SHUM 6703 - The Glitch: Errors, Disability, and the Edges of Digital Media

(crosslisted) ASIAN 6703, BSOC 6703, STS 6703

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Enrollment limited to: graduate students. Co-meets with ASIAN 4703/BSOC 4703/SHUM 4703/STS 4703.

A. Campana.

A “glitch” is when something goes “wrong” in digital media—sometimes, however, it is precisely when something “fails” that can tell us about the structures and forces that underlie that media. In this course we’ll be exploring a wide variety of examples of how media creators, artists, hackers, game developers, Deaf and disability activists, and other marginalized groups from across the world (with a particular focus on Japan) have used “glitches” to tell us something new about the digital, looking at works ranging from electronic literature to online horror stories to experimental video games and installation art.