Workshops! Round 2

Because people seemed to like the workshop format last time, I thought we would try it again. But this time you can handle the scheduling.

The workshops schedule is now posted as a Google Doc that you can edit. Please type in your name and preferred email address in a time slot that would work for you. Remember, no more than five participants per workshop. Those times that attract fewer than three participants will be canceled and the participants asked to find another time.

A review response sheet for the workshop will be posted soon.

Click here to go to the Google Doc.

Schedule Update 2/13, 2/15

Students,

Upon further reflection, I am swapping our Monday and Wednesday schedules for next week. I will be out of town this weekend, which coincides with Winter Carnival. Plus, I have plenty to read with your essays and can do better justice to your blog posts later in the week.

So, posts 2.4 and 2.5 are not due posted until Tuesday for discussion in Wednesday’s class. You have no homework this weekend other than following a blog and the New York Times. Of course, you may also post to your blog early and get ahead on the Harris readings. I have updated the schedule on Blackboard to reflect these changes.

For those of you who missed class Wednesday or didn’t finish in class, you need to pick a blog that you’re interested in following, provide a link on your blog to that blog, and describe what the blog is about and why it interests you. For a listing of popular blogs, you can visit http://technorati.com. This blog post doesn't need to be 250 words. Blogs that interact with other blogs, new sources, and current events are some of the best to pick. We will talk more about this next week.

Thanks, and have a good weekend.

-Eric

If you want to keep reading, additional sources

As promised, here are some additional resources that could be helpful with your essays.

Read acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen's controversial take on ebooks and social values here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9047981/Jonathan-Franzen-e-books-are-damaging-society.html

Here is a recent debate about academic blogging in relation to traditional term papers:
http://hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2012/01/21/should-we-really-abolish-term-paper-response-ny-times

A summary of a research article connecting facebook and narcissism can be found here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=status-update-im-so-glamorous

And this is a NY Times essay in which the author argues for an understanding of "screen literacy":
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23wwln-future-t.html

As you can see, these are all pretty hot topics. 

Updates from the Aspen office / apartment

Hello, everybody.

The writing workshop meetings have been going well, so thanks for investing and participating in those. I hope you have found them productive and interesting, too.

I’ve posted on Blackboard the schedule and blog prompts for the next unit. Be aware that you do have a blog post (just one) due Sunday before Monday’s regularly scheduled class session. Your revised essay is due by 11:59 p.m. Monday to me as an email attachment and posted on your blog.

In the meantime, keep reading the New York Times, looking for stories that interest you, and also be looking for a blog to start following. That may be a blog about politics, sports, music, film, whatever you prefer. We’ll talk more about this in class.

I’ve also created a short survey I’d like you to check out. It’s anonymous, so it’s not required and you don’t need to answer all six questions. I wanted to give you a chance to let me know what you think of the course so far. I will use what you say to help me plan the rest of the term.

Please visit the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GX9VYQK.

Finally, I am posting here, on my own course blog, some article links relevant to what you have been writing about in your essays. There’s one about ebooks and the death of democracy, another about facebook and narcissism, a third advocating “screen literacy.” If you’re looking for more sources, those could be worth browsing.

Have a good weekend. Stay clear of avalanches. I’ll see you all Monday.

Eric