Class Wednesday, February 6

So we are switched from Google.groups to Cyberspace homepage. From now on, the summary of class & what you need to do for next class will be on this page.

Thursday, February 6
Today we began by clearing up the contradictions on the calendar regarding the confusing blog entries.

Blog 1: Summary Woolley & reflection

Blog 2: Summary Heim & Bolter and Grusin, + reflections, what you might be interested in

Blog 3: Discussions/summaries of Glister + Rheingold - anything in class discussion that you found interesting - beginnings of exploration of what you might write about

As stated in class, these blogs are a combination journal and preparatory writing for your projects for the course. Summarizing the beginning readings will help you become conversant with the basic vocabulary and concepts for the course. As you do the readings, pay particular attention to the other scholars/authors/groups the writers refer to. The key terms and scholarly references from these readings can be your search terms as you get started on your research.

I also reviewed the schedule for your conferences. These conferences are to make sure you are OK with the blog/writing requirements for the class, and for me to get an idea about what you are interested in pursuing for your research/hyperlinked essay. As of now I am expecting to see you on the following schedule:

Friday, Febraury 8: Leyna: 11:40
Monday, February 11: James: 11:30; Marie: 12
Tuesday, February 12: Jennifer: 12:30; Jaclyn: 2:00
Wednesday, February 12: Angela: 11:00 ; Daphne: 3:30

We spent the rest of the class discussing Howard Rheingold's article on "smart mobs" and checking out what's happening in the real world in terms of flash or smart mobs as they have come to be called. I encouraged you to use a search engine you didn't usually use - and to see if you noticed any differences. We got a little involved in the search - so there wasn't much comment on differences in the search engines. If how different search engines is something that interests you, you might follow up on that in your blog. We read about specific events including political activism (thank you Daphne & James) watched clips on utube of crowds chasing random people (thank you Ricky), and looked at scheduled pillow fight events (thank you Angela & Leyna). After looking at sites, we started to think about what we could tell about the people who participate in smart mobs (what we could tell from the videos) - and that was kind of interesting because it turns out that it is not "everyone" => that different interest groups have different members. So what does it mean that interest groups - even when race, gender & age are invisible - turn out to represent particular demographic groups? Maybe it is not surprising - but what does it mean about "equal opportunity" and "democratic values"?

Also, Leyna showed us a site that listed LOTS of smart mob events. Sites such as these (for example: http://improveverywhere.ning.com/ ) use the web to coordinate "spontaneous events.

Our discussion of Rheingold identified the features of smart mobs - and defined terms associated with how smart mobs work. We paid talked about cooperation thresholds, emergent properties and discussed how these features of smart mob events drive the nature of the experience.

I will look over your blogs - and send you some written feedback via email by Friday night. That way you will have an idea how I am evaluating the blog before you have written to many.

I think that is about all to report for today. If you have questions - or if I forgot something - or if I am being unclear -post a comment!!

See you on Monday.