Internet as Utopia

Earlier this semester, I asked students to respond to the concept of utopia on the internet--either the idea that the internet will bring about a more utopic form of education and community or how the concept of utopia is used to market products. For the first question, notions of the internet as a utopia, I asked students to read Will Richardson's article World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others published on Edutopia (itself an example of using the concept of utopia for marketing purposes).

I left the response assignment intentionally vague, hoping that students would feel free to respond in creative ways. I was not disappointed. The response that most perfectly melded form and content was Jasmine's Facebook note (*disappointed sigh* for the school district that just outlawed teachers and students communicating via web 2.0 software)

Below is Langton's brilliant (and artistically rendered) response to Richardson's article (click images to view full-sized):



One thing that surprised me was how emphatically my students argued for the role of teachers in mediating the online educational experience. I don't think that Richardson suggests that the internet makes teachers obsolete, but he does suggest that it requires a significant redefinition of teaching and learning. They also felt that Richardson ignores the vast swamps of dreck (primarily anonymous youtube comments, 4chan users and pornography) that seem to thrive on the web.

What do you think? I would be particularly curious to hear from my students if I am representing your view correctly.

Wikitopia

Wikitopia: the collected wisdom of Uni High students about popular and not-so-popular utopian and dystopian fiction.

The assignment for the research project you will be working on for the next few months just dropped. You can preview the assignment here or wait until Thursday when it is introduced in class.

We will be meeting in Seibel 0218, a PC lab in the basement of the Seibel Center, Thursday and Friday of this week to begin our research. In preparation for the assignment, please join my wiki by clicking on the "join this wiki" link in the upper left hand corner of any wiki page. Once you have requested membership, I will approve you before class on Thursday and you can start editing.

I'm looking forward to seeing the work you produce!

1984 Project

Your final project for 1984 aims to synthesize much of what we’ve discussed in class and does so in a format that allows you to be creative. We have discussed the prevalence of the suffix “topia” on the internet and how it is used (accurately or not) in order to sell products or convey a certain message. We have also talked about 1984 as a warning and how its themes are both applicable today and potentially applicable in the future. This project allows you to engage with both these ideas: how 1984 is used or misused to convey a message and how those messages apply to today’s world and the future. This project will be due Wednesday, March 4th.

Your project can take on one of two forms.

1. Find an example of art/media/pop-culture which explicitly or implicitly references 1984. Compose a written analysis of the messages and themes conveyed in your chosen piece. Your analysis should address the following questions:

• How is 1984 referenced? This should include direct quotes from both your chosen piece and the original text.

• What is the general theme or message of your piece? This part will vary greatly based on what form your chosen piece is. A song, for example, might have a message that you can pinpoint. If you were to choose a piece of architecture for your piece, the theme of the work would be interpretative in terms of the mood conveyed by the design and aesthetics of the structure.

• Based on your interpretation of 1984, is the reference/allusion that you are analyzing “correct?” Does the piece oversimplify the ideas that it is referencing? Perhaps it misinterprets them? Or maybe it is an incredibly effective use of 1984? What do you think?
  
  
• How does the specific form of the piece (visual art, music, television, cinema, etc.) affect the message?

2. Compose an original work of art that utilizes 1984 in some way. It could reference it explicitly or it could incorporate one of the fundamental ideas from the text. If you choose this option, you still must have a written analysis explaining your intent with the creation (and your analysis should generally cover the subtopics outlined in option one). However, the expectations for the written analysis will not be as high as in option one, as with this route your creation is primary and the analysis is secondary.

Regardless of the option you choose, you must attach a sample of what is being analyzed. This could be in the form of a photocopy, url, cd, sketch, etc. depending on your topic.

Please feel free to talk with me if you are unsure about your ideas.

Though I am not requiring that each student work with a different piece, I will be reading your analyses carefully and will notice if you have not done your own work.

Player Piano Syllabus

All dates are when you are responsible for the reading and vocabulary.

Tue, Feb 24 George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language

Thu, Feb 26 Siebel 0218—wiki project assigned and time to research

Fri, Feb 27 Siebel 0218—research time (5 annotated bibliographic entries due 3/6)


Mon, Mar 2 No School—parent/teacher conference

Tue, Mar 3 Chapters 1-3, vocab: patois (1), ennui (4), Rube Goldberg machine(5), éclat (19), patina (23)

Wed, Mar 4 Chapters 4-6, vocab: commensurate (34), Dubonnet (38), enervating (43), cretin (43), assuage (48) / 1984 projects due

Thu, Mar 5 Chapters 7-9, vocab: supernumerary (90)

Fri, Mar 6 Siebel 0218—research time / 5 annotations due


Mon, Mar 9 Chapters 10-12, vocab: soporific (106), potentates (115)

Tue, Mar 10 Chapters 13-16

Wed, Mar 11 Chapters 17-19

Thu, Mar 12 Chapters 20-22, vocab: lazaretto (224), De mortuis nil nisi bonum. (225)

Fri, Mar 13 no reading homework / work on 5 more annotations, due 3/20


Mon, Mar 16 Chapters 23-26

Tue, Mar 17 Chapters 27-30

Wed, Mar 18 Chapters 31-end

Thu, Mar 19 no reading homework / work on 5 more annotations, due tomorrow

Fri, Mar 20 Siebel 0218—research time / 5 annotations due

Floating Utopias

Anyone can build a game-changing social-network platform or a virtual community or a set of open APIs. But the people here want to start a nonmetaphorical revolution by creating their own independent nations. In the middle of the ocean. On prefab floating platforms.

Check out this article by Chris Baker from Wired Magazine about Seasteading. It describes the efforts of the Seasteading Institute to create their own version of utopia.

"Proactive Merchandising" or Big Brother?

"Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity — and can change the ads accordingly."

Check out this article, When you watch these ads, the ads check you out, about the use of cameras to gather feedback about the person watching the advertisement.  

What do you think?

On a previous subject

“To me, this is the real world,” she said. “And it’s a very peaceful world. I don’t hear anything except the leaves falling. I get up in the morning, I go out on my front deck and I dance and I say, ‘It’s another glorious day on the mountain.’ Men are violent. The minute a man walks in the dynamics change immediately, so I choose not to be around those dynamics."
--Winnie Adams as quoted in the NY Times

Check out this NY Times article, My Sister's Keeper, which discusses the fate of lesbian separatist communities. While Gilman didn't mention lesbianism in Herland, the assumptions about gender, masculinity, femininity, and utopia that allow for the creation of these communities would sound very familiar to her.

What do you think?

1984 Reaction Paper

Due: Thursday, February 12

I expect your reaction papers to be 1-2 pages in length (typed, double-space) and for you to pick a topic that you find thought provoking and that you can say something about.

While a reaction paper does not need to be as formal as a multi-draft essay, it should have a clearly articulated point and that point should be supported with evidence from the book (in the form of quotations) and that evidence should be properly formatted, punctuated and cited (MLA format). Ms. Bluhm is a reported “grammar nut” and will be evaluating these papers, so you should plan accordingly.

Here are some possible topics, you may write on others:

1. Dystopian literature often involves a protagonist who is consciously aware of the problems with his society and feels compelled to rebel against it. Though this protagonist may not be the only individual with dissentious thought, he often perceives that he is alone in his discontent. Why do you suppose Winston resists a passive acceptance of the society of 1984? What about him as an individual creates this opportunity for resistance?

2. We have identified in class the tools for societal control in 1984 and the possible functions and intentions of these tools. In what ways do you see these tools in action in today’s society? Choose one context that requires social control with which you are familiar (e.g. a classroom or school, a religious institution, a retail store, etc.) and discuss the ways in which our society maintains social order and control. What tools are present in both worlds? Which are exaggerated in 1984 but still present in our reality? Which do not apply? Once you have considered the similarities and differences between these two instances of social control, speculate on the why that Winston questions in 1984.

3. In our discussions of Herland, we considered Gilman’s text as a possible utopia. Our reading of 1984 has been based on an acknowledgment of it as a dystopian text. In two seemingly opposite societies, sex for non-procreative purposes is rejected. How is the acceptance of sexuality threatening/dangerous to both a utopian and dystopian society?

1984 Syllabus

All dates are when the reading is assigned. The reading should be completed for the next class period. We are reading this book pretty quickly in order to finish it up before Agora Days. Please make sure that you stick to the reading schedule and do not fall behind.

Thurs 1/29--Book I, ch. 1-2
Fri 1/30--Book I, ch. 3-5

Mon 2/2--Book I, ch. 6-8
Tue 2/3--Book II, ch. 1-3
Wed 2/4--Book II, ch. 4-7 / reaction paper assigned
Thur 2/5--Book II, ch. 8-the beginning of ch 1. of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book “Ignorance is Strength”
Fri 2/6--Begin reading Emmanuel Goldstein’s book, read to the end of Book II

Mon 2/9--Book III, ch. 1-2
Tue 2/10--Book III, ch. 3-end of book
Wed 2/11--appendix and afterword
Thur 2/12--reaction paper due
Fri 2/13--pre-registration day, class does not meet

Mon 2/16--President’s Day—no school
Tue 2/17-2/20--Agora Days