About Homework Assignments

The assignments 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 Tuesday, April 28

Rough draft 2 of your final essay is due in the Dropbox rough-draft-2 folder by classtime (be sure you are putting it in the correct Dropbox folder). As stated in the assignment, rough draft 2:

• should contain REVISED versions of Background, Methodology, Results and Discussion (parts 1 – 6), and new versions of Results and Discussion part 7, Conclusion, all tables (Table Templates [.docx]) screenshots, and the Axial Coding chart
• Name file: yourlastname-wrts15-rd2.doc or docx

Though not on the assignment sheet, this draft must include a References list using APA citation format. If you use a citation generator to create your references, please double-check the accuracy.

Assessing student Twitter use is particularly hard, so, after talking with a student about this, I have decided to ask you to give me some input on your Twitter usage. Please complete, print, and return on April 28 the following: wrts15-twitter-reflection (.docx).

For Thursday, April 16

Please read Baym (2008); Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling” (2007); and Jenkins (1992).

Note rough draft 1 is now due Friday by 11:00pm instead of Thursday by 11:00pm.

For Tuesday, April 14

If you were absent on Thursday, download and read the Final Essay Assignment (.pdf).

For Tuesday, complete a draft of the Background and Methodology sections. Upload a copy to the “background-methodology” folder in your section on the course Dropbox folder. Bring a printed copy to class. Make sure your last name is part of the file name.

For the Background, discuss any information that will help give the reader context. Remember, the reader should be considered intelligent but not necessarily aware of what your hashtag is or even what a hashtag is. So, make sure you explain at the very least (and not necessarily in this order):

• who uses your hashtag and in response to what (such as, a TV show, social cause, political issue, etc.–explain those, as well)
• some of the spaces associated with your hashtag that help us understand the context for the hashtag
• what Twitter is and how it is used
• ideas on social media, social networking, participatory culture, fandom, etc., as is relevant (cite the readings as needed)

The Methodology section should be detailed and, following a brief overview of Grounded Theory, can contain a list of very specific steps you used. Do not assume the reader knows what Grounded Theory is. The step should pertain to the archiving and analysis of the tweets, not associated blog posts or assignments.

If you have not completed your Axial Coding (and you have not talked to me), it must be completed by Tuesday.

If you have questions, please let me know.

Have a great weekend.

For Thursday, March 26

Please also read Porter (1986).

If we did not get to it in class, download the coding-template (Excel file) and follow the instructions for Open Coding. Code 200 tweets by the start of class on Thursday. Add the codes you identify, definitions, and sample tweet to the definitions tab.

Upload your coding spreadsheets to the Dropbox folder I will invite you to. Name your file:

yourlastname-wrts15-coding-sheet.xls or .xlsx

We will talk about your codes and begin Axial Coding in class on Thursday.

For Tuesday, March 24

Have a great Spring Break! You deserve the time off.

When you’re done enjoying your time off, I’d like you to select 25 tweets from your hashtag archive. The tweets should represent a variety of different kinds of tweets seen in the archive. For example, general tweets, retweets, tweets with links, tweets that are part of a conversation, and so on.

Copy the content of the tweet and the username into a separate GoogleDrive Doc or Sheet (the Excel of GoogleDrive). Bring a printed version with you to class (do not wait to print it in the classroom) and have the digital version available, too.

Re-read Wolff (forthcoming, 2015), “Baby We Were Born to Tweet,” paying particular attention to the pages in Side 2 and Side 3. In class on Tuesday we will discuss Grounded Theory and begin to code our tweets. We will be using methods in that article to help us begin to understand what is happening with our hashtags.

For Thursday, March 12

Please read Baym, chapter 6 and the Conclusion and Nardi & O’Day (1999).

If you did not have your  Mid-Assignment Blogging Reflection handout (.pdf) in class on Tuesday, email a copy to me no later than Wednesday, 3/11, at noon.

My office hours on Wednesday 3/11 are 11-1 instead of 12-2.

For Tuesday, March 10

I have updated the course schedule as a result of the snow day. Please see the changes to next week’s schedule.

Please read Baym, Chapter 5 and read Potts (2012) and Bennett (2014), which we were supposed to discuss on 3/5.

The typewriters will be in the Faculty Center, James Hall 3092, Friday afternoon, 3/6 through Friday afternoon 3/13. The Faculty Center is open Monday – Friday 8:30 – 5:00 and the typewriters will be available all day. You may use more than one if you’d like. First student to tweet the origin of the typewriter names gets a prize. Please remember to sign the sing-in sheet, which will be on the table. Paper will be available for you; please use it sparingly. Be sure to take lots of pictures and/or video of the the typewriters in action!

Please complete and bring to class on Tuesday a printed copy of the Mid-Assignment Blogging Reflection handout (.pdf). This handout is designed to help you take stock of where you are with your blogging midway through the Blogging Assignment so you final 4 posts can be your most effective posts yet. Please be honest with your assessment of your work. Take into consideration the assignment goals and requirements. There are no foolish questions. So, ask away.

For Thursday, March 5

Please skim Baym, Chapter 4 and read Potts (2012) and Bennett (2014).

The next stage of the blogging assignment, using a phone or tablet writing app to write about social media spaces associated with your hashtag is due this week, though I am pushing both post due dates to Friday, March 7, by 11:00pm.

The following week you will be using the manual typewriters to compose your blog post, and the subject will be THREE scholarly articles on subjects associated with your hashtag. Please start looking for these sooner rather than later. I suggest starting with the Works Cited lists in Potts (2012) and Bennett (2014). If you have questions, please tweet me so the whole class can learn from our discussions.

For Tuesday, March 3

Please read Baym, Chapter 4 and boyd & Ellison (2007).

Your Diary of Writing Technology Interactivities blog post is due on March 3 by 11:00pm.

The next stage of the blogging assignment, using a phone or tablet writing app to write about social media spaces associated with your hashtag is due this week, though I am pushing both post due dates to Friday, March 7, by 11:00pm.

The following week you will be using the manual typewriters to compose your blog post, and the subject will be one scholarly book and two scholarly articles on subjects associated with your hashtag. Please start looking for these sooner rather than later. Come to class this Tuesday with some ideas about subjects associated with your topic. The typewriters will be available starting Wed, 3/4 around noon. See the blogging assignment for details.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

For Thursday, February 26

Please read Baym, chapter 3 and Jenkins (2009) xi-xiv, 1 – 34 (download the full book but only read these pages).

Your GoogleDocs blog post is due before the start of class on Thursday and your reflection post is due by 11:00pm Friday, February 27.

Please name your blog posts something meaningful (to the hashtag community, at least). Do not name them “blog post 1” or “reflection post 2.” If you have, please rename them to something meaningful. Remember, you audience is the English reading world who most likely are not familiar with our course or the associated assignments.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

For Tuesday, February 24

Please read chapter 2 of Baym’s Personal Communication and chapter 1 of Rettberg’s Seeing Ourselves Through Technology: How We Use Selfies, Blogs and Wearable Devices to See and Shape Ourselves. Rettberg’s full book is available for download for free on the Readings page.

Start on the Diary of Writing Technology Interactivities assignment.

Remember, your reflection blog post on using ZenPen is due by 11:00pm, Friday 2/20. And, your next blog post composed using GoogleDocs is due Thursday, February 26. See the blogging assignment for specifics.

Check your Rowan email for an invitation to view the YouTube videos I created to make comments on your blogs and research study pages. There is one video for all of section 2. There are two videos for section 3, a part 1 and a part 2. Part 1 covers A Real World Bachelor, Bad People, Good Drama, and Eat Teach Repeat LOL. Part 2 covers Modern Girls in Pawnee, Pretty Little Anatomy of Mary Jane’s Affairs, and Tweeting Diversity.

By Tuesday, please update your research study page based on my comments. If you have not created a research study page or did create one but it is not appearing in the menu of your blog, please contact me immediately.

If you have any questions, let me know!

For Tuesday, February 17

Please read the front matter and chapter 1 of Baym’s Personal Communication.

Spend some time getting familiar with the archive you set up during class, browsing through the Read Me/Settings, Summary, Archive, and Dashboard tabs as well as the TAGSExplorer visualization and functions. Start following some of the people who are tweeting your hashtag—it doesn’t have to be those tweeting the most, but those would be a nice place to start. If you were absent, follow my tutorial (it should be viewable by 2:30pm, Friday 2/13/15):

Start working on your first blog post as part of the blogging assignment, which will be online during the day on Friday is now online on the blogging assignment page.

For Thursday, February 12

Please create the Research Study page on your collaborative blog by seeing the semester long project assignment page. This should be completed by the start of class.

Remember, no class on Tuesday so you can work on this.

For Thursday, February 5

Choose which hashtag you’d like to study and compose your Research Proposal following the guidelines on the research assignment page. Bring a digital version of your proposal to class; no need to bring a printed version.

Please read the blogging assignment, which we’ll discuss in class on Thursday.

For Tuesday, February 3

Please read and annotate Hudson & Bruckman (2004), AoIR Sample Questions and Responses based in a U.S. Regulatory Perspective (read all Q&As in this section), and the Twitter Developer Terms of Service (dry but important since by completing the semester project you will be considered developers).

Bring to class a list of 5 possible hashtags to study.

Recently, Laura wrote on Twitter:

who knows how to annotate an article from your computer ?! I'm running out of free printing #help #wrts15

— Laura (@lastilts) January 29, 2015

Laura asks a good question. For web pages, I recommend Diigo. Diigo is a wonderful application for writers and researchers. Among other things, it allows you to annotate web pages and see the annotations each time you return to the page.

There is an app for iPad and Android called iAnnotate. If you know of others, please tweet them with the course hashtag so we can all learn from your knowledge.

For Tuesday, January 27

Please read and annotate as much as possible boyd, Golder, Lotan (2010); Jones (2014); Wolff (forthcoming, 2015), “Baby, We Were Born to Tweet.” Articles are available on the Readings page.

Please note the article by Wolff is a hypertext article, or a web text. It can be read linearly by following the navigation by clicking the icon in the upper left or by following the Next links at the bottom of each page.

Please re-read the Twitter assignments, follow everyone in the sections 2 and 3, begin live-tweeting your work, and start searching for a hashtag to study. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Have a great weekend.

For Thursday, January 22

Please read and annotate “Introduction” only in Rheingold (1993) which is available on the Readings page. Bring your annotated version with you to class (printed or digital).

If you do not yet have a Twitter account, please sign up for one at http://twitter.com. Twitter works best (especially for our purposes) when the username is professional and you are authentic. For example, my username is: billwolff (http://twitter.com/billwolff), and I use my full name to show who I am. My account is unlocked. Please sign up with a professional username, use your real name, and keep your account unlocked. We’ll be using Twitter in a professional way so there is no need to keep anything private. Make sure you have your username with you for the first day.

If you do not have a WordPress account, I’d like you to sign up for one at: https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/?user=1. You must use this address; if you are asked to create a blog URL you are in the wrong place. Do NOT click the sign up for a blog link. If you already have a WordPress account, you can skip this. After you sign up and you’ll be asked to verify your email address (I suggest using your Rowan email); please do that. Have your username and the email address you used to create the account with you on the first day.

If you are new to blogging, please read What is a blog? (pdf) by Jill Walker-Rettberg.