Last offered in Fall 2012.

Syllabus

EMAC 6381: 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. 86053
Meets: M 7pm – 9:45pm
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:

• Drop In (no appointment necessary) : Monday 5:30pm – 6:30pm.
• Schedule appointments via https://www.timetrade.com/book/5JYFH

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-representation 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 6381, 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.
• Utilize existing research on emerging media in their own work.

Required Textbooks and Materials

• Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Volume I. ISBN: 0679724699
• Freedman, Estelle B. The Essential Feminist Reader. ISBN: 0812974603
• Levine, Rhonda, ed. Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates. 2^nd edition. ISBN: 0742546322
• Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. 2^nd edition. ISBN: 0415908647
• Nakamura, Lisa and Peter A. Chow White, eds. Race After the Internet. ISBN: 0415802369
• Nelson, Alondra, Thuy Linh N. Tu and Alicia Headlam Hines, eds. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. ISBN: 0814736041

Various chapters and essays, available online or through course reserve. The username for protected downloads on kimknight.com is “digitalsoc” and the password is “identity”. Readings hosted on UTD course reserve can be found at http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1334 and the password is “”.

You will also need the following: a UTD email account (that you check frequently), a Twitter account, a wordpress blog, a PBWiki 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, four 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 Student AccessAbility 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 or posted during class session will be considered late.

• Reading Response Assignment: Work associated with the response 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, bibliographies, and other preliminary components 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, 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.

Response Assignment – 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.

 

Schedule of Readings

August 27: Introduction

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

September 3: Labor Day Holiday

September 10: Bias and Privilege

• Reading
  • Mark Wilson “A Map of Your City’s Invisible Neighborhoods”
    • http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669554/a-map-of-your-city-s-invisible-neighborhoods-according-to-foursquare?partner=homepage_newsletter
  • 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
  • damali ayo, “You Can Fix Racism”
    • http://youcanfixracism.com/downloads/FixRacismGuide.pdf
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates, “White Privilege”
    • http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2012/04/white-privilege/256478/
  • 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/
  • Channing Kennedy, “Life’s Lowest Difficulty Setting: John Scalzi Explains Privilege to Nerds” (Interview with John Scalzi)
    • http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/john_scalzi_straight_white_male.html
• Case Study
  • Timothy
• Blog post due before class: A Bloggers

Friday, September 14

• Blog responses, B and C Bloggers

September 17: Gender Theory

• Reading
  
  • Essential Feminist Reader (all selections are excerpts from larger works)
    • Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex (251 – 262)
    • Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (269 – 282)
    • Pat Mainardi, “The Politics of Housework” (288 – 294)
    • Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (311 – 317)
    • Kathleen Hanna / Bikini Kill “Riot Grrrl Manifesto” (391-393)
    • 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=1334
• Case Study
  • Lesley
  • Karla
• Blog post due before class: B Bloggers

Friday, September 21

• Blog responses, A and C Bloggers

September 24: Race Theory

• Reading
  • Omi & Winant, Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s
• Case Study
  • Rashundra
• Blog post due before class: C Bloggers

Friday, September 28

• Blog responses, A and B Bloggers

October 1: Class Theory

• Reading  
  • Social Class and Stratification
    • Intro, Part I, II
  • 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
• Case Study
  • Alan
• Blog post due before class: A Bloggers

Friday, October 5

• Blog responses, B and C Bloggers

October 8: Sexuality Theory

• Reading
  • Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume I
• Case Study
  • Janet
  • Hanh
• Blog post due before class: B Bloggers

Friday, October 12

• Blog responses, A and C Bloggers

October 15: Intersectionality

• Last day for office hour visits for participation credit
• Reading
  
  • Essential Feminist Reader (all excerpts from longer works)
    • Adrienne Rich, Notes Towards a Politics of Location (367-384)
    • Gloria Anzaldua, “La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Toward a New Consciousness” (385 – 390)
    • Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (325 – 330)
  • Crunk Feminist Collective “Slutwalks vs. Ho Strolls”
    • http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/slutwalks-v-ho-strolls/
  • Social Class and Stratification
    • Heidi Hartmann, “Capitalism, Patriarchy, and the Subordination of Women”
    • Maxine Baca-Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill, “Theorizing Difference From Multiracial Feminism”
    • William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race: From Racial Oppression to Economic Class Subordination”
    • Patricia Hill Collins, “Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis”
  • Kenyon Farrow, “Is Gay Marriage Anti-Black?”
    • http://kenyonfarrow.com/2005/06/14/is-gay-marriage-anti-black/
  • Darren Rosenblum, “Queer Intersectionality and the Failure of Recent Lesbian and Gay “Victories””
    • http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209&context=lawfaculty
• Case Study
  • Courtney
• Blog post due before class: C Bloggers

Tuesday, October 16: Ada Lovelace Day 2012

• http://findingada.com/

Friday, October 19

• Blog responses, A and B Bloggers

October 22: Marginalized Histories

• Reading
  
  • 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
  • Information Pioneers, “Ada Lovelace” (video)
    • http://vimeo.com/11923950
  • 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
  • Technicolor: Race, Technology and Everyday Life
    • Amitava Kumar, “Temporary Access: The Indian H1-B Worker in the United States”
    • Karen J. Hossfeld, “Their Logic Against Them”: Contradictions in Sex, Race, and Class in Silicon Valley”
  • Ira Flatow interviews David Leavitt, “Alan Turing Turns 100” (listen to audio or read transcript)
    • http://www.npr.org/2012/06/29/155992718/npr-alan-turing-turns-100
  • 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
  • Rayvon Fouche, “From Black Inventors to One Laptop Per Child: Exporting a Racial Politics of Technology” in Race After the Internet
• Case Study
  • Sarah
• Blog post due before class: A Bloggers

Friday, October 26

• Blog responses, B and C Bloggers

October 29: Activists, Programmers, Hackers, Entrepreneurs, and Cyborgs

• Reading
  • 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
  • Doug Gross, “In Tech, Some Bemoan the Rise of Brogrammer Culture”
    • http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/07/tech/web/brogrammers/index.html
  • Emily Manuel, “Electro-feminisms: I’m in Love with a Strict Machine”
    • http://bitchmagazine.org/post/electro-feminisms-im-in-love-with-a-strict-machine
  • Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life
    • Ben Chappell, “Take a Little Trip with Me”: Lowriding and the Poetics of Scale”
    • Andrew Ross and Maclean Mashingaidze Greaves, “Net-working: The Online Cultural Entrepeneur”
    • Alondra Nelson and Thuy Linh N. Tu Interview Vivek Bald, “Appropriating Technology”
  • Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, “Race and/as Technology, or How to Do Things to Race” in Race After the Internet
  • 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=1334
• Case Study
  • Max
  • Ian Ward
• Blog post due before class: B Bloggers

Friday, November 2

• Blog responses, A and C Bloggers

November 5: Gaps, Erasures, and Divides

• Case Study
  • 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
    • Jezebel’s servers are down due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy. Here is the google cache version of the page.
  • Best Buy 2012 Super Bowl commercial
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyCDzLebBpc
  • Nielsen Spring 2012 State of the Media, Part 2: By Demographic
    • http://nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2012-Reports/nielsen-advertising-audiences-report-spring-2012.pdf
  • Race After the Internet
    • >Hargittai, Eszter, “Open Doors, Closed Spaces? Differentiated Adoption of Social Network Sites by User Background”
    • Tara McPherson, “U.S. Operating Systems at Mid-Century: The Intertwining of Race and UNIX”
    • Oscar H. Gandy, Jr. “Matrix Multiplication and the Digital Divide”
  • Farhad Manjoo, “How Black People Use Twitter”
    • http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2010/08/how_black_people_use_twitter.html
  • Sam Sanders “How Black People May or May Not Use Twitter”
    • http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/08/16/129235517/how-black-people-may-or-may-not-use-twitter
• Case study
  • Aline
• Blog post due before class: C Bloggers

Friday, November 9

• Blog responses, A and B Bloggers

November 12: Connecting

• Reading
  • Sandvig, Christian. “Connection at Ewiiaapaayp Mountain: Indigenous Internet Infrastructure” in Race After the Internet
  • 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
  • Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life
    • Logan Hill, “Beyond Access: Race, Technology, Community”
    • Guillermo Gomez-Pena, “The Virtual Barrio @ The Other Frontier: (or The Chicano Interneta)”
  • 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)
  • Elisabeth Jay Friedman, “Lesbians in (cyber)space: the politics of the internet in Latin American on- and off-line communities” in Media, Culture & Society; Sep2007, Vol. 29 Issue 5, p790-811, 22p (use library databases to access)
    • if you have problems with the Sage Publications database, try a different browser. I couldn’t get the .pdf to load in Firefox, but it worked in Safari.
  • 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=1334
      
• Case Study
  • James
• Blog post due before class: A Bloggers

Friday, November 16

• Blog responses, B and C Bloggers

November 19: Fall Break: no class meeting

November 26: Representations

• Reading
  • Michele White, “The Body, The Screen, and Representation: An Introduction to Theories of Internet Spectatorship” and “Making Internet and Computer Spectators” in The Body and The Screen: Theories of Internet Spectatorship (course reserves)
    • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1334
  • Aymar Jean Christiansen, “10 Diverse Web Shows to Solve HBOs Girls Problem”
    • http://www.racialicious.com/2012/05/08/10-diverse-web-shows-to-solve-hbos-girls-problem
  • Austin Considine, “For Asian Stars, Many Web Fans”
    • http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/fashion/for-asian-stars-many-web-fans.html?_r=2
  • Web series watching
    • If you’ve never seen them, watch:
      • The Guild, Season 1 episodes 1 & 2
        • http://www.watchtheguild.com/
      • The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Season 1, episodes 1 & 2
        • http://awkwardblackgirl.com
        • NSFW language
    • If you have seen both of the above (or you have another 20 minutes to spare), watch:
      • “Ylse,” Season 1 Episode 1 “What’s in a name?”
        • http://www.ylse.net/2010/05/whats-in-a-name/
      • Strikedottv, “The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else”, Season 1, Episode 1
        • http://youtu.be/6rwuz0jLc98
        • some NSFW language
      • “BJ Fletcher, Private Eye,” Episode 1
      • https://vimeo.com/17277391
• Case Study
  • Deepti
• Blog post due before class: B Bloggers

Friday, November 30

• Blog responses, A and C Bloggers

December 3: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Bullying, Harassment, etc.

• • Reading
    • 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)
      • http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1334
    • Lisa Nakamura, “TEDxUIllinois – Dr. Lisa Nakamura – 5 Types of Online Racism and Why You Should Care”
      • http://youtu.be/DT-G0FlOo7g
    • Kiera A. Manison, “Social Media Revealing Present-day Racism toward African Americans”
      • http://www.blackweb20.com/2012/04/03/social-media-revealing-present-day-racism-toward-african-americans
    • 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)
    • Chen, Adrian. “Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez: The Biggest Troll on the Web”
      • http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web
• Case Study
  • Jonathan
• Blog post due before class: C Bloggers

Friday, December 7

• Blog responses, A and B Bloggers

December 10: Project Presentations, 6pm

• combined meeting with the undergraduate class (who requested a potluck)

Assignments

Blog / Reading Response Assignment

EMAC 6381: Embodied Identity in Digital Society

Reading Response Assignment

Spring 2012

Purpose

• To help students identity 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

Each student will keep a public scholarly blog that will provide the means of working through some of the more complex issues in the class. Students may respond directly to the ideas in the course material or they may apply concepts from the class to analyze an event, website, media object, etc. Either way, each student should incorporate at least two ideas or concepts from the week’s material into his or her blog entry. Students are encouraged to incorporate relevant material from previous weeks, other classes, and outside experience, in addition to the material for the current week.

Keep in mind that this is a scholarly research blog. Though a certain informality in tone is permissible, even desirable, student writing should be well-written, coherently organized, and thought-provoking.

Rather than writing into the void each week, students will be placed into groups of three who will alternate writing and responding. See below for more information.

Requirements

• Original Blog Posts
  • Minimum 500 words
  • Take advantage of digital qualities of a blog
    • links, images, videos, sound, block quotes
  • categories and tags
  • Name the blog something interesting
  • due on the day of the class meeting
  • address class reading
  • cite or corroborate when necessary
• Responding
  • 200 word minimum
  • if your blogger is late or does not post, choose someone else and respond to them
  • due Friday at 11:59 pm
  • address the original post, expand, engage with the ideas
• Be conscientious and include trigger warnings when applicable

Technical Specifications

• Use WordPress as your blogging platform – either self-hosted or use the free hosting on http://wordpress.com
• Allow time for technical difficulties

Grading Criteria

The blog assignment is worth 25% of your course grade.

• Original Posts will be graded based on:
  • Quality of writing
    • posts should be well-written, including proper use of grammar, mechanics, and organization.
    • posts should be written in a tone appropriate for an intellectual audience who is interested in issues in the field of emerging media.
  • Quality of ideas:
    • Posts should be interesting to read. Do not merely summarize course material. Instead, analyze it, relate it to outside material, or address the wider implications (the “so what”) of the material.
      • Focus on what you found important or important, and why; or what you found problematic, and why.  Use specific examples. Be daring!
  •  Blog format
    • The blog should fully utilize the digital blog format with a links section, tags/categories, etc.
    • When applicable, posts should contain embedded images, videos, links, etc.
• Responses will be graded based on:
  • Quality of writing
    • responses should be well-written, including proper use of grammar, mechanics, and organization.
  • Quality of engagement
    • responses should engages with and extend the content of the original post.
      • Do not simplistically agree or offer empty praise.
  • Blog format
    • When applicable, responses should contain embedded images, videos, links, etc.
• Please note that original posts and responses are considered with equal weight in determining the assignment grade. The emphasis here is on interaction and the building of discourse communities. In other words, if you skip a response week, it has as much impact as if you skipped an original post.
• The following will detract from your grade:
  • Failure to meet minimum length requirements
  • Going off-topic
  • Using something other than wordpress
    • self-hosted or free hosting at wordpress.com

Though I will read the blog posts every week, and even periodically respond to them, I will not grade them each week. If you want to know how you are doing, see me during office hours.

Sample Blog

If you would like to see a sample of an excellent blog, see Olumide Eseyin’s blog from EMAC 6372 in Spring 2012. Olu’s original posts are consistently thought-provoking and well-written. In addition, the discussion between him and his commenters shows that all three of them are really engaged in the topics.

Late Work

No late work will be accepted for the blogging assignment.

Participation Assignment

EMAC 6381: 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.
• You can use Twitter for in-class participation but try not to over-rely on it.
• Visit office hours (either drop-in or make an appointment) at least once by October 15, 2012.

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	The student tweets five or more times a week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag.	The student tweets a few times a week outside of class with information and ideas marked with the class hashtag.	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.	The student never tweets information and ideas with the class hashtag.

*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.