Electronic Writing II | Brown University

The focus of this course is your work. At least every other week, you will present new writing to the class and it will be discussed. Part of each class will be used for discussing the week's readings. (I'm using the term "reading" throughout the syllabus to refer to cultural materials of any media - the implication is that your central task in this course is writing in and with multimedia). The assigned reading is intended as one half of the weekly course-work, with your own creative writing as the other half. Student work will be evaluated in discussion and by written responses. We will establish as soon as possible weekly individual tutorials. Work is to be submitted either by posting to the course wiki or presenting a hard copy in class. Alternative means of distribution are encouraged but should be discussed with the instructor.

New softwares and media formats will be presented in the Lab sessions; several corresponding formats will sometimes be introduced in one session. Your work in this course should exploit specific writing technologies to enhance / expand / advance / implicate / ornament / disseminate / realize / change / etc your writing. The Lab sessions are available for technical support, occasional screenings, critique, sharing new materials, field-trips, or something that you propose. Several of the Lab times will be mandatory screenings or performances. If you cannot attend these, you will be expected to view the materials yourself or document an alternative experience.

The assigned reading materials are in a particular order; they are grouped to make available to you, each week, a diversity of provocative materials which I hope you'll put into conversation through your own creative work and in class discussion. Each day we will listen to / screen / read aloud short works. As the course goes on, the work of your classmates and the reading materials will generate a context for your own writing. As a ideal class, we will be conscious of the dynamics of this context and work together to maintain the health of our workshop.

Final projects will comprise a public reading/presentation/performance, and a hard copy of the work delivered to the course mailbox in the Literary Arts building. Hard copies may take the form of an online document (this is encouraged). The final project should convey engagement with the terms established by the course readings and discussions. Under ideal circumstances they will also make use of non-course materials as a context for the final project is accumulated. Further details will be worked out in individual meetings between instructor and student.

The course is graded on a Pass/Fail basis (S/NC). To take part in the course, a writing sample must be submitted to Literary Arts, 68 1/2 Brown Street. Only two unexcused absences will be permitted. More than two (without prior arrangment) will make it impossible to pass the class. Laptops should not be in use during class unless you are presenting work or taking part in a collective exercise; special cases can be discussed. We will take a break roughly halfway through each Tuesday period.