Homework for Wednesday November 04

1. Reread Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”  Examine the following defenses and critiques (all very short - just a page or 2 long)

Clay Shirky: Why Abundance is Good: My Reply to Nick Carr

Nick Carr: Why Skepticism is Good: My Reply to Clay Shirky 

Clay Shirky: Why Abundance Should Breed Optimism: A Second Reply to Nick Carr

Andrew Keen: The New Techno-Historical Determinism

2. Give your determination - who has the best argument, and why do you think so? (if you think a position is stronger, but
not stated as awell as it could be, say how you might have supported it)

3 The debate continued (and reworked?)  Alexandra, Karla, Shannon, Hanna, Morgan, Tanisha, Katlin, Emma, David  - read 
Shirky, "Does The Internet Make You Smarter?" and Pinker, "Mind Over Mass Media." a) Describe some of the main claims, and 
b) any strengths and weaknesses. Are you convinced?

Josh, Kelsey, Tyler, Christian, Sarah, Kelly, Alex, Joelle, Kira : read Hooper and Herath,  Is Google Making Us stupid? The Impact of the Internet on Reading Behaviour’. 

and Rheingold, “Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies” a) are you persuaded by Hooper and Herath's study?  

b) Does Rheingold offer us any alternatives to the pro-Carr, anti-Carr dynamic?

Homework for Wednesday October 28

1. Everyone will read Roberts-Miller, “Rhetorical Characteristics of Demagoguery” It is short. Compose a short response to this describing what 

you see as the main "take-away" for you. Roberts-Miller is talking about demagoguery, which is a particular kind of extremist, 
authoritarian discourse. Try to find an online example of extremist discourse that you can share. It can be short. It may not
fit Roberts-Miller's definition (this may be useful, and suggest we need to update her argument). You could look at the comments
section of the "dark side" of internet discussion boards. 

2. The following texts make claims about online bullying, hate-speech, anonymity and trolling. Read them all (they are very short). 
Clayton “Understanding the ‘Civility Crisis’”; Stafford, “Who Are These Haters That Poison the Well of Our Discourse?”; Wilson, “Beware attempts to suppress 
conflict on the internet”; Zhuo, “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt”; Dana Boyd, “‘Real Names’ Policies are an Abuse of Power”; Adams, “How the internet created an age of rage”

I'd like Alexandra, Karla, Hanna, Morgan, Josh, Tanisha, Katlin, Emma, David to look closely at Clayton, Wilson, Boyd and Adams, and a) map out the 
main claims, b) sum up the main strengths in the texts, c) identify any weaknesses you could see, d) be ready to summarize (and defend) their 
positions to the class.

I'd like  Kelsey, Tyler, Shannon, Christian, Sarah, Kelly, Alex, Joelle, Kira to look closely at Stafford, Zhuo, and Adams, and a) map out the 
main claims, b) sum up the main strengths in the texts, c) identify any weaknesses you could see, d) be ready to summarize (and defend) their 
positions to the class.

3. Read these short texts about whether YikYak should be banned, allowed, or limited.

1. Josh Logue, “Who Should Prevent Social Media Harassment?” http://tinyurl.com/or68gow

2. Larry Magid, "Banning Yik Yak from College Campuses Is Counterproductive" Huffington Post, 05/01/2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-magid/banning-yik-yak-from-coll_b_6779168.html

3. Logan Anderson, “Yik Yak promotes hate speech and should be banned from LSU” http://www.lsureveille.com/daily/opinion-yik-yak-promotes-hate-speech-and-should-be-banned/article_2cb2d258-be1a-11e4-a1c6-371467668b19.html

4. Baker and Obrien, “Why not ban YikYak?” http://middleburycampus.com/article/why-not-ban-yik-yak/

I'd like Alexandra, Karla, Hanna, Morgan, Josh, Tanisha, Katlin, Emma, David to summarize and explain the case for banning YikYak, and also
present your own position/thoughts on the debate.

I'd like Kelsey, Tyler, Shannon, Christian, Sarah, Kelly, Alex, Joelle, Kira  to summarize and explain the case for
not banning YikYak, and also present your own position/thoughts on the debate.  

Homework for Wednesday October 21

For next class we will read Thompson's "Ambient Awareness," and Carr's "Is Google making Us Stupid." I'd like you to also take a quick look at Smith's "Generation Why?"
It's a short text by a great writer.

I'd like to divide work on the texts in the following way.

1. Kelsey, Tyler, Shannon, Christian, Sarah, Kelly, Alex, Joelle, Kira - come to class prepared to talk about the main claims in Thompson, pages 209 - 222.
   Please also mention 3 elements in this section that you thought were particularly strong or weak, note any questions you had about the 
   text, and connections you noticed (either to other texts you have read, or to texts in the course so far). 
2. Alexandra, Karla, Hanna, Morgan, Josh, Tanisha, Katlin, Emma, David - come to class prepared to talk about the main claims in Thompson, pages 222 - 244.
   Please also mention 3 elements in this section that you thought were particularly strong or weak, note any questions you had about the 
   text, and connections you noticed (either to other texts you have read, or to texts in the course so far).
3. Everyone - skim Smith's article ("Generation Why") and list her main criticisms of Facebook. How persuasive do you find her argument? 
4. Kelsey, Tyler, Shannon, Christian, Sarah, Kelly, Alex, Joelle, Kira - list the main claims in Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
5. Alexandra, Karla, Hanna, Morgan, Josh, Tanisha, Katlin, Emma, David - list 2 rhetorical strategies you notice (ways he tries to persuade his audience) and what you 
   consider the strongest element of his text, and the weakest.  

Homework for Wednesday October 07

There is no class next week. I will meet with students individually (see conference schedule) to discuss blog work and writing so far,
plus your ideas for your proposal. So spend the time developing ideas for your proposal, which is due in class the following week 
(Oct 14).  The proposal should be about 5 pages, and this includes an annotated bibliography.

Homework for Wednesday October 30

Next week we will consolidate and review. So just one new reading, Pegrum's, “Modified, multiplied and (re-)mixed.
For you blog posts, address the following questions:

1. What are Pegrum's main claims, and what elements of the text or its rhetoric strike you as noteworthy? 
2.  What connections do you see between Peagrum and texts we have read previously, especially Boyd and Thompson?
3. Brainstorm some early, provisional project ideas - potential topics or questions for the final paper/project. Half-formed, barely-formed,
   and vague ideas are OK. Wild conjecture is fine. Flights of fancy are encouraged. 
4. If you haven't already done so, sign up for a Diigo account and install the extension and bookmarklet. Bring your laptop to class. 

Homework for Wednesday September 25

Here are some topics I'd like you to consider as we prepare for the next class, and a few questions to address on your blogs. 

The texts we have read by Thompson and Boyd both make the case for the importance of digital literacy generally, and critical 
digital literacy in particular. However, they don't provide us with a lot of specifics. Kassorla decribes some specific tools 

for "finding, using, and curating" material for writing and reading online, and gives us some useful new concepts,

such as "personal learning network." However, we aren't told how these might comprise a full set of critical digital literacy capabilities.

The texts we will discuss do provide us with more specifics, and  more criteria for thinking about CDL (critical digital literacy).

But they are a rather disparate set of texts, and they consider  CDL from very different angles. We may wish to locate elements 

that seem helpful, and those that aren't, so we can build our own, provisional account of CDL.

So in your posts please consider the following questions:

1. Based on what we have read so far, and on your own experience, what do you think are some elements of critical digital literacy? 

What distinctions or concepts do you think might be useful for defining CDL?

2. Look through Rheingold's “A Guide to Crap Detection Resources”. Do any of these resources seem useful to you? What might we add to the

list, or take away from it (at some point we could come up with our own).

3. After reading Jones & Hafner, “Critical Literacy” and Hinrichsen and Coombs “The Five Resources of Critical Digital Literacy,” what elements of their argument
seem useful or important for thinking about CDL?

4. Are there particular skills you would like to acquire that you think would enhance your digital literacy? Are there any skills, tools, apps

etc. you use that you've found useful that you could share (this can be very modest)

5. Kassorla and others have identified social bookmarking as a fairly important digital literacy skill. I'd like you to try a very popular 

social bookmarking tool called Diigo. Sign up for it, add the extension/app to your web broswer plus the "bookmarklet," and try it out. 

Here are 2 short vides you could look at that explain what it's for  and how to use it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FTC_PAwnE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYXVYTayZs 

Please bring your laptop to class and we can work together on this.

Homework for Wednesday September 16

1. Read Kassorla's, "Digital tools for education and personal learning" and Havelock “The Coming of Literate Communication to Western Culture”
2. Kassorla describes a number of tools that could be of use for teachers who wish to teach digital literacy. What do you think of her suggestions?
   Can you think of any tools or skills she does not mention that are useful? Which tools are important to your life - why? 
3. Explore one of the tools she describes. Try to use it or research it. What potential does it appear to have? For example, you could investigate Diigo  and social bookmarking. Can you see ways it would benefit you?
4. Read Havelock. It's a hard text - but an important/controversial/provocative text. List what you think are the 3 main claims, and list any questions/difficulties you noted. It is a difficult text - your questions will
   help us unpack it.  
5. For extra credit, read Young & Sullivan's, “Why Write?”  and be prepared to share your insights with the class.  According to Young & Sullivan why is writing important? Can you think of other “values” writing
   has that the authors don’t consider? What do you think of their claims? Can you see any relevance to discussions of new media? 

Homework for Wednesday September 09

1. Which elements of Boyd's text did you find most useful, interesting or impactful?
2. Boyd talks a lot about the ways young people use digital media, and the different skill levels young people have. Did you recognize yourself or people you know in any of her examples?
3. Boyd spends a lot of time talking about the “rhetoric of digital natives.” What does she mean by this? Why does she think this is important? List some of the main problems Boyd associates with the concept.
4. According to Boyd, what concepts should we replace “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” with? What would be a better way of thinking about differences in skills and usage of new media?
5. Boyd claims that young people should be taught “sophisticated” digital literacies, and “critical digital literacy.” What do you think of the skills she emphasizes? Do they seem important to you, or are there other skills you feel could be emphasized? 

Homework for Wednesday September 02