Kristen Taylor at ITP, New York, NY
Fall 2011 / Monday 6:30-9p EST

Email for office appointments at Studiomates.
 

CommunITP

Two prompts for each class:

1.Communities run on _________________.    

2. _____________________ is my spirit animal.

Grading: 40% final project, 20% midterm, 20% weekly blog posts, 20% overall participation.

Class attendance is even more important than usual. Arriving in full command of the English language, the readings, and news of relevance to our topic is expected.

Our task is to understand communities in all their beautiful, mercurial forms and formats. Practical application of the subject matter happens between class sessions.

We may have fabulous guest speakers appear briefly during class via the door and via Skype.

Lesson 0: Strong communities have caring moderators. Anything hateful, off-topic, or offensive about the material or to one of your classmates or me and you’re out. Don’t be that guy.

Week 1: Sept 12 / Hello, again, hello.     Roland Barthes, “Chopsticks,” Joshua Porter, Designing for the Social Web, Hipmunk.com, Hugh McLeod, “pixiedust,” Airbnb.com.

Week 2: Sept 19 / Context         itsthisforthat.com, selections from Anthony Doerr, Instagram.com,                

Week 3: Sept 26 / Markets         Etsy.com, skillshare.com, Marije Vogelzang, Eat Love, Simon Sinek TED video, ediblegeography.com.            

Week 4: Oct 3 / Localism     Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Languages, Kickstarter, Code for America                 

Week 5: Oct 17 / Globalism         Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Languages, Steve Almond, Toto video, vocre.com           

Week 6: Oct 24 / Tourism        BLDGBLOG, Unhappy Hipsters, origin stories

Week 7: Oct 31 / Asymmetry    Dominic Widdows, Geometry and Meaning, taxonomy, Reddit                       

Week 8: Nov 7 / Catastrophe     Connected, Facebook page removal policy, healthcare 2.0  [remote class, midterm prep]                         

Short midterm presentations the week of Nov 7th; we will determine location in class beforehand.

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Week 9: Nov 14 / Cartography    Everything Sings, Eavan Boland poem “that the Science of Cartography is Limited,” Katherine Harmon’s You Are Here, James Bridle’s Rorschach maps

Week 10: Nov 21 / Craft        Richard Sennett, The Craftsman, Hunch, The Sartorialist, Economist piece on “artisanal worker society”

Week 11: Nov 28 / Upcycling     sections of What’s Mine is Yours, dogster.com, “Prosthetic Memory”                   

Week 12: Dec 5 / Desire        Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire
                      
Week 13: Dec 12 / Memes        BIG unanswered questions and meme session

Week 14: Dec 14 / Finals *note date is Wednesday, Dec 14th, 6:30p until we finish (likely 10:30p). Bringing snacks and treats is encouraged.