This is the lead-off course in the UCSB's English Department's new curricular project titled Transcriptions: Literary History and the Culture of Information. The purpose of this course is to think about the nature of knowledge in an age when the dominant discourse is "information" and the dominant mode of work is information-technology-enabled "knowledge work." Included are print and/or online readings on the following topics: philosophical approaches to information, communication theory, media theory, the relation between visual and textual information design, entertainment and information, knowledge work in corporations, virtual reality. The ultimate goal of the course is to look at information in such a deep way that it will not be surprising that its compelling magic is imaginable in the same frame as literature, and vice versa. There is also a practical goal: to introduce humanities students to skills and technologies that are increasingly necessary in many future careers. Besides traditional individual writing assignments (one short paper, one longer paper), the course requires a team online project.

For an overview of the Transcriptions project, see Rationale.

• Albert Borgmann, Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium (U. Chicago Press, 1999)
• Joseph H. Boyett and Henry P. Conn, Workplace 2000: The Revolution Reshaping American Business (Penguin, 1991)
• Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Community, vol. 1 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture (Blackwell, 1996)
• Timothy Druckrey, Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation (Aperture, 1996)
• Steven Johnson, Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate (HarperEdge, 1997)
• Class Reader: Available at the Alternative Copy Shop, Isla Vista
• Various online readings.

• Participation in team online project
• Short online essay in conjunction with the team project
• Final essay