In an attempt to ground current, sometime euphoric, descriptions of cyberspace and new information technologies, this course will locate such visions in a broad analysis of the historical role of technology in society. It is designed to encourage us to think about the social and cultural ramifications of technological development and to counter attitudes of technological determinism. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between technologies and bodies, looking at how various technological changes and shifts have influenced cultural and individual perceptions of space, time and the body. The course will utilize a wide range of texts as it surveys these relationships, including historical documents, fiction, cultural theory, and visual culture (for example, photography, films and websites.) Roughly, we will move from the industrialization and urbanization of the 19th century to the promises of cyberspace in contemporary society, exploring how the body has been imaged, confined and contested through innovations in industrial technology, medical technology, information and entertainment technology, and through what I refer to as 'domestic' technologies. We will address questions like "How do technologies shape our spatial, temporal and bodily perceptions?", "How are technology and consumerism related?", "How are the workings of power manifested in technologies?", "What utopic (and dystopic) elements do cultural visions of technology employ?" "How did the train, photography or the cinema shape how we could see and understand the world?", "Will the Internet enable new ways of thinking and seeing?". Throughout the semester, the guiding frameworks of the class will be those of cultural studies, and we will constantly link our exploration of old and new technologies to the social construction of self, other, and community. At every turn we will try to discern the continuities and discontinuities between historical and contemporary technologies, attempting to learn and profit by looking backwards. Films for the course will include The Matrix, Bladerunner, and Metropolis as well as several short films. Students will also explore and analyze a number of websites, video games, and other 'new' media examples and will produce 'visual media' projects in the course.