11/12: Research Proposal

via GIPHY

Class

Today our goal is to have a Research Proposal by the end of class. 

If I approve it, you can move on to the Research Outline

**CLICK HERE for the Topics and Sources List**

11/7: Introduction to the Research Essay

Class

1. What is a research essay?
2. Research essay instructions:
This essay will be put together in stages:

• Topic and Research Question(s) Proposal
• Research Proposal
• Research Outline (Tentative thesis + topic sentences + possible evidence)
• First Draft
• Reader Feedback for First Draft (2 people needed)
• Second Draft (revision of Draft 1)
• Writing Center Feedback and/or Reader feedback (1 person needed)
• Third Draft (revision of Draft 2)
• Self-Reflection Checklist

All these stages must be completed and documented to have your Third Draft evaluated. Please turn in the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist together for evaluation by Thursday, December 5 in class. The Third Draft must be about 7 double spaced pages, or 1,800 words including the Works Cited page and use 3-5 (or more) sources to prove a thesis of your choice about the Net and/or Web. Use Modern Language Association style to document your sources. You may use images to illustrate your ideas, but make sure you explain and acknowledge the images properly.

Revisions and Grading:

• Students who turn in the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist on Thursday, December 5 in class will have a chance to revise it ONCE for a new grade. 
• Students who wish to revise their last draft more than once after I have evaluated it should turn in the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist BEFORE Thursday, December 5.  
• Students who turn in the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist on or after Tuesday, December 10 will not be able to revise the last draft. 
• Students who have not turned the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist by Friday, December 13 will receive a failing grade for the class. 

• Sample Research Paper
• Sample student research paper

3. Pitching your topic, reason, and questions to the class
4. Review of Thesis Statements and Beginning the Research Proposal
5. Talkin' COIL:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPLsE6poM4la4ATaULaT8a4AHkZB3m01MHHyEQ-Tk5U/edit?usp=sharing

For Tuesday

Complete Essay 1, part 2: First, REVISE Part 1 by adding detail. Then add part 2 to it. Give the essay a fancy title. Questions to consider (you don't have to answer all these questions--it is to get you started thinking):
How has the way you approach the Web changed after all the revelations of this class? Are you the same person online as you were at the beginning of the semester? Why? Why not? What specific readings, videos, lectures, discussions resonated with you most? What do you plan to do with the knowledge you have gained during this part of the semester (in terms of yourself, your family, your community, etc.)

For Thursday
Turn in your second set of journals:

1. Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Chapter 1
2. Andrews, “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg”
3. Silverman, “The Reputation Racket”
4. Greenwald, “Why privacy matters”
5. Lützow-Holm Myrstad, “How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy” OR Tufecki, “we’re building a dystopia”
6. Hypponen, “How the NSA Betrayed the World’s Trust”
7. Granick, “How the Government Spies on People Who Protest Including You”
8. Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
9. Pariser, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’”
10. Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”

The Web and Disinformation

Image from MIT Technology Review for
"Bias already exists in search engine results, and it’s only going to get worse"

Class

1. Pariser, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’”   https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en
2. Report by Dr. X: Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”
3. Ekström, “Can We Solve For Bias In Tech?” https://www.npr.org/2019/02/15/694292327/andreas-ekstr-m-can-we-solve-for-bias-in-tech

How bad can the manipulation get?

• "The Great Brexit Robbery": https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy
• How Cambridge Analytica Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions:  https://www.nytimes.com/video/technology/100000005806669/cambridge-analytica-facebook-profiles.html
• "Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: 'We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles' – video": https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-we-spent-1m-harvesting-millions-of-facebook-profiles-video
• "Facebook's role in Brexit--and the threat to democracy": https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en

For Thursday

• Read: Academic Essays I: Introduction and II: The Thesis Statement, pages 11-12 of the packet
• Check the List of possible topics for the research paper
• Write a  paragraph indicating your chosen topic (or topics, if you have more than one) for the Research Paper, why you are interested in the topic, and what are the questions you would like to answer in your paper. Be prepared to pitch your idea to your classmates.

For Tuesday

Complete Essay 1, part 2: First, REVISE Part 1 by adding detail. Then add part 2 to it. Give the essay a fancy title. Questions to consider (you don't have to answer all these questions--it is to get you started thinking):
How has the way you approach the Web changed after all the revelations of this class? Are you the same person online as you were at the beginning of the semester? Why? Why not? What specific readings, videos, lectures, discussions resonated with you most? What do you plan to do with the knowledge you have gained during this part of the semester (in terms of yourself, your family, your community, etc.)

For the following Thursday
Turn in your second set of journals:

1. Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Chapter 1
2. Andrews, “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg”
3. Silverman, “The Reputation Racket”
4. Greenwald, “Why privacy matters”
5. Lützow-Holm Myrstad, “How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy” OR Tufecki, “we’re building a dystopia”
6. Hypponen, “How the NSA Betrayed the World’s Trust”
7. Granick, “How the Government Spies on People Who Protest Including You”
8. Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
9. Pariser, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’”
10. Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”

10/31: The Web and (Mis) information

Class

Essential Question: How does the World Wide Web help and hinder the sharing of information and the creation of a knowledge society?

-Report on Shane. See the definition for Yellow Journalism

-How fake can the Web get?

• Lonelygirl 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-goXKtd6cPo
• Deep fake videos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake

-What's legitimate information? What is dubious information? How can we tell the difference? Why does being able to tell the difference matter?

Does this post provide strong evidence about the conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant? Explain your reasoning.  http://imgur.com/gallery/BZWWx

What about the original posting? https://twitter.com/san_kaido/status/603513371934130176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Which would you consider the most reliable source for information on these flowers? Why?

• As  reported by The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3171748/Land-mutant-daisies-Radiation-causes-flowers-grow-strangely-near-site-nuclear-plant-suffered-meltdown-tragic-tsunami.html
• As reported by Weather.com: https://weather.com/science/nature/news/mutant-flowers-japan-fukushima-famous
• As reported by National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150723-fukushima-mutated-daisies-flowers-radiation-science/
• As fact-checked by Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com/nuclear-mutant-daisies/

-What are some characteristics of a reliable source of information?

1. The Onion: https://politics.theonion.com/black-man-given-nations-worst-job-1819570341
2. World News Daily Report: https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/lottery-winner-arrested-for-dumping-200000-of-manure-on-ex-boss-lawn/
3. National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org (click around)
4. Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/ (click around)
5. Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com (click around)
6. New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/ (click around)
7. The Daily News: https://www.nydailynews.com/ (click around)
8. The Daily Show: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/8edfu9/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-greta-thunberg-blasts-the-u-n---philly-gets-the-hero-it-deserves---lenny-kravitz-s-lost-sunglasses
9. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_the_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

-How do the Internet and Web help and hinder fake news? 
In what ways do the specific characteristics of the Internet and the World Wide Web, especially in its 2.0, 3.0, and mobile versions contribute to the boom of fake news?

-Possible solutions: 

1. Check those Ws!

2. Leave it to the experts: databases and peer reviewed sources

3. Trust the journalists: CUNY Graduate School Fake News Cheat Sheet 

See also :

Fact-checking sites:

• http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/  
• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.politifact.com/
• To check the authenticity of images, reverse-Google them to find their origins: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en

Browser plug-ins:

• BS Detector (Chrome, Firefox, Safari): http://bsdetector.tech 
• Fake News Alert (Chrome): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-alert/aickfmgnhocegpdbfnpfnedpeionfkbh  
• This is Fake (Chrome, for Facebook feed): https://www.thisisfake.org/

10/29: Mass and Targeted Surveillance

Class

• Read: 
• The lead for the Wikipedia entry on the National Security Agency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency
• The lead for the Wikipedia entry on Edward Snowden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
• The NSA Files: https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded

Watch

• Mikko Hypponen, “How the NSA Betrayed the World’s Trust”: https://www.ted.com/talks/mikko_hypponen_how_the_nsa_betrayed_the_world_s_trust_time_to_act?language=en
• Jennifer Granick, “How the Government Spies on People Who Protest Including You”: https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_granick_how_the_us_government_spies_on_people_who_protest_including_you?language=en

Browse: “The NSA Files.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files

For next class

• Read: Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”

Algorithms, Data Mining, and Profiling

Class 
1. Reports on Andrews and Silverman

2. Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, “How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy”

3. How bad is it? Check:

• This advertising from data-aggregator Acxiom: https://vimeo.com/166527182 and its accompanying handout: https://www.acxiom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BRO-AbiliTec_web.pdf

• "Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens"

4. Tufecki, “We’re building a dystopia”

For Next Class
Complete the first draft of Essay 2

• Instructions and questions for Essay 2 here:   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tNfsmdYyhrLdAn8zfUJd-1avBLsRl_9FNB2greQOp0Y/edit?usp=sharing
• Copy of Icebreaker Questions:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/18yQbdsOryAJEVIrDDAOXPUrmUFv9_4CEF9ni2suFbd4/edit?usp=sharing

Ongoing 
New readings here:   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LRxI_VBRxZzbZMwen3xaVtEGUnfJpVyu/view?usp=sharing

• Choose either Lützow-Holm Myrstad or Tufecki  and write a journal entry on his/her TED Talk
• Read Greenwald, “Why privacy matters” and write a journal entry on his TEDTalk

10/22: The Web and Privacy, continued

Class 
1. Watch "What Your Smart Devices Know and Share about You."
https://www.ted.com/talks/kashmir_hill_and_surya_mattu_what_your_smart_devices_know_and_share_about_you/discussion?rss=172BB350-0370

Discuss: Essay 2: Reflection Questions for Wikipedia assignment
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tNfsmdYyhrLdAn8zfUJd-1avBLsRl_9FNB2greQOp0Y/edit?usp=sharing

For Next Class
Read  Andrews, “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg” and Silverman, “The Reputation Racket”

Essay 2 is due on Tuesday.