About the Course Calendar

Texts are to be read/watched/listened to for day they are listed. For example, Davis is to be read for Monday, September 10. Homework in addition to texts will be presented in yellow. The schedule is subject to change; it is your responsibility to check it regularly.

Week One: Introductions

M 8/27: Introductions, Syllabus

Assignment for Wednesday, 8/28
Please read through the syllabus and come to class with any questions you have.

W 8/29: Learning Communities and Getting to Know Each Other

Assignment for Friday, 8/31
If you had to make a digital Awareness Campaign designed to affect real life change, how would you go about it? What mediums and modes would you use? How often would you use them? How would you distribute it? How would you make people aware of it? How would you make it so people would care?

Please come to class with some ideas. You don’t have to have anything formal; just some notes jotted down. I’m not going to be collecting anything; we’ll use these ideas to generate small group and large class discussion.

If you know of anyone who (or any organization that) is doing this kind of work, you might have their web site or Instagram or Twitter or FB page handy, as well, as an example to share with the class.

F 8/31: How do we use media to create change?
Hand out Reading Response Assignment

Week Two: Transmedia Storytelling

M 9/3: Class Canceled — Labor Day

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/5
Please read through the Reading Response Assignment. By the end of the day on Friday, you should have received an invitation to a GoogleDoc where you will submit each of your 11 Reading Responses. Email me any questions you have about the assignment and/or if you didn’t get your invitation.

Please read Phillips on transmedia storytelling, and read and watch the videos in “The First Time I Realized I was Black” and “25 Influential American Muslims” (you do not need to watch all the videos; a significant selection is fine). See the Readings page for links.

For Wednesday, we have two kinds of texts–a theory-based text (Phillips) and two primary source texts (the CNN stories). When we read these two kinds of texts, we often try to use the theory to help us understand the primary texts. For your first Reading Response, I’d like you to unpack what Phillips means by “transmedia storytelling” in great detail and then consider if the two CNN stories contain characteristics of transmedia storytelling. If they do, what are those characteristics? And what characteristics are missing (discuss this even if you find characteristics present). And, as with all reading responses, discuss how the texts challenged you as a reader and list 3 questions informed by the readings. See the Reading Response Assignment on effective and ineffective response questions.

W 9/5: Phillips; “The First Time I Realized I Was Black”; “25 Influential Muslims”; notes-for-transmedia-storytelling.docx
Reading Response #1 Due
F 9/7: Phillips; “The First Time I Realized I Was Black”; “25 Influential Muslims”
Hand out Story of Learning Assignment

Week Three: Storytelling and Social Movements

Assignment for Monday, 9/10
Please read the articles by Davis (2002) and Fine (2002) on narrative, storytelling, and social movements. In your Reading Response, pull out of each reading 1 passage that you think is significant and discuss why. And, as with all reading responses, discuss how the texts challenged you as a reader (and viewer) and list 3 questions informed by the readings.

Please also read through the Story of Learning Assignment and come to class with questions you have.

M 9/10: Davis; Fine; notes-for-narrative-davis-fine.docx
Reading Response #2 Due
W 9/12: Davis; Fine

Assignment for Friday, 9/14
Please read Fosl (2008) on the role of personal narratives in building social movements. For Reading Response 3, I’d like you to think about what David and Fine write about the social and rhetorical nature of narratives and Fosl’s discussion of narratives as political acts that empower. As you think about these issues, try to connect them to social movements with which you are familiar. And, as with all reading responses, discuss how the texts challenged you as a reader (and viewer) and list 3 questions informed by the readings.

Your first Story of Learning Weekly Update is due by 5:00pm on Friday and Part 1. My Story Up Till This Moment due by 11:00pm.

F 9/14: Davis; Fine; Fosl; Fannie Lou Hammer DNC (some video of her testimony); Fannie Lou Hammer Harlem Audio and Transcript; notes-for-narrative-hammer.docx
Reading Response #3 Due
Part 1 of My Story of Learning due by 11:00pm

Week Four: Power of Stories

Assignment for Monday, 9/17
The stories for this week are going to be about Black Lives Matter (Monday), poverty and drug addiction (Wednesday), and the #metoo and #notokay hashtag movements (Friday). That is, the readings are going to be about difficult, often traumatizing subject-matter, sometimes overtly so. There is no getting around this; stories are powerful because of their honesty and, sometimes, their rawness. The content may make you angry, heartbroken, emotional, enraged—it makes me each of these no matter how many times I read it. It is okay to step away from it for a while and focus on something else. Indeed, self care is of paramount importance (in all you do, not just with these readings, but in all aspects of your life). But they also bring me hope, for reasons we’ll no doubt discuss.

For Monday, please read Khan-Cullors and Bandele (2017) and Stephen (2015), in that order. For your Reading Response, I’d like you to think about their discussions in terms of Fosl’s discussion of personal narrative. And, as with all reading responses, discuss how the texts challenged you as a reader (and viewer) and list 3 questions informed by the readings.

M 9/17: Khan-Cullors and Bandele (2017); Stephen (2015); notes-for-narrative-blm.docx; notes-for-narrative-blm-sec2.docx
Reading Response #4 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/19
Please read the “How to Tell Powerful Narratives on Instagram” by Shea and look at Martin Shoeller’s Instagram account, specifically at his series of photographs with homeless men and women in California. You can find that series by scrolling down a bit until you see these posts:

The series begins with the gentlemen in the middle with the blue eyes and mustache and continues for dozens of photographs as you scroll down. Please read the captions, as they contain interviews with the individuals pictured.

There is no reading response, but please come to class ready to discuss Shea, Schoeller, and the ideas on storytelling we’ve been thinking about.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 9/19: Shea; Schoeller on Instagram; notes-for-instagram-shea-schoeller.docx
Reading Response #5 Due

Assignment for Friday, 9/21
Please read Oxford (2018) and Zacharek, Dockterman, & Edwards (2017) on the #notokay and #metoo hashtags and movements. Please note that the readings include direct quotes and summaries of the tweets shared in those movements, often including details of sexual assault. They also include graphic quotes from Donald Trump. Zacharek, Dockterman, & Edwards is somewhat lengthy, so give yourself some time.

Please complete your Reading Response. There is no prompt this time. I notice many of the responses recently have not included the Reflection section. Please make sure you complete that, as well.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

F 9/21: Oxford; Zacharek, Dockterman, & Edwards; notes-for-oxford-time.docx
Reading Response #6 Due

Week Five: The Collaborative Transmedia Project

Assignment for Monday, 9/24
There is no reading for Monday. However, your Story of Learning Weekly Update is due Friday, 9/21 by 5:00pm.

In class we talked about context and I’d like you to start thinking about the context of the SJU campus. What issues or concerns are important to the conversations taking place at SJU right now? Who are the people who are having those conversations and who should also be having them? Where are those conversations taking place and where would you like to see them taking place. What conversations would you like to see happening that are not and who would you like to see having them?

You can write these ideas down in your Reading Response document or you can just keep them in your head. Whichever you prefer. We’ll start talking about them in class on Monday.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 9/24: Breaking down and planning the project (Considering the Subject of the Project)
Hand out Semester-Long Collaborative Transmedia Project
Reading Response #7 Due
W 9/26: Breaking down and planning the project (Finalizing the Subject & Considering the Participants); Project Topics
F 9/28: Breaking down and planning the project (What else do we need and need to learn more about?)
Hand out Depth of Field Assignment

Week Six: Interviewing and Listening

Assignment for Monday, 10/1
Please read the articles by Portelli (1998) and Sangster (1994) on the subject of oral history. Complete a Reading Response in which you consider these readings in relation to our readings on narrative. In part of your response, I’d like you to discuss the question of credibility that Portelli raises at the top of page 37, again in relation to the other articles we have read this semester. Don’t forgot to complete the Reflection portion of the Reading Response.

Also, don’t forget to complete your Story of Learning weekly update.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 10/1: Oral history intro Portelli; Sangster; notes-for-sangster-portelli.docx
Reading Response #8 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 10/3
Please read Terkel (1998) and Anderson and Jack (1998) on interviewing and listening. Though there is no reading response, please come to class with a list of 10 oral history-based interviewing and listening tips based on the readings. Imagine you are providing the list to people who are just learning about the oral history interviewing and listening practices.

W 10/3: Studs Terkel with Tony Parker; Anderson and Jack on Listening
Reading Response #9 Due

Assignment for Friday, 10/5
Please watch at least the first 35 minutes of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts:

As you are watching, please think about Sangster’s assertion that “Cultural values shape our very ordering and prioritizing of events, indeed our notions of what is myth, history, fact or fiction” (p. 8), Portelli’s discussion of “psychological truth” as well as our readings on listening and interviewing.

F 10/5: Spike Lee; thinking about talking with our project narrators

Week Seven: Special Guests & Aesthetics (subject to change)

Assignment for Monday, 10/8
Please read the following articles, which are directly related to your course project topic:

• 10:10 class on Othering: powell and Menendian (n.d.), “The Problem of Othering” (read parts 1 and 2); Bauer-Wolf (2017), “All By Myself” (2017)
• 1:25 class on Mental Health: Simon (2017) “More and more students need mental health services“; Reilly (2018), “Record Numbers of College Students Are Seeking Treatment for Depression and Anxiety — But Schools Can’t Keep Up“

Don’t forget to complete your Story of Learning weekly update.

M 10/8: Talking about our topics
W 10/10: Preparing for our Guests
TH 10/11: 11:00am in the Forum Theater, video conference with Jacque Smith and Tawanda Scott Sambou
F 10/12: Reflecting on the Guests

Week Eight: Portrait and Video Planning (subject to change)

M 10/15: Fall Break — Class Canceled
W 10/17: Reading on Portraits
Reading Response #10 Due
Depth of Field (Portraits) Due
F 10/19: Nerdwriter1 on video
Reading Response #11 Due
Depth of Field (Video) Due
Midterm Story of Learning Due by 11:00pm

Week Nine: Midterm Conferences

M 10/22: Class Canceled for Conferences
W 10/24: Class Canceled for Conferences
F 10/26: Class Canceled for Conferences

Week Ten: Project Planning

M 10/29: TBD
W 10/31: TBD
F 11/2: TBD

Week Eleven: Planning and Testing

M 11/5: Interviewing and Storytelling; NURSE statements (.pdf)

Assignment for Wednesday, 11/7
Remember that class is not meeting on Wednesday and Friday this week while students are having their studio training. You can sign up (if you have yet to) and/or see your time by going to the signup sheet. Training sessions are during Wed, Thursday, Friday this week.

As you are starting to prepare for the interviews, please consider these tips that we discussed as a class:

• Research the topic ahead of time to be aware of what language to use.
• Form a relationship with the subject before you turn the cameras on. Let them feel comfortable with you.
• Let the interview be a collaborative effort with both you and your subject.
• If they feel comfortable, let them take control of the narrative. You don’t have to consistently try to direct the interview with questions.
• Don’t keep pushing at a subject that the interviewee seems uncomfortable talking about.

I’d also like you to read the following blog posts composed by students in a prior semester of Beautiful Social, who were thinking about how to interview people about sensitive and potentially emotional subject matter:

• Behind Ubuntu: Community Healing
• Conducting Interviews: Navigating Sensitive Topics

For Monday, 11/12, I’d like you to conduct research into the topic area that informs why your interviewee is feeling a lack of belonging. For example, if your subject has a mental illness, research mental illness on college campuses. If your interviewee has been bullied, research bullying in schools and college campuses. With your group, create a GoogleDoc in which you compose 500 words of background research, including links to resources.

I’d like you to begin having conversations about the interview with your interviewee, as well, where you discuss what will be discussed, how they would like things to be discussed, which language to use, etc. While having this discussion, use the NURSE statements (.pdf) that we discussed in class. Please take notes on that in your group GoggleDoc.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 11/7: Class Canceled for Studio Training
F 11/9: Class Canceled for Studio Training

Week Twelve: Studio Sessions / Begin Releasing Teasers

M 11/12: Meet in Classroom (unless you are scheduled in studio)
W 11/14: Meet in Classroom (unless you are scheduled in studio)
F 11/16: Meet in Classroom (unless you are scheduled in studio)

Week Thirteen: Studio Sessions / Continue Teasers

M 11/19: Meet in Classroom (unless you are scheduled in studio)
W 11/21: No Class — Thanksgiving
F 11/22: No Class — Thanksgiving

Week Fourteen: Work on Projects / Continue Teasers

M 11/26: TBD
T 11/28: TBD
Project Rough Draft Due by 11:00pm
F 11/30: TBD

Week Fifteen: Continue Teasers / Project Release

M 12/3: TBD
W 12/5: Final Video Discussion
Final videos uploaded to Youtube and posted to web site by 11:00pm
TH 12/6: Release the Project 11:00am
F 12/6: Checking out the status of the project
Final Project Reflections

Week Sixteen: Reflecting

M 12/10: Final Class Meeting
Final Project Reflections Due by 11:00pm

T 12/11: Pizza and Puppies event, Perch, 12:00 – 2:00

Wednesday, 12/12: Final Story of Learning due by 11:00pm