STS 319 Information Technology and Social Life

Assignments

In addition to the assignments below, each student is required to leadone 5-minute discussions on a technology news issue (one each). The discussions will occur during the first 5 minutes of each class period. Go to the Presentation Schedule for your assigned dates.

You will have several short, written assignments that you will provide on your personal blog. To set up your blog, follow the instructions below:

Assignment 1: Due Jan. 21 - Introduce Yourself - write a short paragraph detailing your major, year, your experience with technology, and your reason for taking the class. Feel free to add information about hobbies and interests. Email Cindy (clroyal@mail.utexas.edu) with the address of your blog (i.e. cindyroyal.blogspot.com).

Assignment 2: Due Feb. 7 - What is technology? Find a common definition and then elaborate on the meaning of technology in your life.

Assignment 3: Due Feb. 16 - What role do the technologies discussed (print, radio, phone, TV) play in your life?

Assignment 4: Due Feb. 28 - Review Wired Mag online - look through archive by cover; What is your impression of Wired?; what is its purpose?; who is its target market?

CANCELED: Assignment 5: Due March 2 - Assign 5: List three favorite Web sites and why?

Assignment 6: Due March 4 - Search engine exercise – search out an assigned topic; explain your search strategy, search engines used, sites visited. Explain any false starts or problems encountered. Topics will be assigned in class.

Assignment 7: Due March 11 - Pick a Web site that provides news or reference information and assess for crediblity using the resources addressed in class.

Assignment 8: Due March 30 -How is your identity constructed by technology? How does your identity (race, gender, etc.) construct your relationship with technology?

Assignment 9: Due April 8 - How do you feel about music sharing? How does it effect the consumer, the recording industry, and the artists?

Assignment 10: Due April 27- What is the difference between open source and free software? How do you feel about the open source movement? What are the benefits and disadvantages?

Blogging Instructions

Go to blogger.com
If you don't already have an account, click on the Create Your Blog Now button. (If you are working on a Mac, I have noticed that Internet Explorer doesn't always work properly. Use Safari, Netscape, or Foxfire)
It will ask you for a screen name and password. Write them down, because you will use them later. Then it will ask for your name and an email address.
Once you get your new account, "CREATE A BLOG." Click on that.
This screen asks for your blog name, and a brief description. You can change these later, so don't stress too much. Use something like "Information Technology and Social Life " and write a short description, it can be anything you want. Then, unless you have your own Web site and want to host your blog there, use the blogspot hosting option. If you use your name in the hosting address, your blog address will be:
yourname.blogspot.com.
You'll pick a template to use for the blog by clicking on the selection button. To see a larger version of the template, click on the template itself. These are standard pages. Once you select the template, blogger will create the blog. Then you can Start Posting your first assignment.
You will see several buttons across the top. Use the Post button to create posts. You can also edit posts if you have changes to a published post. For now, leave the defaults in the settings and template sections.
The Title of your post should be the assignment number and the question of the specific assignment. Click Publish Post when you are finished. You can click on View Blog to see your post.
To make subsequent posts, just go to blogger.com, login with your username and password, and click on the Post button, then click on Create.
You can create additional blogs for other topics, but just use this one for class assignments.