Class: October 26, 2010

Today's discussion revolves around what people can and can't say online, and what they should and shouldn't say online. In preparation, I had you read Chapter 8 of Say Everything as well as these sites:

1. Student Suspension for Myspace Profile
2. The Rutgers Suicide and Social Networking
3. Wikileaks
   
4. Pentagon Asks Media Not to Publish War Leaks

Each site presents a free speech dilemma created by the internet. In addition, Say Everything mentions several instances of potentially troubling online speech. Choose one instance from the articles or book chapter and write a response comment to the following questions:

1. First, how do you view the speech? Is the action something that should be permitted? Encouraged? Frowned upon but allowed? Give us your reaction to the speech act.
2. Second, how should we as a society respond to the speech? If it is negative, can and should we prevent it? If it's positive, how can it be encouraged/protected?

After you finish writing, post a response comment to another student by using the @ symbol. If possible, respond to someone who wrote about the same situation that you did.

Also, here's more info on the Myspace student suspension.

Conferencing Schedule for Thursday, October 28

On Thursday, each student will meet with me individually for conferences about your blogs. Here is the schedule for appointments:

• 4:05-4:20: Kathryn
• 4:20-4:35: Joe
• 4:35-4:50: Kate
• 4:50-5:05: Quinten
• 5:05-5:20: Katie

Class: October 19, 2010

In today's class, we're talking about Shirky Chapter 8. After a brief discussion of the text, I want to talk about the formation of social groups facilitated by the internet. Here are a few examples to get things started:

• Perverted Justice
• Operation Beautiful
  
• We Will Offer Weezer $10 Million to Break Up
• PostSecret
• FlashMob.com
• Ex Jehovah's Witness Forum and Recovery Site
  
• HotOrNot.com
• Freecycle
• Heartwarmers
  
• Penn State Anonymous Confession Board
• Craigslist Missed Connections State College

Look at the groups that interest you, and you can also include groups not listed here that you would like to discuss by including a link in the comments. For each group, consider a few questions:

1. Is the group something new or something old done in a new way?
2. Does the group build social capital?
3. Does the group operate under "The Shadow of the Future"?
4. Can we make a judgment about whether this group is positive or negative?
   

Once we finish talking about this, let's check out meetup.com, which Shirky mentions in his chapter (not surprisingly, he also serves on the board of advisers). Search the site, looking in particular for meetups relating to your blog discourse community.

Class: October 14, 2010

Today's class is all about the paragraph! For our exciting exploration of this friendly organizational unit, complete the following tasks:

1. Discussion of Ross-Larson Section 5
2. Find the topic and point in every paragraph you wrote last week.
   
3. Choose your favorite and least favorite paragraph that you wrote last week.
4. For both paragraphs, answer the following questions: 1) Do you stick to one subject and verb form? 2) Is your terminology clear and consistent? 3) Does each sentence build on the last? 4) Do you signal the relationship between sentences?
   
5. Choose the best paragraph written by one of your classmates.
6. Discuss paragraphs.
7. Rewrite your least favorite paragraph from your blog (in Word, not on the blog).
   

What fun!

Class: October 12, 2010

In today's class, we will be writing responses to the question "Is the internet making us dumber?" For this activity, please complete the following steps:

1) Post a response in the comments of this blog post to the following question: Do you think the internet is making us dumber? Why or why not?
2) Post a reply to another student's comment (indicating who you are commenting to by writing @name at the beginning of the response).
3) Discuss the issue in class.

Whether or not the internet is making you dumber, this activity will make you smarter!

Class: October 7, 2010

For today's class, I want you to leave with a finished post and comments on all your fellow classmates' blogs. Here's the procedure for class today.

1. Introduce exciting Linking Challenge! for next week!
2. Check out and discuss stat counters.
   
3. Write a draft of a new post and save it.
4. Have another classmate read your post.
5. Read another classmate's post.
   
6. Discuss the posts with your fellow classmates. Have them give you feedback on how to make it stronger.
7. Post!
8. Comment on all the other posts in class.

For Tuesday's class, read:

1. Is Google Making Us Stupid?
2. The Internet: Is it Changing the Way We Think?

Class: October 5, 2010

Today's class will involve a discussion of the Kelly/Keen exchange Can We Save the Internet? To prepare for the discussion, please answer the following questions in Word or in an email to me.

1. What is the most important issue the two writers discuss?
   
2. What is Keen's best point?
3. What is Kelly's best point?

Email me your answers, and prepare for an exciting discussion.