* Note: detailed assign­ment descrip­tions will appear online on respec­tive pages

 
Exer­cises / (short & prac­tice compositions)

(5 total; 10 points, 500 words each)

Posted to per­sonal blog, these infor­mal com­po­si­tions illus­trate atten­tive read­ing of assigned texts, 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). Ten­ta­tive prompts:

• Exer­cise 1 (due 13-July): Cul­ture Analy­sis for Dis­course Com­mu­nity — Instruc­tions Page
• Exer­cise 2 (due 19-July): Pub­lic Pedagogy—Instructions for Net­work Prac­tices — Instruc­tions Page
• Exer­cise 3 (due 05-Aug): Self-Portrait Screen (“per­sonal data­base” mate­ri­als)   Instruc­tions Page
• E.C. Exer­cise (optional): Hybrid/creative work –or– Web­site entry (e.g. Wikipedia) — Prompts Here

 

 

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Project 1: Par­tic­i­pa­tion & Dig­i­tal Rhetoric—media-analysis web­text (1000 words, 25 points)

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

 

Chal­lenge: Use objects of study to update/redefine dig­i­tal rhetoric in terms of Par­tic­i­pa­tory Cul­ture and Pub­lic Pedagogy

 
Objec­tives:

1) Doc­u­ment and ana­lyze example/s of dig­i­tal cul­ture from your obser­va­tions and expe­ri­ence, out­side class and in group project.

2) Going beyond sim­ple descrip­tion, pro­pose new under­stand­ing in terms of media plat­form, social prac­tices, cul­tural forms and/or “insti­tu­tion” in net­worked media ecol­ogy:
— for instance, pub­lic ped­a­gogy; update to lit­er­ate rhetor­i­cal cat­e­gory; new con­cepts or appli­ca­tions (post-literacy / electracy?)

 

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Project 2 Dig­i­tal Iden­tity Expres­sion — mul­ti­modal assem­blage (1000 words, 25 points)

 

Chal­lenge: How to use the cul­tural forms medi­at­ing expe­ri­ence to express our dig­i­tal iden­tity (subjectivity)?

 

Objec­tives:

1. Start­ing with “Screen Self-Portrait” exer­cise, apply the lessons and insights about par­tic­i­pa­tory cul­ture from the semester.

 

2. Beyond “curat­ing” or rep­re­sent­ing, use mul­ti­me­dia to con­vey your expe­ri­ence of the present net­worked media con­di­tions
    
   This “assem­blage expres­sion” will include diverse ele­ments in mul­ti­ple modes; net­work rhetoric and cul­tural logic (e.g. humor, play); and mate­ri­als from your entire “per­sonal data­base”: sto­ries and details from auto­bi­og­ra­phy, school, com­mu­nity, and enter­tain­ment.
   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 through­out the term; no prior expe­ri­ence with dig­i­tal author­ing is necessary!

 

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Group Project: Curat­ing Dig­i­tal Cul­ture (20 points)

 

Col­lab­o­ra­tion:

• Main­tain blog (weeks 1–4) post­ing exam­ples of dig­i­tal cul­ture (net­work prac­tices and media forms).
Plat­form options: blog (sug­gested) on Word­Press; Tum­blr; social net­work account (decide as group)

 

• Observe & dis­cuss new prac­tices & cul­tural forms across Inter­net plat­forms, par­tic­i­pant activ­i­ties, Web media
  Use Storify to “curate” (on blog)
  Doc­u­ment with “screen­caps” and/or videos

   

• Audi­ence: Web-networked dis­course com­mu­nity; plus social networks—readers within and out­side class.

 

Objec­tives:

1. In con­text of net­work media and dig­i­tal culture—e.g. memes, viral videos, social-media activ­i­ties
   — exam­ine new/current types of com­pos­ing & com­mu­ni­cat­ing.
   Start with one cul­tural form (e.g. film/TV, music, games, lit­er­a­ture)…
    
2. Doc­u­ment emer­gent exam­ples with per­spec­tive of Par­tic­i­pa­tory Cul­ture & “Pub­lic Pedagogy”(Portman-Daley)
   — observ­ing technology/media, forms, prac­tices, and “insti­tu­tions”(?) of elec­tracy, within net­work (out­side school)
   → Dis­cuss explic­itly with this frame in your Reflec­tion & Pro­posal sec­tions (indi­vid­ual work for Part 2).

 

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Blog Work (group project and class par­tic­i­pa­tion credit)

 

• 6 project entries (min­i­mum) for term, posted to group site:
  media/culture example/s + fram­ing (brief descrip­tion, 50–100 words) + class­mate com­ment (100 words)
  
  Impor­tant: We will start class most days with stu­dent exam­ples from each group (arrange schedule)

   

• Anno­ta­tions for your posts to group site—on your blog (ded­i­cated page). Update through­out project.

 

• Occa­sional group dis­cus­sion and blog entries—projects, exam­ples, read­ings, strate­gies, objectives

 

• Notes on read­ings and objects of study: prepa­ra­tion for projects (e.g. outlines/drafts for collaboration/feedback)

 
Overview

Every stu­dent will cre­ate and main­tain a per­sonal web­site on Word­Press through­out the semes­ter.
This will be used for Assign­ments — Exer­cises, Projects 1 & 2, and indi­vid­ual work for Group Project — as well as for post­ing notes, dis­cussing with class­mates, and occa­sion­ally post­ing entries (ungraded, for blog credit).
We will use our blogs in a vari­ety of ways, includ­ing test­ing media appli­ca­tions; it is very impor­tant to keep up with the online work “out­side” class ses­sions dur­ing this brief sum­mer term. Your blog is the key oppor­tu­nity to explore new ideas and terms from class dis­cus­sions and read­ings: note obser­va­tions, post links & media, pose ques­tions, describe insights & con­nec­tions; prac­tice artic­u­lat­ing ideas and devel­op­ing schol­arly voice.

 
 

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Extra Credit Opportunities

1) Com­pose reply (blog about) a classmate’s Exer­cise (150−200 words; for par­tic­i­pa­tion credit).

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

2) For par­tic­i­pa­tion credit, post com­ments and/or blog entries; for assign­ment credit, write addi­tional response

3) Sub­mit revised for­mal project for re-assessment, with reflec­tion: process descrip­tion and self-evaluation.