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 9. 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 8/26: Introductions, Syllabus
Assignment for Wednesday, 8/28
Please read through the course web site and come to class with any questions you have.
W 8/28: 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 8/30: How do we use media to create change?
Hand out Reading Response Assignment
Week Two: Transmedia Storytelling
M 9/2: Class Canceled — Labor Day
Assignment for Wednesday, 9/4
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 6 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 9/4: Phillips; “The First Time I Realized I Was Black”; “25 Influential Muslims”; notes-for-transmedia-storytelling.docx
Reading Response #1 Due
Assignment for Friday, 9/6
Please explore the Start Talking SJU project in depth, which includes the main landing page and web sites for both Mental Health and Belonging (note: Belonging is missing the introductory text, which disappeared when WordPress auto-updated; I’m trying to locate what was written). Be sure to watch multiple video and explore each of the social media spaces linked off the site.Think about how “The First Time I Realized I Was Black” and “25 Influential Muslims” could have served as an inspiration for Start Talking SJU and how Start Talking differs or buildings on what the other two did. We’ll discuss each of the sites in detail in class.
F 9/6 Phillips; “The First Time I Realized I Was Black”; “25 Influential Muslims”; Start Talking SJU
Hand out Story of Learning Assignment
Week Three: Storytelling and Social Movements
Assignment for Monday, 9/9
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 9/9: Davis; Fine; notes-for-narrative-davis-fine.docx
Reading Response #2 Due
W 9/11: Davis; Fine
Assignment for Friday, 9/13
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 Davis 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 9/13: Davis; Fine; Fosl; Fannie Lou Hamer DNC (some video of her testimony); Fannie Lou Hamer 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, 9/16
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 9/16: Khan-Cullors and Bandele (2017); Stephen (2015); notes-for-narrative-blm.docx
Reading Response #4 Due
Assignment for Wednesday, 9/18
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 will need to scroll down to the Sycamore and Romaine posts at July 11, 2018. 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 9/18: Shea; Schoeller on Instagram; notes-for-instagram-shea-schoeller.docx
Assignment for Friday, 9/20
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. As with the other readings, if you need to stop and put this aside, please do.Please complete your Reading Response. There is no prompt this time. I noticed many of the responses recently have not included the Reflection section. Please make sure you complete that, as well. If the subject-matter results in you not being able to complete the reading response, you can make it up by writing about the readings we discussed on Wednesday. Please just email me letting me know.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
F 9/20: Oxford; Zacharek, Dockterman, & Edwards; notes-for-oxford-time.docx
Reading Response #5 Due
Week Five: The Collaborative Transmedia Project
Assignment for Monday, 9/23
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 9/23: Breaking down and planning the project (Considering the Subject of the Project)
Hand out Transmedia Awareness Campaign Project
W 9/25: Breaking down and planning the project (Finalizing the Subject & Considering the Participants); Project Topics
F 9/27: Breaking down and planning the project (What else do we need and need to learn more about?); depth of field
Hand out Depth of Field Assignment and Subtitles and Closed Captions Assignment
Week Six: Interviewing and Listening
Assignment for Monday, 9/30
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 9/30: Oral history intro Portelli; Sangster; notes-for-sangster-portelli.docx
Reading Response #6 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 10/2: Studs Terkel with Tony Parker; Anderson and Jack on Listening
Assignment for Friday, 10/5
For Friday, we are going to look closely at the videos students created for the Mental Health and Belonging portions of Start Talking SJU. Specifically, I’d like you to choose 2 or 3 videos to focus on and watch them carefully. I’d like you to brainstorm the kinds of questions that the interviewer would have asked the narrator and try to envision what the interview experience must have been like.I’d also like you to go to the Start Talking SJU Instagram page and look for consistencies and inconsistencies in the presentation of the videos. Try to locate as many as you can. The goal here is not to criticize, but to learn from past experiences so we can improve upon it as we move forward.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
F 10/4: Start Talking SJU; thinking about talking with our project narrators; preparing for guests
Hand out Subtitles and Captions Assignment
Week Seven: Special Guests & Readings on our Chosen Subject
Assignment for Monday, 10/7
Please read Perry (2010), “‘No biggie’: The denial of oppression on campus,” and the three articles in The Hawk one two by Ana Faguy on racist incidents on campus last semester and one by Sabrina Chen (note this was added just after I sent my email to the class).As you read the articles, I’d like you to think about what we have discussed in terms of our empowerment narratives. I’d also like you to consider how Perry’s, Faguy’s, and Chen’s articles are connected. Do we see overlaps in experiences expressed? And then, how might we be able to address those challenges in our own project.
Don’t forget to complete your Story of Learning weekly update.
M 10/7: Talking about our topics & preparing for our guests
W 10/9: Guests visit class
Assignment for Friday, 10/11
I’d like you to spend some time thinking about Madison’s and Kaitlyn’s visit to class and make a list of 3 – 5 things you took away from what they said, as well as further questions you have based on what they said. Please bring them to class with you.Following up on readings about our chosen subject-area, I’d like you to read two short pieces on sexism on university campuses: Edell’s “Here’s What Sexism in Higher Ed Looks Like – And Why It’s a Problem” and Hardy’s (2018) “#MeTooPhD reveals shocking examples of academic sexism.” As we discussed toward the end of the class on Monday about broadening our understanding of our semester subject with regards to racism on college campuses, I’d like you to think about how these readings similarly do the same with regards to sexism. These article focus on faculty, administrators, and graduate students. Please come to class prepared to talk about the articles.
As with all our readings, if you are not able to finish them because of the subject-matter, please feel comfortable not finishing them.
Story of Learning Weekly Updates are due by 5:00pm Friday.
F 10/11: Reflecting on the Guest Visit; more subject-matter readings
Week Eight: Depth of Field / Camera Work
M 10/14: Fall Break — Class Canceled
W 10/16: Discuss portraits and backdrop colors
Depth of Field (Portraits) Due
F 10/18: Discuss videos and camera settings
Depth of Field (Video) Due
Week Nine: Closed Captions
M 10/21: Discuss subtitles and captions work
Subtitles and Closed Captions Assignment Due
W 10/23: Discuss the project; Come up with name and tagline: Discuss Call for Stories Class Canceled for Studio Training
F 10/25: Discuss the project; Discuss consent doc and other items Class Canceled for Studio Training
Sunday, 10/27: Midterm Story of Learning Due by 11:00pm
Week Ten: Story of Learning and Project Conferences
Assignment for Monday, 10/28
Remember that class is not meeting on Wednesday and Friday this week for Midterm Conferences.In class, we will be discussing the Informed Consent document we’ll ask students to sign. I will be emailing you a copy of it, so please read it and come to class ready to discuss it.
We will also be talking about interviewing when narrators are talking about sensitive subjects. Please 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:
Please be prepared to discuss this flyer about NURSE statements (.pdf).
M 10/28: Interviewing and Storytelling; NURSE statements (.pdf)
W 10/30: Class Canceled for Story of Learning and Project Conferences
F 11/1: Class Canceled for Story of Learning and Project Conferences
Week Eleven: Studio Training / Studio Sessions / Begin Releasing Teasers
M 11/4: Class Canceled for Story of Learning and Project Conferences
W 11/6: Class Canceled for Studio Training
F 11/8: Meet in Classroom; informed consent; checklist; photographing readers; new light; pre-project-reflection.pdf
Week Twelve: Working on the project
Assignment for Monday, 11/11
In class, we will be talking about interviewing when narrators are talking about sensitive subjects. Please 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:Please be prepared to discuss this flyer about NURSE statements (.pdf).
Start signing up for interview sessions. The soon you can complete your interview, the better.
M 11/11: Revisiting interviewing; Nolan raw footage; interview tips
Tuesday, 11/12: Interviewing starts
W 11/13: TBD
F 11/15: TBD
Week Thirteen: TBD
M 11/18: TBD
W 11/20: TBD
F 11/21: TBD
Week Fourteen: TBD
M 11/25: TBD
T 11/27: No Class — Thanksgiving
F 11/29: No Class — Thanksgiving
Week Fifteen: TBD
M 12/2: TBD
W 12/4: TBD
Project Rough Draft Due by class time
F 12/5: TBD
Release the Project
Week Sixteen: Reflecting
M 12/9: Final Class Meeting
Wednesday, 12/11: Final Project Reflections Due by 11:00pm
Monday, 12/16: Final Story of Learning due by 11:00pm