ENGL 1102 – Agent of the Multiverse
Brief Encounters with Speculative and Science Fiction
Summer 2017
Instructor: Dr. Joshua Hussey
Email: joshua.hussey@lmc.gatech.edu
Office Hours: M 11am-12pm, W 11am-1pm (EDT), or by appointment
[Office hours will be conducted online, through the Blue Jeans app]
Prerequisites
ENGL 1101
Class Meetings
LS – 10:05am-11:55am TR ESM 212
QUP – Streaming or on Delay
Course Description:
This course asks students to develop communication strategies through the analysis of texts set in the Speculative and Science Fiction genres. In this course, we will seek to consider language as a piece of scientific data that can be analyzed and interpreted into meaningful patterns, using Science Fiction as a backdrop. In addition to literature, we will watch films and play games, media that will direct us toward a broad understanding of how the genre operates. We’ll take exciting landscapes found in the wilds of SF lore and work to understand exactly how those ‘scapes are constructed rhetorically. Texts will include: short stories, a novel, theory readings, rich media such as film and videogames: Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979); games will be selected from a poll, but will include discussion of design and structure. Because this course is also offered to an online cohort, we will use Slack to communicate as a group, using channels and threads to discuss aspects of the sf genre.
Assignments: standard written essay; multimodal essay (film engagement); Blog writing, Slack participation, reading quizzes; Archival Project; final portfolio.
The purpose of this course is to gain sophisticated abilities in multimodal (WOVEN) communication that build from ENGL 1101. Assignments will encourage the development of communication skills in academic research and argument. While this class covers specific content, the emphasis of the course remains on techniques of composition and rhetorical/argumentative strategies. All of our discussions and assignments will engage with Georgia Tech’s multimodal WOVEN communication (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Nonverbal), which taken together in synergy, will better enable us to describe the material and digital worlds in which we exist.
Texts
WOVENtext, Ed. Braziller and Kleinfeld (Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016).
Heather Masri, editor. Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts. Bedford St. Martin’s, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4576-9581-0
Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1), ISBN 978-0374104092
Greg Rucka, Lazarus Vols. 1-2 (Kindle or Print: 978-1607068099 & 978-1607068716)
Film (available at GT Library or by rental)
Arrival (2016), Denis Villeneuve
Stalker (1979), Andrei Tarkovsky
Videogames
Bioshock, Papers Please, Portal
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Assignments with Point Values
Standard essay /100
Multimodal essay (Film engagement) /100
Archival Project /250
Blog /250
Portfolio /150
Quizzes and labs /100
Participation and engagement /50
Twine mini-project /50 (extra credit)
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Unit Assignments
Unit 1: Short Essay
Write two 500-word blog posts and submit them according to the class deadlines.
Complete extended revisions of those posts as a formal essay, 1200 words. Respond to any of the readings we have covered in Unit 1. Focus on one story for the essay.
Unit 2: Multimodal Essay
Write two 500-word blog posts and submit them according to the class deadlines.
Complete extended revisions of those posts as a unified, formal essay, 1200-2000 words. Engage with the films we have viewed and discussed. Engage with the reading that pairs with those films. Include several images in your essay and close read.
Unit 3: Archival Narratives
This is a Group Assignment. Groups will have at least one person from LS and QUP. QUP students will present through video (pre-recorded okay).
Construct a three-part archive, using techniques of research, serendipity (metadata), and emergent design (narrative).
1. Use a robust internet archive to locate a pattern in classic SF magazines. Coordinate this research with the GT Archives.
2. Locate an image database through an online museum or database (SCALA, Guggenheim, for example), and curate an image set related to themes of “science”.
3. Use the Allen Archive and curate a document set that portrays a narrative of Atlanta in the Civil Rights Era. Discuss emergent figures and emergent narratives that establish a critical understanding of this history. Use Ron Bayor’s book, Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta, for reference and research.
Write a report that includes a description of your method and a discussion of the emergent properties of the archive (in each case). Each section should include at least two secondary sources. Images should be cited. Images can be curated in an Appendix or in a separate section embedded in the report.
Weblog Project
Create, design, and supply content for a blog that responds to the readings and engagements we have covered in a given week. Include an image and a citation to a reasonable (or academic) secondary source.
Required: 5 entries (see calendar), 500 words each.
Portfolio
In lieu of a Final Exam, students will create an online portfolio of work using Mahara . Portfolios will include a Reflective Introduction (discusses semester of learning, growth, course themes, included materials) and three (3) curated artifacts. Artifacts represent completed projects; each artifact will include an introduction and a set of reflective answers.
Common Policies for ENGL 1102
Georgia Tech’s Writing and Communication Program has common, program-wide policies. You can access these Common Writing and Communication Program policies here. You are required to acknowledge that you have read, understood, and intend to comply with these policies. Note: LS students can have 3 absences before grades are affected; QUP students will be required to submit HW or Discussion Questions for each class to confirm regular attendance.
WOVEN Communication
This course is designed to increase your abilities and competencies in a variety of communicative modes. Understanding how to write a proper essay is only one such mode of communication. The WOVEN acronym highlights the written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal forms of communication modalities that, as a student at Georgia Tech, you will explore in order to better understand the material world in which you interact as well as a better understanding of how to describe that material world. In all modalities you use—written, oral, visual, electronic, or nonverbal—consider rhetorical factors such as purpose, context, audience, argument, and effective design. In practice, the WOVEN modes work synergistically, not separately.
Written communication. Writing is important, especially in a contemporary age where literacy is fundamental. To write, you must also practice reading. This communicative mode is a valuable critical skill, and this course will allow you to focus on its implementation. Consider the style, concentration, and rigor it takes to author the texts we are reading this semester, and attempt to apply a similar effort to your own work.
Oral communication. Speaking clearly takes a practiced ability in expressing ideas with specific language that is performed with clarity. Oral Communication is a kind of translation: one represents mental symbols and images, and works to pass those significations on to someone else. Practice speaking clearly, with conscious performance; cultivate positive conversations with your colleagues.
Visual communication. Making things look good should be a point of pride for you. You have worked your hardest establishing the representation of your ideas. Again, this is a multi-layered translation, from the images in your mind to those we encounter on the page and screen. Additionally, professionalism matters, and it’s always useful to please your audience with compelling imagery.
Electronic communication. In our modern conscription to technology, we simply cannot avoid this. Think about the possibilities of hypertext and the nodes of information with which you might assemble a complicated project. Think about the way in which you consume the internet and media and practice critical awareness of your activities to better understand the process of electronic communication.
Nonverbal communication. All behavior is adjustment to a particular context. Work on your body’s active participation in communication (body language): conduct yourself with composed thought and a professional demeanor. Make eye contact and other important unspoken gestures during class discussions.
Course Calendar
May 16 –
Intro; Course Syllabus; Course Calendar; WOVEN discussion; in-class discussion questions
May 18 –
N.K. Jemisin, “Non-Zero Probabilities”; Ray Bradbury, “Mars is Heaven!,” 59-73 (Masri); WOVENtext (1-116); X Minus One, “Mars is Heaven”; Quiz; Blog Post due (May 19)
May 23 –
Le Guin, “Vaster than Empires and More Slow,” 83-105; Gibson, “Burning Chrome,” 230-246; WOVENtext (116-153, esp. 146-147); Quiz
May 25 –
Chiang, “Story of Your Life,” 390-426; WOVENtext (Part 5, Chapter 13); Quiz; Blog Post due (May 26, submit URL to T-Square)
May 30 –
Continue Ted Chiang, “Story of Your Life,”; review short stories; composition discussion;
HW: Rent Arrival (watch on own); Essay due (May 31)
Jun 1 –
[Unit 2: Music, Fiction, Film]
Close reading of Arrival in class; WOVENtext (Chapter 14); Quiz;
Jun 6 –
Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation, 1-119 (01:Initiation + 02:Integration + 03:Immolation); WOVENtext (Chapter 15); Conclude Arrival film; Quiz
Jun 8 –
Annihilation, 119-end (04:Immersion + 05:Dissolution); Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker; Blog Post due (Jun 9-16) — write on VanderMeer;
Jun 13 –
Pre-recorded class (Instructor away at DHSI); Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker; Multimodal essay composition; Film lab
Jun 15 –
No live class (DHSI); Film lab due (Jun 16)
Jun 20 –
Atlanta Black Star article on Afrofuturism; Nalo Hopkinson, “Something to Hitch Meat To,” 533-545; Janelle Monae, Electric Lady; Logic, The Incredible True Story; Sun Ra, UC Berkeley Lecture 1971; Quiz;
Jun 22 –
Greg Rucka, Lazarus, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2; David Bowie, Outside, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust; Quiz; Blog Post due Jun. 26 (response to music or comic);
Jun 27 –
Peer Review; Composition
Archival visitations (in-class: Neely Room in Library Archives)
Jun 29 –
[Unit 3: Emergent Narrative and the Archive]
Keywords; Video games: Bioshock, Portal, and Papers, Please; Janet Murray (agency, orienteering, authorship); Borges and the labyrinth; Ian Bogost (procedural rhetoric); J.P. Gee (semiotic domain)
Jul 4 –
Holiday, no class
Jul 6 –
Games; Archives (no live class)
Multimodal essay due (Jul 6)
Jul 11 –
Archives
In-class meeting: go to Homer Rice center in Library
Jul 13 –
Games discussion wrap-up;
Archives: looking at Internet Archive of sf mags; Allen Archive
Games Lab due
Jul 18 –
Archives: looking at Internet Archive of sf mags; Allen Archive
Blog Post due (draft of archive);
Jul 20 –
Workshop Archival Projects in class.
Discuss Mahara software.
Archival Project due (Jul 21);
Jul 25 – Final Instructional Day
Discussion of Portfolio; Weblog due
Aug 3 –
8am-10:50pm Final Exam (portfolios)
