“The game can be played for free, but players can get an edge by paying. Farm cash and farm coins can be purchased for anywhere from $1 to $50 in real money via credit card, PayPal, and Facebook’s Credits currency platform. With the virtual money, people can accelerate play or purchase goods that otherwise would take longer to acquire. It’s only for the most involved, though.”

Typically online activities and game are critiqued on the basis of the time spent doing them.  The addition of money to the mix means that online game play may come under increased scrutiny since money is a more concrete resource, the spending of which is seen as a marker of a more serious involvement.

Case Study Assignment Sheet

EMAC 6300: Fall 2010

Purpose:

• To demonstrate familiarity with the landscape of the emerging media field.
• To provide practice presenting in front of a live audience.
• To seed ideas for class discussion, presentations, and the final paper.

Background:

Our class involves reading a lot of media and cultural theory. The goal of the case studies assignment is to connect the theory to “the real world” through a sophisticated take on the grade-school notion of the “show-and-tell.” In other words, your task is to bring in some kind of media object to supplement the discussion of our readings. This media object may be software, hardware, a device or gadget, websites, art objects, pop culture texts, etc. For example, if the topic of your assigned week were theories of mobile media, you might choose to do a case study on a geolocational mobile app.

You will give an informal presentation in which you give an overview of the media object and provide a few discussion questions or points for analysis.

The Specs:

• 10-15 informal presentation. If you are going to require any special set up in advance, please let me know by the Friday preceding your presentation.
• Post a brief write-up of your case study, including overview and discussion questions to your blog. This should be online before the start of class on your presentation day.

Grading:

The case study assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.

Your grade is based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of your case study to the week’s readings.
• A clear presentation with interesting points of analysis or provocative discussion questions.
• Timely, well-written publication of your case-study in your blog.

Timeline and Due Dates:

Sept 8: Brianni, Meagan

Sept 15: Mary

Sept 22: Yvonne, Andy

Sept 29: Sydnie

Oct 6: Alan, Tameka

Oct 13: Alex

Oct 20: Mattie, Kevin

Oct 27: Lewis, Samuel

Nov 3: Danelle

Nov 10: Amanda, Olumide

Nov 17: John, Nick

Dec 1: Caleigh, Nakoya

Dec 8: Carol

Downloadable .PDF of the assignment sheet.

Simple: http://fightingirishman.blogspot.com/

Complex: http://dhsocal.blogspot.com/

Professionally complex: http://www.coolhunting.com/

Your blogs should be aiming for somewhere between the first two in terms of structure, additional components, etc.

Blogging Assignment Sheet

EMAC 6300: Fall 2010

Purpose:

• To help students engage with the larger community of emerging media scholars.
• To seed ideas for class discussion, presentations, and the final paper.
  

Background:

As you probably already know, the blog genre covers a wide range of topics, from fashion and cooking, to politics and journalism. Your blog will be an academic, or scholarly blog. It will address the topics we are covering in class, as well as topics that you decide are relevant to the class. That said, your blog is written for a wide audience and as such, you should avoid overloading your posts with academic jargon. The goal is for the blogs to enhance the classroom community, as well as to extend discussion beyond the walls of our class.

The Specs:

• Due Tuesdays at 11:59pm
• Minimum 500 words in each post. If you have blogs for other purposes and other classes, you may not use them here. You must begin a new blog and write a new post each week. Include video, audio, still images, etc. when relevant.
• Thoughtful response to the blogs of your classmates. There is no minimum word count here, but use your judgment. Comments such as “great job!” or “cool idea!” lack substance. Your task is to engage the other members of the EMAC6300 community in dialogue. Try to mix it up so you are responding to different people each week. All course blogs will be listed on the main course site at http://kimknight.com
• The blog should be reflective of your personality – have fun naming it, choosing themes, adding images, etc. At the same time, keep in mind that this is part of the development of your professional identity.
• Your blog should be about more than gracing the world with your ideas. Don’t get me wrong, that is a major part of it. However, the blog is part of a larger discourse community as well as an archive of your ideas. A fully-developed blog includes links to other blogs, sites, resources, etc. and utilizes categories and other organizational tools.

Technical Support:

• For a list of free blog hosting, visit http://mashable.com/2007/08/06/free-blog-hosts/
  • Blogger and WordPress are probably two of the most commonly-used platforms.

Grading:

The Blog Assignment is worth 45% of your final grade.

35% of your grade is based on the following criteria:

• Completion of blog posts on time, in accordance with the minimum word count.
• The quality of ideas and quality of writing in your blog posts.
• The construction of a fully-realized blog with links, categories, etc.

An additional 10% of your grade is based on:

• The quality of your responses to your classmates.

Timeline and Due Dates:

Your blog post is due each week on Tuesday at 11:59pm.

Downloadable .PDF of the assignment sheet.

• Syllabus Overview
• Vannevar Bush “As We May Think” (in class handout)
• Alan Turing “Computing Machines and Intelligence” (in class handout)
• Timothy Leary, “The Cyber-Punk: The Individual as Reality Pilot”

Week Two (September 1): Technological / Social Determinism

• Martin Heidegger “The Question Concerning Technology”
  
• Herbert Marcuse “Some Social Implications of Modern Technology”

Week Three (September 8): The Effects of Technology

• Case Study Presentations: Brianni, Meagan
• Plato – Phaedrus
  
• Villem Flusser – “On Memory: Electronic or Otherwise” Leonardo, Volume 23.4 (1990): 397- 399 (Check 1st day print syllabus for username and password)
• M.T. Clanchy – “Introduction” to From Memory to Written Record: England 1066 – 1307” (Google books)

Week Four (September 15): Content vs. Form

• Case Study Presentations: Mary
• Marshall McLuhan – “The Medium is the Message” from Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
  
• Marshall McLuhan – The Medium is the Massage

Week Five (September 22): Our Connection to Media

• Case Study Presentations: Yvonne, Andy
• Walter Benjamin – “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
  
• Bill Nichols – “The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems”
  

• Case Study Presentations: Sydnie
• Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin – Remediation
• John Guillory – “Genesis of the Media Concept.” Critical Inquiry. 36.2 (2010): 321 – 362 (LION or JStor)

Week Seven (October 6) – The “New” in New Media

• Case Study Presentations: Alan, Tameka
• Lev Manovich – The Language of New Media
• N. Katherine Hayles – “Media Specific Analysis” (TBD)

• Case Study Presentations: Alex
• Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker – The Exploit: A Theory of Networks
• Manuel Castells – “Why Networks Matter”

Week Nine (October 20) – Shifting Models of Ownership

• Case Study Presentations: Mattie, Kevin
• Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite – Information Feudalism: Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?
• Film: Steal This Film II

Week Ten (October 27) – Shifting Models of Knowledge & Learning, I

• Case Study Presentations: Lewis, Samuel
• Pierre Levy – Collective Intelligence
• Jaron Lanier – “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism”
  
• Consider ordering Rip! A Remix Manifesto from Netflix.
  

Week Eleven (November 3) – Shifting Models of Knowledge & Learning, II

• Case Study Presentations: Danelle
• N. Katherine Hayles, “Hyper and Deep Attention:  The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes”
  

• Video: “May I Have Your Attention, Please? Linda Stone – SIME 09”
  

Week Twelve (November 10) – Shifting Models of Creation / Participation: Art & Pop culture
(Project Proposals Due)

• Case Study Presentations: Amanda, Olumide
• Henry Jenkins – Convergence Culture
• Film: Rip! A Remix Manifesto (Netflix or screening)

Week Thirteen (November 17) – Shifting Models of Creation / Participation: Politics

• Case Study Presentations: John, Nick
• Introduction to Digital Media and Democracy
  
• Michel De Certeau – “General Introduction” to The Practice of Everyday Life
  
• Film – Us Now
  

November 24 – Class rescheduled

Week Fourteen (December 1) – Shifting Models of Public / Private

• Case Study Presentations: Caleigh, Nakoya
• Wendy Chun – “Introduction” from Control and Freedom
• Wendy Chun – “Why Cyberspace?” from Control and Freedom (TBD)
• Kurt Opsahl – “A Bill of Privacy Rights for Social Network Users”
  
• Andrew J. Blumberg and Peter Eckersley – “On Locational Privacy and How to Avoid Losing It Forever”
  
• Aspen Baker – “Social Media ≠ Public Exposure: Lessons in Private Networking for Social Change”
  

Week Fifteen (December 8) – Wrap Up

• Case Study Presentations: Carol
• Zittrain – The Future of the Internet– And How to Stop It

Final Papers are due December 15 by 12:00 pm in my office.


Social Media Assignment Sheet

ATEC 2322: Fall 2010

Purpose:

• To help students enter into the larger community of emerging media scholars.
• To seed ideas for class discussion, blog posts, presentations, and the final project.
• To develop a resource repository for the ATEC2322 community.

Background:

We’ve all heard (or perhaps you’ve made) the following complaint about Twitter: “I don’t care what you had for breakfast.” While it is true that the microblog form is very casual and may address issues some consider pedestrian, it is also true that useful discourse communities have formed through resource-sharing sites.

We will use Twitter for the sharing of brief thoughts, ideas, reactions, links, etc. Delicious will be used to bookmark those items you consider of enduring importance to the class.

The Specs:

• This assignment currently has neither due dates, nor minimum post requirements. My preference is to allow resource sharing among the community to develop organically. However, if I find that the class is neglecting this assignment, I will add due dates and minimums.
• For Twitter
  • Follow everyone from the class (a list will be provided).
    • Consider creating a list that includes everyone from class.
  • Use the hashtag #ATEC2322 to reference tweets that are relevant to class.
  • Tag thoughts, ideas, reactions, links, and retweets in response to readings, discussion, and the ongoings of the field.
  • Access class tweets by searching twitter for the hashtag, or in the Twapperkeeper http://twapperkeeper.com/hashtag/ATEC2322
  • Consider using a 3rd-party tool to access Twitter, such as Tweetdeck, Brizzly, etc.
• For Delicious
  • Use the tag ATEC2322, in addition to other relevant tags.
  • Create bookmarks that you think others would find interesting or helpful.
  • Use the notes function to briefly explain the bookmark, or its relevance.
  • Be sure to make your bookmarks public.
  • Consider adding people to your network.
  • Access tagged bookmarks at http://www.delicious.com/tag/atec2322
• You may find other social media platforms or objects that you think are relevant to the class. Use Twitter and/or Delicious to alert the class to them.

Technical Support:

• Twitter
  • Twitter help: http://support.twitter.com
  • Kim’s profile: https://twitter.com/purplekimchi
  • TwapperKeeper FAQ: http://twapperkeeper.com/faq.php

• Delicious
  • Delicious help: http://www.delicious.com/help
  • Kim’s profile: http://www.delicious.com/kknight08

Grading:

Social Media is worth 10% of your final grade.

You will be graded on the following criteria:

• Active sharing of bookmarks and ideas via social media tools, included but not limited to Twitter and Delicious (a few per week).
• Engagement with the community (responding, re-tweeting, etc.)

Timeline and Due Dates:

Wednesday, August 25: Email your Twitter and Delicious usernames to Kim using your UTD email account.

No hard and fast due dates, but you are expected to maintain activity throughout the semester.

Downloadable .PDF file of the Social Media assignment sheet.

ATEC 2322: Fall 2010

Purpose:

• To help students enter into the larger community of emerging media scholars.
• To give students practice in writing for an outside audience.
• To seed ideas for class discussion, presentations, and the final paper.

Background:

As you probably already know, the blog genre covers a wide range of topics, from fashion and cooking, to politics and journalism. Your blog will be an academic, or scholarly blog. It will address the topics we are reading about and discussing in class, as well as topics that you find elsewhere and decide are relevant to the class. That said, your blog is written for a wide audience and as such, you should avoid overloading your posts with academic jargon. The goal is for the blogs to enhance the classroom community, as well as to extend discussion beyond the walls of our class.

The Specs:

• Due once per week at 11:59pm (see due dates below).
• Minimum 250 words in each post. If you have blogs for other purposes and other classes, you may not use them here. You must begin a new blog and write a new post each week.
• Unless otherwise noted, the blog should engage with the week’s readings and class discussion, or address major news and developments in the field. You might expand on a point of interest, present an argument in support of or against one of the weeks’ authors, or reflect upon the readings and discussion in relation to a specific outside reading, experience, or object. If addressing news or developments, be sure to do more than simply parroting announcements. Think about why a development is interesting or exciting.
• Thoughtful response to the blogs of your classmates. There is no minimum word count here, but use your judgment. Comments such as “great job!” or “cool idea!” lack substance. Try to mix it up so you are responding to a few different people each week. All course blogs will be listed on the main course site at http://kimknight.com
• The blog should be reflective of your personality – have fun choosing themes, adding images, etc. At the same time, keep in mind that this is part of the development of your professional identity.
• Your blog should be about more than gracing the world with your ideas. Don’t get me wrong, that is a major part of it. However, the blog is part of a larger discourse community as well as an archive of your ideas. A fully-developed blog includes links to other blogs, sites, resources, etc. and utilizes categories and other organizational tools.

Technical Support:

• For a list of free blog hosting, visit http://mashable.com/2007/08/06/free-blog-hosts/
  • Blogger and WordPress are probably two of the most commonly-used platforms.
• Certain weekly assignments may require that you upload videos, files, insert links, etc. Check the help files for your blog engine for assistance in these areas.

Grading:

The Blog Assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.

Your blog will be graded on the following criteria:

• Completion of blog posts on time, in accordance with the minimum word count.
• The quality of ideas and quality of writing in your blog posts.
• The quality of your responses to your classmates.
• The construction of a fully-realized blog with links, categories, etc.

Timeline and Due Dates:

Unless otherwise noted, the assignment is to engage with the class readings and discussions. You will be given more information on tasks in class each week.

• Friday, August 27 – Set up blog, with an introductory post. Email link to Kim.
• Friday, September 3
• Friday, September 10 – Embed a quote
• Friday, September 17
  
• Friday, September 24 – Edit a Wikipedia article.
• Friday, October 1
• Friday, October 8 – 40 minutes of uninterrupted reading
• Friday, October 15 – One week without Facebook
• Friday, October 22 – Video blog
• Friday, October 29 – Pan-and-Zoom
• Friday, November 5
• Friday, November 12 – Use a creative commons image
• Friday, November 19 – Review a digital art object or collection
• Friday, November 26
• Friday, December 3

Downloadable .PDF of the assignment sheet

• Introductions
• Syllabus Review
• Wired.com, “How to Behave: The New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans”

Wednesday, August 25: Early Predictions

• Bush, “As We May Think”
  
• Leary, “The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot” Mississippi Review, Vol. 16, No. 2/3 (1988), pp. 252-265 (Available through JSTOR) (Also available as a downloadable .pdf; check the syllabus distributed in-class for the password)
• Turing “Computing Machines and Intelligence”
• Due:
  • Email Kim your Twitter and Delicious usernames from your UTD email account.

• Friday, August 27: Blog set up due