Home | Schedule & Readings
Radical Software
LCST 2234, Fall 2020 (CRN 9430)
Rory Solomon
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.docx,
.odt, or .txt) and edit. Some tips and suggestions about what to record are included in
the document. You should do one of these for each project tutorial — max required is 3 per
project.
Final paper assignment, assigned November 24, due December 17;
("Authoethnography", by Adams, Ellis, and Jones The International Encyclopedia of
Communication Research Methods, 2017)
WEEK 01 — Course introductions and overview
__ TUESDAY, 9/1 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording,
transcript of Zoom recording,
lecture slides]
Optional background readings (We’ll revisit two of these)
> "
Radical", Encyclopædia Britannica, July 20, 1998,
> "
The Conscience of a Hacker", (aka The Hacker Manifesto) January 8, 1986
> Julian Oliver, Gordan Savičić, and Danja Vasiliev, "
The Critical Engineering Manifesto"
Examples
>
Radical Software magazine, 1970-1974
Click on
History and note the ties to The New School
>
The Radical Software Group (R-S-G)
> The
Radical Networks conference, in New York and Berlin
__ THURSDAY, 9/3 __
>
Project 1 Assignment
> Project 1, Tutorial 1:
Setting up your Twitter bot
Twitter developer access codes:
authorization_tokens.py (You will need to be signed
in to your New School Google Drive account to access this file.)
__ TUESDAY 9/8 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Readings
> Noah Wardrip-Fruin,
“Digital Media Archaeology: Interpreting Computational Processes”
In
Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications, 302–22, 2011
> Jacob Gaboury,
"A Queer History of Computing: Part Three"
> Jacob Gaboury,
"Critical Unmaking: Toward a Queer Computation"
In
The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities, 483–91, 2018
Examples
> Nick Montfort's reimplementation of
Strachey's Love Letters
> Noah Wardrip-Fruin gives a good description of Strachey's algorithm, but Wikipedia also
offers
a very succinct description of it, which may be helpful in thinking about your
approach to project 1.
>
the bodyfuck programming language, video demos:
[1],
[2]
Additional examples
> A web-based version of Raymond Queneau's
Cent mille milliards de poèmes (Thousand
Million Billion Poems)
> Other work on controlling computers through embodied movement:
> Myron Krueger's
"Videoplace"
> Ursula Endlicher's
"html movement library" and "html butoh" (requires Flash)
with documentation on Vimeo
here and
here
> the Nintendo Wii
__ THURSDAY 9/10 __
> Project 1, Tutorial 2:
Expanding bot functionality with Python lists and
random() (25min)
IMPORTANT NOTE: I made a typo in this video. I corrected it with captions (subtitles).
Make sure you have captions turned on to see the correction: click the class "CC" icon
in the bottom-right corner of the video player.
> Project 1, Additional tutorial: History and use of the command line (CLI), in two parts:
part 1 (25min),
part 2 (34min)
__ TUESDAY, 9/15 __
[
Lecture slides (Note we only got to slide 18 and will revist),
Zoom recording with captions,
transcript of Zoom recording]
Readings
> Selections from Matthew Fuller's
Software Studies: A Lexicon:
Introduction, "Algorithm," "Code," and "Programmability".
Note: I have included several other keyword chapters in case you are curious.
(Highlighted in the table of contents.) They are all great. Please consider
the above four as the only required sections.
> Friedrich Kittler,
"There is No Software", ctheory.net, 1995
> Lev Manovich,
The Language of New Media, chapter 1
__ THURSDAY, 9/17 __
> Project 1, Tutorial 3: Other API functions:
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3 (I had some issues with
the recording and had to pause twice, and I'm having issues wtih my video editing software,
so I wasn't able to stitch these together.)
> Project 1:
Help registering for your own Twitter developer account
__ TUESDAY __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with captions,
transcript of Zoom recording]
Readings
> Maurice Block,
"Radicalism", from John Joseph Lalor,
Cyclopaedia of Political Science,
Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States, 1899. (Table of
contents included for interest.)
> Alex Khasnabish and Max Haiven.
Introductory chapter, from
The Radical Imagination: Social
Movement Research in the Age of Austerity, 2014. Feel free to skip the section "Outline
and preliminaries" and pick up on page 23 at "As might be evident from this overview ..."
> David Graeber, "Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination", 2011
PDF and available online here:
theguardian.com
>
"Seeing Cities", Laura Kurgan in conversation with Bill Rankin, creator
radicalcartography.net.
For this class discussion, I'm really only interested in the first two interview questions,
up to "radical content." But perhaps read from the beginning up to that point for context.
I'm interested in thinking about what Rankin means by "radical" here in a context very
different from software: maps.
> Donella Meadows, "Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System", 1997.
PDF and available online here:
donellameadows.org
This might seem like a strange one to include because it is so far off from talking
about software. But we could gain much by analyzing any radical software activism
in terms of the various types of intervention outlined in this short essay.
> On the wisdom in taking a markedly
non-radical approach to software: Joel Spolsky,
"Things You Should Never Do, Part I" , available at
joelonsoftware.com
> (Optional.) Saul Newman, "
Anarchism", from Pugh,
What is Radical Politics Today?, 2009
Other additional texts
(I received some questions about other David Graeber texts that I might recommend. Here
are a few. This is only for general interest, as we won't be discussing them in
class. But if you would be interested in discussing, reach out and I'd be glad to.)
>
Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, 2004
>
"The New Anarchists", 2002
> Syllabus for
"Direct Action and Radical Social Theory", Spring 2004
Examples
> Revisit
The Critical Engineering Manifesto
> Radical Engineers –
radicalengineers.com
__ THURSDAY __
> Project 1, Tutorial 4:
Scheduling, committing, and submitting (31min)
__ TUESDAY 9/29 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with captions,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Readings
> Joseph Schumpeter, "The Process of Creative Destruction", chapter 7 from part II of
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 1942
This is one of the more difficult texts that we'll be reading this semester.
I recommend that you start by reading chapter 7, then if you still have steam go
back to the beginning and see how much you can get through beyond that key chapter.
> This little bit of background on Schumpeter and his idea of "creative destruction"
will probably help you make sense of the above:
Sharon Reier, "
Half a Century Later, Economist's 'Creative Destruction' Theory Is Apt for the Internet Age",
The New York Times, 2000
> Lilly Irani,
Introduction and "
Can the Subaltern Innovate?" (chapter 7)
from
Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India, 2019
> (Optional.) Sheila Jasanoff, "
A New Politics of Innovation", from Pugh,
What is Radical Politics Today?, 2009
> (Optional.) Jonathan Sterne, “
Out with the Trash: On the Future of New Media”
Examples
> Browse the website for the Computer History Museum's permanent exhibition
"Revolution"
– From
museum homepage: "Visit CHM to learn about the long history of technology and
its revolutionary impact on the world." What kind of revolution is this?
– From
the exhibition homepage: "The story of computing is epic. It’s driven by the
human passion for tinkering, inventing and solving difficult problems where accidents
and luck can be as important as brilliant engineering. Explore the revolution that has
changed our world ..."
– Note the sponsors at the bottom of the page: Intel, Intuit, and a large electronics big
box store in California called Fry's
– Does this exhibition include any examples of "radical software"? What does it mean
to think about this history of business and technological innovation as a kind of
"revolution"? ... as "creative destruction"?
__ THURSDAY 10/1 __
>
DUE: Project 1, Twitter bot
__ TUESDAY 10/6 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with captions,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Readings
> Tara McPherson, "
U.S. Operating Systems at Mid-Century: The Intertwining of Race and UNIX"
> Ruha Benjamin, "
Assessing risk, automating racism",
Science, Oct 25, 2019:
Vol. 366, Issue 6464, pp. 421-422.
> (Optional.) Ruha Benjamin, "
Race to the Future? Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology & Society",
video of a talk at Portland State University
> Charlton McIlwain,
Black Software: The Internet and Racial Justice, from the AfroNet
to Black Lives Matter,
chapters 11 and 12
__ THURSDAY 10/8 __
>
Project 2 Assignment: Browser extension
> Project examples
—
Jailbreak the Patriarchy
—
Justin Blinder's ReThink and
Dark Side of the Prism
—
Relay chat app
— ShiftSpace. ShiftSpace was a browser plugin -based project that was active
from around 2005-2010. Unfortunately the proejct is no longer active and the website
is no longer running, but you can find bits of documentation about it scattered
around on the web:
Turbulence.org commissions program (scroll down for short text
and two videos), co-creator Mushon Zer-Aviv's
masters thesis statement, some
background ideas in a blog post called "
Control in Public Space", longer list of
various blog posts by Mushon. Let's all make sure to read the Turbulence.org piece
and consider the rest optional.
>
Project 2, Tutorial 1 (1h 4min - It got a bit long! There was a lot to explain to
get started with this one. If you'd like to read more documentation about
browser extensions, I recommend starting with
this guide to Chrome extensions,
which I think is very useful.)
__ TUESDAY 10/20 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording]
Readings
> Steven Levy,
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution,
Chapters 1-2 (pages 13-41), 8 (125-141), and Epilogue (341-354)
Watch
>
Hackers, Iain Softley, 1995
> (Optional.)
WarGames, 1983
> (Optional.)
Halt and Catch Fire (2014-2017) Episode
1,
2, and
3
> (Optional.)
Swordfish, 2001. This is actually a pretty terrible movie and I really don't
recommend it.
> (Optional.)
Excerpt from the TV Show Ghost Writer
__ TUESDAY 10/27 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Readings
> Gabriella Coleman, "
Hacker", Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, 2014
> Gabriella Coleman and Alex Golub,
"
Hacker practice: Moral genres and the cultural articulation of liberalism", 2008
> (Optional.) Gabriella Coleman, "
our weirdness is free", Triple Canopy, 2012
> The Mentor, "
The Conscience of a Hacker", Phrack magazine, 1986
> Mckenzie Wark,
A Hacker Manifesto, manifesto items [001] - [088]
Examples
> Interventions by Anonymous
> Cult of the Dead Cow's "Back Orifice" and "netbus"
__ THURSDAY 10/29 __
>
Project 2, Tutorial 3 (1 hour, 3 minutes, with subtitles),
transcript with timestamps
__ TUESDAY 11/3 & THURSDAY 11/5 __
Reminder: our regular classes will not meet this week, in lieu of one-on-one
sessions. Get some badly needed rest!
__ THURSDAY 11/5 __
> DUE: Project 2. The project due date remains on this day. I hope you might use our week
off to finish up this project. If there is interest, I would like to use some time next
week to share, present, and discuss these projects.
WEEK 11 — Hacking language (moved back from WEEK 10)
__ TUESDAY 11/10 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Readings
> Ron Eglash, "
Broken Metaphor: The Master Slave Analogy", 2007
> (Optional.) Seth Rosenblatt, "Block/Allow: The Changing Face of Hacker Linguistics"
(Available at darkreading.com)
>
Developers Debate Deleting ‘Master’ and ‘Slave’ Code Terminology, 2020
> Github:
Replace "master" and "slave" terms in Redis, 2016
> Github:
Eliminate master terminology, 2020
> Ari Schlesinger, "
Feminism and Programming Languages", Nov 2013
> Ari Schlesinger, "
A Feminist & A Programmer", Dec 2013
> Ari Schlesinger, "
A Feminist Programming Language?", Jul 2014
> Brandee Easter, "
Feminist_brevity_in_light_of_masculine_long-windedness: code, space, and online misogyny", 2018
Examples
> Ramsey Nasser’s
Alb (قلب) — And you can learn more about Alb in the first
episode of Caleb's podcast:
Artists and Hackers!
> Glossary from
The Exploit: "Notes for a liberated computer language"
Originally planned topic for this week, now considered optional: Computational citizenship
> Joy Lisi Rankin,
A People’s History of Computing in the United States,
Introduction and chapter 1
Examples to go with Rankin reading:
> Oregon Trail
> PLATO
__ THURSDAY 11/12 __
> Project 3 Assignment (coming soon)
> Project 3, Tutorial 1: Packet sniffing experiments with Herbivore
__ TUESDAY 11/17 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Reading:
> Brian Larkin, "
Degraded Images, Distorted Sounds: Nigerian Video and the Infrastructure of Piracy",
from
Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure, and Urban Culture in Nigeria
> Colin Ward on "direct action":
pages 26-30 in
Anarchy in Action, 1973.
I've included the whole book here, and the whole thing is great.
But for our conversation
I'm only asking you to focus on those 5 pages. If you'd like more context, perhaps
you could read all of chapter 1 by starting a little earlier on 21.
On second thought, please just read all of chapter 1 (pgs 21-30), it's only a few extra pages than
what I originally stated, and those few pages give some good context that will be helpful in
thinking about direct action — a fascinating topic that is very central to our class!
> Michel Bauwens, "
The Political Economy of Peer Production", ctheory.net, 2005
Watch
>
David Graeber on a new pirate book, shortly before he passed away
Examples
> Aaron Swartz:
— Rolling Stone profile, 2013
— Wired.com profile, 2013
— We will also look through his GitHub account, which is still up
— And excerpts from his blog,
aaronsw.com
>
Sci-hub, by
Alexandra Elbakyan — some background about it from
theverge.com
> aaarg.fail (or whatever the URL is now – if it still exists!
https://monoskop.org/Aaaaarg)
> The
Anti-capitalist Software License
> Examples of so-called peer-to-peer software from Napster to BitTorrent
__ THURSDAY 11/19 __
> Project 3, Tutorial 2: Visuals with RSG's Carnivore (coming soon)
__ TUESDAY 11/24 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Reading
> Alex Galloway,
Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization,
Foreword and introduction
> Primavera De Filippi, "
It's Time to Take Mesh Networks Seriously (And Not Just for the Reasons You Think)", 2014
> Greta Byrum, "
Building the People's Internet", 2019
Examples
> Dweb conference
> Diaspora
— IEEE Spectrum, "
The Anti-Facebook", 2011
— Sarah Mei, "
Disalienation: Why Gender is a Text Field on Diaspora"
> Mastodon
> Eben Moglen's "Freedom Box"
> Mesh network examples including goTenna, FireChat, and libreRouter
__ THURSDAY 11/26 __
> NO CLASS — Happy Thanksgiving
__ TUESDAY 12/1 __
[
Lecture slides,
Zoom recording with subtitles,
transcript of Zoom recording,
group chat log]
Reading
> Christina Dunbar-Hester,
Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures,
chapter 1 "Introduction" & chapter 2 "History, Heresy, Hacking"
> (Optional.) Shannon Mattern, "
Scaffolding, Hard and Soft: Critical and Generative Infrastructures", 2018
> (Optional.) Shannon Mattern, "
Maintenance and Care", 2018
> Ben Tarnoff, "
The Making of the Tech Worker Movement",
Logic magazine, May 4, 2020
> Audre Lorde, "
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House"
__ THURSDAY 12/3 __
>
DUE: Project 3, Packet sniffer