tfw spring 2012 daily homework

About Homework Assignments

The assignments that are listed on this page are to be completed before class starts the day they are due. The latest assignment will be placed at the top to reduce scrolling.

For Thursday, April 19

Please read Siva Vaidhyanathan’s “Copyright and American culture: Ideas, expressions, and democracy” and watch the following videos:

“Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity”

“A Fairy Use Tale”

The four videos that are a part of the series, Everything is a Remix.

Start working on the draft of your final project. The draft is due by class-time on Tuesday, 4/24. See the assignment for what is required for your rough draft.

For Tuesday, April 17

Please watch Wesch’s “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube,” which is 55 minutes long and well worth it, as well as Highland’s “As Real As Your Life,” which starts at 10:00 in to Perry’s TED talk. Also read the brief article on Facebook and identity by Eller.

Download and install Jing and start experimenting with it. Experimenting now will save a great deal of frustration later. Do not wait until the last minute.

For Thursday, April 12

Please read and/or watch Dibble, Kelly, Hardt, and DuHigg. Continue tweeting and blogging.

As part of our experiments with identity and the connection between ourselves and the spaces and texts we use, I would like you to stop using Facebook until Tuesday, April 17. That is, you are not allowed to log in to or interact with anyone on Facebook for one whole week. You do not need to delete your account, though it is fascinating what happens when you try to do so. So your friends don’t freak out, your last status update should read, “Quitting Facebook for a week as a class experiment” or something like that. Of course, you can just stop using it and see what the results are, as well. After your last update, you must log out.

If you do not have a Facebook account, I would like you to stop using another online space that you use often or stop using another technology that you regularly use (such as, text messaging). Twitter is not an option for quitting since we are using it for class. Talk with me after class about which you will stop using.

As a way to collaboratively record and share what we are thinking about being without Facebook, I’d like you to tweet whenever you think about going to Facebook (or that other technology) and tweet what you are thinking/feeling. @reply to each other as often as possible. Add the #tfws12 hashtag to all these tweets.

Compose one blog post in which you discuss what it has been like to be without Facebook (or the other technology). How has it impacted you as an individual? As a member of a group of friends? As a student? And so on. Also think about it in terms of who you are as a professional.

Note: this assignment is adapted from one originated by @academicdave.

For Tuesday, April 10

This evening we are going to start thinking about the themes that inform the final project: online and off-line identities. Please read Sherry Turkle’s “Who Am We?” which investigates the question of online identity. After reading the article I’d like you to start thinking about who you are as you are represented online. Make a list of all the sites where you have some sort of profile. These can include casual sites like Facebook and Flickr or more serious online like the class blog or social gaming sites like World of Warcraft.

For each site, add characteristics you think describe who you are in that particular space. Why do you think that? What is determining or structuring who you are in that space? What are the limitations of the space itself to creating who you are? How are they similar or different from how you perceive yourself offline. Think about how many windows, as Turkle describes them, that you see in these sites. What are they windows in to? How do we know that? Who is the viewer and is being seen? You don’t have to post these on the blog, but you may. Just be ready to discuss them and Turkle’s piece.

In class, we will begin experimenting with Prezi. Please create a free account on Prezi and watch the videos on Prezi’s Learn page and look at some of the Prezis on their Explore page. Bring a few digital photos with you to class, too, as we’ll be using them with Prezi.

You may also want to get a head start on the reading/videos for Thursday: Dibble, Kelly, Hardt, and DuHigg.

For Thursday, April 5

If you did not post the required blog post assigned for Tuesday (complete with link, image, and video) please do so.

Please read Nardi and O’Day, Bolter “Writing as Technology,” and Gee. We will discuss these and the essays previously assigned.

Begin live-tweeting your readings according to the specifics of those two assignments. For the Twitter assignment also begin tweeting two times per day. For the blogging assignment, start adding the required widgets and compose the About page. The two blog posts per week assignment starts next week.

For Tuesday, April 3

Please read:

In response publish compose the text for a blog post in which you will include at least 1 of the following: a link, a Creative Commons licensed image (search bar just below the thumbnail images) from Flickr, and a YouTube video. Your eventual post should attribute the photographer and video creator by username. Your post text should be equivalent to 1/2 – 3/4 page single space (not including images and videos). You will upload the post for class on Thursday after you learn how to make a post in class on Tuesday.

To learn how to add images, embed video, and add links, see the Create Content section of the WordPress support pages. Gaining familiarity with support pages is important when composing in online spaces and the blogging assignment is giving you the opportunity to gain familiarity with one so you can use that familiarity when confronted with other support pages.

For Thursday, March 29 (First Assignment in Module 3)

Please read the Module Description and Syllabus read Computer Classroom Etiquette. Come to class with any questions you may have.

Go to Twitter and create a free account (unless you already have one). One important thing about Twitter is that users value authenticity and we are going to be using it in a way that presents us as professionals in our chosen field. So, for your username come up with one that is professional and uses part or all of your name, such as mine: billwolff. Come to class knowing your Twitter username.

Please first read the following texts, using the strategies discussed in the first text to annotate the others:

  • Axelrod and Cooper’s “Strategies for Reading Critically”
  • Bolter, J.D. (2001). Introduction: Writing in the late age of print. Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Mahwah, NJ: LEA. 1-13.
  • Rettberg (2008) “What is a Blog?”

I will check the copies of your readings in class to see how you have annotated the texts. All readings are linked off the password protected Readings page unless available for free online (Dr. Tweedie should have given you the password).

Please bring a digital copy (on USB drive, email, and so on–only .doc, .docx, and .rtf files accepted) of a response to the texts in which you consider the following:

One of Bolter’s many goals in this chapter is to shift the reader’s focus away from binary arguments about the future of books and writing. He’s not interested in yes/no debates about whether or not this or that will fail. They are too simple and tend to lead down rather tiresome paths. Rather, he is interested in implications and nuances, which is what he is searching for when he writes, “The question is whether alphabetic texts can compete effectively with the visual and aural sensorium that surrounds us. And if prose itself is being forced to renegotiate its cultural role, then the printed book is doubly challenged” (p. 6). Consider what Bolter, Rettberg, Johnson, and Silver discuss, as well as your experiences as writers and readers, I’d like you to consider the questions Bolter raises here. Can alphabetic text compete with visual and aural? Is alphabetic text on the screen the same as text on a printed page? What is the role of culture in any change that is taking place?

Your response should be equal to 2/3rds of a page, single space, Times New Roman font size 12. We will post these responses to blogs that we create in class, so be sure you have access to a digital copy.

For Thursday, March 22

Please read Siva Vaidhyanathan’s “Copyright and American culture: Ideas, expressions, and democracy” and watch the following videos:

“Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity”

“A Fairy Use Tale”

The four videos that are a part of the series, Everything is a Remix.

Start working on the draft of your final project. The draft is due by class-time on Tuesday, 3/27. See the assignment for what is required for your rough draft.

For Tuesday, March 20

Please watch Wesch’s “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube,” which is 55 minutes long and well worth it, as well as Highland’s “As Real As Your Life,” which starts at 10:00 in to Perry’s TED talk. Also read the brief article on Facebook and identity by Eller.

Download and install Jing and start experimenting with it. Experimenting now will save a great deal of frustration later. Do not wait until the last minute.

For Thursday, March 8

Please read and/or watch Dibble, Kelly, Hardt, and DuHigg. Continue tweeting and blogging.

For Tuesday,February 28

Please read Nardi and O’Day, Bolter “Writing as Technology,” and Gee. We will discuss these and the two essays from week 1.

Begin blogging and live-tweeting your readings according to the specifics of those two assignments. For the blogging assignment, start adding the required widgets and compose the About page. For the Twitter assignment also begin tweeting two times per day.

For Thursday, February 23

Updated Feb 22, 2012, 9:25pm
Please read pages 1 – 34 in Jenkins (see the Readings page) and compose a response which, when you learn how to create a post in class on Thursday, can include in response publish a blog post in which you include at least 1 of the following: a link, a Creative Commons licensed image (search bar just below the thumbnail images) from Flickr, and a YouTube video. Your eventual post should attribute the photographer and video creator by username. You post text should be equivalent to 1/2 – 3/4 page single space (not including images and videos).

To learn how to add images, embed video, and add links, see the Create Content section of the WordPress support pages. Gaining familiarity with support pages is important when composing in online spaces and the blogging assignment is giving you the opportunity to gain familiarity with one so you can use that familiarity when confronted with other support pages.

For Tuesday, February 21 (First Assignment in Module 2)

Please read the Module Description and Syllabus read Computer Classroom Etiquette. Come to class with any questions you may have.

Go to Twitter and create a free account (unless you already have one). One important thing about Twitter is that users value authenticity and we are going to be using it in a way that presents us as professionals in our chosen field. So, for your username come up with one that is professional and uses part or all of your name, such as mine: billwolff. Come to class knowing your Twitter username.

Please first read the following texts, using the strategies discussed in the first text to annotate the others:

I will check the copies of your readings in class to see how you have annotated the texts. All readings are linked off the password protected Readings page unless available for free online (Dr. Tweedie should have given you the password).

Please bring a digital copy (on USB drive, email, and so on–only .doc, .docx, and .rtf files accepted) of a response to the texts in which you consider the following:

One of Bolter’s many goals in this chapter is to shift the reader’s focus away from binary arguments about the future of books and writing. He’s not interested in yes/no debates about whether or not this or that will fail. They are too simple and tend to lead down rather tiresome paths. Rather, he is interested in implications and nuances, which is what he is searching for when he writes, “The question is whether alphabetic texts can compete effectively with the visual and aural sensorium that surrounds us. And if prose itself is being forced to renegotiate its cultural role, then the printed book is doubly challenged” (p. 6). Consider what Bolter, Rettberg, Johnson, and Silver discuss, as well as your experiences as writers and readers, I’d like you to consider the questions Bolter raises here. Can alphabetic text compete with visual and aural? Is alphabetic text on the screen the same as text on a printed page? What is the role of culture in any change that is taking place?

Your response should be equal to 2/3rds of a page, single space, Times New Roman font size 12. We will post these responses to blogs that we create in class, so be sure you have access to a digital copy.

For Tuesday, February 14

Please read Siva Vaidhyanathan’s “Copyright and American culture: Ideas, expressions, and democracy” and watch the following videos:

“Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity”

“A Fairy Use Tale”

The three videos that are a part of the series, Everything is a Remix.

Start working on the draft of your final project. The draft is due by class-time on Thursday, Feb 16.

For Thursday, February 7

Please watch Wesch’s “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube,” which is 55 minutes long and well worth it, as well as Highland’s “As Real As Your Life,” which starts at 10:00 in to Perry’s TED talk. Also read the brief article on Facebook and identity by Eller.

Download and install Jing and start experimenting with it.

As part of our experiments with identity and the connection between ourselves and the spaces and texts we use, I would like you to quit Facebook until Tuesday, February 14. That is, you are not allowed to log in to or interact with anyone on Facebook for one whole week. You do not need to delete your account, though it is fascinating what happens when you try to do so. So your friends don’t freak out, your last status update should read, “Quitting Facebook for a week as a class experiment” or something like that. Of course, you can just stop using it and see what the results are, as well. After your last update, you must log out.

If you do not have a Facebook account, I would like you to stop using another online space that you use often or stop using another technology that you regularly use (such as, text messaging). Talk with me after class about which you will stop using.

As a way to collaboratively record and share what we are thinking about being without Facebook, I’d like you to tweet whenever you think about going to Facebook (or that other technology) and tweet what you are thinking/feeling. @reply to each other as often as possible. Add the #tfws12 hashtag to all these tweets.

Compose one blog post in which you discuss what it has been like to be without Facebook (or the other technology). How has it impacted you as an individual? As a member of a group of friends? As a student? And so on. Also think about it in terms of who you are as a professional.

Note: this assignment is adapted from one originated by @academicdave.

For Tuesday, February 7

Read essays by Jullian Dibble and Kevin Kelly and watch the video by Dick Hardt up to 7:30 (after that it gets rather technical, but you are more than welcome to watch it).

If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to see the update to the Twitter assignment, which is at the bottom of the assignment page. Start that part of the assignment immediately.

For Thursday, February 2

This evening we are going to start thinking about the themes that inform the final project: online and off-line identities. Please read Sherry Turkle’s “Who Am We?” which investigates the question of online identity. After reading the article I’d like you to start thinking about who you are as you are represented online. Make a list of all the sites where you have some sort of profile. These can include casual sites like Facebook and Flickr or more serious online like the class blog or social gaming sites like World of Warcraft.

For each site, add characteristics you think describe who you are in that particular space. Why do you think that? What is determining or structuring who you are in that space? What are the limitations of the space itself to creating who you are? How are they similar or different from how you perceive yourself offline. Think about how many windows, as Turkle describes them, that you see in these sites. What are they windows in to? How do we know that? Who is the viewer and is being seen? You don’t have to post these on the blog, but you may. Just be ready to discuss them and Turkle’s piece.

In class, we will begin experimenting with Prezi. Please create a free account on Prezi and watch the videos on Prezi’s Learn page and look at some of the Prezis on their Explore page. Bring a few digital photos with you to class, too, as we’ll be using them with Prezi.

For Tuesday, January 31

Please read Nardi and O’Day, Bolter “Writing as Technology,” and Gee. We will discuss these and the two essays from week 1.

Begin blogging and live-tweeting your readings.

For Thursday, January 26

Please read pages 1 – 34 in Jenkins (see the Readings page) and in response publish a blog post in which you include at least 1 of the following: a link, a Creative Commons licensed image (search bar just below the thumbnail images) from Flickr, and a YouTube video. In your post attribute the photographer and video creator by username. You post text should be equivalent to 1/2 – 3/4 page single space (not including images and videos).

For Tuesday, January 24 (First Assignment in Module 1)

Please download, print, and read the module syllabus (.pdf; to be online soon), which is available on the syllabus page, and read Computer Classroom Etiquette. Come to class with any questions you may have.

Go to Twitter and create a free account (unless you already have one). One important thing about Twitter is that users value authenticity and we are going to be using it in a way that presents us as professionals in our chosen field. So, for your username come up with one that is professional and uses part or all of your name, such as mine: billwolff.  Come to class knowing your Twitter username.

Please first read the following texts, using the strategies discussed in the first text to annotate the others:

I will check the copies of your readings in class to see how you have annotated the texts. All readings are linked off the password protected Readings page unless available for free online (the password is listed in Blackboard in the same area with the link that brought you here).

Please bring a digital copy (on USB drive, email, and so on–only .doc, .docx, and .rtf files accepted) of a response to the texts in which you consider the following:

One of Bolter’s many goals in this chapter is to shift the reader’s focus away from binary arguments about the future of books and writing. He’s not interested in yes/no debates about whether or not this or that will fail. They are too simple and tend to lead down rather tiresome paths. Rather, he is interested in implications and nuances, which is what he is searching for when he writes, “The question is whether alphabetic texts can compete effectively with the visual and aural sensorium that surrounds us. And if prose itself is being forced to renegotiate its cultural role, then the printed book is doubly challenged” (p. 6). Consider what Bolter, Rettberg, Johnson, and Silver discuss, as well as your experiences as writers and readers, I’d like you to consider the questions Bolter raises here. Can alphabetic text compete with visual and aural? Is alphabetic text on the screen the same as text on a printed page? What is the role of culture in any change that is taking place?

Your response should be equal to 2/3rds of a page, single space, Times New Roman font size 12. We will post these responses to blogs that we create in class, so be sure you have access to a digital copy.

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