Week 1, Day 1: Welcome & Blog Set-Up

REVIEW SYLLABUS  It is on Blackboard.

CREATE  A new blog using Blogger.com. If you have an old blog, don't use it. Start a fresh blog for this class. 

WRITE  An About Me gadget in the sidebar — using the Blogger-generated profile or a blank text box or both.


READ  The instructions and tips in the tab above labeled Blog Prompt. See at the end a few tips about hallmarks of a good blog post.

BROWSE  The links in the right-hand column that will take you to blogs created by students last spring — and use them as models. 

Getting Started

— When you sign into Blogger.com, the first thing it will ask you to do is pick a URL. Try your name first. If Blogger says it's not available, try adding 1450 to make it unique. So mine might look like this: deansmith1450.

— During that step, Blogger will also ask you to make up a title for your blog. This blog will be specific to this class, so it can be something related to the title of the course, Media Law & Literacy. Be straightforward or be creative. Doesn't matter because you can always change it later.

— Next, Blogger will ask you to choose a template. Don't fret much about this because you can always change it later. Start by picking one under the theme SIMPLE or PICTURE WINDOW.

— Now that you've created a blog, Blogger will put you in the editing view. Look for POSTS in the left hand column and click that. Now look for NEW POST and click that.

BLOG POST #1  Tell us about your TOP FIVE SOURCES OF NEWS AND INFORMATION. Link to them so we can check them out. Write ONE PARAGRAPH for EACH ONE telling us why you like them and why you would recommend them to us.

PRO TIP

Look at the blog rolls on the right hand side of this page. Click on some of the links to see how students have managed their blogs in past classes. Have fun with it!

Week 1, Day 2: Six Freedoms of the First Amendment

 

LECTURE  Six Clauses, or Six Freedoms, of the First Amendment.

It is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgSF-L1lws&t=308s


NOTE-TAKING  Watch the video and take notes just as if you were in class with me. Careful, detailed note-taking will help you ace the three open-note quizzes that will follow the semester's three main lectures.

EXPLORE  The website of the First Amendment Center at the Freedom Forum Institute.

FILL OUT   A mini-bio survey — and introduce yourself! Go to Blackboard, then Discussions and see the first discussion thread.

Week 2, Day 1: The Founding Era

RECITATION  The Founding Era & the Idea of America.

VIDEO  — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piN6uMrXzMM&t=194s

VIDEO — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfl2NBfvff4&t=32s 

VIDEO — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvayjZizPEo

NOTE-TAKING  Recreate the Founding Era Timeline as accurately as you can. Watch for terms/concepts such as Judicial Review, precedent, stare decisis, sedition, certiorari, positive vs. negative rights, prior restraints vs. subsequent punishments, etc.

BLOG POST #2   About the history and workings of the U.S. Supreme Court using this 20-minute video as a jumping off point — Part I and Part II. 

 Reflect on these questions:

• What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

• What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?

• What was the most surprising thing you learned?

• How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

Week 2, Day 2: Eight Values of Free Expression

REFLECT   We have talked a lot about the emergence and evolution of the First Amendment. We talked about what Jefferson, Madison and the other founders thought about the importance of freedom of speech, press, etc. Then we talked about how those ideas finally started to take shape with theories like the Marketplace of Ideas in 1919.

CLICK  On the tab at the top of the class blog labeled SPEECH THEORIES. Here what I've done is summarize the eight theories that scholars use to describe WHY freedom of expression is so important to us as Americans.

REFLECT   On the Eight Values of Free Expression. Think about which one resonates most with you. Which ones feel most important? Which ones feel most personal to you? Which one do you see in action today? (You can choose more than one.)  

CONNECT   This is also a chance to practice second-level thinking. Talk to each other about issues we've talked about so far. Talk about news that is happening right now. Think about technologies that you rely on, like social media. Now, think about connecting up one or more of those ideas to one of the theories. In other words, connect up a specific thing, like social media, to one of the theories. Think about how a theory can help explain something going on in the real world.

BLOG POST #3 — Write a post based on the directions above. This is a KEY POST of at least 500 words. Be sure to think about hallmarks of a good blog post — links to sources, visuals, point of view. Be expressive and share your thoughts! Make this one special!

Week 3, Day 1: EOTO Com Tech Timeline

Do you know where this mural is on the HPU campus? 

EOTO   Stands for Each One Teach One. Rather than my lecture about the development of communication technologies, YOU will take the helm and teach the rest of us, including me. Yes, I always learn something new when students do the research and presentations instead of me.

CLICK   On the photo above and browse the technologies on offer. Here are more ides that are not on the mural: Paper, Ballpoint Pen, Phonograph, Motion Pictures, VCR, Bluetooth, Hulu.

PICK   A technology that you would like to research.

RESEARCH  The technology of your choosing. Try to go beyond Google. For example, try Google Scholar instead.

BLOG #4  Do a KEY POST based on your research for this EOTO project. This will be graded as a separate assignment. Make this post 500 words minimum. Be sure to think about hallmarks of a good blog post — at least one visual element and at least one link. But since this is a special assignment, I think you should do more. Make it special! 

• History: Who invented your technology? What were the circumstances? What problem were they trying to solve with their invention? 
• Impact: How did the invention change our world? What problems did it solve? How did it change communication? Did it have any negative effects?

Week 3, Day 2: Privacy, Online & Off

This week's theme is privacy — the most vexing issue of the Digital Age. As we have discussed, part of the problem is the information we voluntarily put online, and part of the problem is how companies like Facebook use that information. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Technology is wonderful — until it is turned against us. When you discover your privacy has been violated, it can feel frightening, humiliating, degrading, maddening, depressing. Unfortunately, today's technologies enable people, corporations and governments to violate our privacy on a massive scale . . . around the clock, 365 days of the year.
 
WATCH   The TED Talk videos above. All are in the five-minute range.

EXPLORE  More TED Talks searching for the term "privacy," like the ones below.

FREAK OUT  About what you just learned about privacy.

BLOG #5  Write a regular post about issues raised in the videos you watched.

• How do these issues affect you? You friends and family?

• What should the government be doing about these issues?

• What can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy?
  

Week 4, Day 1: Civil War & Reconstruction

RECITATION   Civil War, Reconstructions & the Birth of the Second Bill of Rights.

VIDEO —https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9IJeHuiOIY&t=224s

VIDEO — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qnMm6_xG50

VIDEO — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0c0beUaNhI&t=6s

NOTE-TAKING   Recreate the three-level timeline as accurately as you can. Watch for words/terms such as Second Bill of Rights, Substantive Due Process, Corporate Personhood, Separate But Equal, Three Clauses or Three Freedoms, secession, State Action Doctrine, Missouri Compromise, etc.

Week 4, Day 2: EOTO Presentations

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday &Thursday

EOTO Technology presentations.

Blog Post #6    Write a regular short post about a technology that you learned about from someone else.

Week 5, Day 1: The Progressive Era

RECITATION  The Progressive Era, Marketplace of Ideas and the Modern First Amendment.  This is the last of the traditional history lectures, thus ending the Media Law half of the course.

VIDEO (13 min.) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0he_OScdFec

VIDEO (first 3 min.) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbZ2eaCIttg&t=8s

VIDEO (2.5 min.) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwrUvjkRMI8&t=67s

REFLECT   Think about the role of dissent, especially about war, and the role of the First Amendment in protecting it. As we saw in the historical recitation above, the Progressive Era was fired up by WWI — specifically antiwar voices who did not want America to get involved. They were persecuted for their antiwar views, and hundreds of them were thrown into jail just for voicing their opinions.

BLOG #7  Fast forward to today, when the United States government is waging military operations all over the globe. Explore this website: ANTIWAR.COM  Also explore this one: The American Conservative  Notice how the writers on these sites are all very strong antiwar voices that you NEVER seem to hear in the mainstream news. I wonder why that is, don't you? You've probably never even heard of these websites. I wonder why that is? Why do you think you have to seek out obscure websites in order to hear strong antiwar voices?

Week 5, Day 2: Diffusion of Innovations

READ  The opening section of the Wikipedia entry on Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations and skim the rest. Skim through as much as you like. This is not a reading assignment followed by a quiz. I just want you to read enough that you have gotten a feel for the concept.  This is a very robust theory that you can you use in this class and in many classes going forward. It's my favorite theory!

REFLECT   On the innovation you did research on for the EOTO project. Or think about newer innovations that might not have made it onto the Comm Tech Time Line — Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok or other innovations that you know of.

THEORIZE   One thing that we do in academia is to theorize. Instead of simply describing a phenomenon, we try to theorize about WHY it happened. Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (or Ideas) is a robust theory that helps describe WHY certain technologies are adopted and why some are not. Why are some people Early Adopters of a new technology? Why are some people Late Adopters? Why do some people simply opt-out?

IDEAS   A remarkable feature of Rogers' Diffusion Theory is that it can also be applied to ideas. In the same way that innovations spread, so do ideas. My favorite example: The woman's right to vote. Think about that. It took 100 years of activism and protest for women finally to get the right to vote in 1920, with passage of the 19th Amendment. WOW! Just WOW! What a First Amendment achievement!  But look at the chart in the photo. Now visualize that struggle for the right to vote on that chart. Who were the Early Adopters? Who were the Late Adopters?  It's really interesting to see it that way, isn't it? 

CONSIDER     I remember sending the first e-mail of my life: It was 1995, and I was working in Paris. I was hired to write an article for The Guardian newspaper in London. A friend from Venezuela had an account with America Online. She had a dial-up connection. It took several tries and about 45 minutes, but we were able to get my article sent to London. It was published the next day. Why did we go through all of that trouble? We could have sent the article by Fax? Or I could have dictated the article by phone? Or I could have sent it by snail mail?

BLOG #8  About some new innovation, in the past or in the present, and view it  through the lens of the Diffusion Theory. Why did they catch on and spread? Why did so many people become early adopters? Why are some people late adopters? Or not adopters at all? What about the downsides — do you see any negative consequences in the technology? For example, why am I not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media? Why might I have made that choice for myself? And how would I benefit if I did? Would the positive outweigh to negative? How do you weigh that cost-benefit analysis with a new communication technology?

Week 6, Day 1: EOTO Terms & Concepts

Lots of talk these days about "fake news" in the media. What is it? Who decides?

Summer Online students — This is an assignment that we would do in groups at school. In this case, each of you can simply pick a term or concept that interests you. (I think the theories in Group 3 are particularly interesting, but something else might catch your eye.)

BLOG #9 — KEY POST   Like the last EOTO, this is a special assignment that will be graded separately. Make it 500 words. Add those special touches that will elevate it beyond a regular blog post. Go for the A!

Keep this idea in mind: You are researching that term or concept so that you can TEACH the rest of us about it through your presentation and blog post. 

 Questions to spark your thinking:

• Beyond a simple definition, what are the implications? What might be good, what might be bad?
• How might it affect society as a whole?  
• How might it affect different segments differently — rich/poor, old/young, male/female, gay/straight, majority/minority?
• How might it affect you? Your family and friends? Your generation?

GROUP 1 AWARENESS Propaganda Disinformation Smith-Mundt Act Total Information Awareness False Flag Five Eyes	GROUP 2 MEDIASPHERE MSM Alternative Media Echo Chamber Whistleblower Online Influencers Citizen Journalism
GROUP 3 THEORIES Illusory Truth Effect Confirmation Bias Gatekeeping Agenda Setting Overton Window Spiral of Silence	GROUP 4 POLICY Sherman Anti-Trust Act Media Consolidation Vertical Integration Net Neutrality News Deserts Cord Cutting

                        GROUP 5

                     AGE OF AI

                Machine Learning

                Transhumanism

             Social Credit Score

Week 6, Day 2: Living in the Age of AI

 

This is an excellent documentary by one of the most important shows on television, Frontline on PBS. Ever week, the show presents top-notch, well-documented investigations of issues ripped from the headlines. MPE majors will appreciate the distinct challenge of writing, filming and editing an hourlong program in a matter of weeks to respond to current events.

"In the Age of AI" is a perfect example of our discussions about new technology. The documentary does not deny the awe and endless positive changes Artificial Intelligence might bring to mankind, but it also is clear-eyed about the de-humanizing downside risks.

Video link: IN THE AGE OF AI  

WATCH the second hour. Or watch the whole thing if you like!

BLOG POST #10   Write a regular post reflecting on the video — what you learned, what you thought were important take-aways, things that surprised you, things that frightened you. Questions to spark thinking:

What are positive aspects of more and more complex artificial intelligence and machine learning?

• What about privacy, pros and cons?

• What about national security?

• What about online security and identity theft?
  

Week 7, Day 1: EOTO, Presentations

An important goal in doing in-class presentations is to practice
public speaking — and that includes poise and appearance.
(What is up with those cut-off shorts? Ugh.)

PRESENT  Your PowerPoint slides with your group. 

CITE  Be sure to end you PP with a References slide with each person's name and URLs.

BLOG #11   Write a post about what you learned from a different team. Either write about that team's presentation as a whole or zero in on a term or concept you found interesting.

PLAN  To take COM2210 Persuasive Speaking, a valuable one-credit elective.

HAPPY LAST DAY OF CLASS!

Week 7, Day 2: Final Post Launch

 

            See FINAL POST PROMPT at top of page.

Blog Post #12

Even More Resources:

Feel free to check out any of the linked material here as LINKABLE BACKGROUND MATERIAL for your final post. These items might get you thinking about topics such as online privacy or emotional effects that Internet use and social media can have on people. You also might realize that some of these issues AFFECT YOU.

• This recent article in Fast Company about a 14-year-old girl who "unplugged" from social media and her reasons why: I'm 14, and I Quit Social Media. Do any of her observations or feelings resonate with you?

• Other articles by Fast Company in its project section titled The Privacy Divide. Any of these would make a good jumping off point for a blog post. Do you ever think about your online privacy? Do you take any steps to protect your online privacy? If not yet, what steps might you take to protect your online privacy?

• This article from The Atlantic and how most people don't know how Facebook actually works, how it makes its money and how it profits by invading your online privacy: Facebook Users Still Don't Know. Did you ever stop to really think about what you have on Facebook and what information you've given the company? How does Facebook make you feel about online privacy?

• Other articles at The Atlantic — the thinking person's magazine — about Facebook and online privacy: Facebook in The Atlantic.

• This alarming Bloomberg News article that broke April 4 about the latest massive privacy breach affecting 540 million Facebook users: Millions of Facebook Records Found on Amazon Cloud Servers. On the same day, this disturbing news broke: Facebook asked some users for their e-mail passwords, because why not?

•   This STRATCOM-specific item from Fast Company: I left the ad industry because our use of data tracking terrified me

•  A fascinating look at how Facebook is trying to stay relevant as people shift from permanent online information visible to many toward communicating with smaller groups in ways that are only temporary and don't leave a record: Facebook Could Be Unrecognizable by 2020

Yet more questions to spark your thinking:  

— How large an online footprint do you have? Do you have a personal website?
— Which social media sites do you use? What have you put on them? What have you linked to? 
— What information about you could a visitor glean about you, even indirectly, by visiting your pages on social media? 
— What private information have you voluntarily given out, such as your phone number and e-mail address? To what sites and why? 
— Consider the sorts of questions posed by The Atlantic article: Does social media make people lonely? Depressed? Isolated?