108D S21 Hancock

ENGL 108D: Digital Lives

Instructor Information:  

Instructor: Dr. Michael Hancock

Email: m3hancoc@uwaterloo.ca  (please put the course name ENGL 108D and the section number in your email subject lines)

Class hours: New video lectures will be posted on Tuesday and Thursdays, by approximately 2 pm

Office:  My basement rec room

Office Hours: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm T Th on Zoom*

*(specifically, if you email between these hours and ask for Zoom meeting, I'll be monitoring for those emails, so we can set it up quickly. I'm also willing to schedule meetings at other times, though the set up may not be as fast.)

Course description:

This course examines how old and new media construct and constrain the formation of online identities and social spaces. More specifically, we will explore the technical, cultural, and social forces that make digital lives both familiar and unfamiliar, traditional and subversive. Our day-to-day activities shape and are shaped by the technology we use, from Google Maps and  Signal to Outlook and Among Us. The purpose of this course, above all else, is to learn to think critically about these tools. What kind of identity do you present in different forms of social media? What digital devices have become a part of your everyday life? How is your engagement with your physical environment shaped by these tools—and vice versa? In addition to studying the who, what, where, why, and how of “digital lives,” this course is focused on helping you develop your skills as an academic reader and writer in the discipline of English.

Course learning outcomes:

Throughout this term, you will develop and display the skills to do the following:

• Learn the importance of digital literacy and its history
• Develop your close reading and literacies so you can critically analyze what you encounter
• Identify and apply the terms used to theorize media and develop your own writing voice
• Learn how to organize an argumentative essay and create a proper thesis statement
• Learn how to respond thoughtfully to the opinion of your peers

This term (and in fact, this school year) in particular is going to be challenging. With COVID-19 necessitating the need for online courses, our connections to each other become more tenuous, and more easily frayed. It's going to take discipline to stay on track for the weeks ahead. I'm committed to doing what I can to help. If you feel like you're falling behind, or that you're overwhelmed with the material, please contact me. We'll figure out what works best for you.

 Email policy: Email is fast, but it is not instant. I will read your emails within 1 business day, and I will respond within 2 business days. I do not address major questions of substance (“Can you explain what the chapter was about, because I missed class?”) in emails, but will use it to make appointments with you, or to clear up questions of fact (“Can you meet with me on Wednesday to talk about the reading?”).

Required and Recommended texts

This class has no required books, but there are a few other texts we'll be looking at.

The following game is required for the course.  Play it by the appointed date . Hypnospace Outlaw.  Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Note: Prices may vary from platform to platform. Hypnospace Outlaw is available through Microsoft Game Pass. If you can't access Hypnospace Outlaw through any of these means, please contact me.

You will also require a Netflix account for some viewings.

We have a course website: it is available through UW-‐LEARN.  You   must   access  this  site  regularly: this site is where links to readings not in the textbook are located, as well as copies of all handouts.

Object Texts

In each subsection of the course, we will examine a different medium in detail via an ‘object text’; these digital media artifacts will 1) familiarize you with the medium in question and 2) provide a common ground for in-depth discussions. All of the object texts will be made available through LEARN. Some may require just 5 minutes of your day; others will require active participation for multiple hours. (Looking at you, Hyperspace Outlaw!)

Assignments and Mark Distribution

The following are the graded components of the course:

Guidelines for Contributions

This course centres on your contributions, and you will be asked to contribute in three primary ways: responses to the course readings, peer review posting and responding, and responses to the course exercises.

For each lecture, you're responsible for composing one post that gives your thoughts on the lecture or reading, or one post in response to one of the exercises in the lectures,  as well as at least one response to other students' posts. In sessions with peer review, you will be required to post your draft within a group of students, and comment on other students' drafts.

Your posts in response to exercises should answer the questions the exercise poses. Your post responding to a reading should accomplish three goals:

• First, you should demonstrate that you have done the reading. (This is the least important step)
• Second, you should comment on something you found interesting about the reading (comparing with other works you're familiar with, or applying the reading to another text are good options)
• Third, at the end of the post, you must post at least one (and you can do more) questions for others to answer. These questions should  invite people to respond in an interesting manner, and creativity is encouraged. (ie—more than “what do you think about the reading?”)

Posts should be a minimum of 250 words; responses to other students may be shorter.

Note: Participation as above is the basic requirement of the class and if your posts are not reaching this standard, I will check in with you and let you know how to bring up your contributions. Stronger participation involves asking thoughtful questions, thinking deeply and writing deeply in ways that are modelled by the readings, referring to prior material in the week, bringing in contemporary examples/current events that add to understanding, and any number actions that indicate you are are actively engaging with the material and trying to understand and learn from it. Late posts will be accepted for the exercises and responses, but not the peer review; repeated late posts will downgrade your participation grade accordingly.

Grading Participation

85-100 - Excellent: With few, if any, exceptions, the student is making frequent, substantive, useful and original contributions to class discussion boards (minimum four posts a week; two posts in response to  exercises, and two responses to the posts of other students); the student is consistently engaged and participating, and contributes to all peer review activities. Student may miss no weeks; students must respond to both lectures for the week.

75-84 - Good: the student is a regular contributor to discussion boards;(minimum of two posts in response to exercises, and one post in response to the posts of other students);  the student is consistently engaged, and contributes to all peer review  activities. Student may miss no weeks.

65-74 - Satisfactory: The student demonstrates occasional contributions and inconsistent engagement (minimum  of two posts per week). Student may miss no more than 1 week.

60-64 - Acceptable: Minimal contributions and/or significant lack of engagement (minimum of one post per week). Student may miss no more than 2 weeks. < 60  Minimal: repeated disruptive, inappropriate or unethical behaviour; behaviour disrespectful to others; consistent  lack of commitment and/or effort (on average, posting less than once per week). Student must  participate at least 6 weeks to qualify for above 50%.

Assignment Descriptions  

Late Policy & Extensions:

Late assignments will lose 2% per day late, for every school day. If an assignment is more than a week late, I will expect an explanation as to what happened. On the flip side, I tend to be very generous with extensions. If you contact me at least 48 hours before the assignment is due, I'll generally grant extensions.

Response Paper (15%):

At some point between week 2 and the end of Week 12, each student will submit a response paper. The response paper will be a 2-4 pages (double-spaced, Times New Roman font, not counting Title Page) argument regarding at least one text or idea from the course, discussing it in more detail or in a different way than was discussed thus far. The paper will be marked in terms of how well the student displays knowledge of the idea or text, how well they apply what's been discussed in class in general, how they display original thinking, how well they organize the paper, and how well they adhere to the conventions of punctuation and mechanics. The basic purpose is to give you a chance to investigate a concept of the course in more detail than the discussion boards allow, yet also give you some experience with how I grade before the final paper.

The response paper's due date is any time between week 2 and week 12, but note that the later it's submitted, the more I'm expecting in terms of applying ideas from the course.

Please don't wait until week 12!

(Note: if submitted after the reflection paper, I'll be expecting proper MLA citation as well.)

Reflection Essay (20%):

The reflection essay is a chance for you to show me what you've learned thus far in the term, and how you can apply it to your own media use. The assignment is to write reflectively about your media use: how do you feel about the ways in which you use digital media? What relationships does it affect, and how? How do you express your identity digitally, and what lead to this approach? These are some of the questions your reflection essay could address. The essay is to be 4-6 pages, double spaced, with MLA citation. I'm expecting a full argument and clear application to issues from the course.

Annotated Bibliography (15%):

The annotated bibliography is the intermediary step between a short response and a longer paper. It's a tool that researchers of all fields, from the sciences to the humanities, use to determine how existing research relates to their own. This annotated bibliography will consist of eight bibliographic entries, five scholarly and three non-scholarly, each with their own description (the annotation). The entries themselves should be formatted in MLA style, and placed in alphabetical order in accordance to first author. The annotations  should include at least four pieces of information:  the context for the text, such as the intended audience and journal or book it appears in;  a brief summary of the paper's findings;  the relevance of the text for your overall project; and  its relation to other texts you are investigating. In general, an annotation is 4-6 sentences long.

Final Paper/Project (30%):

This essay is the student’s chance to demonstrate what has been learned over the course of the class. Creative projects are encouraged; essentially, you have the option to write a 7-8 page paper, or construct a project with a four page paper that uses the project as a primary source. (Past projects have included podcasts, wikis, game commentaries, game prototypes; be creative, while keeping in mind the limits of an online-only course.) Projects may be done with a partner, but the four page paper must be written separately. Students will receive a detailed description of this assignment along with possible essay topics well in advance of the due date.

Schedule

Note: (LEARN indicates that the text in question is either on LEARN or a link to it is on LEARN)

Course Policies

Course policies are essentially based on respectful communication and setting clear expectations. If something about the course, be it an assignment or policy, is not clear to you please write me and we will sort the issue. Please  take the time to read  the syllabus and the assignments carefully and ask me questions if you’re not sure about something. A syllabus functions as a kind of contract between instructor and student, but more importantly it is a resource and connects you to resources both in the course and at the university. I want to make this course as useful to you as possible, and that means—as is always the case in technical communication—clearly communicating our expectations of each other and making sure everyone is on the same page.

Accessibility Statement

Students may also wish to register with the AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (NH 1401). AccessAbility Services collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require  academic accommodations, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage students to seek out mental health supports if they are needed. And I can personally attest to their value; in my own time as student at UW, I found counselling services and other resources to be extremely helpful.

On Campus

• Counselling Services:  counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca / 519-888-4567 ext 32655
• MATES:  one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services
• Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form Student Life Centre

Off campus, 24/7

• Good2Talk:  Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866925-5454
• Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-433 ext. 6880
• Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247
• OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo.  Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213

Full details can be found online at the Faculty of ARTS website

Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)

Download the WatSafe app to your phone to quickly access mental health support information

Emergencies and Absences

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances beyond the instructor’s control. Relevant changes to this course will be posted onto the course website or can be obtained by contacting the instructor via email. You are expected to read your @uwaterloo.ca email on a frequent basis. Personal emergencies should be communicated to me as soon as possible, but attend first to you and your family’s well-being. Whatever happens to be your particular situation is not my business and all I need to know is there was a medical emergency. You do not need to provide any details. For extended absences I would like a note from a doctor, but again no details about why you were away ever need to be provided in these notes and you do not need to disclose the reason to me.

Grade Concerns and Incompletes

Should your grades concern you then you must speak with me within the first 3/4 of the term; the last quarter of the term will not provide sufficient time to markedly improve your final grade. If you have concerns about completing your term please write to me as soon as possible.

Academic Honesty

All work in this course should be original. Any material that you paraphrase or quote must be cited according to an accepted style format (in this course, that will generally be . Over citing will not be penalized and, in fact, I’m always happy to see you’re doing research. If you’re not sure if you should cite something, go ahead and cite it. We can chat about it later, but when in doubt give credit. Remember you want to give credit for words and ideas.

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the Office of Academic Integrity webpage for more information.  Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Grievances and Appeals Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance. Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

The Writing and Communication Centre

The Writing and Communication Centre works with students as they develop their ideas, draft, and revise. Writing and Communication Specialists offer one-on-one support in planning assignments, synthesizing and citing research, organizing papers and reports, designing presentations and e-portfolios, and revising for clarity and coherence. You can make multiple appointments throughout the term, or drop in at the Library for quick questions or feedback. To book a 50-minute appointment and to see drop-in hours, visit www.uwaterloo.ca/writingand-communication-centre. Group appointments for teambased projects, presentations, and papers are also available.

 Please note that communication specialists guide you to see your work as readers would. They can teach you revising skills and strategies, but will not change or correct your work for you. Please bring hard copies of your assignment instructions and any notes or drafts to your appointment.

Territorial Acknowledgment

We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Add-a-won-da-run) (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe (Ah-nish-ina-bek) and Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-show-nee) peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes 10 kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

For more information about the purpose of territorial acknowledgements, please see the CAUT Guide to Acknowledging Traditional Territory (PDF)

Syllabus Acknowledgment

This syllabus  draws on elements from a number of different syllabi composed by scholars in the Waterloo English Department, including  Dr. Aimée Morrison, Dr. Judy Ehrentraut, Betsy Brey, Eve Morton, Stephan Fernandez, Nicholas Hobin, and Jin Sol Kim.