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.
Monday 11/8 and Tuesday 11/9
Read and be prepared to discuss Chapters 8, 9, and 10 in the Oral History Reader. These chapters are about interviewing and are perhaps the most important chapters we’ll read this semester.
Final remixes are due by 11:00pm on either Monday or Tuesday. (Reflection essays are now due at the beginning of class on 11/10 or 11/11.)
Start working on the Protecting Human Research Participants training. Don’t leave this to the last minute.
for classes in week 10
For Monday 11/1 and Tuesday 11/2
Class will be canceled on Monday and Tuesday, but I would like you to complete a 3 – 5 minute video in which you propose your oral history topic. Before recording your proposal, please read and annotate chapter 1 in The Oral History Reader and take a look at the videos at the Oral History Video Archive to get an idea of the kinds of topics students explored in prior semesters. Then listen to several of the interviews and explore the Storycorps web site. Storycorps is a project that has some oral history overtones in that it is getting people to talk about events in their lives. What is also wonderful are the varied topics that are raised by the interviews. Spend some time there.
In your proposal video, I’d first like you to discuss your reaction to Chapter 1, the videos in the Oral History Video Archive, and the Storycorps recordings you listened to. Of what you read, saw, and heard, what stood out for you? What topics were more engaging and compelling. Then, move on to the topic that you would like to investigate. Discuss why this topic is interesting to you, why it is important to you, and why it is important to contemporary society. Discuss the (several) people you already know who might be able to share stories that will help illuminate this topic. These are the people who might become your narrators. As we will talked about in class we’re not interested in experts right now. Rather, we are looking for people who have lived experiences that will help make the topic meaningful. Also address what you hope to learn about the topic you’re proposing to investigate.
Upload your video to your section’s YouTube channel by 11:00pm on either Monday, 11/1 (MW section), or Tuesday, 11/2 (TH section).
For Wednesday 11/3 and Thursday 11/4
Please read, annotate, and be prepared to discuss chapters 5, 6, and 8 in The Oral History Reader.
for classes in week 9
For Monday 10/25 and Tuesday 10/26
Please listen to three of Studs Turkel’s oral history interviews with Dawn Kelly (.ram), Joseph Boone (.ram), and Leola Spann (.ram). (Real Audio is required for these recordings. If you don’t have Real Audio, it can be downloaded for free at http://www.real.com.) You don’t need to listen to the whole interviews; just fine minutes or so to get an idea about the oral history process. Then, read in The Oral History Reader, the Introduction and Chapter 2.
There is no video response due.
For Wednesday 10/27 and Thursday 10/28
Please read in The Oral History Reader, chapters 3 and 4. Then, read through the August 2010 interviews in the Rutgers Oral History Archive (you don’t have to read the full transcripts; just enough to get an idea about what they are like). Watch in full the following former student oral histories:
Families of War
A Closer Look into Physical Disabilities, Part 1
By this time, you will have listened to audio oral history, read written oral history transcripts, and watched video oral history. I’d like to you to complete a 2 – 3 minute video response in which you discuss the different impact that the three modes of oral history have. What are their benefits and drawbacks? Which do you prefer. Please post to the YouTube channel by class time.
for Monday, 10/18 and Tuesday, 10/19
Please complete and bring to class the following by class-time:
- Compose a summary of your anticipated remix narrative. This should not be a summary of the topic. Rather, I’d like to you to summarize how you are going to use the images and audio to achieve the goals of the remix. Discuss how and why you are going to incorporate certain images and speculate as to what impact you think they will have. Length: 1/2 page single spaced. Please have an electronic copy of this written summary.
- Compose a storyboard of the first 20 – 40 seconds of your video, as we illustrated in class:
Monday-Wednesday Illustration
Tuesday-Thursday Illustration
In each storyboard square, include a brief sketch of what will appear at that point in the remix. If you do not know specifically what might appear, but have an idea, just draw what that idea is. These sketches do not need to be works of art; the quick sketches in the above photos are move than detailed enough. They goal is to just get you thinking visually.Under each square (that is, for each sketch you draw), note down the following info:
- The video or still image file name (if known)
- The portions of the video (minutes:seconds) it represents (if known)
- The purpose of that image at that point in the video (that is, how it relates to what comes before an after)
- The reason why you think it is an effective image to use
- The meaning(s) you think it holds when placed in that context
Also indicate if there is juxtaposition between images, a montage, and if a video relies on intertextuality.
Bring 2 printed copies to class. I will collect one and you will work with the other.
for Wednesday, 10/6 and Thursday, 10/7
Please read the essay by Edwards and Tryon, the essay from Tryon, and the selections from Tryon’s book that can be found on the Readings page of the course web site. The readings ask us to consider the implications and meaning-making potential of online video creation, remixes, and mashups.
More to be added directly related to the Remix project.
for Monday, 10/4 & Tuesday, 10/5
There is quite a bit of material to be covered for Monday and Tuesday on the subject of copyright—one of the most important subjects that our generation is going to face and decide upon. As we saw in RIP: A Remix Manifesto, copyright is a central issue in discussions about remix. As a result, there are few readings and videos to watch.
Please read the following:
- “Copyright and American Culture: Ideas, Expression, and Democracy,” by Siva Vaidhyanathan (available on the Readings page)
- “Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States” (browse through this table to see the complexities of copyright law
- “Librarian of Congress Announces DMCA Section 1201 Rules for Exemptions Regarding Circumvention of Access-Control Technologies“
- “Letting Us Rip: Our New Right to Fair Use of DVDs” by Jason Mitchell
Please also watch the following videos:
Steal this Film, which “takes account of the prominent players in the Swedish piracy (copyright infringement) culture: The Pirate Bay, Piratbyrån (Piracy Bureau), and The Pirate Party.” This is an important video about the current state and future of copyright laws.
“A Fair(y) Use Tale” by Eric Faden, Associate Professor of English/Film and Media Studies at Bucknell University, on the Fair Use Doctrine
Please compose a 2-3 minute video response in which your discuss the readings and videos in terms of RIP: A Remix Manifesto and the discussion we had in class. In your response try to think about the broader implications of copyright on ideas, ownership, creativity, and society.
We will be discussing each of these texts in class, so please be sure to read them well.
for Wednesday, 9/29 and Thursday, 9/30
This assignment marks the beginning of our unit on remix. To get us started, please watch the 87 minute documentary called RIP: A Remix Manifesto. You can download a copy of the movie to your computer for free or you can watch the whole movie online at Hulu (if the video has a black screen and then a error, just be patient; Hulu seems to be having some trouble with its ads; the movie will start shortly):
Post a 3 – 5 minute video response in which you discuss the movie. If you would like, in your response, remix a portion of the movie trailer (importing the full movie into Movie Maker or iMovie would take too long). To download a copy of the trailer, right click on the compatible file link, select Save As, and save it to your computer. From there, you can import it into either iMovie or Windows Movie Maker: Windows Movie Maker-compatible version; iMovie-compatible version.
We will discuss the movie this week and next week.
for Monday, 9/13 and Tuesday, 9/14
Upload your response to the assignment for Wednesday 9/8 or Thursday 9/9 to the appropriate YouTube channel: M/W Section or T/H Section. Please give it a meaningful title, description, assign meaningful tags, and add it to the Response #1 playlist.As a former student wrote:
Using playlists to organize our videos will make more sense once we’ve done several assignments; instead of having dozens of videos listed single-file in our uploads, visitors will instead be able to click the “Playlist” tab and view the videos by assignment. (By the way, when you have some time, add some more tags to the playlist.)
Read Keven Kelly’s “Becoming Screen Literate” and compose a 2 minute response in which you describe in some detail the different screens you come in contact with on a daily basis and, considering Kelly’s ideas, discuss what impact you see them having in your life.
To ensure that you are able to view the video and hear the audio on your PC and Mac, you need to install the Flip Video software onto your computer. You should be prompted to do this when you insert the video camera into the computer. Though we are not going to use the software, the installation contains files that are used globally on your computer that are necessary to see the video.
Students who have a Mac at home, see the iMovie HD, iMovie ’08, and iMovie ’09 tutorials under “helpful how-tos” in the right sidebar of the course web site for a quick intro to your version of iMovie. iMovie ’08 and ’09 are quite different from Windows Movie Maker and iMovie HD, so don’t be surprised by what you see. The tutorials are quite useful, though they may mention importing your videos directly from your video camera. Do not do this (as it might not work with the Flip video camera anyway). Just as we did in class, move your videos from the Flip video camera to a designated place on your computer, such as a WRT folder in the Movies folder. Then, import your file from there.
Also think about the question that you would like to ask for “The One” assignment. Post a 1 minute video to the WRT Spring 2010 YouTube Channel in which you introduce your question and talk about your reasons for choosing it, what kinds of responses you expect to get, and whatever else comes to mind. Perhaps even answer it yourself. Please post these by class time on Wednesday.
Students in the T/TH section who use a PC at home, please download and install the Pazera Free MP4 to AVI Converter. This will convert your videos into a format Windows Movie Maker will read.
for Wednesday, 9/8 and Thursday, 9/9
Please download, print, read, and bring to class the course syllabus (.pdf) read Computer Classroom Etiquette.
Download and install the Firefox browser (if you already have it, make sure it is the most recent version), and install the Download Helper plugin (requires Firefox). Download Helper allows you to save YouTube and other videos to your computer.
Log in to the appropriate YouTube channel: M/W Section or T/H Section.If you do not know the username and password, please email me, letting me know which section you are in. Look around the course channel a bit and make some changes to the layout and color that you think will help make the channel your own.
Create an account at Jamendo using your school email address as your contact email. Jamendo is a site where artists have provided Creative Commons Licensed music that can be used by anyone for free. At some point in the next week or so, become familiar with the site and how it works. It will be referred to in class but not necessarily shown how to use.
Please watch the following videos. The first two are explorations of the implications of YouTube. The others are on Creative Commons licensing and copyright. After watching the videos, use your Flip Video camera to record a 3 – 5 minute response to the videos. Do not merely discuss whether you like them or not. Rather, talk about them in terms of video, contemporary culture, and the evolution of communication and writing. Do not compose your response on paper ahead of time. Rather, just set up the video camera on a flat surface and begin talking (yes, have some idea of the main points you want to have). If you start and stop some drafts, do not erase them. We will use them in class. Or, instead of stopping and restarting the camera if you goof, keep the tape rolling and just keep on going. The goal is not a flawless execution, but to get your ideas out. Bring your video to class on your Flip Video Camera; we will work with it a bit and then upload it to YouTube.
“An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube,” by Michael Wesch (55.33 minutes):
“A Crisis of Significance” by a student in one of Wesch’s classes:
“Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity”
“A Shared Culture”
“Wanna Work Together”