Abstract
In “Virtual Bodies, Virtual Worlds,” an English course cross-listed with the Digital Humanities (DH) minor/graduate certificate, students explore near-future science fiction such as E. M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops,” Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, and Blake Hausman’s Riding the Trail of Tears. These literary texts raise urgent questions about our current surveillance culture and how we accept ever more intrusive technologies for the promise of personal health and security. Using the work of theorists including Simone Browe, Lisa Nakamura, and Judith Butler as a framework, we consider how speculative fiction can help us critique the current trajectory of emerging technologies, particularly the growing cultural and economic emphasis on virtual and augmented reality (XR) across all industries. Together, we experience a range of XR applications, and assess them in terms of equity, inclusion, and democratization. We then research the implementation of biometric data capture, social media integration, and other pervasive developments in the XR space in order to create collaborative prototypes that expose the benefits and drawbacks of these technologies. Students utilize the makerspace and media lab to experiment with 3D modeling, 360-video capture, and open source software to reimagine concepts from one of the literary works read in the class as an XR application, combining skills cultivated in close reading with digital literacy. According to final reflection essays, students find this critical-creative final project to challenge their assumptions of what humanistic work looks like and what industries they might pursue after graduation.
Presenters
Amanda LicastroDigital Scholarship Librarian and Lecturer in English/DH, Library, Swarthmore College, Delaware, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Past and Present in the Humanistic Education
KEYWORDS
Immersive Technologies, Virtual Reality, Accessibility, Literary Criticism, Digital Pedagogy, Representation
