Goals
We’ll seek to understand various new media technologies and topics by exploring both all the amazing things that technology could lead to (Utopia) and all the horrible things that could come from it (Dystopia).
Our target year is 2037, 20 years from now—far enough out that we’re beyond the obvious and have enough time for social change to accompany technological changes, but not so far out that we’re into the realm of science fiction.
Grading
10 points total
Table experience, 4 points:
Create a 5-minute experience for guests to your table, planning for about 2-3 minutes of scripted presentation + 2-3 minutes of Q&A.
4: Polished, practiced, and creative / engaging, 3: Lacking in one or more of the above, 2: lacking in two or more of the above, 1: coherent, but barely, 0: dumpster fire.
Online artifact, 4 points:
Make an online thing (Medium.com post, Google Doc / Slides, etc.) that presents your work in a compelling, polished fashion. Emailed to me (johnweatherford@uga.edu) for grading.
4: Super-polished + super-thoughtful, 3: still good, but lacking in either polish or thoughtfulness, 2: complete, but not terribly polished or thoughtful, 1: something’s there, but it’s super rough, 0: nothing turned in
Peer evaluations, 2 points:
Everyone within your group will complete a brief online peer evaluation of everyone else in your group.
2: all good, no complaints, 1: a few issues, but still participated, 0: who was s/he?
Peer evaluation link: https://goo.gl/forms/oljjdZcG3BFELCfJ3
Roles
You’ll be working in a group of 10-12 (half your discussion group). The following are suggested but not required roles. Divvying up the work is up to you.
Project coordinator: Works with everyone in the group to coordinate everything that happens into a single, cohesive project.
Research coordinator: Working with project coordinator, divvies up, coordinates, and pulls together research
Researcher: Carries out and reports back project research
Online thing coordinator: Responsible for ultimate success of the online thing. Coordinates research, original thought, and more.
Online thing editor: Responsible for final quality of written portion of online thing.
Online thing writer: There might be more than one of these. Responsible for writing a portion of the online thing.
Table creative director: Responsible for pulling together the entirety of the table experience.
Table stage director: Responsible for setting up the look, feel, etc. of the table.
Table presenter: Actually presents something at the table.
Director of fun: Adds fun to all of the above.
Timeline:
Monday, 11/5: Group topic selected
Friday, 11/9: ~20 minutes planning + coordinating time in discussion group
Wednesday, 11/14: In-class work-day (meet in MLC 102)
Friday, 11/16: Breakout session workday
Monday, 11/26: Utopia Day
Wednesday, 11/28: Dystopia Day
Friday, 11/30: All work due by start of discussion group
Potential topics:
Apple
Smartphones
Augmented / virtual reality
Google
AI (Artificial Intelligence) + ML (Machine Learning)
Self-driving cars, drones, + other robots
Facebook + social media
Startups + Unicorns
News
Amazon (+ commerce)
The cloud + big data
Voice + smart home / Internet of Things
Selected topics:
1:25 Miner:
2:30 Miner:
1:25 Troyer:
2:30 Troyer:
1:25 Tucker:
2:30 Tucker:
1:25 White:
2:30 White:
Photos from previous booths:
