Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in Digital Society (Undergrad)

This course was offered in Fall 2012.

Syllabus

EMAC 3328: The Digital Society: Embodied Identity in Digital Society

Fall 2012

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor.

Course Information

Class No. 85761
Meets: F 12:00pm – 2:45pm
Location: CB3 1.306
Credit Hours: 3

Contact Information

Instructor: Kim Knight
Email (preferred method of contact): kim.knight@utdallas.edu
Twitter: @purplekimchi
Phone: 972-883-4346. No voicemail, please.
Office: ATEC 1.506

Office Hours:

Contact policies:

  • I respond to email M-F within 24 hours.
  • If I do not respond within that time frame, check my email address and re-send it.
  • Use official UTD email only.
  • I will not respond to
    • Emails that request information found on syllabus or assignment sheets.
    • Twitter direct messages.

Course wiki: embodiedidentity.pbworks.com

Twitter tag: #digitalsoc

Course Description

danah boyd writes that “profile generation is an explicit act of writing oneself into being in a digital environment, and participants must determine how they want to present themselves to those who may view their self-presentation or those who they wish might” (2010). However, the act of writing oneself is always connected to a gendered, raced, classed body that desires. In this instance of EMAC 3328, we will begin with foundational theories of embodied identity and seek understanding of the complex ways in which privilege, bias, race, class, gender, and sexuality shape, and are shaped by, digital society. We will connect theory to social networking practices and sites, online communities, mobile applications, games, hardware, and other instances of emerging media. Students are expected to thoughtfully engage with their own identities and privilege, as well as contribute to a respectful environment in which their peers may do the same.

Course Goals

In this course, students will:

  • Learn the foundations of feminist, materialist, race construction, and queer theories.
  • Apply theoretical readings to the analysis of emerging media.
  • Construct a project that intervenes in online constructions of race, class, gender, or sexuality.
  • Communicate with the emerging media community through the use of blogs, microblogs, social bookmarking, live presentations, etc.

Required Textbooks and Materials

  • Freedman, Estelle B. The Essential Feminist Reader. ISBN: 0812974603
  • Levine, Rhonda, ed. Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates. 2nd edition. ISBN: 0742546322

Various chapters and essays, available online or through the UTD Library’s course reserve system. Usernames and passwords: For content hosted on kimknight.com, the username is “digitalsoc” and the password is “identity.” For materials hosted on UTD course reserve, go to http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335. The password is “netwk”.

You will also need the following: a UTD email account (that you check frequently), a Twitter account, a wordpress blog, a PBWiki account, a QuizStar account.

Course Policies

Attendance:
Some of the most valuable take-away from this course will come out of our class discussions. Your participation is necessary for our success. It is important that you come to every class prepared and on time. To be “prepared” means that you have thoughtfully engaged with the reading and are prepared to discuss it in class, and that you have done any creative pre-work necessary. Bring questions, comments, observations, disagreements, examples, etc.

Because your presence in class is important, more than one absence can negatively affect your grade and in most cases, three or more absences will result in a failing grade. If you need to miss class for religious reasons, please speak to me ahead of time. Absences for religious purposes do not count against the permitted number (as long as prior notification is given). Lateness is also unacceptable; if you arrive more than thirty minutes late to class you will be marked as absent. Leaving early also counts as an absence. In addition, please try to be as fully present and engaged as possible – silence cell phones, don’t send or receive texts or emails, etc. Excessive distraction may be counted as an absence.

Coming to class without the necessary prep work will count as one half an absence.

Accommodation:
If you would like to request accommodation due to a disability, please let me know as soon as possible. The disability must be documented with the Office of Disability Services at UTD.

Online Due Dates: All online assignments are due by 11:59pm on the date listed, unless otherwise noted.

Late work:
You should make a concerted effort to turn in all work on-time (in person at the beginning of class, unless otherwise noted), in the format outlined on the assignment sheet. Work submitted in formats other than that listed on the assignment sheet will not be accepted. Work emailed during class session will be considered late.

  • Response Assignment: Work associated with the blog assignment will not be accepted late.
  • Case studies: Work associated with the case study assignment will not be accepted late.
  • Final Project: Late submission of proposals and drafts will result in a loss of 1/3 of a grade on the project for each late item. Final projects will be marked down one letter grade for each day (or fraction thereof) that they are late.

It is your responsibility to complete your work early enough to allow time for any technical difficulties. Work that is turned in late due to technical difficulties is subject to late penalties.

Online Etiquette:
Our many online assignments will require vigilance to ensure that we are always preserving an atmosphere of mutual respect. Disagreements may arise and consensus may not be possible. We can, however, respect each person’s right to an opinion. Name calling or menacing behavior will not be tolerated.

Academic Honesty:
From the UT-D Handbook of Operating Procedures: “The university expects from its students a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty. Because the value of an academic degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student maintain a high standard of individual honor in his or her scholastic work. The dean may initiate disciplinary proceedings under subchapter C against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty upon complaint by a faculty member or a student.” (http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/graddean/gsPolDishonesty.htm)

Plagiarism will result in a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment and possible disciplinary action by the university. If you have any questions regarding the proper use of outside sources or the distinction between sampling and plagiarism, I encourage you to meet with me.

University Policies: Please visit http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies for the University’s policies regarding all courses.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy

Grading Scale:

A Range: Excellent. All work is thought-provoking and well-executed. B Range: Above Average. Most work is thought-provoking and well-executed. C Range: Average. Most work is well-executed. D Range: Poor. Work is often neither thought-provoking, nor well-executed. F Range:Failing.Work fails to meet college standards.
A 94% to 100%A- 90 – 93% B+ 87 – 89%B 84 – 86%B- 80 – 83% C+ 77 – 79%C 74 – 76%C- 70 – 73% D+ 67-69%D 64 – 66%D- 60 – 63% 0 – 59%

Assignments:

Participation – 25%

Participation includes attendance, class discussion, reading quizzes, contributions to Twitter and the class wiki, and at least one meeting with me during office hours.Your office hours visit must take place no later than October 15, 2012

Reading Responses – 25%

Either a blog or twitter will be used for student ideas in response to the weekly readings. This will be decided upon on the first day of class.

Case Studies – 10%

Students will create a wiki page to document and analyze digital constructions of race, class, gender, or sexuality in a case study format. They will present their example and analysis in class.

Final Project – 40%

Students will work individually or in groups to create a final project that creates an intervention in digital constructions of race, class, gender, or sexuality. More on this after the midpoint of class.

General Requirements: This class involves a lot of dense reading. My hope is that you will apply the ideas from that reading “IRL” or “in real life.” You will be most successful in this class if you are able to have an open mind and take a critical approach to our topics. Please note that being “critical” does not necessarily mean being negative, but it does mean that you are willing to question assumptions and explore the implications of the seemingly mundane and minute aspects of contemporary media culture. Openness to experimentation and play and a willingness to try and fail are critical to the study of emerging media. In short, in this class we will be enacting some of the very changes we are studying – collaborative learning, alternative models of scholarship, etc.

Schedule of Readings

Academic Calendar
(DRAFT: Always check for up-to-date assignments)

August 31: Introduction

  • Class Introductions
  • Syllabus Review
  • Response Assignment Decision
  • Introduction to Privilege

September 7: Bias and Privilege

  • Project Implicit https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
  • Select “Demonstration” and take the following tests:
    • Race
    • Sexuality
    • Gender-Career or Gender-Science
    • Disability or Weight or Age
  • Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
    • http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
  • Sindelókë, “Of Dogs and Lizards: A Parable of Privilege”
    • https://sindeloke.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/37/
  • John Scalzi, “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There is”
    • http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
  • Case study: Paul, Chelsea

September 14: No Class

September 21: Gender Theory

  • Essential Feminist Reader (all selections are excerpts from larger works)
    • Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex (251 – 262)
    • Pat Mainardi, “The Politics of Housework” (288 – 294) or Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (311 – 317)
    • Rebecca Walker, “Becoming the Third Wave” (397 – 401)
    • Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future (424 – 426)
    • In addition, choose and read
      • one work published before 1800
      • one published 1800 – 1919
  • Judith Butler, “Preface (1999)” in Gender Trouble
    • http://www.kyoolee.net/GENDER_TROUBLE_-_Preface_-_Butler.pdf
  • Genny Beemyn and Susan Rankin, “Introduction” to Lives of Transgender People (course reserve)
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Case Study: Lauren, Elizabeth

September 28: Race Theory

  • Omi and Winant, “Racial Formation” in Stratification and Social Class
  • Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, “Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation”
    • http://itp.wceruw.org/bonilla-silva%20rethinking%20racism.pdf
  • Case study: Fernando

October 5: Class Theory

  • Paul Solman and Elizabeth Shell, “Do You Live in a Bubble? A Quiz”
    • http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/03/white-educated-and-wealthy-congratulations-you-live-in-a-bubble.html
  • Social Class and Stratification
    • Karl Marx, “On Classes”
    • Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, “Some Principles of Stratification”
    • Melvin M. Tumin, “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis”
  • Case study: Debora

October 12: Sexuality Theory

  • Gayle S. Rubin, “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality”
    • http://wmst419.drkissling.com/winter2011/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Rubin1984.pdf
  • David Halperin, “Is there a History of Sexuality?” History and Theory Vol. 28, No. 3 (Oct., 1989), pp. 257-274 (use the library databases to access)
  • Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”
    • http://pcnw.org/files/Butler-ImitationandGenderInsubordination.pdf
  • Case Study: Katie

Monday, October 15: Last day for office hour visits for participation credit

Tuesday, October 16: Ada Lovelace Day 2012

  • http://findingada.com/

October 19: Intersectionality

  • Essential Feminist Reader (all excerpts from longer works)
  • Adrienne Rich, Notes Towards a Politics of Location (368 – 384)
  • Gloria Anzaldua, “La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Toward a New Consciousness” (385 – 390)
  • Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (325 – 330)
  • Social Class and Stratification
    • Heidi Hartmann, “Capitalism, Patriarchy, and the Subordination of Women”
      Patricia Hill Collins, “Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis”
  • Darren Rosenblum, “Queer Intersectionality and the Failure of Recent Lesbian and Gay “Victories”
    • http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209&context=lawfaculty</span>
  • Case study: Patti

October 26: Marginalized Histories

  • Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII
    • Available via Netflix Streaming or as a DVD from Amazon
  • Xeni Jardin, “NYT: Men Invented the Internet”
    • http://boingboing.net/2012/06/03/nyt-men-invented-the-inter.html
  • Tyrone D. Taborn, “Separating Race from Technology: Finding Tomorrow’s IT Progress in the Past” in Learning Race and Ethnicity
    • https://kimknight.com/readings/taborn-separatingracefromtechnology.pdf
  • Jaime N. Shock, “Secrets are Out: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Engineers are No Longer Willing to Hide Their True Selves”
    • http://www.prism-magazine.org/oct11/feature_03.cfm
  • Case study: Matt
  • Halloween pot luck

November 2: Activists, Programmers, Hackers, and Cyborgs

  • Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century”
    • http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Haraway-CyborgManifesto.html
  • Male Programmer Privilege Checklist
    • http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Male_Programmer_Privilege_Checklist
  • Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, “Race and/as Technology, or How to Do Things to Race” in Race After the Internet
  • Alondra Nelson and Thuy Linh N. Tu Interview Vivek Bald, “Appropriating Technology” in Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life (course reserves)
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Margaret Cooper and Kristin Dzara, “The Facebook Revolution: LGBT Identity and Activism” in LGBT Identity and Online New Media (course reserves)
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Case study: Zoe

November 9: Gaps, Erasures, and Divides

  • Susan P. Crawford, “The New Digital Divide”
    • http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all
  • Katie J.M. Baker, “Men are from YouTube, Women are from Instagram”
    • http://jezebel.com/5919664/men-are-from-youtube-women-are-from-instagram
  • Race After the Internet (course reserves)
    • Hargittai, Eszter, “Open Doors, Closed Spaces? Differentiated Adoption of Social Network Sites by User Background”
  • Oscar H. Gandy, Jr. “Matrix Multiplication and the Digital Divide”
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Case study: Caryn, Amelia
  • Final Project Proposal Due

November 16: Connecting

  • Sam Laird, “The Rise of the Mommy Blogger” (infographic)
    • http://mashable.com/2012/05/08/mommy-blogger-infographic/
  • Amanda Enayati, “Facebook: The Encyclopedia of Beauty?”
    • http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/16/living/beauty-social-networks/index.html
  • Logan Hill, “Beyond Access: Race, Technology, Community” in Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Douglas Harrison, “No Body There: Notes on the Queer Migration to Cyberspace” in Journal of Popular Culture; Apr2010, Vol. 43 Issue 2, p286-308, 23p (use library databases to access)
  • Daniel Farr, “A Very Personal World: Advertisement and Identity of Trans-persons on Craigslist” in LGBT Identity and Online New Media (course reserve)
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1335
  • Case study: Chuck

November 23: Fall Break: no class meeting

November 30: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Bullying, Harassment, etc.

  • Becky Chambers, “The All-Too-Familiar Harassment Against Feminist Frequency, and What The Gaming Community Can Do About It”
    • http://www.themarysue.com/the-all-too-familiar-harassment-against-feminist-frequency-and-what-the-gaming-community-can-do-about-it/
  • Jessie Daniels, “Race, Civil Rights, and Hate Speech in the Digital Era” in Learning Race and Ethnicity (course reserves)
  • Amber Muller, “Virtual communities and translation into physical reality in the ‘It Gets Better’ project.” in Journal of Media Practice Dec2011, Vol. 12 Issue 3, p269-277, 9p (use library databases to access)
  • Adrian Chen, “Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Internet’s Biggest Troll”
    • http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web
  • Tracie Egan Morrisey, “Racist Teens Forced to Answer for Tweets About the ‘Nigger’ President”
    • http://jezebel.com/5958993/racist-teens-forced-to-answer-for-tweets-about-the-nigger-presiden
  • Case study: Trace

Monday, December 10 6pm: Project Presentations

  • meet in MobileLab
  • Feel free to bring cookies
  • Show no later than 7pm

Assignments

Twitter Reading Response Assignment

EMAC 3328: Embodied Identity in Digital Society
Reading Response Assignment
Spring 2012

Purpose

  • To help students identify areas of interest or challenge prior to class meetings.
  • To seed ideas for class discussion and the final project.
  • To facilitate the formation of community in the classroom.
  • To communicate with the emerging media community through the use of blogs, microblogs, social bookmarking, live presentations, etc.

Overview

The class has chosen to use Twitter for the reading response assignment. Students should use their public Twitter accounts to respond to weekly readings. See the image below of the class’s brainstormed list of pros and cons regarding a platform for this assignment.

Requirements

  • Three tweets per week, in response to class readings, marked with the class hashtag, #digitalsoc
  • Tweets are due by 11:59pm on Thursday evenings.
  • Tweets:
    • should span the entirety of the reading assignment
    • should include the class hashtag, #digitalsoc
    • may ask questions
    • may include quotations with contextualization
      • should include references to the author and page/paragraph numbers
    • may give examples of theories / concepts from reading
    • may be responses to classmates (within reason)
    • may RT others who are not in the class
    • may include multiple media formats
  • Tweets should not:
    • be off topic
    • violate the online etiquette for the class
    • engage in unproductive ranting, rage, praise, or criticism

Technical Specifications

  • You must use a public Twitter account. You do not have to use your real name, but you do have to communicate your account name with Kim.
  • Don’t forget the hashtag, #digitalsoc

 Grading Criteria

The Reading Response Assignment is worth 25% of your grade. The criteria for grading are:

Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement Failing
Frequency The student consistently tweets 3 reading responses per week plus RTs and @ replies. The student sometimes tweets 3 reading responses per week plus RTs and @ replies. The student tweets 3 reading responses per week, including orignal, RTs, and @ replies. The student sometimes tweets fewer than 3 reading responses per week or over-relies on RTs and @ replies. The student consistently tweets fewer than 3 reading responses per week or forgets to add the course hashtag.
Quality The tweets are consistently thoughtful, well-written, and indicate full engagement with the reading assignments. The tweets consistently indicate full engagement with the reading assignments and are generally thoughtful and well-written. The tweets indicate full engagement with the reading assignment and are more often than not well-written. Tweets may lack full engagement with the reading, or may be poorly written. Tweets are off-topic or so poorly written that they are unintelligible.

Late Work

No late work will be accepted on the reading response assignment.

Participation Assignment

EMAC 3328: Embodied Identity in Digital Society

Fall 2012
Participation Requirements

Purpose:

  • To involve students in active processes of learning.

Overview:

Forget the model of education you see in the movies where a brilliant professor lectures from a podium and students scribble away furiously in their notebooks. Research evidence overwhelmingly suggests that students learn better and retain more information when they are actively involved in the process of learning.

My classroom philosophy is that I am a coach, there to guide you through these active processes. I very seldom lecture and most of our class meetings will involve whole class discussion. And this will lead to some of the most valuable take-away from this course, in class and online. Your participation is necessary for our success. It is important that you participate in every class meeting and that you share resources between classes.


The Requirements:

  • Do the reading. Take notes. Come to class prepared to discuss key ideas, vocabulary, questions, disagreements, examples, etc.
  • Be in class. More than one absence will affect your grade, and in most cases, five or more absences will result in a failing grade.
  • Arrive on time and stay for the duration of the class session. If you arrive more than 30 minutes late, you will be marked as absent. Leaving more than 30 minutes early also counts as an absence.
  • Pay attention. Silence cell phones. Don’t send or receive texts or emails. Stay off of Facebook unless it is part of an in-class activity. Excessive distraction may be counted as an absence.
  • Share information. If you see articles or tweets relevant to the class, tweet them with the hashtag. Please note that this is in addition to the reading response tweets.
  • You can use Twitter for in-class participation but try not to over-rely on it.

Technical Specifications

  • You will need a public Twitter account so that all of your peers can see your tweets and your tweets are included in searches for the class hashtag. You do not have to use your real name in your Twitter account, but you do need to give me your Twitter handle.

Grading

Participation is worth 25% of your final grade.

The criteria for grading your work are:

Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Needs Improvement

Failing

Attendance

The student has no more than 1 absence. The student is always on-time and stays for the duration of class.

The student has no more than 1 absence and has no consistent problems with tardiness or leaving early.

The student has no more than 1 absence and is generally on time and in class for the duration.

The student may have more than one absence or frequently arrives late or leaves early.

The student has three or more absences and/or consistently arrives late or leave early.

In-class discussion

The student always contributes meaningful comments and ideas to class discussion*. The student may additionally contribute to the in-class Tweet stream.

The student consistently contributes comments and ideas to class discussion. Class discussion may be supplemented with in-class Twitter participation.

The student often contributes comments and ideas to class discussion or supplements with in-class Twitter participation.

The student rarely contributes comments and ideas to class discussion and may over-rely on Twitter in class.

The student never contributes to class discussion or in-class Twitter.

Sharing resources

In addition to the reading response tweets, the student tweets three or more times a week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag.

In addition to the reading response tweets, the student tweets a few times a week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag.

In addition to the reading response tweets, the student tweets at least once a week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag.

The student tweets less frequently than once per week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag (not including the reading response assignment)

The student never tweets information and ideas with the class hashtag (not including the reading response assignment)

 

*Note: you do not always have to fully grasp the material to make meaningful comments. You may ask questions and make a good effort to understand.

Late Work: Work associated with participation may not be completed late.

Case Study Assignment

Case Study Assignment Sheet
EMAC 3328: Embodied Identity in Digital Society
Fall 2012

Purpose:

  • To connect theoretical readings with the analysis of race, class, gender, and sexuality in digital environments.
  • To build a collection of examples and analysis to be shared with the emerging media community
  • To seed ideas for class discussion and the final project.

Overview:

Our class involves reading a lot of 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 gender theory, you might choose to do a case study on a blog that reinforces or breaks from essentialist notions of gender roles.

Requirements:

  • Write a Case Study of the media object under analysis
    • Minimum 300 words.
      • Posted to the wiki; use the “case study” template when creating a page. Put a link to the finished case study on your course participant page.
    • Cite at least one source from the course readings.
    • The case study should be divided into the following sections:
      • Description & History
        • describe the media object under examination, including any relevant links, images, videos
        • describe its genesis, rise to popularity, any relevant viewership or download statistics, etc.
        • describe any parodies, associated products, etc.
      • Audience
        • Identify the likely audience for the media object (Hint: the audience is never “everyone”)
        • Describe how the media object appeals to that audience
      • Social and Cultural Factors
        • analyze any social conditions that might have particularly influenced the creation and transmission of this object. What are the social conditions, attitudes, laws, trends, etc. that intersect to enable the circulation of this media object?
      • Resources / Further Information
        • include links to your sources, related media objects, etc.
      • Post a link to the case study on your course participant page, *and* on the alphabetical index of case studies page.
  • Presentation
    • 7 – 10 minutes
    • Clear and concise presentation of the case study object and your analysis of the object.
    • Be prepared for questions

Technical Specifications:

  • All case studies must be posted to the course wiki.

Grading Criteria:

The case study assignment is worth 10% of your course grade.

  • Case study entries in the wiki will be evaluated based on:
    • Quality of ideas:
      • Case studies should move beyond description to analysis. Try to offer the class a deeper understanding of the object under discussion. Connect the readings to the media object and answer the “so what” question.
    • Quality of writing
      • case studies should be well-written, including proper use of grammar, mechanics, and organization.
      • case studies should be written in a tone appropriate for an intellectual audience who is interested in emerging media
    • Wiki format
      • The case study should fully utilize the digital wiki format with links, a table of contents, tags/categories, etc.
      • When applicable, case studies should contain embedded images, videos, links, etc.
  • The following will detract from your grade:
    • Failure to meet minimum length requirements
    • Failure to properly format the case study or link to it from your profile page
    • Failure to present the case study to the class.
    • Evidence of a lack of preparation for the presentation, including time management.

Late work:

Work associated with the case study assignment will not be accepted late.

Timeline and Due Dates:

  • Ongoing. See EMAC 3328 F12 Schedule
  • Wiki articles are due before class on the day that you are scheduled to present.

Final Project

Final Project
EMAC 3328: The Digital Society
Fall 2012

Purpose:

  • To demonstrate familiarity with course theories of race, class, gender, and/or sexuality.
  • To utilize the tools of emerging media to communicate ideas.
  • To apply theories to production of a media object in order to challenge dominant paradigms for a specific audience.

Background:

By the end of the semester, we will have been on a whirlwind tour of different social theories and their applications to emerging media. The final project is your opportunity to focus the lens of inquiry and produce something socially meaningful from the class.

This may be a blog, an application, a video, a photo essay, or any other media object that is informed by the theories of the class. The intent of the media object should be to challenge dominant paradigms through education, awareness, re-framing of norms, etc. The audience for the media object should be well-defined and the media object should use rhetorical strategies and digital affordances appropriate to the audience. Do not be afraid to try new tools or to experiment and possibly fail.

In terms of substance, consider that a 5 – 7 page research paper takes approximately 25 – 35 hours to produce, including the stages of brainstorming, research, writing, and revision. Keep this hours-based guideline in mind when determining the scope and output of your project.

The Specs:

  • Project Proposal
    • 350 words due no later than November 9, before class, posted to the wiki on your course participant page.
      • This is later than I would like but the trade-off is that you get to read more of the course material before defining your project.
    • Include
      • project goals
      • intended audience
      • description of proposed media object
      • how the media object connects to the project goals and intended audience
      • working bibliography of sources that will inform or be cited in your project
    • Be specific. Include as much detail as possible.
    • Kim will provide feedback on the proposal and approve the proposed media object.
  • Media Object
    • Be bold and interesting! The goal is to create a digital intervention in terms of our course topics.
    • This should entail 25 – 35 hours of work to produce, including the proposal stage.
    • Due December 10, including
      • 5 minute presentation
      • Reflection paper
  • Description and Reflection Paper
    • 700 – 1000 words due in class December 7 (post it to the wiki on your course participant page)
    • Connect the product and process to course readings
    • Consider what you learned from the success or failure of the project
    • Address the wider implications of your project. In other words, answer the question “So what?”

Technical Details:

  • All work should be posted to the course wiki on your course participant page.
  • If students need equipment to capture images, video, or sounds, we may have this available through EMAC. Contact the EMAC MobileLab RA (Karla Muñoz: twitter: @yenelie) to reserve EMAC equipment. The UTD Library will also loan equipment.
  • Be sure to allow plenty of time during the production process and before the final due date for technical difficulties.

Grading

The Final project is worth 40% of your final grade.  You will be graded on the following criteria:

Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement Failing
Creating an intervention The media object explicitly challenges dominant paradigms and offers alternative visions. The media object implicitly challenges dominant paradigms and may offer alternative visions. The media object educates or raises awareness about dominant paradigms. The media object lacks focus or waivers in its purpose. The media object makes not attempt to create an intervention or is off-topic.
Form of the media object The media object is daring or challenging on the formal level. The form enhances project goals and is designed to appeal to and motivate the intended audience. The media object is well-composed and facilitates project goals on the formal level. For the most part the design appeals to the intended audience. The form of the media object supports effective communication of project goals and indicates an awareness of the audience. The media object may be unclear, disconnected from the project goals, or exhibit confusion about the audience. The media object fails to communicate, is off-topic, works counter to project goals, or ignores the audience.
Reflection The reflection paper fluidly connects the course theories with the production of the media object and answers the question “so what?” The reflection paper connects course theories with the production of the media object, though it may occasionally falter. There is a consistent engagement with the wider implications. The reflection paper clearly describes the process and product of the media object and indicates an awareness of the wider implications. The paper may have an accumulation of formal or organizational errors that impede understanding or may ignore description or theorization. The paper is off-topic or incomprehensible.

Things that will detract from your grade:

  • Failure to meet minimum length requirements, etc.
  • Late materials, including the proposal.
  • Failure to present your project, in the time allotted, to your peers.

A Word About Late Work

  • Proposal: Late proposals will result in a loss of 1/3 of a grade on the final project.
  • Final Project: Final projects will be marked down one letter grade for each day (or fraction thereof) that they are late

Timeline and Due Dates

  • November 9: Proposal due in course wiki on your course participant page before class starts.
  • December 10: Final project to be presented in its final form to the class. Reflection paper to be added to the course wiki (via upload or copy and paste) before class starts.

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