Finding a Topic of Interest

In the lab today it is your task to narrow the broad theme of “Technology and Society” to a more specific area of interest.  You have an amazing array of topics to choose from.  For example, are you interested in historical changes in technology?  If so, you should focus on one technological innovation (say, the radio) from a specific time period and direct your searches there.  Are you interested in the way contemporary technologies have influenced and been influenced by society?  With the personal computer, the Internet, the WWW, IM, gaming, etc., you have a rich nexus of technologies upon which to focus your efforts.  Are you perhaps interested in the way online networking in the Web 2.0 environment is working to shape society?  If so, you might wish to start looking into places such as MySpace.com, Youtube.com, LiveJournal, etc.  Are you mystified by the way our language is changing in relation to technology?  Is there a paper waiting to be written on the strange linguistic conventions of instant messaging, html code, or 133t speak?  The following is a list of potential areas of interest to get you started.  These are only possibilities.  I encourage you to seek and explore your own interests. 

By the end of class today, I would like for all of you to have committed to a specific area of interest.  Your assignment, then, is to reply to this post by answering the following set of questions:

1. What area/topic have you decided upon?

2. What are five sources that you have found today in the lab that might be useful?  Briefly explain why they might come in handy.  Note that you are not expected to read them today.  Rather, they should just pique your interest.

3.  What are a couple of questions you have about the topic? 

4.  What interests you about it?

Possible Topics:

Historical Innovation: focus on one technological innovation and think of something unique to say about it: e.g., writing, print, electricity, the radio, film, the computer, the train, the automobile, space flight, the personal computer, the Internet, MySpace.com, etc.

Technology and Identity: RPGs, MMORPGs, gaming and identity, online anonymity, etc.  Consider the way identity changes (or does not) in online environments such as these.  Are you one self or several selves online?

Technology and Politics:  how are contemporary groups like MoveOn.org and TakeAction working to shape politics?

Technology and Language:  “133t 5p34k“; Instant Messaging; html code as a rhetorical form.

Technological Determinism:  isolate one work or technology and consider it in light of technological determinism.

Literary/Film/Text and Technology:  look at a novel, film, or an online narrative and analyze the way technology is represented in the text.

Links of Interest:
PopGadget
Technovelgy
Technorati
MoveOn.org
MySpace.com
LiveJournal.com
Technological Timelines
NASA
YouTube.com
Web 2.0
Various resources related to technology
Artificial Intelligence
Introduction the the World of Warcraft

Misc. Assignments

Writing the Thesis

Effective Annotation

oral-presentation.doc

Schedule of Oral Presentations:

Syllabus, Writing 50

Click for the W50 Syllabus

Annotated Citation / Presentation

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