Syllabus
Here you'll find information about course texts, policies, procedures, and evaluation standards. Make sure to go over the information thoroughly, particularly the information about submitting work electronically.
Course Objectives
This course deals with both theory and practice. The objectives include:
Develop your own definitions of "new" and "multi" media
Become familiar with some of the history, philosophy, and significant figures of new and multi media development
Consider ways in which new and multi-media encourage or are informed by "hyperthinking," "filmic vision," and "cyborg experience"
Question accepted ways of thinking/working/perceiving in electronic media brought about by hegemonic forces (such as the film and television industries, corporations such as Microsoft [upon whose software I ADMIT my dependence])
Identify ways that textual and visual literacy are changing because of new and multi media
Develop and use criteria for evaluating multi-media presentations
Understand and demonstrate planning and story-boarding for multimedia presentations
Play with (eh, hm, I mean learn) some tools and techniques.
Texts (Spring 2019)
Flew, Terry. 2014. New Media, Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0195577853 |
Ronson, Jon. 2016. So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Reprint edition. Riverhead Books. |
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Shirky, Clay. 2011. Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators. Penguin. ISBN-13: 978-0143119586 |
From time to time, additional articles will be posted to Blackboard > Course Docs > Additional Readings. These will be listed on the schedule. |
Policies
Bad Weather. Should the university be closed due to a storm, we'll continue on Blackboard as possible. Check for further information and to sign up for alerts at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/oehs/ |
Scheduling and Deadlines
I'll post new materials, activities, and discussion threads by Monday morning of the week they're scheduled (if not before). Make sure to check the course schedule and Blackboard to keep current.
This course includes a considerable amount of reading and discussion. All the readings will be listed on the Schedule prior to the week of discussion. Please do the readings as early in the week as possible so you're ready for discussion and activities.
All projects and activities are due by midnight of the day indicated on the Schedule.
Course Completion
All work must be submitted to receive a passing grade in the course. Requests for incompletes will be only be granted in extreme circumstances. If you request an incomplete, you will need to provide in writing a plan for completing the course that includes a completion date that I approve.
East Carolina University and the Americans with Disabilities Act
East Carolina University seeks to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must contact the Department for Disability Support Services, Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. E-mail: https://dss.ecu.edu/student-requesting-accommodation/ Telephone number : (252) 737-1016.
Academic Honesty
In this course, plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will be treated based on the East Carolina University Code of Conduct.
Because this is a graduate level course, I'm assuming that you are all familiar with what constitutes improper uses of sources and copyrighted materials. Sometimes, however, the rules for adequately citing sources and/or the procedures for acquiring permissions are not entirely clear cut. We should discuss any issues as they arise, particularly in terms of the ways in which these areas are related to the creation and use of electronic media.
Procedures
Blackboard
We'll be using the asynchronous discussion board utility on Blackboard to exchange ideas about various topics and readings. I'll also post some additional readings, sample documents, and other course materials on Blackboard and indicate on the schedule where you can find these items.
To access Blackboard, go to the ECU Web site and click on the Blackboard tab at the top left of the main page content. Once on the Blackboard site, you'll need your ECU mail ID and Password to log in. I've set up the site and you've all been added so that when you go to Blackboard you should immediately see a link to this course.
One of the threads is for "Questions and Problems" and you can use that to ask about anything to do with the assignments, course technology, broken links, or other problems. If you have an issues, it's likely someone else will as well. I will check the Blackboard discussions regularly.
Our secondary contact is through email. Some procedures for corresponding via email include the following:
- In the subject line, include "7766:" followed by the subject of the posting.
- Include your name and e-mail address in all postings.
- When submitting a document via e-mail, attach the file to an e-mail message; do not paste it into the message.
I try to return e-mails at least twice a day and usually I'll respond to e-mail in the evenings as well. I don't always respond to e-mails on Saturday. I generally check and return e-mail on Sunday afternoons. If I won't be available for any reason, I'll let you know.
Saving and Naming Projects
You can submit most types of files to me--Word .doc or .docx; Rich Text Format (RTF) files; Powerpoint; Flash; MP3, 4; Real Media, QuickTime, etc; html; Flash; any graphic file format that can be opened in Photoshop; and pdf. For papers, if you use MS Works, or Corel, please save documents in rich text format. Since for this course some assignments may not be text files, check with me if you plan to submit something developed in a program that I may not have access to.
Name files with your last name, underscore, and the number of the project. If you submit multiple files, make sure to name them accordingly.
Transmitting Projects
Place assignment submission files in the appopraite "Assignment" area on Blackboard (preferred method). This procedure is especially convenient because it doesn't use up your (or my) e-mail account space. Some of your files may be large, particularly if they contain graphics or other displays. If you want to combine multiple files into a zip file, that's OK too.
When I return files, I will return them and post grades to the grade book.
OR Post projects to a server. For this course, you may choose to create materials that you can post to your ECU server space, other server space, a blog, a wiki, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, or other spot. If you choose this method of submitting work, please submit the URL, link, or other access information and a brief description of what you have posted.
OR If for any reason you cannot access Blackboard, send files as e-mail attachments to my campus e-mail address. (kaind@ecu.edu) with the message "7766 Project # Submission" in the subject line. Include your name at the bottom of your message as I don't always recognize e-mail addresses, especially if you send from an account other than your ECU mail. Always place "7766" in subject line as well as the essence of your communication.
IMPORTANT: If a file is unreadable when I open it to review, I'll let you know. It is your responsibility to fix your file and resubmit it as soon as possible. While I do NOT assess late penalties for transmission difficulties, I do place these papers later in the evaluation process.
You should be aware that it typically takes me at least a calendar week to evaluate a set of projects (except final projects).
Projects
Due dates for projects are Fridays by midnight (well, by 6 am Saturday will work) on the week they are due unless otherwise noted.
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Project 1: Technology Self Assessment and "Autotechnography" |
Explore your own history with media and technology. |
10% |
Read and contribute substantively to discussion of course readings and activities. |
20% |
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Different short activities |
15% |
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Project 2: "Try Something" |
Write a review of a multimedia tool or a social media tool or platform. We'll be looking at a variety of tools for accomplishing multimedia development tasks and at a number of different social media tools. I encourage you to evaluate a tool that you udo not use regularly or one that you are just trying out for the first time. Consider evaluating a tool that you might use for Project 4. I'll ask you to post these reviews to a Blackboard discussion thread as well as to the assignments so everyone can read them and learn about the tools that are available. |
15% |
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Project 3: "Plan Something" |
Develop a plan for a multimedia presentation for a purpose of your choice. Tasks include planning, scripting, specifying the technology that might be used, and storyboarding. You DO NOT have to actually complete the project. |
20% |
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Project 4: "Make Something" |
Option 1: Make something. Anything. It can be part of the presentation you develop for Project 3 or something different. It can be web-based, video, audio, use of social media or a combination. It doesn't have to be long or complex--what you are able to do will depend on your experience level. If you've been wanting to learn a new tool, or try something you've never done before, here's your excuse. Option 2: Write a research paper about a concept, trend, or convergence of new media. |
20% |
Evaluations
For each project, I will provide more detailed information about what you need to do as well as specific criteria that I will use when evaluating your final submission. You'll know what to include and what I'll be looking for. In determining grades, I also consider the following general criteria:
A—Outstanding work shows a superior analysis of the assignment; provides excellent selection of content, organization, design, and style that addresses both the practical and rhetorical requirements of the particular situation. Uses a style that is fluent and coherent. Has no major mechanical errors. Shows insight, perceptiveness, originality, and thought.
B—Good work is above level necessary to meet course requirements. Has a thorough, well-organized analysis of the assignment. Shows judgment and skill in the presentation of material. Supports ideas well with concrete details. Has an interesting, precise, and clear style. Is free of major mechanical errors. Strong, interesting work, although minor problems may be present.
C—Acceptable work meets all basic requirements of the course and assignment. Provides a satisfactory analysis of the writing task, accomplishes its purpose with adequate content, design, and detail. Uses details, organization, and expression necessary to be understood. Has acceptable mechanics. Nothing remarkably good or bad about the work.
F—Unacceptable work fails to meet one or more of the basic requirements of the course or the assignment. May fail to cover essential points, or may digress to nonessential material. May lack adequate organization and show confusion or misunderstanding of topic, sources, or academic writing. May use an inappropriate tone, poor word choice, excessive repetition, or awkward sentence structure. May contain an unacceptable level of errors.
Revising and Resubmitting Projects
Review, revision, and editing are part of the process you undertake in submitting projects the first time. However, in the event that you have significant problems with an assignment, I may return your paper with comments and a grade of "R" with the suggestion that you revise. If you choose to revise, revisions are due within two weeks. If you choose not to revise, the "R" converts to a "D" or "F" after two weeks.