DTC 206 Blog Guidelines & Prompts

Instructions

Each blog entry needs to be posted by the end of the day on the day it is due on the student’s website or blog. Students should turn in links to each individual post on Blackboard before the due date has passed.

Blogs should be around 500 words each.

Each blog should contain references to the assigned materials for that section of the course. Additional materials are not required, but you are always welcome to bring in other sources.

All external sources should be appropriately cited using MLA, APA, or Chicago Style.


Blog #1

Create your class blog on any blogging platform. WordPress is easy to use and has many tutorials.

If you have already created a blog for another DTC class then please build off of that work by adding another tab; do not create a whole new blog/website.

Your blog must have the following:

  1. Your name, course title and number, your email address.
  2. An “about me” section with at least a two-sentence description about yourself, you may also add a photo, audio or video if you’d like.
  3. An introductory blog post discussing why you took this class, what you think digital inclusion means and one thing you hope to learn in the course.

Blog #2

Choose one of the prompts below and respond to it.

Prompt #1
Participate in Global Accessibility Awareness Day by completing one of the activities listed on their site.

Then reflect on the relationship between your chosen activity and The 7 Principles of Universal Design. Did your modifications or technology meet all the principles of Universal Design. Why or Why not?

OR

Prompt #2
Our activities this week were focused on ways that we can bridge the Digital Divide in terms of access to technology hardware, learning how to effectively code or use software, and thinking about disparate populations that might use the tech in different ways. Despite all the efforts of groups like the ones we looked at this week, there is still a huge digital divide, even if we just look at the United States, in terms of who works in STEM fields and is influencing the next generation of technology.

In this blog, I want you to think about how you would bridge the divide in the United States. You should reference things you experienced this week that you thought were effective and things you did not believe were effective in bridging the gap. Note anything that you think the groups missed in terms of their approaches to lessening the Digital Divide.


Blog #3

Choose one of the prompts below.

Prompt #1
As Evgeny Morozov writes:

The argument goes like this. Thanks to the internet, governments have lost their monopoly on controlling information, while citizens have acquired access to other sources of knowledge and the ability to organise more safely. Many people will use this access to learn more about democracy, which will unshackle them from government propaganda. They will use this new power to push the government on accountability.

“How dictators watch us on the web”

Morozov insisted we look carefully at this point and spent a lot of time in his piece discussing the faults with it. But this article was written a decade ago in 2009. Update Morozov’s ideas for 2019. Have social media sites and the Internet in general made the digital world and real world more equitable in the past decade? Make sure to use examples from our readings and other assigned materials.

OR

Prompt #2
This week we explored how anything that is public or on a third party platform on the Internet is available to be mined for data or used in ways you may have not originally intended.

In this blog entry you need to take a look at your personal online presence (aka Digital Footprint) and what it says about you. Start by Googling yourself.

Reflect on at least two of the following prompts:

  • The accuracy of the information online about you
  • The professionalism of your online presence
  • Information that was publicly available that surprised you
  • Ways you can mitigate what information is available publicly on the web about you now and in the future
  • What challenges do you see to having an online presence

Blog #4

Net Neutrality is a big issue in digital equity discussions. But that does not mean that everyone has the same opinion. In this post:

  • Identify at least two different sides to the Net Neutrality argument (there are many); and
  • Then choose one position to defend using the assigned resources from the class.

Blog #5

We’ve read about and played several types of video games and discussed how games have values embedded and how inclusion is articulated in several ways: design, language, choice of platform, style, content, story. For this assignment you must:

  • Play Never Alone and at least one other Games for Change
  • Compare and contrast at least three elements of each of the games
  • Reflect on how the games did or did not change the way you think about something

Blog #6

In this part of the course we’ve gone through several issues about emerging technology really quickly. For this blog entry I want you to:

  • Choose one issue that interests you about the technology of the future – Technology & Policing, Copyright & Digitization of Culture, &
    Cashless Society
  • Discuss the broader arguments for the use of that technology and against the use of that technology
  • After laying out the arguments, discuss how we can best employ that technology in a way that is equitable. Make sure to use the materials from the class to back your position.