Short Response Paper 1: What is New Media?

Due Date: 1/16 (by midnight)
Point Value: 10 points
Submission Guidelines: Papers will be submitted to the class blog

The purpose of these short response papers is to get you thinking about the readings, how they are related, and what most interests you about them. These papers will serve as fodder for our class discussions, and you will be expected to read through your classmates papers prior to class.

Janet Murray, Lev Manovich, and Wendy Chun are all working through various ways of defining and conceptualizing "new media." In this response paper, choose one or more of the following discussion questions and write a 500-word response paper. Be sure to address at least two of the readings in your discussion:

• How do the definitions of new media put forward by these scholars overlap and/or collide?
• How do the discussions of these authors relate to Rushkoff's arguments in Program or Be Programmed?
• How do these authors conceptualize the role of the humanities in the emerging field(s) of new media studies?

Grading Criteria:

When grading these papers, I will be asking:

• Does your paper show evidence that you have carefully read and thought about the assigned reading?
• Have you made specific claims about the readings?
• Have you used specific examples from the readings to support your claim(s)?
• Have you addressed at least two of the readings in your paper?
• Was your paper submitted on time? (I do not accept late work.)
• Is your paper 500 words long?
• Does your paper have minimal grammatical and/or structural problems?