English 314J
Fall 2006
Jim Brown

Due Dates
Paper 1-1: 9/26
Paper 1-2: 10/10

Paper 1
Representations: Portraying Computer Programmers

In our first unit, we’ve been discussing issues of representation as they relate to Hari Kunzru’s Transmission. For your first paper, you will be writing a 4-6 page paper comparing Kunzru’s novel to some narratives about “real” hackers. It should be fairly clear at this point why I’ve included some quotation marks around the word “real.” As we’ve been discussing, representations are not confined to literature or film or television. Even an autobiographical text is a representation. As W.J.T. Mitchell writes in our first reading: “Every representation exacts some cost, in the form of lost immediacy, presence, or truth, in the form of a gap between intention and realization, original and copy” (21). It is with this idea in mind that you will approach paper 1.

For this assignment, you will choose one of the texts below to compare to Transmission. These texts are non-fiction and they are written by or about “real life” hackers like Linus Torvalds, Kevin Mitnick, Steve Jobs, and others. Browse through these texts and decide which is most interesting to you. Upon deciding which text you’d like to compare, choose a section of that text that you will focus on. You will most likely also have to choose a shorter section of Transmission to focus on. Because this is a 4-6 page paper, you won’t be able to cover the entire novel, but this doesn’t mean you have to confine yourself to one section of the text. For instance, you may choose to make an argument about the Chris character in Transmission, and this might require you to jump around in the text a bit. Regardless of what you choose, you must confine your analysis to some smaller portion of the novel.

Your paper will be a comparison of the different representations of the hacker/programmer/geek. How do the representations in the text you’ve chosen compare to Kunzru’s? Think about some of the ways that Mitchell talks about representation in our “mechanism text” – can you apply some of Mitchell’s question to your two texts? Here are some questions that might guide your analysis:

-Who is representing the programmer in these texts and why is this important? This would be along the lines of the “Maker” side of Mitchell’s diagram. This might mean talking about the authors of these texts and how they choose to tell their story – for instance, how does Linus Torvalds represent his childhood and how does this relate to Arjun’s story? But it could also mean talking about how the characters within the texts create representations. For instance, how are Arjun’s representations of himself different than Lena’s interpretation of him? How do media representations of Arjun play out in the text? What power do they have?

-How do the audiences differ for these texts and how does that play in to how the programmer is represented in them? This would be along the lines of the “Beholder” section of Mitchell’s diagram.

-How is the non-fictional text you are analyzing like a fictional one? How is Kunzru’s text like a non-fictional text? How distinct is the line between these two types of texts and is this line important? Why or why not?

-Mitchell speaks of the “conventions” of a Hollywood Western – “shoot-outs, wide open spaces, cowboys, Indians” (14). What conventions can you trace through the texts that you are looking at?

These are just some questions to get you started – this is by no means an exhaustive list. Regardless of how you approach this paper, keep in mind that the main goal of this paper is to get you thinking about how representations work, how they differ, how they’re similar, and why they’re important. Remember that you’re forming an argument about these two texts, so it is important to note the differences and similarities between these texts while also noting why those differences/similarities are important.

Paper Format
Your paper should be 4-6 pages and in MLA format. Consult an MLA style guide and ensure that your heading, margins, and citations are in MLA style.


Goals of the Assignment
While I will not be grading papers, I will be making comments on both your first and second submissions, and as I make these comments I will be focusing on whether or not you have addressed the goals of the assignment:

-To understand the concept of representation and why it’s important
-To make an argument comparing two texts and explaining why that argument is important
-To apply the methods and strategies we have talked about in class
-To trace the similarities, differences between representations in fiction and non-fiction and note why these relationships matter

Possible Texts (if you wish to use something not on this list, please check with me):

Brockman, John. Digerati : encounters with the cyber elite. 1st ed. San Francisco: HardWired : Distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West, 1996.

Butcher, Lee. Accidental millionaire : the rise and fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer. 1st ed. New York: Paragon House, 1988.

Graham, Paul. Hackers & painters : big ideas from the computer age. 1st ed. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2004.

Kushner, David. Masters of Doom : how two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 2003.

Lammers, Susan M. Programmers at work : interviews with 19 programmers who shaped the computer industry. Redmond, WA: Tempus Books of Microsoft Press, 1989.

Lohr, Steve. Go to : the story of the math majors, bridge players, engineers, chess wizards, maverick scientists, and iconoclasts, the programmers who created the software revolution. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2001.

Mitnick, Kevin D., and William L. Simon. The art of intrusion : the real stories behind the exploits of hackers, intruders, & deceivers. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2005.

Raymond, Eric S. The cathedral and the bazaar : musings on Linux and Open Source by an accidental revolutionary. Rev. ed. Beijing ; Cambridge, Mass.: O'Reilly, 2001.

Sivakumar, N. Dude, Did I Steal Your Job? Debugging Indian Programmers. Bridgewater, NJ: Divine Tree, 2004.

Stallman, Richard M. Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. Boston, MA: GNU Press, 2002.

Stephenson, Neal. In the beginning ...was the command line. New York: Avon Books, 1999.

Torvalds, Linus, and David Diamond. Just for fun : the story of an accidental revolutionary. 1st ed. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2001.

Ullman, Ellen. Close to the machine : technophilia and its discontents : a memoir. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1997.

Wade, Mary Dodson. Ada Byron Lovelace : the lady and the computer. A people in focus book. 1st ed. New York, 1994.