| 1 |
Aug 26 |
Lecture |
What is social reality? How does technology construct it? |
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Case study |
Age verification on the internet: surveillance and the dissolution of privacy in the name of security |
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Exercise |
How to research: good websites, magazines, archives |
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Homework |
Research a technology |
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Reading |
Chatbots Can Go Into a Delusional Spiral. Here’s How It Happens. (non-paywalled PDF) |
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“Reading” |
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“How Power Shapes Reality: The Philosophy of Michel Foucault” |
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| 2 |
Sept 2 |
Student presentations |
What does your technology do? How does it work? |
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Case study |
ChatGPT, affirmative UX, psychosis |
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Exercise |
Identifying visual essence: how can an aesthetic characteristic reveal something about an idea? |
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Video |
(Time permitting) Yotam Hadar, “Graphic Design is Easy” |
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Reading |
Liz Pelly, “The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify’s plot against musicians” (non-paywalled PDF) |
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| 3 |
Sept 9 |
Student presentations |
Exercises (est 1 hour) |
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Case study |
Spotify, subscription models, renter economies, fake art (est 15 mins) |
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Exercise |
Methodologies for understanding social reality (est 45 mins) |
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Lecture |
How does visual language transmit social reality? (est 1 hour) |
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Reading |
Jackie Wang, “This Is a Story About Nerds and Cops: PredPol and Algorithmic Policing" |
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Homework |
Email your reading responses |
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| 4 |
Sept 16 |
NO CLASS |
Work on your projects |
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| 5 |
Sept 23 |
Student presentations |
Project 1 critiques |
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Reading |
Metahaven, “Can Jokes Bring Down Governments?” |
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| 6 |
Sept 30 |
Case study |
Google Notebook: comparing your experience to this AI summary |
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Lecture |
Visual forms for counter-narratives: Parody and satire |
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Exercise |
How to exaggerate |
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Reading |
Rick Poynor, “Appropriation” (from “No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism”) |
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| 7 |
Oct 7 |
Lecture |
Visual forms for counter-narratives: Appropriation and inversion |
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Case study |
Predictive policing, the construction of suspicion, the category of “criminal” |
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Site visit |
Pratt’s picture collection |
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Exercise |
Recontextualization through collage |
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Reading |
James Bridle, "All Cameras Are Police Cameras" |
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| 8 |
Oct 14 |
NO CLASS |
Indigenous Peoples Day |
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| 9 |
Oct 21 |
Lecture |
Visual forms for counter-narratives: Refusal and abstinence |
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Exercise |
Rule following: commitment to logic systems |
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Reading |
Zeynep Tufekci, "Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest" |
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| 10 |
Oct 28 |
Site visit |
Lubalin Center |
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Case study |
Push and pull dynamics present in personalization algorithms and political protest |
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| 11 |
Nov 4 |
Student presentations |
Your best work from Project 2 |
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Reading |
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| TOP PRIORITY |
Rita Felsky, “The Limits of Critique” (introduction only) (EPUB) (D |
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Reading |
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| SUPPLEMENTARY |
Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, “Critical Design FAQ” |
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Reading |
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| SUPPLEMENTARY |
Franciso Laranjo, “Critical Graphic Design: Critical of What?” |
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| 12 |
Nov 11 |
Lecture + Discussion |
The critical position: how we got here and what lies beyond it |
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Video |
Three phenomena to question the computer: |