Class Assignment for 10/29

Your assignment for next Wednesday is to:

1) Post a new blog with an example of a website (e.g., TalkingPointsMemo), or a utility (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) or a technology (e.g., the smartphone), and describe in at least a couple of paragraphs (more if you wish), how it enables citizens to participate in journalism and/or politics in non-traditional ways. Include a link to the relevant website, and a link to at least one example of the participation you describe.

You may use the examples given in this assignment, but you may not use an example that has already been posted by another student – so the sooner you post, the easier this assignment will be. Please try to complete this part of the assignment by Monday morning.

2) Return to the blog after Monday morning, read through all of the new entries that have been posted, and post a comment on at least one of your classmate’s entries – you can give additional examples, or context, or link to other sources that provide additional information, or even disagree with the author.

3) Come to class prepared to explain and discuss your examples. We will want to explore the technological, economic, social and political implications of these media – both in terms of how those factors have shaped them, and in terms of their impact on society.