Welcome to the 2009 Digital Cultures Module

Ok, it's not quite 2009 yet but I know you are all eager to get started over the Christmas break.

So, here is a project for you.

I would like you to craft an annotated bibliography of at least 10 texts that we should read as part of our Digital Cultures curriculum, feel free to add more than ten sources. In your annotation please include the following information:

• Main focus or purpose of the work
• Intended audience for the work
• Special features of the work that were unique or helpful
• Background and credibility of the author

Obviously you haven't yet read the work so you won't be able to include the author's or your own conclusions. You can however include why you think we ought to use your chosen resource. Perhaps it presents an unusual point of view or provokes dissidence, but do include a reason.

Since we're talking about digital cultures, try to include ONLY online resources. There is an amazing array of excellent academic research available online - either in journals through the DMU library subscriptions or via open access journals, blogs, newspapers and other websites. Even on Amazon some text is available (see last year's reading list in the right hand column of this blog). You don't have to include an entire book but you can refer to chapters or individual blog posts.

One possible resource might include Lev Manovich's latest which he "published" during his talk at our Future of Creative Technologies conference on 20th November 2008.

Some print books that we will be referring to throughout the module include:

• George Landow, Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in a Global Era
• Roland Barthes, Image, Music, Text
• Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus
• Rosi Braidotti, Nomadic Subjects
• Luce Irigaray, This Sex Which is Not One
• Rosi Braidotti, Cyberfeminism with a Difference and Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory

Also very important is that each of you have a twitter and facebook and delicious account, if you don't already. I'm JessL on all of the above. Please start a blog as we'll be using that in our lecture sessions too along with flickr.

Please tag all the suggested course reading materials with "digitalcultures09" and please send them me too: http://delicious.com/jessl.

Things to keep in mind when you're choosing texts:

• they should align with our topics of feminism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, cyberculture, creative technologies, critical literacy, digital literacy
• be sure to look at the suggested reading on the blog from last year's course
  
• use any reference style (MLA, Harvard, etc...) but remain consistent

If you know of any web 2.0-type tools/applications that you would like to use (think of tools to facilitate podcasting, videos and other communication) include them in your annotated bibliography (but they don't form part of your ten items to read).


Let me know if you have any questions, concerns or thoughts by adding a comment here or e-mailing me.