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Week 1 - What is DCI?#

In our first week, let's unpack what we even mean by digital culture and information. How do we define something that we are surrounded by every day? How do we talk about it? Study it? Analyze it? Critique it?

Thursday, January 11#

Agenda:

  • Before class, take this getting to know you survey.
  • ice breaker: what is your earliest memory of the internet?
  • syllabus day/course overview
  • Activity 1.1 - HTML
    • Let's build a basic webpage using HTML. We'll go through the process live in class.
    • Sublime Text Editor
    • Use the W3 Schools if you need to look something up.

Prep for Tuesday#

Tuesday, January 16#

  • Icebreaker: Favorite snow day activity?
  • Discussion - what is data? information? digital? Let's work on defining terms and understanding how they fit together.
  • Part 1: What is data, information, knowledge, and wisdom? At your table, brainstorm 1) keywords 2) your own definitions and 3) definitions from our readings or elsewhere on the web. Add them to the white board.
  • Part 2: What does David Weinberger say about the DIKW hierarchy? How has "the digital" changed the nature of these concepts? Work in your group to come up with a new model/visual/illustration for the DIKW hierarchy that accounts for Weinberger's arguments. Here are two examples: Iraq War Wikihistoriography and @congresstweets
  • Part 3: Each group will be assigned a topic. 1) Iowa Caucuses 2) Martin Luther King Jr 3) Washington and Lee University 4) Taylor Swift.
    • Visit the Wikipedia page for your assigned topic.
    • Skim the article. Get a sense for how complete it is. Anything that seems controversial or unfinished or undecided?
    • Check out the View History and Talk pages using the tabs in the upper middle of the page.
    • Discuss the following:
      • How is knowledge made in this article? How is it organized?
      • What about this topic is still under negotiation?
      • How was data used?
      • What was surprising? Problematic? What was left out?
  • Activity 1.2 - Domain + WordPress setup, see instructions

Prep for Thursday#

Thursday, January 18#

  • icebreaker:
  • Discussion
    • what is (digital) culture? 2 min paper
    • Geocities deep dive - What can you learn about internet culture from exploring these sites? Put your historian hat on. What trends do you observe?
    • What do Milligan and Tolentino and Ayers say? How does the internet affect us, as people, AND the historical record?
  • Assignment overview
  • Activity 1.3 - WordPress

Week 1 Assignments#

Due by Tuesday at 12pm

Blog post #1#

What brought you to this class? How do our definitions of digital culture and information relate your personal life? Academic life? What do you find most interesting about issues around DCI? Concerning? What personal goals do you have for this class - skills you want to develop or topics you want to explore? What will success look like for you, beyond just an A?

Specifications:

  • Create a WordPress post, then turn in the URL in Canvas.
  • 300-500 words.
  • Free from grammatical errors, typos.
  • Credit and link out to sources when appropriate. I won't require that you use a certain citation style, but you should be in the habit of crediting sources and using in-text links. If you feel better about using a formal citation style, go for it!

Activity log #1 - the internet's earliest memory of you#

At the beginning of this course, I asked you your earliest memory of the internet. For this activity, let's turn that question around. What is the internet's earliest memory of you? Think back to Ian Mulligan's story about Warhammer in the 1990s or the personal essays by Tolentino or Chayka.

Write a short biography of yourself using only information that can be found online about you, preferably in public with no logging in. Use Google and the Wayback Machine to search for yourself and anything in your past life on the web. What can you find? What can't you find? What is surprising? What has been erased?

After you've dug around and composed the bio, let's hear a little about the process. What was easy to find? Difficult? How has your web presence changed over time? What were you taught about using the internet with respect to privacy and how have your thoughts changed over time? How much of the content was on social media vs. another site (your school, team, etc)? If a researcher from the future is trying to learn about you, what are they missing out on?

Specifications:

  • Create a WordPress page, then turn in the URL in Canvas. If you feel more comfortable keeping this page private, that's fine, just include the password when you submit.
  • 50-100 word bio. 150-300 words on process.
  • Include links and images as you're comfortable. If you do not want to link to an old webpage (for privacy, embarrassment, etc), consider a small screenshot.