What immediately comes to mind when you read or hear the term ‘cyberculture’? Perhaps you think of science fiction films or news stories about emergent robot technologies that can perform the domestic tasks of the human being? In fact, pause reading this introduction, open a new browser window and do an image search using the term ‘cyberculture’. What is captured in your search results? The ethereal faces of feminine androids? Tumbling walls of binary code? Pixelated contours where you could expect to encounter Tron? If these futuristic and fictional depictions seem distant from the everyday practices of the classroom, in fact cyberculture provides us with a fascinating and valuable way of reflecting upon teaching, learning, assessment and other educational practices.
This first block of the EDC course will consider some of the over-arching narratives within popular ‘cyberculture’ which have driven our understanding of digital culture and its relation to education. Through our core readings we will venture into the world of cyberculture and then consider how some of its core themes provide a way of exploring educational practices. To complement this reading and reflection we are also going to use visual methods and materials to make connections between cyberculture and the different activities that take place across and beyond the classroom and campus. We will stage a Cybercultures Film Festival and then each compose an original visual artefact that responds to any of the ideas that emerged in the readings or during conversation. Your nomination for the Cyberculture Film Festival and your visual response to cyberculture theory should be added to your assigned gallery space, alongside any other materials that shed a light on the relationship between cyberculture and education. It might be, for instance, that you find pieces of music, fiction, blog posts, news articles or other pieces of digitally-mediated content that support a critical examination of the relations between cyberculture and education.
Cyberculture activities
Across this block you should aim to undertake the following activities:
- Do the core reading around cyberculture and dip into the reading around visual methods. Please look at these articles and chapters at the beginning of the block as this will enable you to undertake all of the other activities in this part of the course.
- Add artefacts to your assigned cyberculture gallery space in our exhibition. You should be aiming to add content several times each week.
- Visit the gallery spaces of your fellow students where you can offer comments, encouragement and other feedback on their developing work.
- Attend at least one of the screenings in our Cyberculture Film Festival.
- Produce a visual artefact that responds to any aspect of cyberculture, as set out on the Working visually page of this site.
- In the final days of the block write a catalogue entry of up to 500 words which reflects on the content of your gallery and what the different artefacts tell us about cyberculture and education.
Tutorials
During Week 3 we will get together in Watch2Gether for our Cyberculture Film festival – check the screening times on the dedicated page.