This page summarizes the work of the semester, contains prompts as well as assignment dates and due dates. If there are any changes here once the page becomes final, strikethrough will be used. As assignments close, they will become a collapsible group.
Response 1 (assigned week 3, due 15-25 Feb) The rubric can be found here.
This introductory response is an opportunity for you to react to some of the larger issues of the course so far. Below are some guiding questions you can choose from:
Do you agree with the notion of "self knowledge through numbers"?
Are you a digitally private person? How does that manifest itself in your life?
Do you agree with the definition that "surveillance is [made up of] complex ways we watch others and we watch ourselves"? How could you nuance this definition?
What do think the main differences between surveillance based on data and our friends and family "peeping into" each other's lives by "watching carefully curated events" of our social media?
Would you use the tracking devices your classmates spoke about in the informal presentations? Why?
Is the "right to be forgotten" important to you? Why?
NB: You are not meant to answer all the questions, but choose the one or combine the ones you are most interested in.
This response will typically be about 750-1000 words, plus several well chosen visuals.
Response 2 (assigned 2 March, due 15-30 March) :
This response is an opportunity for you to react to this week's readings in the context of the general course material. The length should be the same as Response 1. Bring some examples from the class to your response. Below are some guiding questions you can choose from:
What do you think of Zuboff's idea that big data "originates in the social, and it is there that we must find it and know it"? (75).
Explain what you think Morozov's idea of "gaining ownership over sensor data which is generated" might mean? How might that happen?
Take two of the authors in the readings (Foucault, Deleuze, Zuboff, Morozov and Stalder) and write the transcript in which one of them interviews the other.
What do you think Zuboff means by automation "not only imposes information (in the form of programmed instructions), but it also produces information."
In the context of this course, what are the implications Sun-Ha Hong's notion of "recessive objects" as mentioned in Stalder's post?
Assignment 2 (assigned 29 Mar, due 20-6 May) The rubric can be found here. Guidelines can be found here.
Response 3 (assigned 1 Apr, due 15-25 Apr) OPTIONAL -- I will use the grade for this assignment only in the case that it raises your overall grade for the response section.
This response is an opportunity for you to respond to the question of "empathy" and "afterlives" of data. The length and format should be the same as the previous responses. Please engage with the various readings of the course. Below are some guiding questions you can choose from:
Would you like to interact with a chatbot of a person who is no longer alive? If so, then of whom and why? If not, why?
Do you agree with the statement by Porter that "quantification is a technology of distance"? (cited in Data Feminism, section 3) What does it mean when we see numbers visualized that they perform a "god trick"?
What are some ways we can leverage humanity and emotion in visualization according to D'Ignazio and Klein? What are the challenges in doing so? How have you/will you do that in your own work in this course?
Compare Nikulski's perspective on subjectivity and data to that of D'Ignazio and Klein.
What are some of the ways that Sam Green's 32 Sounds engages with tracking in the world?
Response 4 (assigned 20 Apr, due 18 May)
This response is an opportunity for you to synthesize the content of this semester class material and discussions in a visual representation. It should be accompanied by a written response describing the challenges of making this visual representation and deciding how the issues are interrelated (of the usual length). You have many options for this:
a jamboard (as demonstrated the March 31 class)
a "metro map"-style concept map as described here or using this tool or this tool
any other flow charting or mind mapping platform
any other visualization method (including by hand)
You can accompany this post with a *short* paragraph discussing any conclusions or challenges.