{"id":20,"date":"2026-09-01T13:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T11:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=20"},"modified":"2026-09-01T18:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:35:01","slug":"overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=20","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The Idea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Teaching science fiction at university level has its challenges. One needs to convince the higher ups of the overall benefit, one has to newly organize both lecture and reading material, and one has to prove to students that SF is not just a fluke of a topic but really needs serious academic work. So, as with many other courses in popular culture (which share the same problems), not many get taught at university, especially not in Hamburg, where I teach. But what if, like me, you love science fiction and want to share it with as many people as possible? Well, you develop an idea and roll with it. After having taught a course called \u201cA Survey of American Science Fiction\u201d and a course focused on \u201cCyberpunk and Cyberspace\u201d, I wanted to go broader and have real expert opinions in my classroom. I wanted to teach an \u201cSF 101\u201d course introducing the topic, but I also wanted a lecture series on science fiction done by those who know best about it. Which leaves us with logistics: I was faced with the problem of how to get as many as thirteen colleagues to speak in person here in Hamburg. That was surely not going to happen \u2013 financial crisis and cut-backs would see to it. To me, the answer was obvious: why not get my experts to speak wherever they were and still have them present where my students were \u2013 A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction<\/em> was born. But why stop at one course and one university? If the lectures are transmitted via video conference, they most certainly can be recorded and published on the internet. Now not only my students could benefit from expert knowledge, but everyone can: lecturers, teachers, students, and fans. By collecting the lectures, editing them for publication, adding bonus materials and making teachable sessions out of them, everyone can teach sf or learn about sf online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Course<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The groundwork for this website has been done for a course, offered in the American Studies Program of the University of Hamburg, titled \u201cA Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction\u201d, which took place from April 3rd to July 10th 2012 and consisted of thirteen original lectures. The course, as well as the online teaching platform were supported by an eLearning grant provided by the University called \u201cSeminare ans Netz<\/a>\u201c. This website would not have been possible without this financial support. My gratitude thus goes to the central eLearning office of the University of Hamburg and to my student assistants Julia and Steven for help in editing, recording and all sorts of logistics. The original lectures (comprising the syllabus of the course) were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n