As we read Lisa Ede's The Academic Writer, we'll be completing short exercises both outside of class and during class. I'll announce the assigned exercises in class, prior to the reading assignments. These exercises should help you work through the material in the textbook, and they will also serve as evidence that you're keeping up with the reading. You will post these exercises to your Dropbox folder, and I will comment on them periodically.

We will be reading selections from The New Media Reader throughout the semester, and we'll discuss these readings in class. You will write talking points as preparation for these discussions. Talking points should be no more than 500 words, and they can come in whatever format you'd like: questions, incomplete phrases, notes, paragraphs, quotations from the text that you found interesting, connections to other readings, connections to ideas we've discussed in class, etc. You may also want to use these assignments to apply the terms and concepts of our textbook (The Academic Writer) to the readings in The New Media Reader.

You will post these talking points to your Dropbox folder, and I will comment on them periodically. Use the talking points assignments to work through what you find most interesting about the readings or to ask any questions.

Due Dates
First Submission - Due 10/7
Second Submission - Due 10/21

Approximately 1500 words

Description
In this course, we're focusing on how scholars, engineers, writers, and artists theorize and use new media. The New Media Reader offers us a window into how people in various disciplines make different kinds of arguments, and this assignment will ask you to compare two of our readings. The tools of rhetorical analysis allow us to, among other things, understand how an argument is constructed and who the target audience might be. In this assignment, you'll be considering such questions with regard to two of our readings, and then you'll be making comparisons between these two readings. Lisa Ede's The Academic Writer offers us a number of ways to analyze an argument: Aristotle's three appeals, stasis theory, the Toulmin method. She also encourages us to think about writing as design and to develop a "rhetorical" sensitivity. You'll use all of these tools and ideas in this paper.

You'll be comparing two of our readings from the New Media Reader. You can choose from any of the readings we've read thus far. If you would like to write about a chapter in the The New Media Reader that we haven't yet read, please check with me first.

Your task is to develop an argument about how these two arguments are constructed and how their rhetorical situations are similar or different: What similarities and differences are there between these two arguments? How do the authors' disciplinary backgrounds affect their argument, their audience, their rhetorical tactics, and their goals?

Goals of the Assignment

While I will not be grading your paper, I will be providing feedback. That feedback will be focused on whether or not you've addressed the following goals:

1) Consider the differences between the disciplinary backgrounds of the authors and how those differences affect their arguments.

2) Articulate a clear argument about how these arguments are similar or different. While you may be able to determine a number of connections between the two arguments that you choose, it will be your task to focus your argument. What is your argument about how these two pieces of writing are similar or different?

3) Offer concrete evidence from the readings. When making claims about how these author's argue, offer specific examples as evidence.

4) Make use of the terms explained in The Academic Writer to conduct your comparative analysis. We've discussed a number of terms that help us make sense of arguments, and you should think of these terms as your tools for this paper.

5) Explain the purpose of your analysis. For instance, what does your analysis show us? How does it offer us a new way of looking at on one or both of these readings? How would you answer someone who read your analysis and responded with "So What?"

Due Dates
First Submission - Due 11/11
Second Submission - Due 11/23

Approximately 2000-2500 words
(equivalent: 8-10 pages, Times New Roman, 12-point, pages double-spaced)

Description
The New Media Reader contains a wide range of arguments from a wide range of scholars, and each chapter begins with an introduction that explains the author's background, their importance to new media studies, and related texts and authors. For this assignment, you will write and design your own chapter of The New Media Reader. You will conduct research about the author, determine where the chapter would fit in the text (which section of the text and which chapter number it would have), write a detailed introduction to this contribution to The New Media Reader, and design your document using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

We will be conducting research in groups, so you will be able to collaborate with your classmates as you find the piece you will be summarizing and analyzing and as you find secondary sources. Each group will compile a list of possible contributions to The New Media Reader, and I will then help the group decide which of these would serve as the best option for the assignment. Once the group has decided on its contribution to The New Media Reader, it will collaboratively research that contribution and its author.

We will be learning how to use CSS in class, and I will be teaching you the basics. You are not expected to be an expert web designer, but you are expected to understand the basics of laying out a page with CSS.

Goals of the Assignment

While I will not be grading your paper, I will be providing feedback. That feedback will be focused on whether or not you've addressed the following goals:

1) Show evidence that you have conducted detailed research about the author and his or her relevance to the field of new media.

2) Demonstrate why this author belongs in the The New Media Reader.

3) Present a thoughtful, coherent summary and analysis of the piece you've decided to include in the New Media Reader. You should provide a summary of the piece, an explanation of its importance, an explanation of its connection to new media studies, and discussion of its most interesting or unique features.

4) Find connections between the piece you've chosen to include in The New Media Reader and other pieces that are already included in the collection. The text offers the"links" in the margins to point out how one chapter is related to another, and you should be including links of your own.

5) Show evidence that you understand the basics of CSS and that you've carefully considered page design. You can include text boxes and other graphical features. You are encouraged to add features to the page design, but those features should be helpful to the reader in some way.

Due Date
Final Mashup Due 12/9

Description
The New Media Reader's CD-ROM includes various pieces of video footage, and this assignment asks you to create a mashup some of that footage. You should incorporate footage that you find online in order to transform the original video and in order to make viewers think about the original footage in a new way. Mashups do not necessarily step the audience through an argument. Rather, they explore connections and put the source material into conversation with other content. Your job is to somehow make this old footage new.

Your mashup can be no longer than two minutes.

Goals of the Assignment

While I will not be grading your mashup, I will be providing feedback. That feedback will be focused on whether or not you've addressed the following goals:

1) Your mashup should be transformative. It should find a way to make the source material new and to make us think about it in a different way.

2) Your mashup should show evidence that you've researched the original clip and that you understand its historical context. The best video mashups incorporate footage for a reason; they do not just combine footage at random. Your mashup should show us that you understand why the editors of The New Media Reader chose to include this clip.

3) Your work should make its case without the use of voice-over and without relying on text. Your mashup should make use of sound and image to show us connections between the source material and the footage that you've found during your research.