Decoding Digital Literature (Critical Code Studies)

Catalog description

A cornerstone of criticism and interpretation is the question of meaning in text, whether a novel, poem, or play... or indeed, in any cultural text, whether an advertisment, campaign speech, or news article, et cetera. This course explores how we can apply this search for meaning and this process of interpretation to computers, software, and code. What is the plain, subtle, or hidden meanings in the source code of a digital story or a video game? For that matter, what about in the code of a computer virus, a space shuttle, or a predictive policing algorithm? What are the narratives, what are the poetics, what are the values and ethics and assumptions?