Framing Our Place in Digital History: The BET

Read the WIRED Article about Kevin Kelly's bet with Patrick Sale on whether or not technology will destroy society here: https://www.wired.com/story/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society/

 You can also see a "print-friendly" version here: PRINT FRIENDLY VERSION

You could even listen to the article here while you follow along: A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due Has Tech Destroyed Society WIRED.mp4

Create a Blog to respond to the questions below - and post the blog link in the Canvas Assignment.

• Who is Kevin Kelly? DETAILS!
• Who is Patrick Sale? DETAILS!
• Describe the chief conflict between the two men.
• What was the bet they made?
• How did the bet go in the three areas measured?
  • Economic Collapse
  • Global Environmental Disaster
  • The War Between Rich and Poor
• Do you agree with the verdict of the judge who settled the bet? Why or why not?
• What other areas SHOULD the bet have covered? If you were making a similar bet for the NEXT 25 years. what areas would you include for judgment?

Interactive Graphics Samples

 You willl build a sample Interactive Graphic from ThingLink and will post a like like this:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1302615426072576003 

and embed teh interactive graphic by using html code like this:

Wireframes and Site Maps

Students in CM410 have taken brand personality surveys, researched numerous approaches to website building, developed brand guidelines, built style sheets, and reflected on how their web presence can carry their personal "voices."

NOW, they will plan their websites by creating two pre-design tools:

First, a Wire Frame of their home page indicating the layout of elements on the page.

Secondly, a Site Map indicating all the components and content they want to publish on their websites.

They will leverage several resources, including:

Wireframe Samples:

• Abinash Mohanty
• Speckyboy

Planning and Building Your Website

 Students will review examples of "best practices" by looking at other students’ (and young professionals’) personal websites:

• Anthony Wiktor - http://www.anthonydesigner.com/
• Callie Schweitzer - http://www.callieschweitzer.com/
• Claire Huminski - http://clairehuminski.weebly.com/
• Claire Violand - http://clairevioland.weebly.com/
• Devon Stank - https://www.devonstank.com/
• Elizabeth Lundin - http://beautifully-weird-words.com/me/
• Ian Enders - http://ianenders.com/
• Kimberly Horton - http://kimberlyhorton.com/
• Nathaniel Koloc - https://www.nathanielkoloc.com/
• Red Russak - http://redrussak.com/
• Roxine Kee - http://www.roxinekee.com/
• Sarah Chang - http://www.sarahlichang.com/musings/
• Savannah Markey - https://savannahmarkey.weebly.com/
• Shalyn Dougherty - http://shalyndougherty.weebly.com/
• Taha Khan - https://taharkhan.com/
• Mallory Gardner - mallorygardner18.weebly.com

(Students will also glance at the 50 Best Personal Websites)

Students will use the information from the article, and ideas from the examples to revise and complete their websites. In their Blogs, students will provide a link to completed work for each of these items:

1. Home/Landing Page
2. About Me/Bio Info
3. Resume
4. Portfolio (various work by student: writing, design, art, photography, research, experience, etc.)
5. Social Media Research Page (preparing for Student Symposium Panel.)

Optional:

• Special Interests Page
• Hobbies Page
• Job-specific Page for potential employers
• Community/Issues Page

Kevin Kelly's Bet and the (Near) Future of the Digital World

Read this article and post your thoughts.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, refine your research topic and update your Pinterest Board collection of article. 

THIS IS AGGREGATION: Bring in articles in to a collection for review.

Plus, visit Flipboard and set up an account and build a magazine based on your best sources for your research topic.

THIS is CURATION: Display the best articles from the collection that match your focus.

My interest Board

 Here is my interest Board on Smart Homes:

next

Drinking from the Digital Firehose

 One things that makes "New Media" new is that these media have not yet formed all their rules, grammars, best practices, etc. That is to say, that even though students explore these media without dear, they are, indeed, pioneers - blazing trails and discovering paths of literacy. 

In this digital curation project, students learn to design meaning in, and through, digital media. The goal of the project is to help students develop, not a specific grammar or a taxonomy, but rather a workable approach for forming grammars, methodologies, heuristics, etc. where none exist as standards. A set of methodologies that handles the flood of information in the digital age will be in much demand. 

 
Students in the Digital Literacies class will use Flipboard and Pocket as a tool of aggregating (gathering) information on a specific topic of their choosing. They will use Pinterest as a tool of curating (organizing and displaying) their findings from the research in Flipboard.

Students will share their Flipboard findings (Magazine) - as well as their Pinterest collections (Board) in their blogs. These examples will serve as example for them on how to use such tools for research on other topics in contemporary digital publications.

**** Students will embed their initial Flipboard Magazines and Pinterest Boards in their blog with a description of their chose topics.

 (Pinterest embed instructions can be found here: https://www.theedublogger.com/how-to-embed-pinterest-boards-and-pins-on-your-blog-2/)

Here is an example of my own VR Research Magazine in Flipboard.

Here is an embed of my new magazine:

 

 

Here is an embed of my Pinterest Board:

Randy D. Nichols"Too Smart" HomesFollow On

Black MIrror, Social Media, and the Future

You viewed a "fictional" account of the possible future of social media interactions in an episode of Black Mirror titled "Nosedive." 

Read the two articles below and note specific instances (quote the articles) of how the "fictional future" is the "actual present." Give at least three examples - THEN write a short reflection of the implications of your findings and post before Tuesday's class: 

• What does it mean? 
• What will you think or do differently?
• How do you feel about this information in relation to your current project of Personal Branding your Social Media?
  

The UK's Daily Mail Article

WIRED Magazine

 

Surprise: make sure you are logged into Google or Gmail and click this link: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity 

Brand Guides of the Stars

Well, Brand Guides of some famous and successful enterprises, at least...

In class, students will be assigned one or more Brand Guide to examine and analyze. They will observe 

• key elements of the brand guide's content
• overarching design components of the guide itself
• stated requirements for use of branded materials
• the VSION statement or PHILOSOPHY statement
•  COMPONENTS the student wishes to incorporate in their own brand guide or style sheet

They will post their findings in their blog for class discussion, and will incorporate useful discoveries into their personal brand style sheet assignment.

Sample Brand Guides to review

• Nike Football
• I Love NY 
• Skype 
• University of Cambridge (website)
• or one of these 36 GREAT BRAND GUIDES  

You.com - Your Online Personal Brand

 Students will work through the interactive article "Personal Branding 101" by Lisa Quast (interactivity layers by Dr. Nichols) via the InsertLearning Link below. First, sign up with the following info:

 (Keep in mind that the "discussion questions" are shared among all colleagues for collaborative learning benefits.) USE THIS LINK to access the interactive article: https://insertlearning.com/v1/lesson/5d94dcc56dde50763df6e083

After completing the interactive article assignment, students will reflect on their findings, and will apply their design skills to creating a composite image in the tradition of Robert Weingarten's "Portrait Unbound" (see videos below) - using original photos and other images to create a collage/montage that reflects their own "brand." They will post these images on their blogs with reflections on the process.

 

 

Students may use design programs like PhotoShop, Illustrator, Indesign, etc. to create their "Portraits unbound."
AFTER completing the project, students will use web-based collage makers from Adobe Spark or Canva to make a representative collage.

Ad and Cover Analysis & Redesign Projects

 Two Great Projects:

1. Students will complete a Design Analysis of several print ads for discussion and evaluation in Tuesday's class. Here are some sample ads (from BestAds) they will work from:

 

2. Students will use "Freegal" image sources and the graphics program of their choice to recreate a similar display ad (and ad for a product (real or fictitious) of their choice) plus a WIRED Magazine Cover!

Here are samples of recreating a cover and ad...

  

The ad on the left appeared on the back of the May 2016 issue of WIRED Magazine. The mock-up ad on the right was created in just a few minutes using the CC 1.0 photo "Male Beard Guy" (CC 1.0)
Photo via VisualHunt.com

 The cover on the left is from the March 2016 issue of WIRED Magazine. The mock up on the right was (sorta) done using the Public Domain (dedication) image "Cosmonautics Space Suit"
Photo via VisualHunt.com

 
Image resources can be found here on Dr. Nick's "Images for Multimedia Composition" Pinterest Board.

Early History of New Media as Disruptive Agent in the Music Industry

We meet in  https://w3w.co/groom.ever.lobby 

Our first few classes have involved a little time travel to see just how significant were some of the shifts facilitated (or caused) by New Media. We have explored artifacts, (including memes and viral videos,) as a way to see how the elements of remediation, meta-generativity, and agency have shaped our 21st-century media landscape.

Students will complete viewing Michael Wesch's lecture "An Anthropological Look at YouTube" and will post their reflections, reactions, and take-aways.

Additionally, student will explicate an assigned song from a playlist - researching the history of the song, examining the lyrics, and deriving an interpretation of how the song speaks about the state (or history) of the Music Industry. Students will post their reflections, along with lyrics, links, or video in their blogs.

(Cheat: I did one of the songs a couple years ago - you can get the idea of what I'm looking for here.)

 

 SNEAK PEEK: What Google knows about you

 

Writing in a Whole New Way (Electronic Writing)

 Students will look at the blog responses from Week 1 (Reading in a Whole New Way, Reading on Screens, letter-writing exercise) and will "re-write" the blogs to take advantage of all the affordances of electronic writing in the digital blog environment. Here are some of the ways students will enhance their blog entries.

Using Hypertext Links: For example, instead of just saying, "I read the article Reading in a Whole New Way," they would say, "I read the article
Reading in a Whole New Way," so that the actual article opens in a new window.

Embedding Images: students will enhance their blog entries with appropriate imagery. For example, in referring to the "Reading on Screen" article, the might accompany their comments with a picture like the one on the left.

Embedding video: students will embed video to enrich their blog entries. For example, when referring to the Sullivan Ballou letter we read in class, they could embed a video from You Tube like the one at the bottom of this post.

Students will use other creative enhancements as well - and will inspire and collaborate and do a great "multi-modal" blog entry!

Welcome to CM410: Digital Communication 1!

This is the Instructor's Blog - or as we will call it, the Class Blog. You will check here for reminders of assignments, summary instructions, and other feedback from the Professor. This page will also feature links to your colleagues in this section (and to colleagues who have gone on before you.)

You could think of this as a "hub" for our class bloggers, but in reality, each of your own sites will, in pretty short order, be "hubs" of their own, connecting with your colleagues.

The main site for resources will be our Canvas Course which will grow as the term progresses.

Bookmark this blog site, explore the Canvas course site, and you will be off and running!

Now let's get this show on the road... 

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Reading on Screens!

For our first reading/thinking/blogging assignment, students will post their thoughts and reflections on two articles, as well as the class experience writing a letter with pen and paper:

1. Everything Science Knows About Reading on Screens by Annie Sneed
2. Reading in a Whole New Way by Kevin Kelly

Students will experiment with a few interactive digital artifacts as they explore the affordances new media brings to composition and reception of electronic "texts."

Check the Blog List to the right to see their posts!

All the Answers to the Final Exam are here!

 the Final Exam are here!

Final Defense

 Students will make a comprehensive defense of their "body of work/learning" in a presentation on Thursday, April 22, 2021.

The defense may be in any of the following formats:

1. Student-produced video
2. Interactive images
3. Website / web pages
   
4. Live presentation (with graphics)
5. Other previously approved digital format (game, gallery, etc.)

 The Defense will deal with these issues:

1. Website Design (Brand, SEO, Design, Coding, etc.)
2. Social Media Presence (Design & Content)
3. Preparing for Career (Resume, Video Resume, Landing Page)
4. Interactive Images (2D and 360)
5. Video Production (Shooting, Lighting, Editing)
6. Design Principles and Tools
7. Digital Aggregating and Curating (Pinterest, Flipboard, etc.)
8. Personal Branding (Style Sheet, Portrait Unbound, etc.)
9. Understanding Media (Memes, Privacy, Copyright, etc.)

 Students will post links to defense materials in their blog entries before Thursday's class.

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