The "500 Words" Assignment - Members of this class deliver 500-word reader responses to our class Google Drive space each Monday by 1pm. These writings are expected to respond directly to our assigned readings for the week, but beyond that, the topic is open. Given the context of the class, I ask you to use this space (...for example but not exhaustively so): to test your own arguments; to explore and push back against challenging claims that you've read; or to begin building elements of a persuasive literature review. While the name of the assignment is "500 Words" you are encouraged to incorporate graphic arguments whenever and wherever this seems appropriate. Links are also welcome so long as they do not have the effect of greatly expanding your audience's obligations as reader.
The only hard and fast rule for this assignment is that — whatever may intervene in our lives — we will put out best feet forward and not apologize within this space, moving directly to the task of doing our best to compose texts that will merit and reward one another's attention. This assignment will be graded on a CHECK/PLUS/MINUS basis. Averaging more than "CHECK" will earn you a grade of "A" for this assignment.
The Final Project -
Your ultimate goal is a capstone-weighted project that offers particular insight into cloud-based practices of:
• rhetorical invention
• authorship
• collaboration
• curation
• connection
This could be a fairly traditional scholarly paper. That said, I will never print it out. My experience of it will be solely through my various screens, large and small. For this reason, please consider opportunities to show (rather than describe in text) the artefacts of your choosing. Further, traditional citation systems are calibrated to print as a medium. You might be able to do better. A lot better. If you honor the spirit of scholarly citation (underscore your own ethos, provide opportunities for verification) I will gladly loosen the default settings (MLA, APA, Chicago B) in hopes of experiencing citations with 21st Century functionality.
How "long" should it be?
Well, that depends, because it could be a "fairly traditional scholarly paper" as capstone project (and at the 8000 level those routinely settle in at around 5,000 words) but you might have chosen instead to pursue some compelling cloud-based format to really ramp up the rhetorical power of your claims. So the answer is, "it should be roughly as long or, more properly, as substantial as a capstone project usually is, with enough 'surface area' so that I am not asked to give credit for hours spent learning some monstrous software package or tweaking an image to get it just so."
So, there seems like a lot of open territory here
Yup. This is an 8000-level class. It's not about me asking you to fetch the Holy Grail. It's about you making a grail (holy, unholy, or otherwise commendable is someway). I will say that I am especially interested in the following concerns.
• How does this project inform our understandings of authorship, curation, and/or copyright in internetworked digital writing spaces?
* How will your effort make [something] better? What will your project help others do?
PROPOSAL DUE: Noon, Friday, March 1 by Noon, via e-mail.
IN-CLASS MODEL CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: Tuesday, April 30.
FINAL PROJECT DEADLINE: Friday, May 9 @ Noon.
click on images to identify sources