Students
MMCC7001 – Studies in Network Culture
2023 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekend, North Ryde
General Information
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| Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Convenor
John Potts
Contact via 9850 2163
10HA 165J
Thursday 12 - 1
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|---|---|
| Credit points |
Credit points
10
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| Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
Admission to MRes
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| Corequisites |
Corequisites
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| Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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| Unit description |
Unit description
Studies in Network Culture focuses on the social and cultural impact of the Internet and digital media. Issues addressed include digital disruption; online networks and democracy; mobile phone network culture; the transformation of media culture, including screen culture, by streaming technologies; downloading and remix culture; issues of authorship and copyright; ‘transformative’ online practices such as fan fiction.
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Important Academic Dates
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- ULO1: deploy advanced disciplinary knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within the field of network culture.
- ULO2: identify, analyse and evaluate key issues and debates related to transformative online practices.
- ULO3: apply and critically assess research practices that address the social and cultural impact of digital media.
- ULO4: communicate effectively and incorporate academic conventions.
General Assessment Information
Late Assessment Submission Penalty
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to written reports and recordings only. Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs will be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application.
Assessment Tasks
| Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Essay | 50% | No | 11.55 pm, 30/10/2023 |
| Minor Essay | 30% | No | 11.55 pm, 25/09/2023 |
| Seminar Presentation | 20% | No | 19/10/2023 |
Major Essay
Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 46 hours
Due: 11.55 pm, 30/10/2023
Weighting: 50%
This essay requires students to critically reflect, undertake independent research and evaluate key approaches in network culture studies. Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- deploy advanced disciplinary knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within the field of network culture.
- identify, analyse and evaluate key issues and debates related to transformative online practices.
- apply and critically assess research practices that address the social and cultural impact of digital media.
- communicate effectively and incorporate academic conventions.
Minor Essay
Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 11.55 pm, 25/09/2023
Weighting: 30%
This essay requires students to critically identify, analyse and research a key aspect of academic approaches to the study of network cultures. Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- deploy advanced disciplinary knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within the field of network culture.
- identify, analyse and evaluate key issues and debates related to transformative online practices.
- apply and critically assess research practices that address the social and cultural impact of digital media.
- communicate effectively and incorporate academic conventions.
Seminar Presentation
Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: 19/10/2023
Weighting: 20%
Students will be required to present a specific perspective on network culture both as cultural and academic practice. Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- deploy advanced disciplinary knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within the field of network culture.
- identify, analyse and evaluate key issues and debates related to transformative online practices.
- apply and critically assess research practices that address the social and cultural impact of digital media.
- communicate effectively and incorporate academic conventions.
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
- the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
- the Writing Centre for academic skills support.
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Delivery and Resources
Readings for the unit will be provided or made available on iLearn. Essays are to be submitted via Turnitin.
Unit Schedule
SEMINAR SCHEDULE
WEEK 2: INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIT
3 August
WEEK 3: INTERNET HISTORY AND NETWORK THEORY
10 August
Kazys Varnelis, ‘The Meaning of Network Culture’ in Networked Publics (2008).
WEEK 4: WHAT IS THE AUTHOR?/ HISTORY OF THE AUTHOR
17 August
Michel Foucault, 'What Is an Author?' (1969)
Martha Woodmansee, 'On the Author Effect: Recovering Collectivity' (1994)
Aaron Meskin, 'Authorship' (2008) in Livingston and Plantinga (eds) The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, London: Routledge, 2008
Andrew Bennett, 'Authority, Ownership, Originality' in The Author (2005)
WEEK 5: THE NEAR-DEATH OF THE AUTHOR: POST-STRUCTURALISM, POSTMODERNISM & NETWORK CULTURE
24 August
Roland Barthes, 'The Death of the Author' (1969)
Andrew Murphie & John Potts, 'Digital Aesthetics: Cultural Effects of New Media Technologies' in Culture and Technology(2003)
William Deresiewicz, ‘Piracy, Copyright, and the Hydra of Tech’ in The Death of the Artist (2020)
Jonathan Taplin, ‘Pirates of the Internet’ in Move Fast and Break Things (2017)
WEEK 6: COPYRIGHT, TECHNOLOGY, DOWNLOADING & STREAMING
31 August
Cory Doctorow, 'How Copyright Broke' (2008)
Steve Collins, 'Kookaburra v. Down Under: It's Just Overkill' in Scan Journal Vol 7 No 1 2010
J. Smiers and M. Van Schijndel, 'A Level Cultural Playing Field' (2009)
Linda Jaivin, 'Big Content' in Phillipa McGuinness (ed) Copyfight (2015)
WEEK 7: FAN FICTION, BIG DATA, AND OTHER AUTHORSHIP CHALLENGES
7 September
Rebecca Tushnet, 'Architecture and Morality: Transformative Works, Transforming Fans'
in Darling and Pezanowski(eds) Creativity Without Law: Challenging the Assumptions of
Intellectual Property (2017)
Rodley, Chris and Burrell, Andrew, 'On the Art of Writing with Data' in Potts, John (ed) The Future of Writing (2014) pp. 77 - 89, available as chapter download from library
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
WEEK 8: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
28 September
Hannah Fry, 'Good artists borrow; great artists steal', from Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms (2018)
John Potts, ‘AI vs the Author’ in The Near-Death of the Author: Creativity in the Internet Age (2023) chapter download from library
WEEK 9: SOCIAL MEDIA (Tai Neilson)
5 October
Crawford. (2021). Data. The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of
Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press.
Citton. (2017). From Attention Economy to Attention Ecology. The ecology of attention (English edition.). Polity Press. Intro-Ch 3
WEEK 10: BLOCKCHAIN, NETFLIX AND OTHER ASPECTS OF NETWORK CULTURE
12 October
Lobato, R. (2019). What is Netflix? In R. Lobato, Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution (pp. 18-45). New York University Press.
Ferguson, F. (2019) ‘Bitcoin: A Reader’s Guide (The Beauty of the Very Idea)’. Critical Inquiry 46(1), 140-166. https://doi.org/10.1086/705302
Starosielski, N. (2015). ‘Fixed Flow: Undersea Cables as Media Infrastructure’. In L. Parks and N. Starosielski (Eds.), Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures (pp. 53-70). University of Illinois Press.
WEEK 11: STUDENT SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS
19 October
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bennett, Andrew, The Author, London: Routledge, 2005
Bently, L., Davis, J. and Ginsburg, J (eds) Copyright and Piracy, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2010
Bettig, Ronald V., Copyrighting Culture: The Political Economy of Intellectual Property,
Boulder: Westview, 1996
Borschke, Margie, This Is Not a Remix: Piracy, Authenticity and Popular Music, New York: Bloomsbury, 2017
Burke, Sean (ed) Authorship From Plato to the Postmodern: A Reader, Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2000
Burke, Sean, The Death and Return of the Author, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010
Citton,The ecology of attention (English edition.). Polity Press, 2017
Crawford, The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of
Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press, 2021.
Darling, Kate and Pezanowski, Aaron (eds) Creativity Without Law: Challenging the Assumptions of Intellectual Property, New York: New York University Press, 2017
Demers, Joanna, Steal this Music: How Intellectual Property Law Affects Musical
Creativity, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2006
Deresiewicz, William, The Death of the Artist, New York: Henry Holt, 2020
Doctorow, Cory, Content:Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright and the Future of the Future, San Francisco: Tachyon Publications, 2008
Ferguson, F. (2019) ‘Bitcoin: A Reader’s Guide (The Beauty of the Very Idea)’. Critical Inquiry 46(1), 140-166. https://doi.org/10.1086/705302
Fry, Hannah, Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms, New York: W W Norton, 2018
Lessig, Lawrence, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock
Down Culture and Control Creativity, New York: Penguin, 2004
Lobato, R., Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution, New York University Press, 2019
McGuinness, Phillipa (ed)Copyfight, Sydney: NewSouth, 2015
Murphie, Andrew and Potts, John, Culture and Technology, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2003
Postigo, Hector, The Digital Rights Movement, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012
Potts, John, The Near-Death of the Author: Creativity in the Internet Age, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023
Potts, John (ed) The Future of Writing, Basingstoke: Palgrave Pivot, 2014
Reagle, Joseph and Koerner, Jackie (eds) Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete Revolution, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2020
Rose, Mark, Authors and Owners: The Invention of Copyright, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993
Simone, Daniela, Copyright and Collective Authorship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019
Smiers, J. and Van Schijndel, M., Imagine There is No Copyright and No Cultural Conglomerates Too, ,Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2009
Starosielski, N. (2015). ‘Fixed Flow: Undersea Cables as Media Infrastructure’. In L. Parks and N. Starosielski (Eds.), Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures (pp. 53-70). University of Illinois Press.
Taplin, Jonathan, Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Have
Cornered Culture and What it Means For Us, New York: Macmillan, 2017
Varnelis, Kazys (ed) Networked Publics, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008
Woodmansee, Martha and Jaszi, Peter (eds) The Construction of Authorship, Durham:
Duke University Press, 1994
Zwar, Jan, Throsby, David, Longden, Thomas, Australian Authors: Industry Brief No. 1: Key
Findings, 2015,Department of Economics, Macquarie University at http://goto.mq.edu.au/book-industry
Zuboff, Shoshana, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, New York: Public Affairs, 2019
Policies and Procedures
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
- Academic Appeals Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Progression Policy
- Assessment Policy
- Fitness to Practice Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Complaints Resolution Procedure for Students and Members of the Public
- Special Consideration Policy
Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.
Student Code of Conduct
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct
Results
Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au
Academic Integrity
At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.
Student Support
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
The Writing Centre
The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.
- Workshops
- Chat with a WriteWISE peer writing leader
- Access StudyWISE
- Upload an assignment to Studiosity
- Complete the Academic Integrity Module
The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources.
Student Services and Support
Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:
- IT Support
- Accessibility and disability support with study
- Mental health support
- Safety support to respond to bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual assault
- Social support including information about finances, tenancy and legal issues
- Student Advocacy provides independent advice on MQ policies, procedures, and processes
Student Enquiries
Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.
IT Help
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Unit information based on version 2023.01R of the Handbook