Communication Arts 377: The Digital Self

While the selfie is a new form of technological mediation, it shares similarities with other forms such as self-portraiture and autobiography. In this course, we will examine selfies as a set of specific habits and modalities attached to the practice of everyday life in the digital era. We will contend with nature of selfies as both image- and data-forms, covering a range of theoretical approaches and texts that will inform class-themes such as intimacy, surveillance, activism and celebrity-culture. Beyond selfies, how else might we consider the “digital self?” What do algorithms, recommendation systems, and practices of self-tracking tell us about our “selves?” And in confronting our visual and data selves, what do we learn, in turn, about the networked society we inhabit?