Blog Post Week #12

Here is your Week 11 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, November 11th. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #8". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week we are looking to the future to see how others have thought about it. For this blog post, you will compare and contrast the vision of the future portrayed by EM Forester's "The Machine Stops" and one other cultural production of your choice. The other cultural production can be a song, a movie, a TV episode, painting, novel, etc., including ones that we have discussed in class. This post should be between 250 and 500 words.

Some questions to consider:

1. What is the vision that Forester shows in "The Machine Stops"? As in, what happens, what's the conflict, what issues is he responding to? What about the second cultural production?

2. What are the similarities in Forester's short story and your second choice? Differences? Why do you think they exist (as in, you may want to consider the context of the productions).

3. Do you agree with these visions of the future? Are they dystopian or utopian? How do they compare to your vision of the future?

As always, incorporate information from the weekly readings into your posts and make sure that your response meets the minimum word count in order to receive full credit for this post. 

Article on Kids and Facebook

I came across this article on children who are using Facebook in violation of the 13 and over user requirement. It raises some interesting issues about privacy, data mining, the government's involvement, and personal choice.

Blog Post Week #11

Here is your Week 11 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, November 4th. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #7". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week we have been discussing the issue of online privacy, if such a concept even exists. For this blog post, you will analyze your own perceptions of online privacy. This post should be between 250 and 500 words.

Some questions to consider for your online privacy analysis:

1. First of all, what is your definition of personal/online privacy? You may want to take a look at some of the optional readings posted this week, specifically Lew McCreary's "What Was Privacy?" What aspects of life should be private versus what do  you think should be shared?

2. How much do you believe that you share and with whom? For example, I may not mind sharing basic interests like what bands/books/movies I love on Facebook with people I select as my friends. Are there certain people you do not want to share particular information with?

3. Try Googling your name. If you have a common name, you may want to add a characteristic about yourself, like your high school or sports you play. What comes up? Are you surprised by any of this information?  If you want to see something even creepier, head on over to www.spokeo.com and search your name. What comes up there? How do you respond to this information?

As always, incorporate information from the weekly readings into your posts and make sure that your response meets the minimum word count in order to receive full credit for this post. 

Blog Post Week #8

Here is your Week 8 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, October 14th. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #6". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

For the past few weeks, we've been discussing social media and rhetorical principles. For this blog post, you'll have the opportunity to put these discussions into action. You will create a fake Facebook profile on www.myfakewall.com. You will choose a famous person (celebrity, athlete, musician, author, etc) and create a profile for him/her. Check out some of the profiles that already exist such as Cinderella, John Lennon, and Ben Franklin. Using My Fake Wall requires you to register and takes a little adjustment to figure out, so be sure to give yourself some time to figure out the program.

In your blog post this week, please copy and paste the link to your blog. Also please include a short description (2-3 sentences) that tells what celebrity you picked and what the purpose of the My Fake Wall profile is (to be funny, to show the accomplishments of the celebrity, to satirize, etc).

This should be a fun assignment, so feel free to get creative and have a good time with this.

Facebook: You Can Log-in, But Can You Log-Out?

As I mentioned in class today, there was a recent blog post that has caused quite a flurry of interest in Facebook privacy settings. Check it out here.

Blog Assignment Post #5

Here is your Week 6 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 30th at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #5". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post will allow you to critically analyze and respond to Christine Rosen's article "Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism." Critical analysis and response is an important skill to learn regardless of the discipline because it requires the you to understand an article's argument well enough to be able to identify and explain it, but then also to provide your own argument about the article. A critical response goes beyond the "I agree/disagree" to "I agree/disagree because..." This post should be between 250 and 500 words. Since this is a short assignment and a long article, you may want to just focus on one aspect of Rosen's argument (as in, just discussing networking, relationships on Facebook, etc).

Some questions to consider for your critical analysis (you don't have to answer all of these, these are just questions to help you think through a critical analysis):
-What is Rosen's overall argument? You can also narrow this down to her argument in a particular section.
-Who is the intended audience for this article? (You may need to do a little sleuthing on The New Atlantis, which is where this article was originally published).  Who is the excluded audience (as in, who is Rosen not addressing here)?
-What do you know about Rosen? Is she credible? Why or why not?
-Is Rosen's article objective, or is she biased? If you believe she is, what in the article makes you believe that? What is her particular bias?
-What evidence does Rosen use to support her claim? Is this evidence credible, why or why not? What additional evidence would help strengthen her claim?
-Does Rosen address everything, or does she leave important analytical aspects out? If so, what is she neglecting to address?
-Overall, do you agree or disagree with Rosen's article (or part of it)? Why? Explain what you are responding to and justify why your perspective may be correct.

Blog Assignment #4

Here is your Week 5 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 23rd at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #4". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post will help you get started on your first draft of the viral ad rhetorical analysis. The questions that follow are the basic questions that you should answer in your rhetorical analysis essay, although the paper will also include a thesis and more developed arguments. For this blog post there is no word count, but you should answer all of the questions in complete sentences.


1. First of all, select your viral ad. This can be a website, YouTube video campaign, even a TV ad. Your ad cannot be a print ad. Either upload the ad to your blog post or include a link to it. Check out The Top 10 Viral Ad Chart if you need help.

2. Give a brief description of your ad. What images are present, and what associations do you have with these images (i.e. an American flag evokes what type of response)? Is there any text, if so what is it? What catches your eye? How is the ad composed? If it's a video, what happens throughout the course of it?

3. In what ways does your ad attempt to gain the attention of its audience?

4. What rhetorical appeals are being used, and how? (By doing y, the ad accomplishes z, basically, how does your ad use ethos/pathos/logos) What kinds of desires does this ad use (remember in class we discussed sex, escape, autonomy, physiological needs, etc.)?

5. Who is the audience for this ad? How do you know?

6. What kinds of knowledge or experience does the ad assume its audience possesses?

7. What associations might the audience make with the images in  your ad? How and why are these associations important? How do they connect with the product? How might these associations motivate viewers to purchase the product?

8. What medium is this ad (YouTube video, website, etc)? What is gained by choosing this particular medium? Is this the most effective choice, if so, what medium would be better?

Blog Assignment Post #3

Here is your Week 4 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 16th at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #3". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post will allow you to connect with the claims that Eli Pariser makes in the introduction to his book The Filter Bubble. This post should be between 250 and 500 words (if you go over, that's ok).

1. For the first part of this assignment, think of a phrase, issue, item, etc that is important to you. Some examples may be Virginia Tech, a cause that you are passionate about, a current event, even yourself! Google that term and note what the first three websites. Check out the websites, what are they? Are the websites relevant? What kind of information is presented on the website? Are the first three results similar to each other?

2. Next, ask someone you know to also Google the same term. What are the top three hits for their search? Check out those websites as well and note any differences or similarities. What are the differences between you and the person you asked to Google the term? Are you surprised by the differences or similarities in your search results? Why or why not?

3. Connect this experiment to Pariser's argument. Do you think this individualized search is a good or bad thing? Why or why not? What does this mean for knowledge distribution on the Internet (as in, if the Internet is what we use for research these days, how does personalized search impact our research)? Is the Internet actually a space for free knowledge and exchange of ideas?

Blog Assignment Post #2

Here is your Week 3 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 9th at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #2". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post allow you to connect our discussions about digital literacies with the readings for this week on education and how the Internet is changing how we think. This post should be between 250 and 500 words (if you go over, that's ok).

1. This week's readings deal with how the Internet is rewiring our brain. Nicholas Carr is concerned that Google is making us stupid because we have shorter attention spans and can't concentrate on reading books, while Virginia Heffernan argues that education needs to change to accommodate the digital native.

Using these two readings, as well as drawing from class discussion and previous articles, what does a 21st century education look like? This is your chance to dream up a school for digital natives. What should the school teach, and what's the purpose? Do you have SOLs? If you were in charge of education, what changes would you make? Consider the buildings, subjects, teachers, assignments, etc. Justify your changes by referencing the Carr or Heffernan pieces. Feel free to argue with either (or both) of these writers. Does Carr have the right idea, or is he completely wrong? Either way, what do you as the digital native being educated want from your education?

Using Rhetoric Exercise

Facebook should be limited to college students who have a .edu email address. Facebook was originally started with this limitation; high school students were not able to sign up for the service and neither were adults who were not in college. This added an extra layer of protection and security to Facebook.

Today Facebook users have to be extremely careful what they post on their profile because unintended people may be able to access the material. If you post pictures of underage drinking or parties, it isn’t just your friends who see it anymore, but also your parents, younger siblings, and future employers. Is it fair that you may not get a job because you went to a party on the weekend? At some schools, you can even face disciplinary action if there is Facebook evidence that you broke the rules. What you do in your free time is your own business as long as you’re smart and safe!

By limiting membership access, Facebook would be more private because we could control content for others who are our own age without fear that the wrong person will see it and cause negative consequences. It also protects younger students who are not yet in college. If anyone can get a Facebook account, younger users can come into contact with predators who may take advantage of them. If Facebook limited its membership rules again, creepy old people would be prohibited from making profiles and younger users would be safer.”

Blog Assignment Post #1

Here is your Week 2 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 2nd at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #1". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post will help you start writing your digital literacy narrative and make connections between the assigned readings as well as your own personal experience with digital technologies. This post should be between 500 and 750 words (if you go over, that's ok).

1.Write a brief narrative of a defining moment that you remember involving technology. It can be your first computer, a technology class, a moment you felt completely lost with technology, etc. The keyword here is brief (approximately 250 words).

2. Using the readings so far from class (the literacy narrative example in CAVT and Clive Thompson's article "The New Literacy") and the digital literacy examples online, are there any themes or moments explored in these readings that are similar to the experience you just wrote about? Any that are radically different? Be sure to explain what these commonalities or differences are (don't just answer yes or no).

3. What do your experiences and those of other students from the example digital literacy narratives suggest about what it means to be digitally literate? What skills are necessary to be digitally literate? What does it mean to be a digital native?

4. In your response to the previous question, you made some generalizations in order to answer the prompt. What kinds of evidence do you need to support your statements? Are there other moments from your life that provide more support, or are there instances in the readings that you can use to provide evidence?

The Mind Set of Freshmen

Here's an interesting link to the Beloit Mindset list. As you can see, each year these professors put together a list of characteristics of the incoming freshmen class. Take a look and see if:

a. You understand any of the references made.
b. You find it funny.
c. You find it accurate.

To me, it seems as if it's written for older professors to make fun of freshmen and further create this gap between digital native and digital immigrant. What do you think?

IBM Chip That Mimics Human Brain

This is the article that I was talking about earlier in class. Feel free to check it out and comment on this blog post if you have any burning thoughts.

IBM Unveils Chip that Mimics Human Brain

Welcome!

This is the class blog for the Fall 2011 VT ENGL 1105 taught by Kaitlin Clinnin at 9:05am.