• note: detailed instruc­tions will appear on sep­a­rate pages for Projects and Exercises

 

Project 1:         Ana­lytic Web­text: Net­work Rhetoric & Iden­tity                 

25 points; due 26-Sept

 

Objec­tive:              Ana­lyze and syn­the­size ideas from crit­i­cal obser­va­tions: rela­tion of dig­i­tal iden­tity and social rhetoric online

• Con­tent: Present insights using per­spec­tive & key terms (3) from read­ings: beyond descrip­tion, present a new/insightful under­stand­ing of iden­tity, platform/interface, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion for aca­d­e­mic read­ers (imag­ined audi­ence).

• For­mat: For­mal aca­d­e­mic style, with­out any exter­nal research; sup­port with spe­cific exam­ples and mul­ti­me­dia (g. screen­cap images)

Web­texts: “screen-based schol­arly arti­cles that use dig­i­tal media to enact the authors’ argu­ment.” (Ball)

• Warm-up: Analy­sis Exer­cise (due 12-Sept)—network plat­form, social rhetoric/behavior, cul­ture form(s)

 

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Project 2:         Col­lab­o­ra­tive Wiki—Participatory Cul­ture Forms   

• 30 points; due 01-Nov

Objec­tive:              apply schol­arly knowl­edge & crit­i­cal per­spec­tive to dis­cuss entries in acces­si­ble ways for pub­lic audience

Wikia (cre­ated by class for future con­sult­ing & con­tribut­ing): Pop­u­lar & emerg­ing forms of cul­ture, con­sid­er­ing tech­nol­ogy & genre

• Each stu­dent cre­ates 2 pages (min­i­mum): schol­arly dis­cus­sion plus mul­ti­me­dia (image, GIF, video)

and edits 2 class­mate pages in col­lab­o­ra­tion (con­ven­tions of wiki)

• Research: use key concepts/terms from 3 sources (min­i­mum): aca­d­e­mic (from list and/or search) and Web dis­course communities
• Pro­duce wiki-genre pages for future con­sul­ta­tion & col­lab­o­ra­tion via social-media par­tic­i­pa­tion and net­worked audiences
• Use vari­ety of media; cre­ate 1 original/edited screen­cast (video with commentary)

 

Dig­i­tal Rhetoric—crit­i­cal prose with advanced con­tent knowl­edge & per­spec­tive (sep­a­rate com­po­nents from wiki pages)

• Warm-up: Anno­tated Bib­li­og­ra­phy (Exer­cise 2)—5 sources, aca­d­e­mic research (sug­ges­tions pro­vided) & Web publications
• Warm-up : Wiki Edit­ing (5 points)— edit, orga­nize, and link exist­ing pages (dig­i­tal rhetoric: improv­ing for readers)
• Sum­mary (300−400 words, 5 points): dis­cuss your efforts/participation and effects (keep log through­out project)
• Reflec­tion (400−500 words, 5 points): expe­ri­en­tial insights from over­all project, about Web writ­ing and object of study

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Project 3         Screen-Self-Portrait (mul­ti­modal web­pages)                               

• 25 points; due 05-Dec

Objec­tive:              Use cul­ture forms & tech­nol­ogy that medi­ate expe­ri­ence to express your dig­i­tal iden­tity (per­sonal & public)

Part I      Expres­sive web­pages: apply lessons and insights about con­tem­po­rary media con­di­tions and cul­ture forms. Com­pose mul­ti­me­dia expres­sion of your net­work iden­tity (“screen self-portrait”), strictly for per­sonal reflec­tion. Omit­ting descrip­tion in favor of aes­thetic expres­sion, dis­cuss in Poet­ics the design attempts and ratio­nale. Beyond rep­re­sent­ing, con­vey your expe­ri­ence in mul­ti­ple modes and var­i­ous forms like the cul­ture we’ve stud­ied: through visual media (image/video), story, and sam­pled details (remix & mash-up).

 

• This “self expres­sion” will include ele­ments in mul­ti­ple modes; net­work rhetoric and cul­tural logic; and mate­ri­als from your “per­sonal data­bases”: sto­ries and details from auto­bi­og­ra­phy, school, com­mu­nity, and enter­tain­ment (no research/sources). The mul­ti­me­dia used—audio, video, images of all sorts—will be com­bi­na­tion of found & original/created, dig­i­tally manip­u­lated. We will test and prac­tice using var­i­ous soft­ware dur­ing and out­side class; no prior expe­ri­ence with dig­i­tal author­ing is nec­es­sary!      Rec­om­mended sites: Wix, Wee­bly, Word­Press, Prezi
• • Warm-up: Exer­cise 3 (due 14-Nov): Iden­tity Expe­ri­ence in hyper­me­dia story-world of novel (Super­SadTru­eLoveStory)
  • Warm-up: Exer­cise 4 (due 20-Nov): Expe­ri­ence Quan­ti­fied, Visual, Pri­vate (cat­e­go­riz­ing activity)

 Part II

• Poet­ics (300−500 words, 5 points): dis­cuss how address­ing key aims and using media forms pur­pose­fully (dig­i­tal rhetoric)
• Reflec­tion (400−500 words, 5 points): insights from com­pos­ing, includ­ing media and self-knowledge (most impor­tant)

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Exer­cises (short com­po­si­tions)                                                          

• 500 words each, except when noted

Posted to per­sonal blog or D2L, these infor­mal com­po­si­tions illus­trate atten­tive read­ing of assigned mate­ri­als, progress toward project, and engage­ment with class top­ics rel­a­tive to sched­ule. Credit is assigned for (1) sub­mit­ting on-time; (2) demon­strat­ing atten­tion to class top­ics, con­tent knowl­edge, and crit­i­cal think­ing, par­tic­u­larly by describ­ing insights and con­nec­tions; (3) pro­vid­ing thought­ful and rel­e­vant responses to prompts, through spe­cial­ized dis­course; (4) with spe­cific exam­ples from per­sonal knowl­edge and/or respec­tive read­ings, (5) while extend­ing rhetor­i­cal knowl­edge and mas­tery of writ­ing con­ven­tions, prac­tic­ing effi­cient prose (i.e. min­i­miz­ing /avoiding sum­mary, rep­e­ti­tion, digres­sion, and unnec­es­sary discussion).

Prompts and ten­ta­tive due dates:

Exer­cise 1 (due 12-Sept):     Net­work Rhetoric Analy­sis—project 1 warm-up (10 points)

Exer­cise 2 (due 16-Oct):      Anno­tated Bib­li­og­ra­phy—for class wiki project (5 sources, 15 points)

Exer­cise 3 (due 14-Nov):    Iden­tity Expe­ri­ence in Super­SadTru­eLoveStory—project 3 warm-up (10 points)

Exer­cise 4 (due 20-Nov):    Expe­ri­ence Quan­ti­fied, Visual, Pri­vate—project 3 warm-up (5 points)

Optional (extra credit)             “Inter­face Pro­posal” (Ret­tberg + Shteyn­gart): spec­u­late application

Exer­cise 5 (due 12-Dec):     “A Learn­ing Screen” (port­fo­lio + reflec­tion; 5 points)

 

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Extra Credit Opportunities

1) Dis­cus­sion par­tic­i­pa­tion: post (addi­tional) com­ments; reply to class­mates with mul­ti­me­dia (audio / video)

* Note: all com­ments must be pro­duc­tive, rel­e­vant, per­cep­tive, and above all respect­ful in order to receive credit.

2) Blog credit: com­pose an addi­tional entry; e.g. about readings/culture, or Project self-evaluation & reflection

3) Assign­ment credit: com­pose an additional/optional exer­cise (see prompts); revise/resubmit Project 1 or Project 2

 

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Blog Writ­ing                                                                 

• 6 infor­mal entries (min­i­mum) through­out term
• 200 words + class­mate com­ment
• (Credit/no credit assigned)

Through­out the semes­ter, due when spec­i­fied, you will write infor­mal entries to engage con­tent, apply con­cepts, and prac­tice acquired dis­course (key terms) as progress in units toward projects. These entries are longer and more thought­ful than “dis­cus­sion com­ments,” but not for­mal aca­d­e­mic essay style; they are ungraded, receiv­ing full/partial/no credit. Con­sider as low-stakes oppor­tu­nity to dis­cuss and test new ideas relat­ing to our read­ings and cul­ture stud­ied: note rel­e­vant obser­va­tions, post asso­cia­tive links & media, pose ques­tions, describe insights—particularly con­nec­tions between texts/issues and infor­ma­tion or exam­ples exter­nal to class. Occa­sion­ally, spe­cific prompts, sug­ges­tions, or fur­ther instruc­tions will be pro­vided. The sim­plest approach is com­bin­ing one spe­cific point from class with observed/personal exam­ple. An enjoy­able and pro­duc­tive effort toward our study, blog­ging offers oppor­tu­nity for sev­eral objec­tives: prac­tice engag­ing issues crit­i­cally; artic­u­lat­ing ideas, devel­op­ing schol­arly voice in writ­ing; dis­cussing mate­r­ial with classmates.

* For each assigned due date, one brief com­ment respond­ing to a classmate’s entry is also required.

Blog­ging serves a key func­tion in our learn­ing process, par­tic­u­larly for reflex­ive knowl­edge: gen­er­at­ing & shar­ing notes on assigned mate­ri­als, for later appli­ca­tion; rec­og­niz­ing rel­e­vant content/examples for project; using spe­cial­ized terms, test­ing new types of writ­ing, and using media forms