studies courses to retrieve all papers, projects, assignments and/or exams within one academic year of completion of a course. These records may be essential in resolving grade disputes and incompletes as well as assist in verifying that course requirements have been met. The Cinema and Media Studies will dispose of all records from the previous academic year in May of the current academic year. No exceptions. Please be in contact with your TAs about collecting these documents while you are taking the course.
Academic Conduct:
Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, “Behavior Violating University Standards” https://policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-b/. Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university policies on scientific misconduct, http://policy.usc.edu/scientific-misconduct.
Statement on Fair Use:
Fair use is a legal principle that defines certain limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holders. MA+P projects are produced with fair use doctrines in mind using its four pillars: (1) the purpose and character of use, (2) the nature of the copyrighted work, (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. Generally speaking, this means you must only use as much of a copyrighted work as is necessary to make your point, and you must cite your sources accordingly.
Citation Guidelines:
We assert that work produced in our classes is covered under the Doctrine of Fair Use. In order to make this claim, however, all projects must include academically appropriate citations in the form of a References section, which covers all sources, in order to receive a passing grade. The References section is either included in the project itself or as a separate document, as appropriate. For citation purposes, we follow Kairos Journal of Rhetoric,Technology and Pedagogy style guide; Kairos uses APA format, which is slightly modified and whose general guidelines and specific examples may be found here: http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/styleguide.html#apa
Computer Code:
Computer code is often shared and reused. This is appropriate in a MA+P course unless otherwise directed by the assignment. If you do use code, you should attribute it. Please follow these protocols from MIT which call for placing a comment in one’s code with a URL to the original source, a note if it was adapted, and the date of retrieval: https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/writing-code
Support Systems:
Counseling and Mental Health – (213) 740-9355 – 24/7 on call
studenthealth.usc.edu/counseling
Free and confidential mental health treatment for students, including short-term psychotherapy, group counseling, stress fitness workshops, and crisis intervention.
Student Health Leave Coordinator – 213-821-4710
https://policy.usc.edu/student-health-leave-absence/
Located in the USC Support and Advocacy office, the Health Leave Coordinator processes requests for health leaves of absence and advocates for students taking such leaves when needed.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1 (800) 273-8255 – 24/7 on call
Free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention and Services (RSVP) – (213) 740-9355(WELL), press “0” after hours – 24/7 on call
studenthealth.usc.edu/sexual-assault
Free and confidential therapy services, workshops, and training for situations related to gender-based harm.
USC Office of Equity and Diversity (OED)- (213) 740-5086 | Title IX – (213) 821-8298
equity.usc.edu, titleix.usc.edu
Information about how to get help or help someone affected by harassment or discrimination, rights of protected classes, reporting options, and additional resources for students, faculty, staff, visitors, and applicants. The university prohibits discrimination or harassment based on the following protected characteristics: race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, and any other characteristic which may be specified in applicable laws and governmental regulations. The university also prohibits sexual assault, non-consensual sexual contact, sexual misconduct, intimate partner violence, stalking, malicious dissuasion, retaliation, and violation of interim measures.
Reporting Incidents of Bias or Harassment – (213) 740-5086 or (213) 821-8298
usc-advocate.symplicity.com/care_report
Avenue to report incidents of bias, hate crimes, and microaggressions to the Office of Equity and Diversity |Title IX for appropriate investigation, supportive measures, and response.
The Office of Disability Services and Programs – (213) 740-0776
Support and accommodations for students with disabilities. Services include assistance in providing readers/notetakers/interpreters, special accommodations for test taking needs, assistance with architectural barriers, assistive technology, and support for individual needs.
USC Campus Support & Intervention – (213) 821-4710
Assists students and families in resolving complex personal, financial, and academic issues adversely affecting their success as a student.
Diversity at USC – (213) 740-2101
Information on events, programs and training, the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, Diversity Liaisons for each academic school, chronology, participation, and various resources for students.
USC Emergency – UPC: (213) 740-4321, HSC: (323) 442-1000 – 24/7 on call
dps.usc.edu, emergency.usc.edu
Emergency assistance and avenue to report a crime. Latest updates regarding safety, including ways in which instruction will be continued if an officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible.
USC Department of Public Safety – UPC: (213) 740-6000, HSC: (323) 442-1200 – 24/7 on call
Non-emergency assistance or information.
Office of the Ombuds – (213) 821-9556 (UPC) / (323-442-0382 (HSC)
A safe and confidential place to share your USC-related issues with a University Ombuds who will work with you to explore options or paths to manage your concern.