Final Project

For this paper, imagine a future technology and the technological infrastructure and social forms that might accompany it. You must use some of the theoretical tools offered in the readings of this class to think through your ideas. In other words, write a theoretically informed science fiction essay/story.

Getting started on the project:

1. Think about a social or technical need that we are currently facing. This could be a large-scale problem or one that only affects some people.

2. Imagine a technological solution. What does it do? What does it look like? What is it made of? How is it made? Where do you get it? How much does it cost?

3. What effects will this technology have on the body? The mind? Now imagine the impact of this solution on society. Who has access to it? How do people use it? How does it shape the way that we see others and ourselves?

4. What kinds of gendered, racial, national, class, and abled advantages, disadvantages, or neutrality will this technology create? How will this play out in the short-term, medium-term, long-term?

Each student will be assigned another’s proposal. Students are also encouraged to meet to discuss the proposals that have been assigned to them.

Feedback will be delivered as comments via this google form.

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph: the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

Try to find at least 10 items (books, journal articles, maps, drawings) in your list. You will have to locate these 10 items either by finding the books in the stacks, or finding the journals online and downloading the appropriate article, which can be done from library or home computers using the library search function.

For each item you will provide a citation and an annotation, which will involve a quick reading or skimming. Mostly to see if there is useful information that you can use for your paper. Remember not everything you find will be useful so you will need to sort through your findings and choose the 10 best items. Please try to find at least 2 books, the rest can be articles from academic peer reviewed journals, maps, drawings etc. If you are struggling, please feel free to ask the reference librarians for help in searching, finding, and sorting. They are there to help you!

The In-Class Presentation is a low-stakes opportunity for you to showcase the technology that you are imagining. Sharing your thought process with the class, and soliciting feedback from your classmates. This is your chance to crowd-source for help with specific questions or concerns that you may have about your project. You can incorporate any ideas you get in the class presentation and subsequent Q&A into your final paper.

Expect to speak for 2 minutes, followed by 4 minutes of Q&A. You are not expected to use a slideshow but if you think a slideshow will help, you may upload slides to your Final Assignment Folder on this site by Noon on the day of your presentation.

The form of the paper is up to you. You can write it as a series of journal entries, a newspaper- style article, or a standard academic essay with an introduction, content paragraphs, and conclusion. Don’t hesitate to give lots of details about the technology, it helps build the reality-effect. Here are the guidelines:

1. No title page required. The first page of your paper needs ONLY a paper title, your name, and then start the paper.

2. The paper should be in size 12pt, Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins, double spaced, 9-10 pages, 2500 words maximum.

3. Refer to at least 3 readings/films from the class and provide references to all sources used (ideas, quotes, images etc.) in a bibliography on a new page after your paper but in the same document. The bibliography does not count towards the page nor word limits.

4. End the paper with a detailed paragraph about the conclusions you have about the technology. The point is to get as specific as possible about the assumptions you made and your own evaluation of the advantages and limitations of the technology.

5. You are allowed (and encouraged!) to use “I” but do not use this as an excuse to go on historical, sociological, psychological, personal, etc. type tangents or generalizations.