Homework  

Note: homework is typically due the night before class by 11.59 p.m.  

Before the First Class (if possible)

1. Read the syllabus and assignments. Note any questions you have and be prepared to share them in class.
2. Share some information about yourself on this google slide 
3. Go to the Canvas Discussion Board and click on the "Introduce Yourself" thread. You will be prompted to say a bit about who you are, but also to talk about
   your academic interests and potential topics you might want to explore in this class. 

Week 1: Monday 08/22 (Done in class, but can start before if you wish) 

1. Join the course wiki. To do this, go to the front page of the course wiki. At the top right corner of the page click on the “Request Access” link.
   You will soon receive an email inviting you to set up you wiki account (your username will be your email address). Follow the instructions, then try logging
   into the wiki.
2. Share some information about yourself on this google slide 

Week 1: Wednesday 08/23   

1. It is often said we are entering "the age of A.I." Share some initial thoughts, experiences, insights, hopes, or fears. What might this 
   mean for you, your field, your (future) profession, education, the world? What have your initial encounters with A.I. been like?

2. Read the 4 short "possibilities" texts - Mollick, “How to Use AI to Do Stuff” and “Magic for English Majors,”
   Matthews, “If You’re Not Using ChatGPT for your Writing You’re Making a Mistake”; Chandra, “What’s a Word Worth in the A.I. Era?”
   

3. “How to Use AI to Do Stuff” provides an overview of some common AI tools. Note any points you found useful or 
   interesting. Share a little about your experience so far with AI tools.  
4. Mollick, Matthews and (to a lesser extent) Chandra are optimistic about AI. Why? What reasons do they give? How persuasive 
   did you find them, and why? Which points resonated the most, and was there anything you would you like to know more
   about, extend, or challenge?
5. Reply to two of your classmates' posts. 
6. Post to the Discussion board and make a copy in your Google Drive.
    

Week 2: Monday 08/28   

1. The short readings for today (Kirschbaum, Harari et al., Marcus, Chiang and Vincent) present critical perspectives on AI.
   What are their main claims and concerns? Note some points of connection and/or contrast. How persuasive did you find their
   arguments, and why? Was there anything you would you like to know more about, add to, or challenge? 
2. Reply to two of your classmates' posts.
3. Post to the Discussion board and make a copy in your Google  Drive.

Week 3: Wednesday 09/06   

1. Read O’Neil's “These Women Warned of AI’s Dangers and Risks Long Before ChatGPT.”
2. Many of the most prominent scholars and critics of both "algorithmic governance" and traditional A.I are women of color. O’Neil's
   article introduces some of these scholars and gives an overview of their work. Write a response to this article. What issues, 
   questions, or problems struck you as the most significant or interesting? What were your main "takeaways" from this 
   test, and was there anything you would you like to know more about, extend, respond to, or challenge?
3. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board. 
4. Read these short, practical "how to" texts by Molllick, “Assigning AI: Seven Ways of Using AI in Class,”
   “How to Use ChatGPT to Boost Your Writing” and “What happens When AI Reads a Book.” Note anything
   that seemed particularly useful to you, or any questions you have. 
5.  If you are in the group doing the first round of presentations, continue preparing to lead discussion of  
   the three Mollick texts. Summarize the texts, describing the parts you think your classmates may find most useful, and say
   why. Test some of the things Mollick describes, and describe the results. For example, What happens When AI Reads a Book 
   explains how to upload a text and analyze it in productive ways. Try doing this and share what you discovered.

Week 4: Monday 09/11

1. Read Abril, “Gen Z graduates are fluent in AI and ready to join the workforce,” And Karp, “Our Oppenheimer Moment: The Creation of
   A.I. Weapons." The "rhetoric of A.I" is important. The frames and narratives used to discuss it, the way it is represented, and the persuasive
   strategies employed to describe the stakes and who/how it should be developed matter. With this in mind, compose a rhetorical
   analysis of these two texts. Start by outlining the main claims, then discuss some persuasive strategies used, and note any critical
   questions you have. 
2. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board. 
3.  If you are in one of the groups doing the second round of presentations, continue preparing to lead discussion of your assigned texts.
   Summarize the texts, describe the parts you think your classmates may find most useful, and say why. What issues do they raise? Why are 
   important? Create some questions for the class to tackle, and lead the discussion.

Week 5: Monday 09/18 

1. Read Thompson's Public Thinking. As you read, use the Hypothes.is annotation tool to select the text and add comments, questions,
   connections, disagreements, etc. You can reply to the annotations others make. Don't spend much time on this - just "think out loud"
   as you read. Please select the smallest amount of text possible - just a word or phrase, so others can more easily add their comments. 
2. On the discussion board, post about the parts of the text that seemed most interesting to you. What connected most to your own
   experiences? Discuss anything you had questions about, liked, disagreed with, or would like to investigate further.
3. Thompson thinks digital media is powerful because it offers many new opportunities for us to write for audiences, and he believes this "audience effect" can make
   us better thinkers and writers. Have you ever experienced the "audience effect"? Are there forms of public thinking you might be interested in exploring, or
   audiences you might want to write for, no matter how small?  
4. How might the emerging age of AI connect to or complicate Thompson's argument? Will A.I. expand, reconfigure, or  undermine 
   the kind of writing and thinking Thompson argues is so valuable?  
5. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board.

Week 5: Monday 09/20

1. Young and Sullivan, “Why Write” A Reconsideration” and Morrison's "Meta-Writing: AI and Writing argue we should rethink the purpose, value
   and effects of writing. What are their main claims, and how do they invite us, in different ways, to "rethink" writing? Discuss what you found most
   interesting, provocative or useful about each text. If one of the texts raised an issue you might like to explore further, share this.
2. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board. 

Week 6: Monday 09/25

1. Read Werry "Imagined Electronic Community" and Doctorow, “Facebook’s Secret War on Switching Costs”. This Werry fellow will
   join us for class. Write a response to his article (be as critical as you like). List questions for him to answer.  
2. What connections do you see between Werry and Doctorow? Discuss what you found most interesting, provocative or useful
   about each text. If one of the texts raised an issue you might like to explore further, share this.
3. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board. 

Week 7: Monday 09/25

1. Read Caplan et al, Algorithmic Accountability: A Primer, Nicoletti and Bass, “Humans Are Biased: Generative AI Is Even Worse”, Vogell,
   “How a Secret Algorithm Pushes Rents Higher”; Ross and Herman,  “Denied by AI”
2. Compose a reading response exploring the authors' claims about a) how and why algorithmic bias operates, b) what some effects are, and
   c) what can we do about this? What did you find most interesting, provocative or useful about these texts? If one of the texts raised an issue
   you would like to know more about, share this. 
3. Reply to two of your peers' posts. Post homework to the discussion board. 
4.  

Provide an overview of the argument and discuss what you found most interesting, provocative or useful about each text.

If one of the texts raised an issue you would like to explore further, share this. Describe any connections you could identify

between the texts.  Post Homework to Discussion board

Week 3: Wednesday 09/07

Groups select one reading from list below and prepare brief presentation for 09/07. Use this google doc to select a text. 

1. Gillespie and Gerrard, “When Algorithms Think You Want to Die”
2. DKB, “Google Search is Dying”
3. McMillan-Cottom, “Black Twitter Is Not a Place. It’s a Practice.”
4. Sloan and Harding, "How Streaming and Social Media Changed Music,"   
5. Metz, “Feeding Hate With Video: A YouTuber Explains His Methods.”

Prepare your group's presentation to the class. Provide an overview of the argument, main claims, the evidence, and persuasive

strategies. What was most interesting, provocative or important about the text? What issues does the text raise, and how might one

explore these issues further - that is, how might you build on, challenge, or use this argument? Post some notes, or a link to a Google

doc or Google slide to the discussion board.  

Extra credit opportunity: write a response to one of the texts not selected by groups, post to the discussion board, and share in class.

Week 4: Monday 09/12 (Reply to classmates' posts by 09/13)

On the discussion board, post responses to the following:

1. Read Ong's text. Ong claims that in "oral cultures," or cultures without writing, thought, knowledge, and communication 
   tend to take very particular forms. What are these forms? What did you think of Ong's claims?
   
   Ong argues "orally composed texts" (texts composed without writing) take distinctive forms. For example, they tend to
   be somewhat repetitious, there is often redundancy, and many "formulas" (sayings, proverbs, stock characters).  Texts
   often take the form of songs or poems, since these are easier to memorize, and they tell a story that is dramatic.
   
   Use Ong to examine a sample oral composition, “Sundiata.”  The Sundiata text is a short example of an orally composed story/song.
   The text contains two versions of the story. The first has been turned into a traditional "literate" prose text, and the second is a
   transcription of an oral performance. Read version 1 for background, but analyze version 2 (the "song"). Discuss two or three features
   of the text that seem to fit Ong's list. The text has been translated, so any analysis will involve some guess work. Give it your best shot,
   and don't be afraid to speculate. (1-2 pages.) What are some elements of the “Sundiata” text that seem to fit Ong's list of characteristics?
   
   
2. Sacasas claims that our age of social media remixes some elements of the older oral world Ong describes. Discuss one or two of Sacasas's
   main claims. How does Sacasas extend Ong's arguments? What was most interesting about the text? What issues does the text raise, and
   how might one explore these issues further? 

Week 5: Monday 09/19 (Reply to classmates' by 09/20)  

On the discussion board, post responses to the following:

1. Describe three of Boyd's most important claims. Which parts of the text seemed most interesting or useful? Discuss elements you
   agreed/disagreed with, had questions about, or would like to know more about.  
2. Boyd claims the “rhetoric of digital natives” has been damaging. Why has it been damaging, and what does she argue we should we
   replace “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” with?
3. Boyd claims that young people should be taught critical digital literacy. Do Boyd's suggestions for equipping young people with
   critical digital literacy skills seem useful? How relevant do they seem to you? Are there things she leaves out that you think need to
   be added? What sort of critical digital literacy skills would you like to learn?
4. Skim the Stanford History Group's short paper on digital literacy. Their 2020 study suggest we are not teaching students the 
   skills they need. What is the problem?
5. In your opinion, what can, or should, be done to combat fake news, disinformation, manipulation, and information warfare?
6. What do you think can we do to teach young people critical digital literacy, and to learn the skills needed for digital citizenship?