March 9-13, 2011
at the University of Oklahoma

There is a moment in Fight Club where the narrator says “It’s called a changeover. The movie goes on, and nobody in the audience has any idea.” What he is referring to is the moment when a projectionist would seamlessly transition from one reel of film to another, flipping between projectors in such a manner as to hide the transition from the audience. If done correctly no one realizes that it has taken place, the continuity of the narrative is preserved. Some cultural changeovers are seamless too, others not so – as though you are watching a Michael Bay action flick, only to suddenly feel as if you are in a Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy.

We are, this class will suggest, at one of those changeovers, when it becomes increasingly clear that the current moment does not fit so seamlessly with the prior. Fundamental principles of how we organize, create, and disseminate knowledge are being transformed. Knowledge and information are no longer defined by the need to be rendered on ink-stained dead trees. Not only does the volume of the information and knowledge we are producing necessitate a move beyond the analog, but the nature of the information itself often exceeds the ability of the analog to manifest it. We are "changing over" from a society whose principle means of knowledge and information management has been analog to one which is now a digital network. While the cultural effects are by no means clear nor uniform, one thing is clear, the next moment will be profoundly heterogenous to the prior.

The class Reading List To be announced (These books and articles supplied by OSLEP)

David Parry is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas. His work focuses on analyzing how literacy and knowledge change as we move from analog to digital structures, and more broadly the social changes that such a transformation brings about. He has published and presented on areas ranging from digital games to Wikipedia and microblogging. His work on Twitter has been featured in various media outlets including The Chronicle of Higher Education, NPR, and US News and World Report. At UTD he teaches courses in writing for new media, digital politics, and networked knowledge. He can be found online at OutsidetheText, Academhack, or on Twitter as @academicdave.