If you're interested in a counter-argument to Is Google Making Us Stupid? have a look at this post on the academic blog Cyborgology:
http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2010/12/29/myth-instant-communication-is-shallow/
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Learning from YouTube
This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education contextualizes the project:
http://chronicle.com/article/Free-Video-Book-From/126427/
"When Alexandra Juhasz began teaching a class about YouTube in 2007, journalists poked fun at the Pitzer College professor. Academic credit to watch goofy kitten videos? TechCrunch, a popular blog, said it might be the most ridiculous class any college had ever offered." (Parry)
Professor Juhasz and her class created a website combing video and text revealing the result of their inquiry into the educational uses of YouTube. Their results are here:
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/index.php
The parts I wanted to show in class have more to do with the discourse community formed by the class and the result of their inquiry. This page describes what happened when Professor Juhasz offered an A on the midterm to students who created the most popular entry to YouTube:
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/texteo.php?composite=104
I showed the first few minutes of this video in which students attempt to decode why certain videos are popular on YouTube.
In the next video, a student reveals the results of his inquiry into comments on popular political videos
In both these examples, students are looking into how discourse communities interact through YouTube.
This next example shows one student's response to the class inquiry. Watch her video on the right and then watch the professor's response on the left. I was interested by this student's rejection of video as a substitute for the written word and the professor's description of her video as "bad." What does she mean here?
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/texteo.php?composite=95&tag=10
It seems like these videos have different audiences in mind. The student wants to demonstrate her ideas through text.She thinks text is the best way to explain her ideas. But the professor is looking to the video to "compete" in a way with other videos and show interesting images. This is an excellent example of how different genres (text versus video) reach out to separate discourse communities.
http://chronicle.com/article/Free-Video-Book-From/126427/
"When Alexandra Juhasz began teaching a class about YouTube in 2007, journalists poked fun at the Pitzer College professor. Academic credit to watch goofy kitten videos? TechCrunch, a popular blog, said it might be the most ridiculous class any college had ever offered." (Parry)
Professor Juhasz and her class created a website combing video and text revealing the result of their inquiry into the educational uses of YouTube. Their results are here:
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/index.php
The parts I wanted to show in class have more to do with the discourse community formed by the class and the result of their inquiry. This page describes what happened when Professor Juhasz offered an A on the midterm to students who created the most popular entry to YouTube:
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/texteo.php?composite=104
I showed the first few minutes of this video in which students attempt to decode why certain videos are popular on YouTube.
In the next video, a student reveals the results of his inquiry into comments on popular political videos
In both these examples, students are looking into how discourse communities interact through YouTube.
This next example shows one student's response to the class inquiry. Watch her video on the right and then watch the professor's response on the left. I was interested by this student's rejection of video as a substitute for the written word and the professor's description of her video as "bad." What does she mean here?
http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/learningfromyoutube/texteo.php?composite=95&tag=10
It seems like these videos have different audiences in mind. The student wants to demonstrate her ideas through text.She thinks text is the best way to explain her ideas. But the professor is looking to the video to "compete" in a way with other videos and show interesting images. This is an excellent example of how different genres (text versus video) reach out to separate discourse communities.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
More Rhetoric Links
The Blogora is a collaborative space for connecting rhetoric, rhetorical methods and theories, and rhetoricians with public life. The Blogora is an initiative of the Rhetoric Society of America and is hosted by the Digital Writing and Research Lab, part of the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at The University of Texas at Austin. Visit the Blogora:
http://rsa.cwrl.utexas.edu/about
Rhetcomp may look like a site from the early days of the internet, but there are useful links here to blogs and online journals in the field of rhetoric.
http://mattlevy.home.mindspring.com/rhetcomp/index.html
If you find useful websites on rhetoric, language or literacy that you'd like to share with the class, please post them in the comments.
http://rsa.cwrl.utexas.edu/about
Rhetcomp may look like a site from the early days of the internet, but there are useful links here to blogs and online journals in the field of rhetoric.
http://mattlevy.home.mindspring.com/rhetcomp/index.html
If you find useful websites on rhetoric, language or literacy that you'd like to share with the class, please post them in the comments.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Nick Carr: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
This week's reading can be accessed here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/
The excerpt comes from Carr's book The Shallows
His website is here: http://www.theshallowsbook.com/nicholascarr/Nicholas_Carrs_The_Shallows.html
We will discuss this reading in class on Friday the 25th.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/
The excerpt comes from Carr's book The Shallows
His website is here: http://www.theshallowsbook.com/nicholascarr/Nicholas_Carrs_The_Shallows.html
We will discuss this reading in class on Friday the 25th.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Kairos
Here is a link to a journal that collects articles on technology and rhetoric:
http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/
http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Logos Gone Wrong
Wikipedia has a pretty good list of logical fallacies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
This is an extensive catalogue of the ways logical appeals can be abused.
Have you seen any examples of these fallacies online?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
This is an extensive catalogue of the ways logical appeals can be abused.
Have you seen any examples of these fallacies online?
How the Internet Gets Inside Us
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/02/14/110214crat_atlarge_gopnik
Here is an article about the books that claim the internet is making books irrelevant. With Harry Potter references.
Here is an article about the books that claim the internet is making books irrelevant. With Harry Potter references.
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