ENGL 295 S22 Kim

ENGL 295, Section 001 Social Media Spring 2022

Mondays 11:30 am - 12:50 pm (PAS 1241) Wednesdays asynchronous on LEARN

Instructor Information

Instructor: Jin Sol Kim (pronouns: she/her)

Office hours: Mondays 1:00pm to 2:00pm at PAS 1087 Email: js2kim@uwaterloo.ca

Territorial Acknowledgement

I acknowledge that I am living, learning, and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

Course Description

This course attends to the popular social media landscape and surveys the theoretical and methodological approaches towards the analysis and understanding of social media as a palpable phenomenon in contemporary digital culture. Throughout the course, you will learn about such topics as social networks, digital identity, memes, labour, the transformation of social relationships, data politics, privacy, and regulation. Your participation in this course will enable you to critically analyze social media content and platforms; evaluate the content, audience, politics, and effects of social media; identify and assess organizational and regulatory constraints in the social media systems; examine the key issues in social media such as regulation, labour and privacy; as well as understand and reproduce the semantic and symbolic significance of media codes such as memes and celebrity selfies.

Course Goals and Learning Objectives

Knowledge — by the end of the course you should be able to:

Analyze social media content and platforms
Evaluate the audience, politics, and effects of social media
Identify and assess the organizational and regulatory constraints in social media systems
Examine the key issues in social media such as regulation, labour, and privacy
Understand the semantic and symbolic significance of media codes such as memes and
celebrity selfies

Application—over the course of the term you will:

Take notes from various media and lectures to understand, remember, and apply new ideas
Interpret texts using scholarly methods of analysis
Frame persuasive arguments in writing

Integration—this course encourages you to:

Develop a clear and concise scholarly voice
Write more professionally: conceive, research, draft, edit and proofread your work
Connect your reading and writing strategies to the larger project of your degree

This course is reading intensive, writing intensive, and participation intensive: I expect you to do the readings, take careful notes, and take part.

Pandemic Objectives

  1. To be patient and kind with ourselves and with each other.

  2. To embrace the opportunity to learn in new ways and grow as students and citizens.

  3. To do our best, knowing that this will probably look different than other terms.

  4. To communicate openly and clearly about our expectations, concerns, and goals. Tell me what you need, and I’ll tell you how I can help.

  5. To be flexible. This is a strange time. We’re all a bit anxious. Circumstances will likely change over the course of the term. Let’s work together to make this the best class possible, knowing that this may be a moving target.

Required Text/Materials

All readings and resources will be made available on LEARN.

Course Assessment

Participation

20%

All term

Platform Analysis

25%

June 8

Celebrity Selfie Analysis

25%

June 29

Final Project Proposal

5%

July 6

Final Project

25%

August 3

* Note: The full information for the course assignments stated above are available as separate PDF documents located within the “Course Syllabus” module on the LEARN course site.

Course Schedule

Week 1: Logging on

May 2: Introduction and Syllabus Review May 4: N/A

Week 2: The Overall Field of Social Media

May 9: Read: boyd, “Social Media”

May 11: Independent reading: Roose, “Can Social Media Be Saved?”

Week 3: Platformization of the Web May 16: Read: Helmond, “The Platformization of the Web”

May 18: Independent reading: Bolter & Grusin, “Remediation”

Week 4: The Politics of Platforms May 23: Read: Gillespie, “The Politics of ‘Platforms’”

May 25: Independent reading: Gillespie, “How platforms reduce the visibility of some content” on YouTube

Week 5: Comparative Uses of Four Social Media Platforms May 30: Read: Alhabash and Ma, “A Tale of Four Platforms”

June 1: Independent reading: McLuhan, “The Medium is the Message”

Week 6: Selfies June 6: Read: Senft and Baym, “What does the Selfie Say?”

June 8: Independent reading: van Dijck, “Digital Photography”

Due: Platform Analysis (PA) on LEARN at 11:59PM

Week 7: Social Identity in Starter Pack Memes

June 13: Read: Eschler and Menking, “‘No Prejudice Here’: Examining Social Identity Work in Starter Pack Memes”

June 15: Independent reading: Instagram’s Algorithms are Biased Against WOC

Week 8: Digital Doppelgangers, Databases, and Power June 20: Robinson, “Databases and Doppelgangers”

June 22 Independent reading: TBD

Week 9: Gender, Race, and Privacy in Facebook

June 27: Read: Cirucci, “Normative Interfaces: Affordances, Gender, and Race in Facebook” June 29: Independent reading: Vaidhyanathan, “Facebook’s New Move Isn’t About Privacy: It’s About Domination”

Due: Celebrity Selfie Analysis on LEARN at 11:59PM

Week 10: Ideological Communities on YouTube

July 4: Read: Maddox, “Interrogating LeftTube: ContraPoints and the Possibilities of Critical Media Praxis on YouTube”

July 6: Independent reading: Contrapoints, “The Aesthetic” on YouTube

Due: Final Project Proposal on LEARN at 11:59PM

Week 11: Labour and the Platform Economy

July 11: Read: Caplan and Gillespie, “Tiered Governance and Demonetization: The Shifting Terms of Labor and Compensation in the Platform Economy”

July 13: Independent reading: Interview with Sarah T. Roberts, “How Facebook Moderates Content” on YouTube

Week 12: The Uniqueness of Tik Tok and the Transformation of Power Relationships

July 18: Read: Zhang, “Infrastructuralization of Tik Tok: Transformation, Power Relationships, and Platformization of Video Entertainment in China”

July 20: Independent reading: Munger, “TikTok is a Unique Blend of Social Media Platforms”

Week 13: Logging off August 3: Due: Final Project on LEARN at 11:59pm EST

Accommodations/ Accessibility

In our class environment, we will be mindful of the reality that everyone learns differently. If you have any concerns about accessing course content or accommodating your learning style, please let me know. You can also arrange for formal accommodations with AccessAbility Services by registering at the beginning of each academic term. AccessAbility services is currently operating online. Please call: 519-888-4567 ext. 35082 or email:
access@uwaterloo.ca. Further information may be found on the following website: https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services/.

Late Work

All assignments are to be submitted in electronic copy via the various Dropboxes or discussion forums on LEARN on the due date noted on the class schedule and syllabus. Late assignments will receive a 2% deduction from the assignment grade per business day. To avoid the deduction of late marks, prepare your work in advance (i.e. if you have any questions or concerns, I expect to hear from you well before the assignment is due).

Late marks will not apply for the two following reasons:

  1. If you have notified me in advance about a concern or conflict, and we have come to an agreement on an alternate deadline.

  2. If you invoke the COVID clause (valid one time only, see below)

COVID Clause

Before I am your instructor and you are my students, we are first and foremost fellow humans, and I understand that sometimes we can’t prepare for the shit that happens in our lives (like COVID-19). If something comes up that you didn’t anticipate and that you don’t have documentation for, you may invoke this clause as a “get out of late marks free” pass. You may use it on one assignment throughout the term and receive a three (3) day extension, no questions asked, though I do request that you contact me as soon as you think you might need it. You may not retroactively apply the clause once an assignment is already late. This clause is my gift to you. Please use it wisely.

Communication Policy

Though we do live digital lives, I do not live 24/7 on my email. Do not expect me to respond to your email instantaneously; allow for 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends for me to get back to you. If you feel the need to chat via phone or video call, please email me to arrange a meeting.

In addition, please be professional in your email. Use a clear subject heading, begin with a proper salutation (e.g. “Hi Jin Sol), and end with a sign off (Best, [student name]). This makes me take your email seriously, and I know right away who the email is from and what the email will be about.

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.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for their actions. 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.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their/her/his 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 they/she/he has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Mental Health Support

Life is hard, especially during the pandemic, and all of us need a support system. Below is a list of mental health support services you can access. I encourage you to use them as needed.

On Campus

Counselling Services (counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca / 519-888-4567 ext. 32655)

Off campus, 24/7

  • Good2Talk: Free confidential helpline for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454

  • Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-4300 ext. 6880

  • Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247

  • OK2BME: support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or questioning teens in Waterloo. Phone: 519-884-0000 ext. 213