108D S20 Ehrentraut | English Language and Literature

ENGL108D: Digital Lives (Section 002)

Department of English Language and Literature - University of Waterloo

Instructor: Dr. Judy Ehrentraut

Email: jehrentr@uwaterloo.ca

Overview

This course will give you the opportunity to develop a broader understanding of how old and new media affect our lives. We will examine how digital communication technologies create and promote online identities and social spaces, while exploring the technical and cultural forces that inform what it means to have “digital lives.” In this course you will also:

Learn the importance of digital literacy and its history
Develop your close reading skills so you can critically analyze what you read
Identify the terms used to theorize media and form your own academic voice
Learn how to organize an argumentative essay and create a proper thesis statement
Learn how to thoughtfully respond to the opinions of your peers

Course Meeting Times

Since this is now an entirely online course, we will no longer be “meeting” on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, you are expected to complete the readings on/before Monday and Wednesday of each week, as discussion assignments based on the readings for those days will be due on various days throughout the week. A detailed explanation of the Group Discussion component can be found in Content → Group Discussion Assignment on LEARN.

Grading Scheme and Due Dates

Assignments	Due Dates
Group Discussions: 50%
2.5% each, 2 x week = 5% per week	Mon/Tues & Wed/Thurs each week
Writing Assignments: 10%
Essay Subject and Purpose: 5% Thesis Statement: 5%	June 28th July 12th
Group Platform Project: 20%	July 19th
Final Essay: 20%	Aug 2nd

A detailed explanation of all other assignments can be found under Content → Other Assignments on LEARN.

Required Texts

Flew, Terry and Richard Smith. New Media: An Introduction. 3rd Canadian Edition, Oxford UP, 2018

All other texts are available via links in Content → Weekly Schedule or in Content → Readings.

Email Policy, Questions and Office Hour

Any questions you may have about the course, the assignments, the schedule, what group/section you are in, etc. can be posted under Connect → Discussions → Ask Me Questions. Before emailing me, please check this forum to see if someone else has already asked your question. Since some of you may have the same general questions, I would prefer to only respond once.

If your question has not been answered in this forum and is of a more personal or specific nature, please feel free to email me. Keep in mind that email is fast, but not instant. I will read your emails and respond within 24 hours, but please do not ask me to explain an entire reading to you in order to help you answer the Discussion Questions. If you have a specific question about a reading, I’ll answer it, but please complete the reading first and then ask for clarification.

I will also be available for 1-1 office hours via LEARN’s Chat feature under Connect → Chat, should you want to communicate with me during an allotted timeslot. Instead of being on the Chat every week at a certain time, email me and we can setup a time that works for both of us.

Late Policy

Given the online nature of this course and the fact that attendance cannot be recorded, the only way I can ensure you have done the readings and are keeping up with the course content is through your participation in the Group Discussions twice a week. If you miss a reading or miss your window to post your answer/response depending on your assigned Section, remember these are only worth 2.5% each. It would be better for you and your entire group if you focused on the next reading to ensure you don’t fall behind, so unfortunately, I cannot allow any extensions or make-ups for the weekly Group Discussions.

If you are late uploading any of the Writing Assignments, the Group Platform Project or your Final Paper, I deduct 3% for the first day and 5% for all days following, including weekends.

This is so that you can take one extra day to make sure you are satisfied and totally finished with your work, without losing too much of your grade.

Extensions

Students who require extensions must email me at least 24 hours before the due date, and must provide a legitimate reason for the extension request. I unfortunately cannot grant extensions without some kind of proof that demonstrates a medical or family emergency. Students who regularly require extra time for assignments should register with Accessibility Services at the beginning of term, but must still request extensions from me.

Academic Integrity

The Faculty of Arts requires that I make you aware of the following: “Students are expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for their actions. Students who are unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who need help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about ‘rules’ for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Assistant Dean.

For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy #71, Student Academic Discipline Students who believe that they have been wrongfully or unjustly penalized have the right to grieve: refer to Policy #70, Student Grievance

Turnitin.com: Text matching software (Turnitin®) may be used to screen assignments in this course. Turnitin® is used to verify that all materials and sources in assignments are documented. Students’ submissions are stored on a U.S. server, therefore students must be given an alternative (e.g., scaffolded assignment or annotated bibliography), if they are concerned about their privacy and/or security. Students will be given due notice, in the first week of the term and/or at the time assignment details are provided, about arrangements and alternatives for the use of Turnitin® in this course.

It is the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor if they, in the first week of term or at the time assignment details are provided, wish to submit the alternate assignment.

Note for Students with Disabilities

The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with OPD at the beginning of each academic term.

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre works across all faculties to help students clarify their ideas, develop their voices, and write in the style appropriate to their disciplines. Writing Centre staff offer one-on-one support in planning assignments and presentations, using and documenting research, organizing and structuring papers, and revising for clarity and coherence.

You can make multiple appointments throughout the term, or drop in at the Library for quick questions or feedback. To book a 50-minute appointment and to see drop-in hours, visit www.uwaterloo.ca/writing-centre. Group appointments for team-based projects, presentations, and papers are also available.

Weekly Schedule

NOTE: Whether you’re in Section A or B, everyone is reading the same thing, so please make sure you’re reading everything in each Monday and Wednesday block.

If your Section is answering the Discussion Questions, posts are due at 11:59pm on Monday/Wednesday of that week. If your Section is responding to the other Section, posts are due at 11:59pm on Tuesday/Thursday.

Week		Readings	Assignments	Start Time	End Time
1: Introductions	MON	No readings	Discussion groups will be assigned	May 11	May 11 11:59pm
	WED	NW Introduction: pg. ix-xi	Introduce yourself to your group members (Everyone)	May 13	May 13 11:59pm
2: What is New Media?	MON	NM Chapter 1: pg. 1-16	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	May 18	May 18 11:59pm May 19 11:59pm
WED	NM Chapter 1: pg. 17-30	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	May 20	May 20 11:59pm May 21 11:59pm
3: History of Communication Technologies	MON	NM Chapter 2: pg. 34-38 + “Harold Innis” section NM Chapter 2: pg. 46-49 (read until the end of “Essential Need”) NM Chapter 2: pg. 52-58 (begin at “Speaking Without Wires” and skip Case Study)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	May 25	May 25 11:59pm May 26 11:59

WED	NW Chapter 3: pg. 67-71 NW Chapter 3: pg. 74-76 (begin at “Approaches to technological change” and end at “The Diffusion of Innovations”	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	May 27	May 27 11:59pm May 28 11:59pm
4: Media Theory and Mobile Phones	MON	NM Chapter 3: pg. 82-88 (begin at “Pioneer Media Theorists” and skip Case Study) Watch: "The Medium is the Message Lecture"	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	June 1	June 1 11:59pm June 2 11:59pm
WED	Watch: History of Cell Phones NM Chapter 4: pg. 94-103	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	June 3	June 3 11:59pm June 4 11:59pm
5: Mobile Phone Culture	MON	NM Chapter 4: pg. 104-113 Kopomaa, Timo. “Mobile Phones, Place-centered Communication and Neo-community" (LEARN)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	June 8	June 8 11:59pm June 9 11:59pm
WED	NM Chapter 5: pg. 128 – 140 (read until “Networks and the Economics of Social Production”)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	June 10	June 10 11:59pm June 11 11:59pm
6: Media Literacy	MON	NM Chapter 5: pg. 146 - 153 (start at “Participatory Media Cultures”)	Section A answers Discussion Questions	June 15	June 15 11:59pm

NM Chapter 5: pg. 157 - 163 (begin at “Blogs as Participatory Media”)	Section B responds to Section A	June 16 11:59pm
WED	Jenkins, Henry et al. “Enabling Participation” (LEARN)	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	June 17	June 17 11:59pm June 18 11:59pm
7: Online Activism	MON	Tufecki, Zeynep. “Twitter and Tear Gas: How Social Media Changed Protest Forever.”	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	June 22	June 22 11:59pm June 23 11:59pm
Writing Assignment	WED	“Writing Materials” (Content → Essay Resources (LEARN))	Upload Essay Subject and Purpose (Everyone)	June 28 11:59pm
8: Digital Identity	MON	Chandler, Daniel. “Personal Home Pages and the Construction of Identities on the Web.”	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	June 29	June 29 11:59pm June 30 11:59pm
WED	Affsprung, Daniel. “Narrative Identity and the Data Self.”	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	July 1	July 1 11:59pm July 2 11:59pm
9: Gaming	MON	NW Chapter 6: pg. 167 – 169 NW Chapter 6: pg. 181 – 191 (skip Case Study)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	July 6	July 6 11:59pm July 7 11:59pm

WED	Shaw, Adrienne. “Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity.” (LEARN)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	July 8	July 8 11:59pm July 9 11:59pm
Writing Assignment	“Thesis Statements” “What is a Thesis” (Content → Essay Resources (LEARN))	Upload thesis statement (Everyone)	July 12 11:59pm
10: Streaming Lives	MON	Hernandez, Patricia. “The Twitch Streamers Who Spend Years Broadcasting to No-one.”	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	July 13	July 13 11:59pm July 14 11:59pm
WED	Glucksman, Morgan. “The Rise of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Lifestyle Branding: A Case Study of Lucie Fink” (LEARN)	Section A answers Discussion Questions Section B responds to Section A	July 15	July 15 11:59pm July 16 11:59pm
Creative Platform Project	Upload Group Presentations (1 per group)	July 19 11:59pm
11: Managing Privacy	MON	boyd, dana and Alice E. Marwick. "Networked Privacy: How Teenagers Negotiate Context in Social Media." (LEARN)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	July 20	July 20 11:59pm July 21 11:59pm
WED	Jonson, Ron. “How One Tweet Can Ruin Your Life” (TED Talk)	Section B answers Discussion Questions Section A responds to Section B	July 22	July 22 11:59pm July 23 11:59pm

12: Conclusions

MON

NM Chapter 10: pg. 299-307 (read until “New Media Scholarship”)

Section A answers Discussion Questions

Section B responds to Section A

July 27

11:59pm

July 28

11:59pm

Writing Assignment

WED

Final Paper Due

(No readings)

Upload Final Paper to Turnitin on Dropbox

(Everyone)

Aug 2

11:59pm

Group Discussions

On the first day of class, each of you will be placed into 1 Group of 9-10 students (there are 4 Groups total). Each Group will be split into Sections A and B.

You will remain in the same groups and sections for the entire semester to avoid any confusion.

Every week, I will:

Upload a Powerpoint slideshow highlighting the main points of the readings for Monday and Wednesday. These are meant to help you organize your thoughts, but are not a replacement for actually doing the readings.
Post a Discussion Question before every Monday *and* Wednesday morning that pertains to the readings for those days, as outlined in the schedule. Many days have more than one reading that is broken up into a few page sections, so make sure you read everything in each block.
Monitor, read and grade your answers and responses, depending on what Section you are in.

Every week, you will:

Read what is outlined in the schedule, ideally by Mondays and Wednesdays. Each block shows all the readings for that day.
Pay attention to what week we are on: Weeks with yellow blocks mean Section A answers the Discussion Question first, and then Section B responds to those answers. Weeks with blue blocks mean Section B answers the Discussion Question, and then Section A responds to those answers.
If your Section is answering the Discussion Questions first, you may post your answers as soon as the Discussion questions are live on Mondays and Wednesdays. If your Section is responding to the other Section, you can post those answers as soon as you see any in your forum. You can pick anyone’s answer to respond to, even if someone else in your group already has.

• If it’s not your week to answer the Discussion Question, please wait until the other Section posts their answers. Please do not respond directly to the Discussion Question unless it’s your turn, or you will not get a grade for that day.

Here’s what a typical 2 week period will look like:

Week 1

Monday	I will post a Discussion Question Section A answers the Discussion question by 11:59pm
Tuesday	Section B responds to Section A’s answers by 11:59pm
Wednesday	I will post a Discussion Question Section A answers the Discussion question by 11:59pm
Thursday	Section B responds to Section A’s answers by 11:59pm

Week 2

Monday	I will post a Discussion Question Section B answers the Discussion question by 11:59pm
Tuesday	Section A responds to Section B’s answers by 11:59pm
Wednesday	I will post a Discussion Question Section B answers the Discussion question by 11:59pm
Thursday	Section A responds to Section B’s answers by 11:59pm

Other Assignments

Writing Assignments

These 2 Writing Assignments will help you learn how to write an argumentative essay. I’ll be giving feedback on both of these assignments. Don’t worry if you can’t come up with the perfect subject, purpose, or thesis. These are marked for completion, so if you do them, you get the 10%.

1. Essay Subject and Purpose: 5% (Due June 28th)

How do I figure out a “subject” and a “purpose”?

Go to Content → Essay Resources → Essay Topics, read the topics, and think about which one(s) interest you.
During the second half of Week 7, instead of the usual Discussion Questions, please read the “Writing Materials” handout.
Finding your subject: A subject is more specific than a topic, so it’s up to you to figure out how to narrow this down (pg. 1-2 of handout)
For example, if the topic you choose from the Essay Topics list is “Vlogging,” how you can make this more specific? (i.e. Lifestyle vlogging for vegan cooking). A more specific subject will make for a much better essay!
Defining your purpose: What are you going to do in this essay? What interests you about this subject? (pg. 2-3 of handout)
Submit your assignment to Dropbox → Essay Subject and Purpose. You can submit more than one.
Read pg. 4-6 of the handout to start thinking about your thesis statement, which is the next writing assignment.

2. Thesis Statement: 5% (Due July 12th)

How do I come up with a thesis statement?

Read the “What is a thesis” handout, which will help you learn the difference between a thesis and an argument. An argument is good, but a thesis goes further and explains not only what you’re arguing, but how you’re going to do it
Read the “Thesis Statements” handout, which will help you craft your thesis statement
Refer to pg. 4-6 of the “Writing Materials” handout again. You can choose to write an “explanatory” or “argumentative” thesis statement (both are good!)
Make sure your thesis is 1-2 sentences at most, and explains your main argument and how you’re going to prove it in the essay.
Submit your assignment to Dropbox → Thesis Statement.

Group Platform Project: 20% (Due July 19th)

What is a platform project?

In this course, we’re reading about a lot of different digital media platforms like Youtube, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Steam etc. Many of you know about and use even more, so this project is meant to let you explore how those digital platforms affect your life.

In your groups (the same ones for Discussion Questions), collectively choose 2 platforms you all use.
Discuss the pros and cons of the platforms with your group members.
Choose 1 reading from the course and use it to think about how you can compare the 2 platforms.
Create an audio AND visual presentation that analyzes and comments on how these platforms have impacted your digital life. Why do you use these platforms? Why might you use one over the other?

Here are the main requirements:

Everyone in your group must contribute to the presentation equally, so it might be best if you all took turns talking about the platforms and why you use them/what you use them for. If some people in your group only use 1 platform, that’s fine – the idea is to create a coherent presentation that compares the 2 platforms.
You can do this through a visual slideshow (Google slides, etc.) with recorded audio. Or, you can record yourselves using the platforms you might be talking about (Tik Tok, Snapchat, etc.)
In your presentation, you *must* reference the reading you have chosen.
Presentations should be 10 min. long and be uploaded to Dropbox → Group Platform Project. Please choose one member of your group to upload the file.

Final Essay: 20% (Due Aug 2nd)

Everyone will receive feedback on their Essay Subject and Purpose and Thesis Statement assignments approx. one week after submission. Once you have feedback, start planning your essay. Here are some things you should do:

Choose 2 readings from the course to help support your thesis. Use the arguments presented in those readings as evidence/proof of what you’re arguing.
In addition, think about evidence/proof you can draw from your own life experiences. You can use these ideas to argue your point.
Write an argumentative essay that is 6-8 pages long, and use proper MLA format and citations. Make sure you cite every quotation you use *and* every idea that does not belong to you. You can find more information about MLA if you click on Content → Essay Resources → MLA 8 Style Guide with Sample.
For a rubric/guide, check the “Essay Checklist” document in the same folder.
You have the option to upload your essay to Dropbox → Final Essay (Draft), which will allow you to check your essay for any accidental plagiarism using Turnitin®. This submission won’t be graded and is totally voluntary, so you don’t have to upload your essay to this folder if you don’t want to.
Upload your essay to Dropbox → Final Essay.