Dec 08 and 10 - Progress Reports/Presentations

• Sign up for progress reports/presentations Dec 8 and 10

 

Dec 03

1. My book. PDF of entire text, flip version
2. Open source AI sign on. 
3. SDSU's open source LLM project - available in future to students. I've tested it and it is impressive. Sample.
4. AI prompts & Google Doc 
5. Sign up presentations Dec 8/10 

 

 

Dec 01

1. Check-in/roster 
2. A classic example of why one ought not trust .org sites. The internet archive's copy of martinlutherking.org.   
3. Video slop quiz (NPR)  Fake ICE videos (HuffPo) Wildly popular on Facebook 404 Media. SNAP denied junk food, supermarket declined,
   Evil creator.  Debunking racist AI slop. But what we really need are methods & tools for a) rhetorical situation, b) source analysis. 
4. Meta - scams ruin many people, Meta does little as very profitable. Is the answer digital and financial literacy?  
5. Intro Wineburg, Boyd, CDL, Rhetoric of Digital Native (PPT)
6. Group Exercises evaluating sites and sources ("Are You Smarter than a Stanford Student?")  
7. Wineburg discussion questions 

 

1. Defining literacy/CDL, plus CDL framework (from SDSU study 2016)  
2. CAULFIELD - the deep research prompt.  SIFT for AI - the methodology explained. 
3. Alternatives (ppt) and examples like BlueSky (you control algorithms, you control your data, you can transfer your data
   to another platform), RSS, neocities, back to t he 2000s?
4. TLDR: Wineburg's one page list of "Digital Hacks," my list of basic tools to improve digital literacy, “9 Googling tips to
5. save hundreds of hours.” 
6. How  to do reverse image searches (Princeton).
7. Haidt testimony for Congress; video debate with Robby Soave.
8. Debating Haidt - a list of texts, positions, arguments and counterarguments. 
9.  Projects file  
10. UNC, Russian info war, MTG's space lasers. AI supercharges it all.  Russian Tools PPT; The importance of doing
    a reverse image search (fires in CA)    

 

 

Nov 17 Tufekci & Hasan: Free Speech, Social Media, and Extremism 

1. Conference sign up sheet for Wednesday Nov 19, Friday Nov 21, and Monday Nov 24
2. Google Doc - Tufekci and Hassan discussion questions 
3. MTG's dissent and AP 
4. Freedom House Report on AI, Social Media, and Attacks on Democracy and Free Speech 
5. Algorithmic radicalization and mainstreaming of fiction/conspiracy theories: new Guardian report  
   YouTube's bias towards extremism (WSJ). 
   
6. Federal Forum program (back to the future?) Citizen's assemblies and forums, participatory budgeting,
   systems for online deliberation, discussion, and consensus formation (Taiwan). 
7. Slides: social media, democracy, extremism.  Free speech, markets, inequality. Metaphors for free speech
8. Tufekci, We're building the infrastructure for authoritarian  dystopia to sell ads.Sinclair YT video.  
9. UNC, Russian info war, MTG's space lasers. AI supercharges it all. 
10. CBS news Russian ads. A sampler of Russian FB ads (see 1 , 2, 3 (excludes blacks)
11. Cadwalladr 2016: 3-5.30 (Brexit,dark posts) 7.50-9.30 Brexit to 2016); 10.4012.40 (This not democracy.)

 

Nov 12: Writing Projects & Working with AI 

1. Data & Society: "Standing Up for Human Value in the AI Economy": How can we make sure technology
   supports workers, rather than undermining them? Nov 20, @ 3.30
2. Slides - AI Writing and Research  
3. Google Doc 
4. AI Research & Writing Tools, Big Book of Prompting Advice, custom GPTS (or Gems, etc.)
5. Common AI research tools: Perplexity, Consensus, and Elicit.  
   Perplexity Pro is free to students for a year (then $4.99 per month). Can use their Comet browser to explore agentic AI.
   BUT - A) don't use Comet to do your homework, B) most effective use involves giving up your passwords, logins, and data.  
   I downloaded and almost gave it permission...
   
   
6. Examples  
   Perplexity pro: Sequence of questions about social media and teen mental health (note how uneven the sources are! Important to 
   specify what kind of sources you want, what databases, etc.)
   Perplexity pro "What is ai propaganda and how is it changing propaganda"
   
   Consensus: "List 5 peer reviewed articles that challenge the research of Jonathan Haidt on the negative impact of social media on teen mental health"
   Note it gives you A) quick overview of title, summary, and info on things like citations, and B) suggest refined and related research questions.
   Consensus:  "I'm starting some research on AI and Propaganda. find me research on ai propaganda and how ai is changing propaganda"
   Consensus: "find articles on how president trump is using ai as part of his political communication"
   
   Google Scholar: "What is ai propaganda and how is it changing propaganda" 
   Google Scholar "President Trump's use of ai as political communication"

 

 

Nov 10 The Rhetoric of Authoritarian Populism

1. Slides - auth populism 
2. Letter from John Earnest, Poway Shooter. Warner, "Hoist it High." Demagoguery decoder GPT, output for instructor. 
3. Walmart shooter manifesto - connects Poway and ChCh shooter 
4. Google Doc group work - Earnest or Warner, Jan 6 Speeches, Planning Final Paper,
5. Daily Stormer Style Guide (sometimes extremists reveal their rhetoric) 
6. Links to examples of rhetoric of violence, causes of demagoguery, major factors, etc. Connections to social media
7. https://chatgpt.com/g/g-OQRfzFKZO-demagogue-decoder  

 

 

Nov 05 The Rhetoric of Demagoguery

1. Slides

2. Google Doc - analyzing Wallace and recent examples of demagoguery 

3. CustomGPT demagoguery decoder (experimental) 

4. Misc examples. Polarization (Miller, 1.44 & 2.45 (We are good.) Bannon demonization of republicans; Jones on Obama;
   Patriot Purge; Victory or Death  Sayh, "If we lose, we die"; 

5. Letter from John Earnest, Poway Shooter. Warner, "Hoist it High" 
6. Daily Stormer Style Guide (sometimes extremists reveal their rhetoric) 

 

 

Nov 03 AI Feedback

1. Google Doc for class activities 
2. If you have not already done so, sign up for MyEssyFeedback using this link. This will let you set up an account.
3. Playlab.ai invite code: https://www.playlab.ai/invitation/RWSWERRY-OMPTRM. Create an account to see the feedback prompts.  
4. Student draft topics and details - Google Doc 
5. Sample draft student analysis (RWS100) of claims and evidence in Thompson's "Public Thinking" 
6. Feedback tips for TAs teaching writing - peer review, conferencing, feedback.  

 

Oct 29 Online Communities

1. Wednesday check-in
2. Background Werry Text (ppt)  
3. How  to use archive.org to see websites from the past 
4. Wylie and Cadwalladr: Facebook data, psychographic profiles and inserting data (9.00 - 11.00). Amanpour 2.00 0 4.00 politics downstream, 1st date. 
   Haugen:  60 Minutes: 0.00 - 1.00 – 2.00, 3 - 3.40 (Myanmar), 7.43 Euro – 8.30. 9.00 – 10.00. Instagram and teen girls. (Cambridge Analytica scandal)
   Sarah Wyn-Williams testimony.  Cadwalladr TED 2016  2.30 - 5.00. 
5. Pariser (~3.00 min) "Platforms and the Public Good" 
6. Google Doc for group work 
7. Draft papers for next class - Google Doc 

 

 

Oct 27 SWE4: Creative or Analytic Applications of LLMs

1. Proposal feedback ongoing. Contact me for help with sources. Eg, AI and president. 
2. Short Writing Exercise 4 (note new due date.) Sora codes still available. 
3. Share link to Your Experiment (unfinished is OK) 
4. Analyzing and Evaluating Argument: The Basics (OER Textbook by Werry). Prompting resources for rhetorical analysis.
5. Pixabay - for copyright free songs that you can download, then upload to Suno and remix (Suno calls it making a "cover.")
6. Torturing/guilt tripping my kids when they went to college. Wife's birthday song. 
7. Examples of remixed songs using Pixabay:  original Raga. Remix one, and two. "The Grand Old Duke of York" original, a ghastly poppy remix.
   The Raga prompt: "An Indian folk-pop-electronica piece with a moderate tempo and a major key. The instrumentation features a prominent sitar
   playing a melodic line, accompanied by dubstep percussion and electronic sounds. A female vocalist performs a melodic line with a clear,
   sustained tone, utilizing melismatic phrasing characteristic of Indian classical music. The vocal melody often mirrors or harmonizes with the sitar.
   The song structure is primarily verse-chorus, with instrumental interludes. Production elements include dubstep and a clean mix with a
   slight reverb on the vocals and sitar, creating a spacious and energetic sound. 
   Icelandic Viking chant, remixed as heavy metal.  
   The Icelandic/Viking prompt: "The song is a dark folk metal track with a driving tempo of 120 BPM. It features a male vocalist with a deep,
   guttural growl, reminiscent of death metal vocals, singing in Icelandic. The instrumentation includes a distorted electric guitar playing a
   prominent, heavy riff, a bass guitar providing a deep, rhythmic foundation, and a drum kit with a strong kick and snare, emphasizing a powerful,
   driving beat. The song structure is verse-chorus, with a clear distinction between sections. The melody is minor-key focused, creating a
   somber and aggressive atmosphere, Production elements include a heavy, compressed mix, giving the instruments a powerful and unified
   sound, There are no discernible chord progressions beyond the main riff, which is a repetitive, driving figure, The overall feel is epic and
   intense, with a strong emphasis on rhythmic drive and vocal aggression.

 

To Remix/Make a Cover with Suno

1. A) You will need a source song that is not copyright. Old music collections (folk, blues, etc.) will be copyright free, or you can go to sites like   
   https://pixabay.com/music/search/ where people donate music they created.
2. The song will need to be one minute long or less (free plan). I believe you can trim it in Suno. So you should be able to upload a 3 minute
   song and trim after. I just use VLC media player to clip to 55 seconds before uploading.
3. On the far left menu, just below "Home," you'll see "Create." Click on this.
4. At the top left you'll see "+Audio." Click this and upload the song.  
5. You will be prompted  to "Cover," "Extend," or "Save to Library." Click  "Cover." (It saves to library automatically.)
6. You'll see the uploaded song appear in a list on the right. To the right of the song there are 3 dots. Click on that, then click <Remix/Edit>, then <Cover>. 
7. Suno will fill in styles and lyrics. You can change these to your liking, then click the big orange <CREATE> button - bottom left. 

 

On AI, Art, & Creativity

• For a funny, smart take on AI art, see cartoonist and animator Matt Harding's cartoon on the subject https://theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art
• For a more cerebral perspective from novelist Ted Chiang, see "Why AI Isn’t Going to Make Art" (New Yorker link)

 

 

Oct 22 AI and Creativity

1. Slides - AI and creativity 
2. Group work Google Doc
3. Spotify playlist from student picks so far; random selection from instructor's Spotify favorites. 

4. Timbaland's AI production company,  first AI artist is TaTa (critical video take). OG music video, "Pulse." "Spotify partnering with multinational
   music companies to develop ‘responsible’ AI products." Tilly Norwood, first AI actor to sign up to studios.  

5. SORA: AI video attempts to go social, combine TikTok and Instagram. Sora  lifting, dancing, Jake Paul, Queen in cage matches, 
   Rick & Morty McLovin, multiverse food tour,  Meta Vibes, Veo3, Sora. 
   
6.  Sign up to MyEssayFeedback, NotebookLM, Suno (free - only generate 2 or 3), HeyGen, Google image and video if want.
   Be ready for Paylab invite. Come to next class having reflected a bit on your creative/cultural interests. 

7. AGENTS now ready on all platforms. They "externalize" costs to teachers (Anna M using Comet to do Canvas work.)
   Marc Watkins: Open Letter to Perplexity AI, Perplexity explicitly advertising the ease of cheating.
   OR - the technology can be used to build communities of practice that share knowledge, resources, learning
   materials for teachers and students to remix and build on - e.g. playlab.
   We see this dynamic repeated across sectors - perhaps an argument for a digital commons, digital public infrastructure, 
   or initiatives and profit sharing described by Mazzucano. 

8. Guest link Liberman essay (for comments)  

9. Feeding NotebkLM unsealed legal filing from Trump court case and making a podcast  Reddit conversation interesting.
   Some people feed everything from the US Budget to contracts to terms of service on apps.

10. Sample student creative work: Jaren Jeorge Raquel, "Creating Video, Music and Art with AI Tools" and Daniel's band promo Experimental Lovers

11. James: an imaginary clap-back by Beyonce to CAZWELL's "I Seen Beyoncé at Burger King," plus album cover.  

12. Rick Sanchez singing "Handlebars."Flobots (original)

13. TOOLS: NotebookLM and HeyGen. Open source alternative to NotebookLM. ElevenLabs AI voice generator

14. Instructor's random creative explorations and (draft) prompt library

15. Creative/writing and LLMs: WritingWithAI Reddit group; writers group on Reddit. LLama forum discusses AI and writing.
    AI and technical writing Reddit group, Marketing.

 

 

Oct 13 Proposal Drafts

PROPOSALS, CONFERENCES, AND READINGS NEXT WEEK

1. Roster 
2. MyEssayFeedback head count - please enter your name if you have signed up
3. Progress report link to slides (if needed)
   
4. Reminder to compose the proposal, short writing exercises, etc. in your course Google Doc folder 
5. Conference sign up sheet
6. Volunteers introduce AI & creativity texts Oct 20 (note - SWE4 will be creative or rhetorical use of AI).
   Marche, “The Future of Writing Is a Lot Like Hip-Hop,  Olivia
   Liberman, “I’m a Therapist: ChatGPT is Eerily Effective” Ella
   Mazzucato, “AI Should Help Fund Creative Labor Lacey

 

NEW IN AI

• Customer service, algorithmic persuasion, and an AI bubble?  AI Customer Service has Arrived 
• AI bot wars:  Reddit unveils AI-driven ad tools to help brands tap into user discussions
• Common stories: AI bots used in battle to defend supermarket monopoly 
• WSJ: Bot Networks Are Helping Drag Consumer Brands Into the Culture Wars  (1 minute video) 
• WebinarTV and MeetingTV Stealing Private Recordings (from AI in Ed Group)
• NOTE ABOUT (RESEARCH-BASED) PROJECT TOPICS - advertising & AI, versus a more specific question, problem, debate, or issue,
  such as how corporations are using AI bot networks to penetrate social media, impersonate people and social
  movements, manage brand identity, create astroturf campaigns, and persuade? How are they talking about 
  these efforts (the rhetoric)?  
  Who is your primary audience (who cares) and what is your purpose (why bother? What is at stake?) Are you 
  revealing, challenging, clarifying, extending, generating new knowledge, etc.?  

 

 

Oct 08 Prompting & Proposals

1. Wednesday check in
2. Sign up for MEF! (I've been asked by admin).  https://myessayfeedback.ai/register/c18063b6fb115d7 
3. Big Book of Prompting Advice + models and examples.  Prompting continued (odds, ends, and curiosities)
4. Slides 
5. Google Doc - prompting experiments and proposal work  (reflecting on purpose, processes, and analysis)    
6. NotebookLM analysis of Walsh (podcast format), HeyGen 1 minute video,  PickleRickBot (need paid model?)  

 

 

Oct 06: Thompson

1. Agenda. Paths not taken: social reading, annotation, public thinking (rap genius).
2. AI video now common in political communication. Last few days: Trump's "sombrero" and "reaper" videos. Potential topic for final paper.
   Could a) examine the issue - what it means, what is at stake, how it changes political rhetoric, etc., and b) do a close reading for themes, memes,
   tropes, rhetorical strategies, persuasive tactics, uses of pop culture, the rhetoric of trolling and shitposting (WH creators come out of places like 4Chan).
3. Prompt magic examples of videos with new Sora release. (He is promoting his prompts - use them to make similar videos).
   Sora bans South park videos - people making whole episodes that look a lot like the real thing. 
4. OpenAI launch of video app Sora plagued by violent and racist images: "The guardrails are not real’ Misinformation researchers say lifelike
   scenes could obfuscate truth and lead to fraud, bullying and intimidation."  
5. Blakespear on AI and schools (see esp minute 30 on AI videos and images). Harari: what does it mean to live our lives "cocooned inside the
   cultural artefacts coming from an artificial intelligence."  
6. Proposal assignment  
7. Google Doc for class work 

 

 

Oct 01: SWE3

1. Upcoming Dates: Draft Proposal Oct 13, Proposal final Oct 20; Final paper/project December 12
2. Sign up for MyEssayFeedback.ai (can use for SWE3).
3. https://myessayfeedback.ai/register/c18063b6fb115d7  
4. Next Wed bring laptop - class of prompting work
5. Volunteer Monday & Thompson
6. Hypothesis
7. SWE3: in Google folder and Google doc. Put link to it in Canvas assignments

 

Sept 29: Ong & Sacasas

1. Roster 
2. HRB: "AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity." An opportunity for job applicants to distinguish themselves? 
   Critical AI literacy seems important across a range of contexts.   (Former) teacher on AI and development
   OpenAI's Pulse 
3. Short writing exercise 3
4. In groups - exploring Ong through writing and memory exercises.
5. Powerpoint on Ong, orality, convergence culture 
6. Group Google doc work - analyzing orally composed texts  
7. The "Weave" (full video, just Weave section)  

 

 

Sept 24: Presentations (SWE1 & 2)

1. PPT Sept 24 project ideas 
2. Cloning influencers: 2023. Open source video cloning, 2025.  

 

Sept 22: Presentations (SWE1 & 2)

1. PPT Sept 22 

2. Tim Mousel’s “wake-up call” post

3. Michelle Kassorla’s post on Perplexity Comet with comments

4. Anna Mills’s post on LInkedIn on the Perplexity Comet launch

5. David Wiley’s post with video of ChatGPT Agent in Canvas

6. Anna Mills’s post clarifying the difference between AI agents in the LMS and LMS AI integration 

7. Michael Lomuscio’s post

 

 

Sept 15: Preparing for Presentations (SWE1 & 2)

1. This week in AI & AI presentations 

2. Google’s "Homework Help" appears automatically integrated with Google Lens, provides AI-generated answers Video

3. Sam Altman on writing – 1:50. uses notebooks and pens and connects writing and thinking. Thinks using fancy apps and tools for writing is silly.  

4. The “Altman Method,” minute 2.00. Why not use phone to write? As writing – slows things down, helps you think, forces clarity, kills distractions.

 

 

Sept 10  Reviewing Dillard & Gallagher, Discussing O'Neill, Pickard, Hao

1. Impress your professors - how to discover if their work was used  to train AI, and let them know about the law suit. 
   Let's try some names? Twenge? McClish? William Nericcio, Rebecca Moore, Stuart Aitken, Risa Levitt Kohn, Irene Lara. 
2. Slides for Sept 10: Reviewing Dillard & Gallagher, Discussing O'Neill, Pickard, Hao
3. Group work: testing assumptions/bias and exploring group presentation options

 

 

Sept 08 Walsh, Dillard, Gallagher: Writing & AI

1. Some proposal and final paper/project ideas
2. Discussion questions - Walsh, Dillard, Gallagher 
3. Final paper topics; short writing assignment 1 and 2 
4. Perils of Powerpoint 

 

 

Sept 03 Caplan, Mollick, Harari et al

1. Student Google Drive folders: 1) click link, go to Google folder with your surname, 2) set sharing level you prefer and give me, cwerry@sdsu,
   edit access. 3) Create a test Google doc with a message for me inside (share a link, a lyric, a verse of poetry, a quote, etc.)
2. Add Hypothes.is extension to your web browser and check it works. 1) See Quick Guide to Hypothes.is. Create a Hypothes.is account. 
   Add the extension to your browser. (Note - Chrome and Firefox work best. If you have already installed a browser extension for reading PDFs, you may
   need to temporarily turn this off, or use a different browser with no extension.)  2) Test Hypothes.is on Walsh PDF "Everyone is Cheating Through College." 
   3) Activate the extension by clicking on, select a small piece of text from Walsh, then choose "annotate," and leave a test message.   
3. Powerpoint slides for Sept 03 
4. PROMPTING: OpenAI's ChatGPT Prompt Optimizer. Mike Caulfield's 3000 word Deep Background prompt (you paste it in at the
   beginning of a chat session or add it to project instructions. 
5. "Insane" AI Kalshi ad run during the NBA Finals. 
6. Google doc for Caplan, Mollick, and Harari et al. 
7. Geoffrey Hinton on AI's dangers, Yuval Harari, on risks of AI. 

 

 

August 27 Mollick Using AI Well; 1000 Days of AI 

1. Notes on Mollick - ppt 
2. Google Doc Exercises 
3. 1000 Days of LLMs - ppt 
4. SDSU AI services for students, and their ChatGPT page. "SDSU students have access to...ChatGPT Edu, and
   tools like Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Google NotebookLM."
5. Study modes https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode/  
6. OpenAI's ChatGPT Prompt Optimizer. Mike Caulfield's 3000 word Deep Background prompt (you paste it in at the
   beginning of a chat session or add it to project instructions. 
7. "Insane" AI Kalshi ad run during the NBA Finals

 

 

August 25

1. Overview of RWS411 (ppt). Diverse, conflicting claims about AI.  
2. Introductions and in-class activities 
3. CODEBREAKER (journal of student writing)
4. Student Writing Google Drive 
5. Homework for 08/27

 

August 27

1. 18 Months Working and Teaching with A.I. (ppt)
2. Class group work Google Doc  

 

 

 

 

 

  

Past links

• 2024 Links and handouts. 
• Old lect notes & handouts; old links; links 2023; links & material 2023 
• Nov 15 2024 ITS AI Talk and Intro to MEF and links of potential interest from talk
• Anna Mills on MEF