Russian 250: Russian Culture in a Digital World. Tolstoy vs. Facebook.
Dr. Daria Shembel
Spring 2016
Schedule Number: 22866
COURSE INFORMATION
Class Days: M, W
Class Times: 1400 –1515
Class Location: M: AH3130, W: Computer Lab 204/205
Office Hours Location: SH 228A
Office Hours Times: W 1230 – 1400 (and by appointment)
Course Overview
Description from the Official Course Catalog
New media's impact on social, cultural, and political development of Russian society. Russian art, values and ideologies, state
power, nationalism, and democracy. Taught in English.
Course Description
Our world is becoming more digitized. As digital space becomes more integral to our lives, it is threatening to become the
dominant space. It touches on all aspects of contemporary culture and is gradually modifying our ability to conceptualize in a
non-digital way. What is the Russian place in this digital revolution? Facebook vs Tolstoy is an introductory undergraduate
course offering an interdisciplinary approach to the examination of how Russian culture has shaped contemporary digital
technology, and how it has been affected by it.
Scholars began researching the continuity between traditional and digital art as the new media emerged. As a result, some major
Russian cultural figures of the 20th century have been rediscovered as precursors to digital media. For example, the Soviet AvantGarde director Dziga Vertov has been credited with creating the concept of surveillance photography, the development of
contemporary open-source and user-generated practices, the invention of the 360-degree camera used in video games, and digital
compositing. The video game industry has also been strongly influenced by Russian art. Tetris originated in the Soviet Union,
and additionally, since 2007, the popular video game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R has sold several million copies worldwide; the game
was inspired by a film created by visionary Russian director Andrey Tarkovsky.
The course will investigate which specific forms of Russian art and aesthetics are particularly appealing to contemporary digital
culture. We will also examine how these appropriation modes are different from those that typified Western interactions with
Russian civilization in the past. The status of Russian art has always been at its peak in the West when it had particularly strong
political and ideological underpinnings. This continues to be the case in the digital world, demonstrated by the popularity of
Russian punk rock protest group Pussy Riot.
Considering technological change in a continuum, the course will also compare traditional forms of narrativity with those of
digital storytelling, and will attempt to analyze what narrative forms have a chance of survival in digital world.
Student Learning Outcomes
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Understand the basic new media concepts in a specific national context
Analyze and interpret various Russian art forms from the perspective of their impact on contemporary digital culture
Illustrate the above through a series of case studies based on how Russia has shaped world digital culture and was
affected by it
Recognize the implications of digital media trends: how they affect identity and virtual communities formation,
contemporary culture, political thought and praxis
Evaluate the explosive growth of digital technologies over the past two decades from the perspective of a continuous
tendency resulting from print word, mass media, and the invention of cinema
Understand and analyze the transformations of cultural forms associated with the rise of new media and its
consumption
Enrollment Information
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Prerequisites: NONE
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Adding/Dropping Procedures:
February 2: Last day to add/drop classes or change grading basis
Course Materials
There is no textbook for this class. All reading materials will be provided on Blackboard under “Course Documents.”
Course Structure and Conduct
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Style of the Course: Lecture-Discussion and Lab Assignments
We will hold our Wednesday classes in the computer lab (SH 204/205), where students will be performing various
assignments related to the course content.
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Individual and Group Activities Required (Individual Projects, Interview and Presentation)
Course Assessment and Grading
Your final grade on the scale of 100 will be based on:
Attendance and Participation: 10%
Students must attend all classes; attendance will be taken. Two unexcused absences are permitted in the semester. More than two
unexcused absences will affect your grade. Please bring written excuses for absences due to medical reasons.
An attendance without participation will not fulfill requirements for “Attendance and Participation” in this class. Your
contribution to discussions will be marked by me after each class. You will receive maximum points for participation if you
contribute at least to every other class discussion.
Make-up policy: make-ups are possibly, but only with written documentation of illness or emergency.
Reading Reflection Journal: 15% (Blackboard => Tools => Journals => Reading Reflection Journal) Students will briefly
summarize the main points from the required readings. This will help students to gain cognitive undertstanding of material. You
do not have to summarize all points made by the author, but only those that you consider especially interesting/important/
relevant to the class content. The entries should be at least 200 words. The posts are due Monday at 2 pm. No late posts accepted.
Lab Posts: 15% (Blackboard => Tools => Journals => Lab posts) Lab posts are entries that will summarize students’ work in
the lab. The structure and content of the specific entry will vary from week to week. Detailed lab assignment will be posted on
Blackboard prior to Wednesday Lab classes. You will start posting the results of your observations during class, but you can
finish the posts at home. Final posts are due every Friday at 11.59 pm.
Presentation: 15% The students will interview fellow students on their beliefs about the value of new media technologies and
practices. This will help us to understand better the nature of our social relationship with technology. Your presentation should be
supported by technology and answer the following questions: What forms of technology does your interview subject use? What
are the social dimensions of it? How does it enhance or limit human interaction and identity? There is no uniform format for this
presentation, so be creative. We will start presentations in mid-February. I will give you the exact dates of your presentations
later this semester.
Quizzes: 10% will be based on course’ readings, lab assignements, and lectures. The dates will be givein in advance.
Midterm Examination: 15% will be based on the course readings and lectures Wed, March 16
Final Exam: 20% will be based on the course readings and lectures Monday, May 9 13.00 – 15.00
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Syllabus
Course Schedule
Table 1 - Course Schedule with Date, Theme, and Assignment
Date
Activity
Assignment
Week 1: Wed. Jan
20
Intro to the Course and to one another.
No readings
Week 2: Mon. Jan
25, Wed. Jan 27
Introduction to Russian Civilization.
Rusell Bova, Introduction, pp 3-20; Karl D. Qualls
The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations
of Western Influence, pp 113-141 in Bova, Russel,
Sharpe, M.E (ed.). Russia and Western Civilization.
Cultural and Historical Encounters, New York,
London, 2003
Week 3: Mon. Feb
1, Wed Feb 3
Introduction to Digital Culture. Key Concepts
of New Media.
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media MIT
Press 2001, pp 43 – 65, Nancy K. Baym. Personal
Connections in the Digital Age. Polity Press, MA,
USA (2010), pp 1 - 49
Week 4: Mon. Feb
8, Wed. Feb 10
Links between Old and New Media. Forms of
Narrativity in Print and Digital Environments.
Russian Narrative Tradition. Tolstoy’s War and
Peace and Anti-Novel
Morson, Gary Saul. Hidden in Plain View: Narrative
and Creative Potentials in'War and Peace'. Stanford
University Press, 1988.
Week 5: Mon. Feb
15, Wed Feb 17
Digital Discourse and Beyond.
Androutsopoulos, Jannis .“From Variation to
Heteroglossia in the Study of Computer-Mediated
Discourse” Carmen K.M. Lee, “Micro-Blogging and
Status Updates on Facebook: Texts and Practices” in
Thurlow, Chrispin and Mroczek, Kristine. Digital
Discurse, Language in the New Media. Oxford
University Press, 2011
Week 6: Mon. Feb
22, Wed. Feb 24
Social networks and Russian Specificity.
boyd, danah m., Ellison, Nicole B. “Social Network
Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship, Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication,” 2007
Week 7: Mon. Feb
29, Mar 2
Soviet Avant-Garde and Digital Media.
Manovich, Lev. "Avant-garde as Software." Stephen
Kovats, Ost-West Internet. Elektronische Medien im
Transformationsprozess Ost-und Mitteleuropas
(1999): 32-47
Week 8: Mon. Mar
7, Wed Mar 9
Open-Source and User-Generated Digital
Practices. From Russian Revolution to
Wikipedia.
Andrew Lih, "Community at Work (The Piranha
Effect)," The Wikipedia Revolution (New York:
Hyperion, 2009)
Week 9: Mon. Mar
14, Wed Mar 16
Google and Youtube. Midterm
Vaidhyanathan, Siva. The Googlization of
everything:(and why we should worry). Univ of
California Press, 2012. Henry Jenkins, “Nine
Propositions Towards a Theory of YouTube,”
Confessions of an Aca-Fan, May 28 2007
Week 10: Mon. Mar
21, Wed. Mar 23
Russian History in One Take. Russian Ark, dir.
Alexander Sokurov, 2002
Ravetto-Biagioli, Kriss. "Floating on the Borders of
Europe Sokurov's Russian Ark." (2005): 18-26.
Week 11: Mon Apr
4, Apr 6
Digitally Enhanced Cinema. New Forms in
Film.
Bolter, Jay David. "Transference and transparency:
Digital technology and the remediation of cinema."
Intermédialités: Histoire et théorie des arts, des
lettres et des techniquesIntermediality:/History and
Theory of the Arts, Literature and Technologies 6
(2005): 13-26.
Week 12: Mon. Apr
11, Wed. Apr 13
Videogames.
Excerpts from Papazian, Gretchen Game on,
Hollywood! Essays on the Intersection of Video
Games and Cinema, ed. by Gretchen and Joseph
Michael Sommers, Jefferson, NC and London:
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Date
Activity
Assignment
McFarland & Company, 2013
Week 13: Mon. Apr
18, Wed Apr 20
Web Docs and Cross-Platform Products.
Aufderheide, Patricia. "Interactive documentaries:
navigation and design." Journal of Film and Video
(2014).
Week 14: Mon. Apr
25, Wed Apr 27
Digital Culture and Archive the Future: Born in
the USSR (1990 +)
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. MIT
Press 2001, pp 194-212
Week 15; Mon. May
2, Wed May 4
Interaction between Social Media and
Opposition Protest in Russia.
Nikiporets-Takigawa, Galina “Tweeting the Russian
Protests” in Digital Icons, Issue 9, 2014
Accommodations
The learning environment should be accessible to all. SDSU provides reasonable accommodations in the following situations:
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Disability: If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your
responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your
accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that accommodations
are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon disability cannot be provided until you have presented your
instructor with an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Religion: By the end of the second week of classes, students should notify the instructors of affected courses of planned
absences for religious observances.
Official university activities (e.g., Athletics): Within the first two weeks of classes, a student who expects to be part of
an official university event or activity shall notify the instructors of affected courses. At that time, the student shall
request accommodation for any missed examinations or other assignments. If scheduling changes occur, the student
shall immediately notify the instructors.
Academic Honesty
The University adheres to a strict policy regarding cheating and plagiarism. These activities will not be tolerated in this class.
Become familiar with the policy (http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.html). Any cheating or plagiarism will result in failing this
class and a disciplinary review by Student Affairs.
Examples of Plagiarism include but are not limited to:
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Using sources verbatim or paraphrasing without giving proper attribution (this can include phrases, sentences,
paragraphs and/or pages of work)
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Copying and pasting work from an online or offline source directly and calling it your own
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Using information you find from an online or offline source without giving the author credit
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Replacing words or phrases from another source and inserting your own words or phrases
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Submitting a piece of work you did for one class to another class
If you have questions on what is plagiarism, please consult the policy (http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.html).
Cheating and Plagiarism
Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. You are plagiarizing or cheating if you:
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for written work, copy down or cut anything from a book, article or website and add or paste it into your paper without
using quotation marks and providing the full reference for the quotation, including page number
for written work, summarize / paraphrase in your own words ideas you got from a book, article, or the web without
providing the full reference for the source, including page number
for an oral presentation, copy down or cut anything from a book, article, or website and present it orally as if it were
your own words. You must summarize and paraphrase in your own words, and bring a list of references in case the
professor asks to see it
use visuals or graphs you got from a book, article, or website without providing the full reference for the picture or
table
recycle a paper you wrote for another class
turn in the same (or a very similar paper) for two classes
purchase or otherwise obtain a paper and turn it in as your own work
copy off of a classmate
use technology or smuggle in documents to obtain or check information in an exam situation
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In a research paper, it is always better to include too many references than not enough. When in doubt, always err on the side of
caution. If you have too many references it might make your professor smile; if you don’t have enough you might be suspected of
plagiarism.
If you have any question or uncertainty about what is or is not cheating, it is your responsibility to ask your instructor.
TAKE THE TUTORIAL:
Test your knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism through a tutorial offered by the SDSU Library. To access the tutorial go to:
http://library.sdsu.edu/guides/tutorial.php?id=28
See also the library tutorial on the difference between acceptable paraphrase and plagiarism at:
http://library.sdsu.edu/guides/tutorial.php?id=16
Consequences of cheating and plagiarism
SDSU instructors are mandated to report all instances of cheating and plagiarism to the Center for Student Rights and
Responsibility. Consequences are at the instructor’s and the Center for Student Rights and Responsibility’s discretion. They may
include any of the following:
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failing the assignment
failing the class
warning
probation
suspension
expulsion
For more detailed information, read the chapter on plagiarism in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition,
2003), visit the following website http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml and talk to your professors before
turning in your paper or doing your oral presentation.
The University of Indiana also has very helpful writing hints for students, including some on how to cite sources. Please visit
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets.shtml for more information.
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