• Task 1: Create a WordPress.com site using the WordPress tutorial above. (Tip: when choosing your URL, make decisions about your online identity: do you want to use your real name? is your choice of name / URL professional? Avoid numbers, cougs, and WSU.) Example: Digital Clarissa Dalloway
• Task 2: Write a sample blog post: introduce yourself and tell us why you are taking DTC 101.
• Task 3: Submit your URL to Google forms: 9am section ; 10am section

1. Action: Look around on campus for a sign that gives the user written instructions (anything from step-by-step instructions placarded on a vending machine to a handmade sign in a public restroom). Use your camera to take a photograph that you will upload to your blog post.
2. Reflection: Explore why the sign is needed (consider flaws in the design itself, the consequences of not following the instructions, the possible history of flaws surrounding the object/instructions).
3. Proposal: How might you use design to eliminate the need for the written sign? And/or how might you edit the existing sign to be more user-friendly?

1. Action: Imagine a smartphone app that can do the unthinkable (think sci-fi). Describe what it does and how it works. Design at least one image of the app (either by hand or using software) that renders the app in terms of a single page, frame, or icon. Post the image to your blog.
2. Reflection: Analyze how this app works and why it is important. While it might help to frame your app in terms of marketing (who should buy it and why), try to consider the purpose of this app on an even larger scale: “the app that changed the world.” 

1. Action: Create a classification system for a physical collection of objects in your possession (items in your backpack, fridge, car, desk drawer, etc). The classification systems should contain a hierarchy (see Shirky) of at least 3 levels. Include at least 10 items.
2. Reflection: Reflect on the decisions you made in creating your system: what decisions did you make based on the types and quantities of items present? Perform a cultural analysis of your classification system: consider race, gender, class (economic / social status), nationality, education-level, etc.  

1. Action: Isolate a single public moment or activity in your day that measures no more than a minute (walking into the classroom, waiting in line for food, sitting on the bus, etc). Describe as many sensory and cognitive details as you can imagine and experience (use Woolf for inspiration). This is a creative writing exercise, and so you can also imagine the thoughts and feelings of other people present or imagined.
2. Reflection: Reflect on the complexity of that moment. What “facts” can you use to objectively characterize that moment? How might that moment be “classified” in the annals of history? Consider what “tags” you might use to label the moment.

1. Action: Visit one of the campus libraries. Find your way to the book stacks. Wander around the stacks until you find a book that interests you enough to want to check it out. Take a picture of the book amid the stacks.
2. Reflection: How did you arrive at this book, and what did you discover once you found it? How is wandering around the library different from performing a search in the database?

• Ze Frank: Ze Frank, “Web Playroom”; Mr. Norman’s Song; Chillout Song
• Humans of New York: HONY’s Story; Motts Hill Academy Story: From Vidal – To Obama
• StoryCorps: StoryCorps’s Story; StoryCorps App; StoryCorps 415: Lucky in So Many Ways; Eyes on the Stars

• Read before class: E.M. Forster, “The Machine Stops” (1909)
• Activity: Select group members, plan meeting times
• Submit your group’s information to this form.

1. Action: Explore projects and contributions connected to the links from Monday’s class (related to Ze Frank ; Humans of New York ; and StoryCorps).
2. Reflection: Perform a rhetorical analysis of one of the projects and/or stories: focus on HOW the project is constructed. Consider the purpose, the intended audience, the creation process, and the final product. Find its why.
3. Compare and contrast one of these social media projects with E.M. Forster, “The Machine Stops” (1909)

1. Action: You’ve been working with your group on collecting contributions to your Social Media Storytelling Project; now, make a departure from your group and collect 1-2 stories on your own that represent your own perspective, style, and approach.
2. Reflection: How was working individually different from working with your group? What did you learn that might help your group re-assess, revise, re-imagine its approach to the project?
3. Include at least one multimedia artifact (photo, video clip, sound clip, etc).

• Read before class: Douglas Rushkoff, “Time: Do Not Always Be On” AND “Place: Live in Person,” from Program or Be Programmed (2010)
• Read before class: danah boyd, “Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle,” from The Social Media Reader (2012)

1. Action: Consult this study guide, and use the “Questions for Discussion” and various activities on the pages exploring Rushkoff’s Principle of “Time” and Principle of “Place” to decide which action to take.
2. Reflection: The best blog posts will take on the more ambitious discussion questions and activities, exploring one concept in depth, while also engaging with ideas from Rushkoff’s books in addition to danah boyd’s ideas on being “always-on.”

• Read before class: David Gauntlett, Making Is Connecting, Ch. 9
• Resources: Making Is Connecting; Matt Ridley, “When Ideas Have Sex”; Cognitive Surplus; Sherry Turkle’s “Connected, but Alone?”

• Select two of the five key principles on “making is connecting” in David Gauntlett’s article to summarize.
• Apply those two principles to observations you have made while doing your social media storytelling project.

• Write a formal letter (use a formal letter template in Microsoft Word, or similar) addressed to your professor that evaluates your blogging this semester (one to two pages, single-spaced).
• In the main body of your letter, select (and hyperlink to) two blog posts that represent your best content this semester. Analyze and quote from these blog posts to illustrate the breadth and depth of your learning and exploration of Digital Studies this semester.
• In the conclusion of your letter, self-assign yourself a grade according to the following rubric, offering a brief explanation:

A = excellent effort, on-time submissions, 10 complete posts;
B = good effort, mostly on-time submissions, 9-10 complete posts;
C = adequate effort, some late submissions, 8-9 complete posts;
D = poor effort, many late submissions, 6-7 complete posts

• Resources: Junior Portfolios, DTC Certification, LandEscapes; SURCA; Poster Tips; Professional Writing; Find Your Why
• Junior Portfolio Instructions: Bring materials for Junior Portfolio (printed essay from this class + printed cover sheet) to receive my signature
• DTC Certification Instructions: Complete this application (printed form, statement of purpose, and digital text)

• Attend the DTC Project Showcase and Awards Ceremony
• Interested in becoming a DTC major? Curious to see what kinds of work you can do? Come see 3D animation films, websites, graphic design, games, and more.
• There will be cake and refreshments!

• Write a formal letter (use a formal letter template in Microsoft Word, or similar) addressed to your professor that evaluates your learning achievements this semester (two pages, single-spaced).
• Select 3 examples (from projects, activities, lectures, or readings) to analyze. Be sure to include relevant quotes, screenshots, or summaries from the examples you select.
• Your objective is to demonstrate what kinds of learning took place this semester and how this learning could be applied to future endeavors. 
• NOTE: use this space to also demonstrate your level of engagement and participation in the course, as measured by your attendance, contribution to class discussion, observations at the DTC showcase, etc.