Faculty and Staff

Barry Jason Mauer

Barry Jason Mauer, Ph.D.

Biography

Barry Jason Mauer is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida, and is director of the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program. His published work focuses on developing new research practices in the arts and humanities. His latest research is about citizen curating, which aims at enlisting a corps of citizens to curate exhibits, both online and in public spaces, using archival materials available in museums, libraries, public history centers, and other institutions. He also publishes online comics about delusion and denial, particularly as they affect the realm of politics. In addition, Mauer is an accomplished songwriter and recording artist. Mauer completed his graduate studies at the University of Florida in the Department of English, where he worked under the direction of professors Gregory Ulmer and Robert Ray. He lives in Orlando with his wife and daughter, two dogs, and his cat.

Education

  • Ph.D. in English (Cultural Studies) from University of Florida (1999)
  • M.A. in English (Cultural Studies) from University of Florida (1995)
  • B.A. in Film Theory and Cultural Politics from University of Minnesota (1990)

Research Interests

Film and Media Studies, 

Cultural Studies, 

Rhetoric and Composition, 

Literary Theory, 

Memory and Monuments, 

Digital Humanities

Recent Research Activities

Citizen Curating

Selected Publications

Television Episodes

  • Music and Found Photographs. Half-hour televised interview about my research projects and creative work.  UCF Profiles. The UCF Channel, WBCC-DT.  https://youtu.be/YvyX4Vszl14 

  • Monument to Lost Data.  Half-hour televised interview about my research project on lost data. UCF Profiles. The UCF Channel, WBCC-DT.  https://youtu.be/tuVKetm7810

     

Articles/Essays

Artwork

  • The Invisible Parameter. “Do It!” Exhibition at UCF Art Gallery. Includes work by Barry Mauer and by 10 students in his ENG 6810: “Theories of Texts and Technology” seminar. Feb. 23, 2016 – Mar. 4, 2016.    

  • “Curating the Mystory: Ideology and Invention in the Theory Classroom.” Slide presentation/Video exhibit piece introducing three student-produced mystories.  The Encounter: Baalu Girma and Zora Neale Hurston, UCF Art Gallery, Jan. 11-Feb 18.

     

Book Sections/Chapters

  • "Curating the Mystory: Ideology and Invention in the Theory Classroom," Putting Theory into Practice in the Contemporary Classroom: Theory Lessons. Becky McLaughlin. Cambridge Scholars Publishing

  • “Teaching the Repulsive Memorial.” Co-authored with John Venecek, Patricia Carlton, Marcy Galbreath, Amy Larner Giroux, and Valerie Kasper. Producing Public Memory: Museums, Memorials, and Archives as Sites for Teaching “Writing.” Eds. Jane Greer and Laurie Grobman. Routledge. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281105966_Teaching_the_Repulsive_Memorial

  • “Rigorous Infidelity: Whole Text Sampling in the Curatorial Work of Henri Langlois, Dewey Phillips, and Jean-François Lyotard.” Sampling across the Spectrum. Oxford University Press.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260187493_Rigorous_Infidelity_Whole_Text_Sampling_in_the_Curatorial_Work_of_Henri_Langlois_Dewey_Phillips_and_Jean-Francois_Lyotard
  • "Asynchronous Documentary: Buñuel’s Land Without Bread." Book chapter for Lowering the Boom: New Essays on the History, Theory and Practice of Film Sound, edited by Anthony Grajeda and Jay Beck. University of Illinois Press.
  • "Nietzsche at the Apollo: An Experiment in Clipography." Book chapter for New Media/New Methods: The Turn from Literacy to Electracy, edited by Jeff Rice and Marcel O’Gorman. Parlor Press.
  • "Proposal for a Monument to Lost Data." Book chapter for Studies In Writing, volume 17, Writing and Digital Media, edited by Luuk van Waes, Mariëlle Leijten, Christine M. Neuwirth. Elsevier Press.

Recordings

Creative Publications

Book Reviews

  • "Review of Georges Bataille: A Critical Introduction, by Benjamin Noys." Cultural Analysis: Volume 3.

Miscellaneous Publications

  • “What Holds Us Back From Achieving a Better Society?” UCF Forum and Huffington Post. July 13. Also broadcast as a radio piece on WUCF, July 17, 2016.    

  • “Censorship Is Not All Bad.” UCF Forum and Huffington Post. March 9, 2016. Also broadcast as a radio piece on WUCF, March 14, 2016.    
  • “The United States Could Use a ‘Therapist General’” UCF Forum and Huffington Post. November 4, 2015. Also broadcast as a radio piece on WUCF, November 8, 2015.    
  • “Rock and Roll and the Amateur Aesthetic.” Texts and Technology Blog.    

Awards

2017

• QEP What’s Next Grant, “Interdisciplinary Curating and Museum Studies Minor.” Awarded April 2017. $3500. 

2016

•  “Curating across the Curriculum.” QEP Enhancement Award. $3500.

•  Rose Library Fellowship for the “Repulsive Monuments” project at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. $500.

    

•  "The Big Read" awarded 6/2/15. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Awarded Amount(s): C&G External: $20,000.35, C&G Internal Cost Share Required: $18,900.00. PI: Keri Watson Co-PIs(s): Dr. Maria Santana, Dr. Barry Mauer, Larry Cooper, Connie Lester, Meredith Tweed, Scot French, Anastasia Salter, Yulia Tikhonova


2015

•  CAH Research Incentive Seed Funding Program. “The Citizen Curator Project” (PI: Barry Mauer). 


2014

•  CAH Summer Research Development Program. 

2013

•  “Writing Assignments for LIT 3714: Literary Modernism.” WAC Starter Grant.


2012

•  “Critical Thinking Modules for Lower Division English and CAH Courses.” Information Fluency Grant. 


2011

•  Information Fluency Initiative Grant. “Critical Thinking: Modules on Premises, Part II.” 


2011

•  “Critical Thinking Modules for Lower Division English and CAH Courses.” Information Fluency Grant. 


2009

•  Toni Jennings Special Initiative Award. “A Prototype for Digital Archiving in K-12.” P.I.: Barry Mauer. $6000.

  

2007

•  Information Fluency Initiative Grant. “Class Design of Learning Outcomes and Assessment.” 


2006

•  College of Arts and Sciences Research Award. “Simulating Mental Illness.” 


2004

•  “Traditions of Oral Narrative.”  Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Title VI Program for Internationalizing the Curriculum. (Co-investigator). $2000 (my portion of the grant).


2003


•  Interdisciplinary Research Award.  “Electronic Monumentality: Mourning and Memory on the World Wide Web.”


2002


•  I-4 Corridor Research Award. “Cultural ByWays.” PIs: Christopher Stapleton, Charles Hughes. 


2001



2001


•  Center for Metropolitan Studies Grant. “Interactive Digital Storytelling Festival.” PI: Sterling Van Wagenen. $10,000.


2001


•  Center for Metropolitan Studies Grant. “Earth Echoes: Reinventing Community through Technology, Story and Culture” $10,000.


2001


•  Interdisciplinary Research Award.  “Earth Echoes: Integrating Technology, Nature, and Narrative.”  PI: Barry Mauer 


2001


•  “A Monument to Lost Data.” CREAT Curriculum Development Grant. 


2000


•  College of Arts & Humanities Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award


2016

•  UCF Open-Access Champion Award.


2015

•  UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award (TIP).


2010

•  “Academic Affairs Fellowship.” UCF.


2006

•  “Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology.” UCF campus-wide award.


2006

•  College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award.


2005

•  “Monument to Lost Data.” Research and Mentoring Program (RAMP) Award.


2004

•  UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award (TIP).


2004

•  Office of Student Scholarship and Fellowship Advisement (OSSFA) Undergraduate Research Program Award.  


2003

•  Office of Student Scholarship and Fellowship Advisement (OSSFA) Undergraduate Research Program Award.  


2002

•  McGinty Dissertation Fellowship. University of Florida. 


1999

•  Department of English Excellence in Teaching Awards. UF


1996

•  Department of English Excellence in Teaching Awards. UF 


1994

Courses

Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
11401 ENG3014 Theories and Tech of Lit Study World Wide Web (W) Unavailable

One thing a theory does is to explain how and why things work. In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do. Intended in part as a survey of modern critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature. Literature is not separate from other kinds of writing, and it is open to everyone. It shares common structures, such as narrative, argument, and metaphor, with other kinds of writing. It represents the world and our thoughts, it exists in relationship to other texts, and it allows us to push into the unknown. We can learn about literature by practicing some of its methods. As we will see, written theory has a lot in common with literature too.

Modern theory, born in the 19th century and continuing into the 21st includes formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, reader-response, semiotic, structuralist, deconstructive, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postnolinialism, and multiculturalism. Of these, only the formalists set out to study literature as their first order of business. The other theorists came to literature by other routes, often through the sciences or through social movements. Each of these approaches includes multiple schools; for example, the Marxist schools include Lukacsians, the Frankfurt School, Gramscians, and others. We will examine works of literature using many of these theoretical discourses as guides. Additionally, we will seek to gain a better understanding of interpretation and of invention.
11277 ENG6810 Theories of Texts & Technology Face to Face Instruction (P) W 06:00 PM - 08:50 PM Unavailable
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
81524 ENG3930H Hon Special Topic Face to Face Instruction (P) Tu,Th 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Available

Course Description

Note: this is a face-to-face class, but we will be doing much of our work (discussions, quizzes, and papers) online. You should jump right into the webcourse ASAP.

This course examines our capacity to be fooled, either by another's misrepresentation or by our own reasoning errors. At worst, this capacity can lead us into fiascos. For instance, during the housing bubble that preceded the 2008 financial collapse, so many people were fooled about the security of subprime loans. that they brought on a global economic meltdown. Could this crisis have been avoided? More recently, tens of millions of Americans voted a con man with a horrifying agenda. into the presidency. His followers repeatedly failed to heed warnings. about the president's criminal and unethical behavior. before and after taking office and instead became complicit in his crimes. and attacked his critics and perceived enemies, with the president's incitement, and often with lethal force. Why are people fooled? We will be refining this questions throughout the semester to ask, "why are some people fooled more than others and why are we fooled about some things more than about other things?"

"Why Are People Fooled?" is a Gordon Rule course, which means you will produce at least 6000 words of evaluated writing as required by the English Department. Each Gordon Rule assignment has the following characteristics:

  1. The writing will have a clearly defined central idea or thesis.
  2. It will provide adequate support for that idea.
  3. It will be organized clearly and logically.
  4. It will show awareness of the conventions of standard written English.
  5. It will be formatted or presented in an appropriate way.

The course investigates this enduring question - Why Are People Fooled? - as it relates to three areas of inquiry:

  1. The human capacity for being fooled.
  2. The ability of con artists and propagandists to fool people.
  3. The ways in which people might protect themselves from being fooled.

We will seek to understand how humans are prone to self-deception, ignorance, credulity, propaganda, prejudice, groupthink, and mass hysteria, so that we will have a greater chance to counteract the reasoning errors that lead to these outcomes. This learning process involves gaining critical self-awareness, and my bet is that we will discover that each of us holds beliefs, including our most cherished core beliefs, that are likely false and may also be dangerous (note: if you can't tolerate having your core beliefs challenged, you should not take this class!). Learning how not to be fooled is a large part of critical thinking, which is central to a humanities education. This course teaches critical thinking in new and exciting ways by including lessons about how to stop our automatic reactions and about acquiring life management skills that will help us avoid getting fooled. We will examine this theme in relation to several areas of study:

  1. Modes of persuasion, ranging from dialogue to war
  2. Propaganda and public relations
  3. Science and pseudo-science
  4. Mental illness and health
  5. Technology and culture

The course draws upon materials from many knowledge areas—philosophy, cognitive science, economics, rhetoric, sociology, politics, and communications theory—to investigate our capacity to be fooled. The result will be an accessible, yet challenging and engaging course.

Course Objectives

  1. To understand how aspects of human psychology and society leave us vulnerable to manipulation.
  2. To develop professional skills in research and in writing to persuade.
  3. To understand the differences between science and pseudo-science and also between history and pseudo-history.
  4. To understand the differences between propaganda and ethical forms of persuasion.
  5. To enter into academic and professional discourse communities. My teaching aims to help you enter these communities by integrating four knowledge areas: literacy, critical thinking, self-knowledge, and citizenship.
      • Literacy is more than the ability merely to read and write; it is also the ability to read reality and to interpret the "instrument panels" that tell us about it. At the university level, it means the ability to communicate within academic and professional communities using specialized discourses. Such work requires new habits of reading and writing, habits that do not come easily or naturally for most people. My mentor in graduate school, Professor Gregory Ulmer, used to remind me that a pencil was probably about the cheapest technology a person could buy but the most expensive to learn to use effectively. I focus on improving each student’s abilities regardless of his or skills on the first day of class.
      • Critical thinking is the ability to think abstractly and to assess the merits of an idea or text. It requires skills in analysis and interpretation. Analysis describes what type a text is, how it functions, details its elements and explains how it achieves its effects. Interpretation declares what a text means, what its major themes are, and what morals or lessons the reader should draw from it. When students become adept at these skills, they are ready to assess the merits of ideas, including their own.
      • Self-knowledge lies at the origins of scholarly learning, beginning with the Delphic Oracle’s instruction to Socrates: “Know thyself!” Self-knowledge is the process of creating an inventory of one’s thoughts and behaviors, discovering one’s values, and checking for congruence. The processes for attaining self-knowledge derive as much from art as they do from science; thus I ask students to study literature, and, in several of my classes, to produce literature. By studying and producing literature, we explore ways of being in the world.
      • Citizenship is a process of engagement with the world, one that balances empowerment with humility. It begins with an understanding of self, of groups, of traditions, and of actions and their consequences. The citizenship process is similar to the self-knowledge process. It entails examination of a group’s values and its beliefs and behaviors. Again, the arts are powerful agents for understanding what it means to have responsibility, power, and limitations in our own place and time.
    • By integrating these four areas, you should gain a sense of confidence about your place in academic and professional worlds. You should have the ability to find, evaluate, and use information effectively. 
Course Number Course Title Mode Session Date and Time Syllabus
50799 ENG3014 Theories and Tech of Lit Study World Wide Web (W) B Unavailable

   One thing a theory does is to explain how and why things work. In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do. Intended in part as a survey of modern critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature. Literature is not separate from other kinds of writing, and it is open to everyone. It shares common structures, such as narrative, argument, and metaphor, with other kinds of writing. It represents the world and our thoughts, it exists in relationship to other texts, and it allows us to push into the unknown. We can learn about literature by practicing some of its methods. As we will see, written theory has a lot in common with literature too.

   Modern theory, born in the 19th century and continuing into the 21st includes formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, reader-response, semiotic, structuralist, deconstructive, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postnolinialism, and multiculturalism. Of these, only the formalists set out to study literature as their first order of business. The other theorists came to literature by other routes, often through the sciences or through social movements. Each of these approaches includes multiple schools; for example, the Marxist schools include Lukacsians, the Frankfurt School, Gramscians, and others. We will examine works of literature using many of these theoretical discourses as guides. Additionally, we will seek to gain a better understanding of interpretation and of invention.

Updated: Dec 10, 2018


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