Spill your Tea

This course is about stories about empowerment and how to tell them through innovative interactions. First, students will explore a brief overview of the rise of hypertext and digital media, differences between print and digital texts, and how these differences shape people and society. This serves as a background for a deeper study on interactive fiction, digital and analog games, and social media. Special emphasis will be placed on the larger culture around gaming with a focus on artistic, experimental narrative play and compelling stories about power, struggle, and what it means to be human. Students will engage in numerous readings and other media on digital literacies, social media, and gaming. In groups, they will also work on a hybrid physical/digital short work of fiction meant to push at the boundaries of what counts as a book, what counts as a game, and what counts as interactive media. The project work will be documented on a website with updates throughout the quarter. This course has a heavy emphasis on peer learning and group work, devoting much of class time to projects and student-led presentations, supplemented with online discussions. NO programming skills or previous experience making games necessary; success is highly dependent on good participation, agile communication, and teamwork.