Assignment
The final project is a presentation for an imaginary technology conference called in order to evaluate the impact of technology on culture. Students will pose questions of cultural concern in regard to new or emerging technologies and answer these questions in a multimedia presentation that uses scholarly research. The project will be completed in stages throughout the course and shared with the class in the final week. Students choose a new or emerging technology and ask the following questions about it (from Neil Postman, Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century):
1. What is the problem for which this technology is the solution?
2. Whose problem is it?
3. Which people and what institutions might be most seriously harmed by a technological solution?
4. What new problems might be created because we have solved this problem?
5. What sort of people and institutions might acquire special economic and political power because of technological change?
6. What changes in language are being enforced by new technologies, and what is being gained and lost by such changes?
Students answer these questions by doing research in the UMUC library. At least six scholarly sources must be employed to answer the questions.
At the end of the session, you turn in a final presentation based on 5 earlier assignments. It will be a multimedia presentation on a particular technology and its relationship to culture.
Submit a draft of your complete narrated presentation. The presentation should last at least 20 minutes and not more than 30 minutes. You may use PowerPoint to narrate your presentation or use a screen casting software to make a video.
Use images and videos in addition to bullet points to make your presentation as visually interesting as possible. Label all visuals. To make your presentation flow, your narration should be no more than 3-5 minutes per slide.
Make sure your visuals follow your script, which should be included in the notes section of a Power Point presentation or attached as a separate paper. If submitting as a paper, include a heading for each slide of the presentation so your reader may follow along.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.