NEW MEDIA
Bachelor	TR-NQF-HE: Level 6	QF-EHEA: First Cycle	EQF-LLL: Level 6

Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Code	Course Name	Semester	Theoretical	Practical	Credit	ECTS
VCD3132	Cyberculture	Spring	3	0	3	5

This catalog is for information purposes. Course status is determined by the relevant department at the beginning of semester.

Basic information

Language of instruction:	English
Type of course:	Non-Departmental Elective
Course Level:	Bachelor’s Degree (First Cycle)
Mode of Delivery:	Face to face
Course Coordinator :	Dr. Öğr. Üyesi İPEK TORUN
Recommended Optional Program Components:	None
Course Objectives:	The electronic communication technologies produced new notions of information and entertainment. These new technologies have begun to alter our perception of presence and the real. It has transformed our experience of the body, identity and self. Our understanding of concepts like public sphere, urban space and architectural space has been altered. This course is designed to situate the changes in a broader cultural history of vision, visuality and cyber-culture. It will explore the culture of cyberspace through artwork, movies and literary work (novels) that use virtual reality to speculate about society, reality, self and the boundary between human and artificial life.

Learning Outcomes

The students who have succeeded in this course;
1) Introduced to both definition and application of concepts such as cyberspace, virtual identity, cyberculture, cyberpunk, technoculture, presence, telepresence, artificial intelligence, the real, intertextuality, ect.

2) Analyse and discuss the social, cultural, psychological, and political impact of these "new" technologies.

3) Develop basic understanding of vision, visuality and art within the culture of cyberspace.

4) Formulate an adequate critique of the direction and use of changes in the cultural history.

5) Introduced to the theory of Cyberpunk, which they can relate to cultural products within areas of fine arts, music and film.

6) Be able to discuss the issues revolving around pornography, race , gender, public sphere, identity and freeedom in relation to cyber culture.

7) Be able to carry discussions on the literary work of the field

8) Be able to make virtual presentation through constructing a simple site or a blog

Course Content

Students will be introduced to the topic of cyber culture and will inspect the reflections of cyber culture in our lives through lectures, readings and project assignments throughout the semester.

Weekly Detailed Course Contents

Week	Subject	Related Preparation
1)	Introduction to the Course / Review of the Syllabus	none
2)	İntroduction to Visual Culture in new technologies: What is cyberspace and how does it relate to art, literature, movies, music, lifestyles, politics, and sexuality of the postmodern world?	The reading related to the subject
3)	A cultural history of the Virtual: new modes of cultural experience and questions of pornography, hacking, race and gender stereotypes, freedom of information, and copyright.	The reading related to the subject
4)	Roots of Social Cyberspace: When Technology and Community Collide, The Virtual Public Sphere	The reading related to the subject
5)	Constructed Human Body and Art: The Art and Work of Stelarch and Transhumanism, Art between Body and Machine Screening: Ghost in the Shell	The reading related to the subject
6)	Virtual Bodies and the Definition of the Human: Human and Machine in Science Fiction Screening: The Matrix	The reading related to the subject
7)	Beyond the Screen and in to the interface of of Virtual Reality: Art and Work of Jeffery Shaw	Preparation for midterm
8)	Term Review	Review of the reading done during the term
9)	İnteractive Narratives in Art and Artificial Intelligence: Banishing linear sequence. Online artworks and online galleries, art with no object.	The reading related to the subject
10)	The Virtual City: Cyberspace and the Information Superhighways Works of Bill Viola, Dennis Oppenheim and Diana Thater	The reading related to the subject
11)	Virtual İdentity , Virtual Learning, Telepresence and Self in the Digital World	The reading related to the subject
12)	The Evolution of Cyberpunk (Technoculture): Discussion on Neuromancer Screening from Anime Series: ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ dir. Hideaki Anno.	The reading related to the subject
13)	Post and Post-post Cyberpunk in postmodern times Screening: Bladerunner dir. Ridley Scott	The reading related to the subject
14)	Review of the semester	review

Sources

Course Notes / Textbooks:

Course reading will be given on a weekly basis

References:

1) McLuhan, "Understanding Media"
2) Jean Baudrillard, "Simulations and Simulacra"
3) Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
4) Lev Manovich, "The Automation of Sight: From Photography to Computer Vision"
5) Bill Nichols, "The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems"
6) Donna Haraway, "Manifesto for Cyborgs"
7) Paul Virilio, “Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!”
8) Slavoj Zizek, "From Virtual Reality to the Virtualization of Reality"
9) M. Christine Boyer,"The Imaginary Real World of Cybercities"
10) Marshall Berman, “All That is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity”
11) Michael Rush, “New Media in Late 20 th Century Art”
12) Andrew Butler,” Cyberpunk”
13) Theodor W. Adorno, “The Culture Industry - Selected Essays on mass culture”
14) Mark Dery, “Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century”
15) William Gibson, “Neuromancer”
16) Neal Stephenson, “Snow Crash”
17) Fredric Jameson, "Progress Versus Utopia; or, Can We Imagine the Future?"

Evaluation System

Semester Requirements	Number of Activities	Level of Contribution
Attendance	15	% 10
Homework Assignments	2	% 30
Midterms	1	% 20
Final	1	% 40
Total		% 100
PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK		% 60
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL WORK		% 40
Total		% 100

ECTS / Workload Table

Activities	Number of Activities	Workload
Course Hours	14	42
Study Hours Out of Class	14	60
Homework Assignments	2	10
Midterms	1	5
Final	1	5
Total Workload		122

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

No Effect	1 Lowest	2 Low	3 Average	4 High	5 Highest

	Program Outcomes	Level of Contribution
1)	To be able to critically interpret and discuss the theories, the concepts, the traditions, and the developments in the history of thought which are fundamental for the field of new media, journalism and communication.
2)	To be able to attain written, oral and visual knowledge about technical equipment and software used in the process of news and the content production in new media, and to be able to acquire effective abilities to use them on a professional level.
3)	To be able to get information about the institutional agents and generally about the sector operating in the field of new media, journalism and communication, and to be able to critically evaluate them.
4)	To be able to comprehend the reactions of the readers, the listeners, the audiences and the users to the changing roles of media environments, and to be able to provide and circulate an original contents for them and to predict future trends.
5)	To be able to apprehend the basic theories, the concepts and the thoughts related to neighbouring fields of new media and journalism in a critical manner.
6)	To be able to grasp global and technological changes in the field of communication, and the relations due to with their effects on the local agents.
7)	To be able to develop skills on gathering necessary data by using scientific methods, analyzing and circulating them in order to produce content.
8)	To be able to develop acquired knowledge, skills and competence upon social aims by being legally and ethically responsible for a lifetime, and to be able to use them in order to provide social benefit.
9)	To be able to operate collaborative projects with national/international colleagues in the field of new media, journalism and communication.
10)	To be able to improve skills on creating works in various formats and which are qualified to be published on the prestigious national and international channels.