ENGL 149 Networked and Multimodal Composition

We tend to imagine writing as mysterious and opaque – a gift of the Muses, that descends upon us in manic bursts of creative energy. As a result, we spend much of the time that we may have to write not writing but rather waiting to write: waiting for just the right mood, just the right place, just the right lighting, noise, or level of caffeination, in the hopes that inspiration may strike. (We’re all guilty of it!) It is the goal of this course to rid us of these beliefs and habits. Writing is, as any productive writer will tell you, not a lightning bolt of clarity but a slow and steady process of composition, a word that literally means bringing together and arranging. It’s like building a house, or weaving a tapestry, requiring much planning and the steady assemblage of different pieces. In this class, we’ll be practicing this process of assemblage in networked digital spaces. Accordingly, this course is built around six key practices of digital composition: CONTRIBUTE, COLLECT, CURATE, COMPOSE, COMMUNICATE, and CUT-UP. Think of these verbs as prompts – as actions, moves, and compositional gestures – that we will be rehearsing and performing together at each stage of the semester. Practiced together in class and through small-scale exercises, they will provide a suite of skills that will help you frame and structure your own multimodal project.