Download a pdf of the full syllabus: FNIS 401W_Syllabus
In an interview with Liza Yeager, Anishinaabe comedian, writer, and media maker, Ryan McMahon talks about why he thinks podcasting is specifically useful medium for Indigenous storytellers: “I just think the medium is so exciting. It’s relatively inexpensive to produce; it’s a flexible creative medium that allows us to be publishers, you know? At the end of the day, legacy media does not belong to Indigenous people or people of color. We don’t own these places.” Podcasting is just one form in which Indigenous media makers are claiming space and pushing back against legacy media. Interactive websites, blogs, digital exhibitions, and virtual reality installations are all currently being mobilized in unique and exciting ways by Indigenous storytellers. FNIS 401F is designed to provide students with the skills and confidence to share stories and ideas from and with Indigenous communities in digital forums and to address the specific needs and realities of those communities in engaging digital technologies.
Designed as a compliment to FNIS 454, which is based in the theory of Indigenous new media, FNIS 401F provides students with hands on training in the Digital Humanities (DH) and new media technologies, including social media, digital exhibition, podcasting, digital storytelling, sound editing, Wikipedia editing, and geographical information systems (GIS). At stake in all of our work in this class will be the impacts (both positive and negative) that new media can make towards decolonization and Indigenous resurgence. Students in 401F will receive basic training in the use of new media hardware and software, learn from experts in the field, and produce digital work with and for Indigenous communities. This term we will be working with X̱wi7x̱wa Library to create a digital exhibition using data from the Indigitization initiative. The goal throughout this course is not only to proliferate and empower Indigenous voices, but to thoughtfully consider and practice the Digital Humanities from within the specific contexts of Indigenous studies.
Learning Objectives:
In FNIS 401W you will:
- Learn the basic vocabularies and tools in the Digital Humanities and Indigenous new media, including podcasting, digital exhibition, and geographic information systems as well as creative commons and traditional knowledge licenses
- Become familiar with important projects and resources in digital humanities and Indigenous new media, including resources available online and on UBC campus
- Get hands-on experience with resource and repository production
- Disseminate knowledge to public audiences using digital tools
- Research social media trends in Indigenous studies
- Become thoughtful and critical users of DH
- Study the spaces in which DH and Indigenous new media overlap and diverge
- Learn and practice collaborative scholarship and knowledge dissemination
- Practice DH and new media in Indigenous contexts
Evaluation
Participation…………………………………………………………………10%
Twitter Engagement………………………………………………………10%
Hashtag Research………………………………………………………….15%
Twine Remediation………………………………………………………..15%
CiTR PSA (in pairs)………………………………………………………..5%
Audio Storytelling Interview (in pairs)……………………………..10%
Indigenous Media Wiki-a-thon (in groups of 5)…………………15%
Digital Exhibition Review……………………………………………….5%
Digital Exhibition (in groups of 5)…………………………………..15%
Required Reading:
@apihtawikosisan; @ZoeSTodd; @GwenBenaway; @WordsandGuitar; @justicedanielh; @auntykita; @Dallas_Hunt; @odaminowin; @SFTLpodcast; @NishPhilosopher, @theoriginalmel; @evilscumbag; @FancyBebamikawe
- Unless listed otherwise in the course schedule, all other readings are #openaccess and available free online
Recommended Reading:
Steven Loft and Kerry Swanson, Coded Territories: Tracing Indigenous Pathways in New Media Art (Available at UBC Bookstore)
Other Requirements:
- CiTR membership ($10)
- A laptop (available to borrow from UBC Library, if you don’t have one)
- A willingness to learn, fail, and experiment with technology. I have no expectations that students be experienced or even familiar with any of the tools we will be using in this class.
Class Policies
Late work: Late work for FNIS courses will not generally be accepted except in extraordinary circumstances (such as unavoidable illness, injury, or bereavement), and only at the instructor’s discretion. Students planning in advance to miss class must receive prior instructor permission to submit late coursework for credit, and a penalty may apply. Retroactive permission is not permitted. Supporting documentation through formal academic concession processes may be required.
All assignments are due on the date and times indicated below. Late assignments without a documented reason will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade for every day they are late. (For example, an A+ paper that is two days late without a documented excuse will drop to an A-).
Attendance: Students missing 40% or more of their lectures, seminars, or scheduled meetings associated with coursework, regardless of whether the absences are avoidable or unavoidable, may be considered unable to meet the learning outcomes of the course and may be excluded from the final examination and/or the calculation of participation into their final grade. Instructors are under no obligation to re-teach material that has already been taught in a regularly scheduled class.
Take down the email of classmate that you can ask for notes in the case of an absence.
Academic accommodation: UBC accommodates students whose religious obligations conflict with attendance, submitting assignments, or completing scheduled tests and examinations. Please let me know at least one week in advance if you require any accommodation on these grounds.
The University supports students with a disability or ongoing medical condition by addressing barriers may affect their academic success. Types of conditions supported by UBC’s Access & Diversity team include (but are not limited to) mental health conditions, neurological disabilities, chronic health conditions, and physical disabilities. Please contact an Access & Diversity advisor to request a letter of accommodation, and then come see me to discuss how best to meet your needs throughout the course.
Academic ethics: As university scholars, we must adhere to ethical standards for research. As academic researchers on knowledge dissemination and translation via media, we are particularly obligated to meet the standards of UBC’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BREB). In the course of your research for ASTU 260, you are encouraged to read public (not private) postings to blogs, social networking sites, and online communities that are cited in academic articles and others that are relevant to your own research. You may not, though, post comments to any of these sites or email either the writers or their respondents, as this may unduly influence the individual and/or their online community.
Academic integrity: Academic integrity refers to the ethical and respectful conduct expected of every member of the University community, in our work and in our workplaces. More narrowly, academic integrity refers to presenting ideas that are our own and giving proper credit when we engage the ideas of others. Learning these practices is crucial for your work here at university, as failing to give others credit constitutes plagiarism. Submitting work other than your own, whether the plagiarism is intended or unintended, will result at the very minimum in a zero for the assignment, and can result in your expulsion from the university. Please consult the Faculty of Arts’ student page on Academic Integrity for more information. You may also find the Chapman Learning Commons’ “Guide to Academic Integrity” a useful resource for tips and tutorials on how to correctly cite your sources. If you have any questions about how to engage the work of others while citing them appropriately, please do not hesitate to ask me.
Respect: Some of the issues we discuss will be provocative, controversial, or emotionally challenging. Our classroom should be as conducive as possible to an ethos of thoughtful and open inquiry that encourages everyone to share ideas in a productive way. Please be respectful of the rights of others to their own opinions and beliefs. Please keep in mind that many of the issues we discuss in class are the lived experience of real human beings, not just theoretical concerns, so be kind to one another even in disagreement.
Contacting me: During the in-class portion of our course, I check email once a day, and aim to respond within 24 hours, Monday to Friday, during business hours (9am-5pm). Messages sent at night, on weekends, and on holidays may not be read until the next business day. Please give emails a specific, clear subject line, starting with “[FNIS 401W]” and keep the tone and style consistent with genres of professional correspondence.
