Homework for Monday November 14

Read the following short text, Roberts-Miller, “Rhetorical Characteristics of Demagoguery”;  In your blogs, address the following questions: Do you recognize examples of the strategies Roberts-Miller describes? Have you encountered any in your own experience?

Read the texts below (most are just a page or two long). Which do you think is the stronger position, critics of anonymity or supporters (Or do you 
think we need to approach the issue differently?) Which do you think is the stronger position, critics of YikYak or the supporter? (Or do you 
think we need to approach the issue differently?) 

A. CRITICS OF ANONYMITY

1. Stafford, “Who Are These Haters That Poison the Well of Our Discourse?”;

2. Zhuo, “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt”;  

B. SUPPORTERS OF ANONYMITY

3. Dana Boyd, “‘Real Names’ Policies are an Abuse of Power”;

4. Wilson, “Beware attempts to suppress conflict on the internet”; 

C. CRITICS OF YIKYAK 

5. Josh Logue, “Who Should Prevent Social Media Harassment?”

6. Logan Anderson, “Yik Yak promotes hate speech and should be banned from LSU” 

D. SUPPORTER OF YIKYAK

7. Larry Magid, "Banning Yik Yak from College Campuses Is Counterproductive"

Extra credit opportunity: 

Write an analysis of the claims in Alexander's "Calling It What It Is: the Unspoken Validation of Online Abuse" (warning - includes strong language).

Homework for Monday October 31

Take a look at my text, Werry, “Imagined Electronic Community.” Use the ask me anything format to come up with a question or two about the text. You can really ask anything. Critical questions and challenges are welcome
(your chance to grade me).

Read the three texts that consider the relationship between digital media, activism and social change. (Gladwell, “Small Change”; Shirky, "The Political Power of Social Media"; Morozov, “Texting Toward Utopia”)

As with our conversation about online reading, the texts are representative of some common positions. (Shirky and Morozov's texts are very short - just a few pages.)

In your blog posts address the following questions:  

1. What is Gladwell's central claim, and what are his most important sub-claims?
2. Were you persuaded - why/why not?
3. Consider one strategy Gladwell uses to persuade his audience. You could consider word choice, definitions, organization, appeals, etc. 
4. When comparing Gladwell to Shirky and Morozov, which position do you think is most helpful and accurate? 

Extra credit opportunity: take a look at “Beyond the Hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, & the Online Struggle For Offline Justice”

(You can focus on just a section or two as it is rather long.) What does this text add to the conversation about social media and
activism? What do you think were the most interesting claims? Can you see connections to Gladwell or the other authors?   

Homework for Monday October 24

Let's start with a discussion of a text we did not get to last class,Kassorla's "Digital tools for education and personal learning. This is about the tools
she uses to create a personal learning network. 

The main texts to read and post on are Winner, “The Politics of the Artefact” and Watters, “The Future of Education: Programmed or Programmable.” 
(Michelle will introduce Winner, and Kiedra will discuss Watters).

For homework, address the following:  
What do you think of Winner’s arguments? The article is very widely cited, a “classic”, but it’s also fairly old now – can you see any relevance to today?
Have you come across examples of objects or technologies that illustrate the claims he makes?  
Identify a claim in Watters' text you thought was noteworthy.

Please try to skim Werry, “Imagined Electronic Community.” Olivia will introduce this.  I wrote this some time ago. it is your opportunity to grade
some of my writing (don't spare my feelings!) 

Homework for Monday October 17

Read the texts below:

Thompson, “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy"  Watters, “The Web We Need to Give Students”

Kassorla, "Digital tools for education and personal learning";  Watts, “What Teens Really Think about YouTube, Google+, Reddit and Other Social Media” and Boyd’s reply 

Kassorla describes a set of interconnected skills and tools she thinks are central to digital literacy. Watts describes why he uses these social media tools, and Boyd 
comments on this. Use Kassorla and Watts to reflect on your own use of social media tools. Kassorla describes the importance of "personal learning networks," or PLNs.
If you could create a PLN for yourself, what would it look like? What would it let you do?
What are the most useful points made by Thompson and Watters? What are the most prominent strengths (or weaknesses) in their arguments?
 
 

Homework for Monday October 03

Read the following three short texts: La Farge, “The Deep Space of Digital Reading”; Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”Shirky, "Does the Internet Make You Smarter?" 

1. Focusing on Carr, what are his main claims? What are some of the main persuasive strategies you noticed? How does he create ethos? What do you think are the main strengths and weaknesses?  
2. Looking across all three texts, what characteristics (good or bad) are attributed to digital texts?  Which claims and which concepts seem most useful to you?  
3. Who do you find most persuasive? Why?

Homework for Monday September 26

Crowdsourcing Boyd. The following students have volunteered to introduce a section from Boyd's text - give us an overview, and discuss any passages that are interesting, difficult, or that you would like to know more about.  If possible please also post some of your thoughts as comments on the text using Hypothes.is 

Boyd: “Literacy: are today’s youth digital natives?”

1. The Emergence of the Digital Native  (Hannah)
2.  Youth Need New Literacies   Jackie
3. The Politics of Algorithms  Jayson
4. Wikipedia as a Site of Knowledge Production    Tina
5. Digital Inequality  Christian
6. Beyond Digital Natives    Ansharae

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR BLOGS (choose 3 of the 5 to respond to)

1.  From your perspective, what were the most interesting or relevant parts of Boyd’s text?
2. Boyd talks a lot about the ways young people use digital media. Did you recognize yourself or people you know in any of her examples?
3. Boyd raises some important issues about young people and social media, and how we should think about digital literacy. Look for questions, problems, issues or topics you find interesting, and which you might consider researching further in a paper. Brainstorm – your ideas don’t need to be fully worked out.
4. Boyd spends a lot of time talking about the “rhetoric of digital natives.” What does she mean by this, and why does she think this is important?
5. Boyd talks about the importance of “empowering youth” by helping them develop sophisticated digital literacies. What skills, and what kinds of participation does she emphasize? Can you think of others skills she does not mention that are important to you?

Homework for Monday September 19

1. Read Young & Sullivan's "Why Write: A Reconsideration." (This is the web version that you can annotate - the pdf of Why Write?” is easier to read and print).  As you
   read annotate the text using hypothesis and note any observations that occur to you, the most important points, and any questions you have. 
   In your blog posts  note the most interesting point(s) made. According to the authors, why is writing important? Can you think of other “values” writing has that the authors don’t talk about?
   What are the main claims made by Young & Sullivan? Are they persuasive?  Young & Sullivan's text was written quite some time ago. Do they raise any issues that have relevance today? 
2. Read Ong "Some Psychodynamics of Orality." Identify the claims you find most interesting or provocative.  Discuss any questions you have, connections to texts you have read in the past, or 
   particular strengths/weaknesses you discern. 

Homework for Monday September 12

1. Join the class wiki. To do this, go to https://rws511.pbworks.com/ Look at the top right corner of the web page for the words “To join this workspace, request access.” Click on the link, then enter your email address, and follow instructions to join the wiki.
2. Create a Wordpress blog page. You will use this to post much of the writing done in this class. Setting up a blog on Wordpress is fast and fairly simple. See this step-by-step guide. For your first post introduce yourself to the class. You could post a brief description of yourself (your major, some interests or distinguishing experiences). What writing activities do you engage in outside of school (blogging, tweeting, journaling, etc.)?  How do you use social media, and what do you hope to get out of this class? 
3. Add the hypothesis extension to your web browser. (It's best if you use the Chrome web browser. Firefox can be made to work, Safari does not). Here is a guide to installing and using Hypothesis.
4.  When you have set up the blog, go to the wiki page that hosts blog addresses. Click the "edit" link (top left) so you can edit the page.  Enter your name and the blog address. If you aren't able to do this, email me (cwerry@mail.sdsu.edu) your blog address.
5. Read the text by Thompson  (“Public Thinking”).
   A) Summarize Thompson’s main argument in your own words. Diving deeper into the text, identify the key claims, and discuss an example of the evidence and a strategy he uses to support these claims. 
   B) What were the most useful/interesting elements of the text? Were there any parts you disagreed with or had questions about? Use the hypothes.is annotation tool to note these elements on the text (there is a guide to using Hypothesis.).  Instead of examining element you can use hypothesis to reply to a comment one of your classmates has made.)
   C) Consider how Thompson’s ideas connect to your life. Which examples were more relatable or more convincing to you? Be specific. Feel free to use personal anecdotes and quotes from the text to support your response.
6. Read Hafner & Jones’ “Mediated Me.” They suggest we think of digital media in terms of how it lets us “do, mean, relate to others, think, and be.”  Try to come up with some examples that illustrate one or more of these ideas.