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?