Course Description
A global collective of 1990s feminist thinkers, coders, and artists, cyberfeminism saw a subversive potential in the newly accessible internet and imagined exploiting it to change the world's inequities. Today, in the era of big data, this effort continues through contemporary movements like glitch feminism, xenofeminism, and more. This course will explore the manifestos, art, and literature of different cyberfeminisms from the 1990s to today. Assignments include academic and creative-critical work (including an electronic zine, Twine story, and glitch art—no previous experience necessary).
Assignments
Email Introduction [3%]
During our first week, you will send me an introductory email. This is an opportunity for me to gauge your background knowledge and interests, and for you to share any information I should know about you.
Reading Responses [30%]
Submit Reading Response
Once per week, you will respond to our readings in a long paragraph (250 words min.) that models two important humanities methods: summary and critical reflection.
- Summary: Articulate in your own words what the major themes and/or arguments of the readings seem to be (aka what is the "point"?). You could also draw connections between readings, identifying shared ideas.
- Critical reflection: Consider your relationship to the readings, including what aspects resonated with or frustrated you, what new or useful ideas the readings introduced you to, and what questions you might have about the readings. You could also draw a connection between the readings and your own life and experiences, whether to support or to problematize their ideas. This should be "critical," however: don't just share your initial reaction, but delve into what it is about you and your experiences or beliefs that made you react that way.
Each week you can choose to respond to either the readings due for Monday (option a) or the readings due for Thursday (option b), depending on your level of interest and schedule that week. For the summary portion, you can choose one or multiple texts to discuss.
Create-Your-Own Manifesto [6%]
Submit Create-Your-Own Manifesto
A manifesto can be defined as a public declaration of principles, guidelines, or intentions, especially of a political nature; it has often been used by individuals and organizations to respond to what they consider to be unjust circumstances or systems by persuasively advocating for their ideal vision of liberation and of the future.
For this assignment, you will brainstorm and articulate your own set of principles, guidelines, or intentions, to create your own manifesto about the internet and digital media / technologies.
Use these questions as a starting point for your ideas (you do NOT need to respond to all of these questions, and your manifesto should NOT just be a list of answers):
- When you think about different types of internet spaces and digital media / technologies, what trends, behaviors, and systems do you notice? Which ones frustrate you? Which make you scared or angry? Which ones energize you? Which bring you joy or awe? Why?
- What is the purpose of the internet? What should the purpose be?
- What would a "perfect" internet space look and feel like? Is it possible? What is preventing that "perfect" internet space from existing right now? What actions could you take to help make our current internet spaces better? What promises would you be willing to make?
- What might the internet and digital media / technologies look and feel like in 10 years, 50 years, 200 years from now? What might they look and feel like in an alternative reality, somewhere in the "multiverse"? How could they be organized differently?
- What are you forced to consent to in order to use the internet and digital media / technologies? What are you able to opt out of? What aspects of the internet and digital media / technologies do you want freedom from?
This is a creative writing exercise involving critical reflection on your own values and culminating in a strong, passionate declaration. It's up to you how poetic you want to be, but no matter what, be forceful, be imaginative, and take risks!
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (CYOA) Storygame [20%]
Using Twine, you will create a "storygame," a work of e-literature that uses hyperlinks to allow the reader to interactively "choose their own adventure."
The storygame should focus on a contemporary issue that you care about (it does NOT have to be technology-related) and use point-of-view to dramatize the issue's significance. You will not be graded on the quality of your creative writing (how "good" it is), but rather on your effort and ability to showcase critical thinking in your choice of issue, point-of-view, and creative writing strategies.
Twine has different formats: students without coding knowledge should use the Harlowe format, whereas students more familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript might prefer the SugarCube format for more control over the visual appearance of their storygame. We will hold Twine workshops in class to make sure you are all comfortable with the program.
Concept [3pts]
Submit CYOA Storygame Concept
You will share your initial concept ideas for your storygame, describing in one paragraph (~250 words) what issue you want to dramatize, why it's significant, the different stakeholders involved in that issue, and finally, which of the stakeholders you would be interested in writing from the perspective of and why.
Outline [6pts]
Submit CYOA Storygame Outline
You will share a provisional outline of the basic structure of your storygame, describing your plans for the opening passage, the different paths your reader could take, the ending(s) your reader could have, and any significant visual or interactive design elements. The outline should also indicate your creative writing strategy for depicting the stakes or significance of your chosen issue--whether that's through imagery and emotion, shocking "twists," inclusion of research / stats, experimental forms, or another tactic.
Final Draft [10pts]
Submit CYOA Storygame Final Draft
Writing from a specific character's perspective, your final storygame should (1) dramatize an issue by showing how it impacts a particular stakeholder, and (2) show the stakes and significance of the issue, making clear why it's important. (For example: a storygame about electronic waste could be written from the perspective of an e-waste processing laborer whose health is affected by toxic materials, or of an everyday tech consumer deciding whether to buy a new smartphone and how to do so.)
Your storygame should use the interactive hyperlinks and other affordances of Twine creatively. Consider the ways that hypertext organizes, disrupts, enhances, and/or mediates the experience of reading. Think about how hypertext can be used to depict and represent certain kinds of characters, events, ideas, and feelings—especially ones that would difficult to represent in traditional print fiction.
Once your final draft is complete, you should "Publish to File" on Twine, which will export your storygame as an HTML file. You should submit this HTML file and any local assets (images, audio, video, documents, etc.) in a zipped folder. We'll walk through the process of exporting and testing your files in class.
Glitch Art [6%]
Submit Glitch Art
Glitch art is the practice of using digital errors and interruptions ("glitches") to create artistic works, whether that involves simply incorporating glitch as an aesthetic or actively manipulating and/or corrupting data to provoke strange effects and failure.
Using examples we've seen in class as a guide, you will create your own glitch art. Your artwork should not only incorporate glitches or glitch aesthetics, but should also use those glitches or glitch aesthetics to create a meaningful effect. Be thoughtful about what kinds of files, processes, and content you choose to disrupt, and what the literal impact and metaphorical implications of that disruption could be.
In class, we will explore and practice different methods of creating glitch art, such as databending and distortion. You will not be graded on the quality of your art (how "good" it is), but rather on your effort and ability to showcase critical thinking in your choice of materials and glitching methods (which you will have the opportunity to explain in a brief artist statement).
Your artist statement should explain what materials you chose, what method of "glitching" you chose, and why. You can also provide any context you would like a viewer / reader to know about your artwork. The artist statement should be a short paragraph at minimum, but can be longer if needed.
Critical Tech Research Project [35%]
For our final assignment, you will complete a five-week research project that takes a critical approach to a current tech issue of your choice.
This research will culminate in two publications:
- a traditional academic essay, where you will use the cyberfeminist / technofeminist readings from our class to critially analyze the issue and propose a possible intervention
- a creative research zine, where you will adapt your essay and communicate your research in visually engaging ways for a non-academic audience
Example topics include data extractivism and surveillence; electronic waste; the digital divide & inequitable internet access across the globe; gender, race, and labor concerns with large language models (LLMs) and emerging AI; algorithmic bias; environmental impacts & natural resource extractivism for tech products; gender, race, and labor concerns within the tech industry; social movements and community building on social media and digital platforms; online harassment; misinformation, deepfakes, and misleading media; digital infrastructure & national censorship; the ethics of online archiving and digital records; and many, many more.
Concept [3pts]
Submit Research Concept
You will share your initial ideas for your research project, identifying in one paragraph (~250 words) which current tech issues you would be interested in exploring. You should explain why these issues are interesting or personally significant to you, and describe what taking a critical (cyberfeminist / technofeminist) approach to these issues might look like.
Essay Outline & Bibliography [6pts]
Submit Research Essay Outline & Bibliography
You will share a provisional outline of your essay, indicating what your thesis is likely to be and giving a sense of the overall structure of your paper.
In addition, you will include a bibliography with a minimum of 5 research sources you plan to cite or consult beyond our class readings. At least some of these sources must be peer-reviewed scholarship (aka academic articles, books, or digital resources).
Essay Final Draft [10pts]
Submit Research Essay Final Draft
In an academic essay of at least 1000 words, you will introduce a significant current issue related to technology and the internet and critically analyze the issue, keeping in mind the different cyberfeminist / technofeminist perspectives that we've explored in class. Ultimately, your essay should propose some intervention, an action that could be taken or a way forward.
This will be a traditional academic essay, with the goal of making a persuasive argument using researched evidence and producing a finished, polished piece of writing. You can choose to use either MLA or APA citation styles as long as the in-text citations and bibliography are consistent.
Zine Outline / Storyboard [6pts]
Submit Research Zine Outline / Storyboard
As part of your planning process, you will create a visual outline or "storyboard" for your research zine.
Using our storyboard worksheet, indicate how many pages long your zine will be and some rough ideas of (1) what content to include on each page & (2) the visual design of each page.
Zine Final Draft [10pts]
Submit Research Zine Final Draft
A zine (short for "magazine") is an important genre in feminist and activist history. It has a connection to early cyberfeminism not only in terms of its content (an often creative-critical mixture of the personal and political) and style (often subversive, transgressive, playing with mass media images and stereotypes of femininity) but also in its activity. Zines were DIY publications, printed and distributed at cost by amateurs and professionals alike, and passed along subculture networks of friends, grassroots organizations, and those-in-the-know. In this way, the print and distribution networks of zines also mimic early visions of feminist activity on the internet, as a space where individuals could connect in webrings, forums, and networks of their own making.
Your research zine should be an adaptation of your essay, now geared to a non-academic audience. We will look at examples of differents kinds and formats of zines (including research zines) in class, and also discuss the type of personal-political / activist writing and amateur / DIY aesthetics that zines are often associated with. Ultimately, you can choose how "formal" / "informal," "polished" / "rough." "straightforward" / "poetic" you want your zine to be, as long as it is a thoughtful representation of your essay topic and communicates your research ideas.
If you would like to collaborate on a research zine with someone else in the class, that would be great! Please keep in mind, however, that graduating seniors will have a different final deadline, so it would need to be submitted by then if that applies to either of you.
Schedule
This schedule is subject to change.
| readings for Monday & Tuesday | readings for Thursday & Friday | assignments due | |
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| Week 1: Historical Contexts / What is Cyberfeminism? |
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| Week 2: Early Cyberfeminisms / Manifestos |
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| Week 3: Creative Hypertext |
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| Week 4: Theorizing Hypertext / Twine Workshop |
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| Week 5: Early Critiques / The End of Cyberfeminism |
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| Spring Break | |||
| Week 6: Glitch Art & Aesthetic |
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| Week 7: Theorizing Glitch |
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| Week 8: Contemporary Technofeminisms / Manifestos |
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| Week 9: Contemporary Technofeminisms, cont'd |
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| Week 10: Zine Workshop / Technofeminist Community |
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| Week 11 / Final Exam Period: Zine Fest |
!!! Zine Fest !!! During final exam week, we will hold an event where students from both sections of the course will bring print copies of their final research zines to share with one another and attendees. This fest will take place on Wednesday May 28 @ 11am–12pm. There will also be an optional pre-fest zine crafting party, held in the same room the hour before, from 10am–11am, where students can gather to cut and fold their pages and put the finishing touches on their zines. 
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Contact
Email Prof. Ingram at ingram1@rhit.edu.