Course:Anth378/Assignments

Wiki Assignments and Reading Annotations: 15% Each week a short assignmnet, wikipedia post, or diary exercize will b assigned. Most of these assignments are due Tuesday. See the assignments in the weekly schedule for details. Each Thursday, short 300 word annotation on the assigned readings for the week, their relationship to one another and the themes of the course are due. These will help aid class discussion.

Midterm: 25% Midterm will be in class FEBRUARY 14. 4 short answer questions and a choice of one of two essay topics. One of these topics will be related to the debate on Jan 31.

Chapter Review: 10% The class will divide into groups to read the different digital ethnographies. As a group students will divide the books by chapters or page number and each student is responsible for a 10-15 minute presentation on their section to the group on either February 12 or 26.. On the day of their presentation students will post a 500-600 word review (not just a summary) of their chapter on the class wiki. The review must address: 1) the main points of the chapter 2 )how the chapter relates to the overall theme of the book 3)how are the ideas of the book related to the ideas of the course. The review must express the student’s opinion about the book and its themes through a critique of its ideas in relation to the course and the authors’ research methods. These posts will become a resource for all the students in the course and the Anthropology Department. Groups will also compile their Chapter Reviews into a hand out for students in class due on the Thursday they are Discussion Leads.

Discussion Leads: 10% In the second half of the course, each week will cover a particular digital community corresponding to the digital ethnographies each student will read. Students from each digital ethnography group will lead a discussion among their classmates on the major themes of the week’s reading and the digital ethnography they have read. Each group member will come to class with their own summary of the articles’ key points and discussion questions to share with their group and hand in. Remember to also hand out your groups’ chapter review hand outs.

Beyond the Classroom Assignment and Presentation: 15% Part of the goals for the course is not only to learn about how the world collaborates and socializes with technology, but also to reflect upon and participate in that exchange. This is meant to be a creative assignment. The only guidelines are to share what you’ve learned beyond the classroom. Students can decide to do one project together, several projects as teams or individual projects. The instructor must approve these ideas no later than MARCH 26. On APRIL 2 and 4 each ethnography group will have 15 minutes to present their projects to the class. On the day of their presentation each person must submit a 1-2 paper on their participation in the project, how it relates to the themes of the course, and a critique of the project’s success.

Final Paper: 25% On APRIL 2, the topic for the final paper will be posted. Students will use the resources from the course and at least one other peer reviewed article they have found to answer the question in 6-8 pages. Final papers must be emailed to the professor by MIDNIGHT APRIL 11.