Introduction tothe Digital Liberal Arts

Prof. AlvaradoMDST 3703/7703

28 September 2012

Sullivan

What are the “liberal arts”

artes liberales

Francese

The Seven Liberal Arts

• Trivium– Grammar– Rhetoric– Logic

• Quadrivium– Arithmetic– Geometry– Music– Astronomy

The liberal arts is a curriculum

How has the curriculum changed?Think of the what we mean by “arts and sciences”

How is it different from the professional schools?(engineering, business, medicine, law)

The humanities are at the centerMany departments fall within history, literature, or philosophy

We often call a student of the humanities a scholarWhat do scholars do?

Scholars interpret and reinterpret texts(literature, historical records, law, religion)

Scholars make arguments

essays, books, lectures

All of these forms depend up writing

What happens to scholarship when writing and communication become digital?

The rationalization effect

The principle of media determinism

Plan of the Course

• Seminar and studio tracks (Tues and Thurs)• Survey of ideas, projects, and technologies• Historical, Critical, and Practical• Focus on core theme of how rhetoric and reasoning

change with the new media– Are linear, verbal arguments side effects of literacy?– Don new media bring there new forms of reasoning?

• Investigate two ideas– The rationalization effect– Media determinism