TENATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE – DIGITAL LIVING
Aug 3
TOPIC:
Introductions,
goals, and
discussion of main
themes.
Review of daily
activities,
expectations for
attendance and
participation.
Review details and
dates for exercises
so that these can
be kickstarted.
Pre-select working
teams for the two
week session
DRAFT
Tentative schedule of activities and topics: This may change, depending on what evolves as the course
continues.
09.15 Presentations: Who are we? Who are you?
10.00 Housekeeping
Syllabus, policies, expectations, teaching philosophy (‘learning by doing’); level 1
assignments feedback; assignments during the week; consider having a person in charge
for every group assignment
10.30
Why Digital Living? What is it? (Group Work (6 groups of 4; 1 group of 5))+
Presentations from group work on whiteboard; discussion in plenum)
Break 15 min.
11.30 Intro to “Best of Books” (Baym, Dijck, Rheingold)
Assignment: Make lists of central concepts from all three books (minimum 4 from each
book; discuss them and settle on three concepts that you find most important or
interesting; prepare a pitch presentation where you sell the three concepts you have
chosen (the presentation can be a newscast, an advertisement, a role play, slides –
inventiveness is welcomed); make sure to have something from/of your presentation
that can be uploaded to Blackboard (video of presentation; slides; poster, etc).
Presentations to take place Tuesday morning (10 min. per group); upload your
‘something’ that documents your sales pitch to Blackboard at 8pm the latest, Tuesday
12th (Presentation + upload = Assignment #1)
12.30: Lunch + group work begins
Aug 4
TOPIC: The self,
identities, and
relationships in the
digital era:
14.30
Reconvene for introduction to Flashmob assignment (Assignment # 5)
16.30
End of planned programme
DRAFT
09.15
Regroup for last finish of presentations
10.00-12.30
“Best of Books” presentations

12.30-14.00
14.00
10 min per group + 5 min for comments and shifting – 7 groups (=1h45m –
there will a break in between)
Lunch
Identity

Intro for assignment #2: Add 5 layers of identity to your 2014/2050 (Level 1
assignment for Hodder’s ‘Entangled’) presentations based on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays input. To be uploaded at the latest Sunday 17th of August at noon.
16.00Wrap-up & housekeeping items
16.30 End of planned programme
18.00 Deadline for uploading ASSIGNMENT 1: “Best of Books” product/documentation to the
BOB discussion board tonight or tomorrow morning, be sure to review the BOB discussion threads
and VOTE for the "Best of" concepts!!
Aug 5
TOPIC: The self,
identities, and
relationships in the
digital era
DRAFT
09.15 “Best of Books” presentation prizes and upload prizes
09.30 Investigating identity in a digital era
This morning, we’ll engage in a number of experiments and activities to track and reflect
on our digital life. This may involve mapping social media use, watching others engage
in social media, writing our interactions with our technologies as invented narratives or
dialogues, and coming up with other, inventive ways to track digital activities.
We’ll download software to track our trackers. At some point, we’ll also have a short
guest lecture on self tracking.
(this material should be used for building Assignment 2)
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00 Investigating identities continued
Groups will be assigned to investigate certain current events and bring a news report
back to the larger group later this afternoon. Focus: information filtering, monitoring,
experimentation that adds algorithmic layers to our identity and relationships. (Facebook
experiment; Google experiments; Cupid; Snapchat; National filters (e.g., China, Iran);
Israel-Palestine social media activism and communication)
16.30 End of planned programme
Aug 6
TOPIC: Privacy
and Surveillance
DRAFT
Discussion: Privacy and surveillance in the digital age: Always on, intensive marketing, homophily, self
tracking, and quantified self
09.15 Surveillance:
Today, we’ll talk about issues and complications of notions of privacy and
surveillance. This will be both to sensitize participants to both the positive and negative
mechanisms of surveillance and to problematize the binary between public/private.
Lunch & Fieldtrip: Each group finds and documents (for example photos) at least 10 different examples
of surveillance in Aarhus City. This documentation should help augment Assignment #2
15.30 Reconvene in class, present and discuss
16.30 End of planned programme
Aug 7
TOPIC:
Gamification
***
DRAFT
To review/read before class:
View the series of videos and blogs posted on this bundlr about
gamification: http://bundlr.com/b/gamification12
 Scott, Brett. “Visions of a Techno-Leviathan: The Politics of the Bitcoin
Blockchain” http://www.e-ir.info/2014/06/01/visions-of-a-techno-leviathan-the-politics-ofthe-bitcoin-blockchain/

TOPIC: Smart
Mobs (in
preparation for
flash mob next
week)
Activity: TBD
Discussion: Gamification: How does this idea impact the way we design for the future?
ASSIGNMENT 3: Game development or equivalent. Assignment will be completed in class.
***
AT SOME POINT DURING THE DAY: Brief update and reminders about Assignment #5; Flash
mob
Discussion: Mobility, Networked Sociality, and possibilities for social action. In preparation,
please review before coming to class:

Mobility and collective action article from Transgressions 2.0
Homework: continue group work to push forward the flash mob experiment.
ASSIGNMENT 2 due Sunday at noon: submit (upload) exhibition of "the self." This five layer piece
should be a combination of verbal and visual materials. Can be produced as a PowerPoint presentation
with AudioVisual components, youtube video, movie from camtasia recording of screen activity, or
other individually-determined format. Upload as an assignment (link will be created)
Aug 10
TOPIC: Social and
Organizational
(business)
structures in the
21st Century.
Characteristics,
challenges, and
DRAFT
To review before class:


Culture of Connectivity (CC)
Ian Hodder (2012). An archaeology of the relationship between humans and things. Chapter 1:
Thinking about things
complexity
differently. https://www.dropbox.com/s/v1ltyhvg09xiufh/Hodder%20entangled%20ch%201.
pdf
 articles and videos on the bundlr related to advertising and marketing in the digital era
Discussion on CC: Understanding different types of social media and connecting these to larger
infrastructures and systems: A culture of connectivity.
Activity: Teaching each other concepts and important points from van Dijck: in groups
Aug 11
TOPIC: What's a
Smart City?
DRAFT:
To review/view before class:

Read/view the news/blog articles/videos on this bundlr about smart
cities: http://bundlr.com/b/smart-cities-and-smart-technologies
To bring to class: smart phone or camera with uploading capabilities
Morning: Discussion: What is a smart city? What are the relevant elements/ activities/ capacities to
consider? We'll discuss some of the articles in the bundlr above. Please browse through these so you
have some idea of the main concepts being discussed.
ASSIGNMENT 4: Fieldtrip: can be actual or virtual.
Part 1: Locating the "smart" in a city: Using visual fieldwork, GPS tracking, and social networking
sites (pinterest, tumblr, or other) to tell a story.
Part 2: Do visual images tell enough of the story of the city? Do data traces adequately represent the
way that 'smart' plays out in actual space/time? Are some things unrepresentable? Consider this
question and build a different story, using audio-only, or different sensory techniques to explore and
display/present the smart city.
Aug 12
TOPIC: Flash
Mobs. Smart
Mobs. Mobility
and Activism in
the Smart City
DRAFT
Activity: Enacting and documenting the Flash Mob. Directed by Line H. Thomsen, Ph.D.
Discussion: Mobility, media, and activism in 'smart' environments
ASSIGNMENT 5: At the end of the day, you'll upload documentation of the flash mob to youtube
and provide links in Blackboard
Aug 13
TOPIC: Remix
Theory, Remix
Culture
DRAFT
To review before class:
articles and videos listed on the bundlr related to remix theory, remix
methods: http://bundlr.com/b/remix-theory-remix-methods
Discussion: Remixing Culture: Remix theory
Activity: Find and discuss examples of different types of remix (this could be done before class)
Discussion: copyright, copywrongs, intellectual property debates
Assignment 6: Building a critical remix (political remix, considering McIntosh's ideas) on "Digital
Living" (?) for presenting on the final day. This is a group activity. Choose your strengths, think about
this early in the two week period, and plan for an intensive afternoon and evening of development.
Remixes, if considering them via the internet, are generally short, but this doesn't mean they're put
together in haste. At the same time, we recognize you are given a very short period of time for this
experiment. The end result is not a finished or polished product-- as with all remixes, it is a temporary
moment in a larger conversation. It only needs to have something to 'say,' and should demonstrate
some larger conceptual point about digital living. This should be a fun and thought provoking
experiment. Upload the team's remix to youtube or vimeo (more private). Then, post as a blog entry
on Blackboard by the deadline. Include 750-1200 words explanation with citations. This is due Friday
night 6 p.m.
Aug 14
TOPIC: Digital
Living: Wrapping
it up and next
steps
DRAFT
09.15-12:30 Remix presentations
12.30-2.00 Lunch
12.30-14.30 Review: Digital Living conceptual overview
14.30-16.30 Wrap-up & evaluation in class
ASSIGNMENT 6: upload group remixes and blog posts by 6 p.m.