The assignments below are a combination of individual and group work. All of these assignments will be submitted in print AND on the Web. Note that 15% should be added to the total points below (90) to account for PARTICIPATION and QUIZZES. This grade includes online discussion, class participation, attendance, and group work (you will be peer reviewed by those in your group). Quizzes will take the form of a journal, in which you will write about an article from the NY Times "Circuits" section. Students are also expected to keep a WRITING PORTFOLIO that will be reviewed in conference with the professor. You must not ignore the value of online discussion. Not only will this help improve your participation grade, but it will also provide you with valuable information on how to complete the assignments. Most importantly, by contributing regularly to online discussion, you demonstrate that the course is more than just a means to a university credit--it is a force in the shaping of your creative and intellectual life.

Rants and Raves I - 5 points - Tuesday, January 29 (first draft - submit final draft with Rant/Rave II)
Write a short (1-3 paragraph) rant or rave to WIRED Magazine regarding anything at all in Issue 9.09 that you think deserves commentary. Remember that the rant or rave must be in first person, and must express something about your own experience in relation to the subject you are covering. This assignment tests your understanding of content in WIRED, and asks you to address the WIRED readers as peers in a digital culture.

Rants and Raves II - 5 points - Thursday, February 7
Write another rant or rave that expresses the exact opposite of the opinion in your first rant or rave. This tests your ability to view issues from another perspective, and may force you to put yourself into a persona that is much unlike yourself.

N.B.: When the assignment has been completed, peer reviewed, and edited, you will submit one of your rants or raves to WIRED Magazine via e-mail (rants@wired.com). Note: You must include Professor O'Gorman (marcel@e-crit.com) in the cc: line of the message in order for the assignment to be graded.

WIRED Places - 5 points (in-class assignment) - Tuesday, February 26
Select a place on campus that you consider "wired" and write about it from a personal perspective drawing on all of your senses. As ridiculous as it may sound, ask the following questions: What is your first impression? What color are the walls? How are the acoustics? Does the room have a certain odor? What is the temperature? Evidently, you will have to visit the wired place before writing the piece in class. This assignment tests your ability to note details and recreate them as vividly as possible for the reader. This will also be used as pre-writing for the final assignment.

The WIRED Interview - 15 points (group grade) - Thursday, February 28 (Final Draft)
Each group of students will be assigned to a "wired" person on campus who you will contact, schedule an appointment with, and visit in order to conduct a personal interview. For this assignment, it is essential that you conduct background research on the person and compose a list of questions to ask him or her. Questions and research results will be submitted to Prof. O'Gorman before the interview takes place.

While you are conducting the interview, pay close attention to details, especially the physical appearance of the person and his/her surroundings (try to meet the person in his/her office space). You should also consider how you are going to record the interview: in writing only? on audio tape? on video? You will be permitted to sign out a digital camera or camcorder for the interview, and it is strongly urged that you photograph your subject.

Once the interview has been completed, you will work with your co-interviewer to craft it into a narrative interview suitable for an audience of your choosing. You must post the entire article on the Web and submit a print version for publication at a UDM or Detroit city newspaper.

WIRED Fetish - 15 points - Tuesday, March 26 (Final Draft)
Drawing on your class "field trip" experience to a place of techno-fetishism, write a brief technology review of a single, digital device. Your audience will be the UDM community and anyone else who might visit the UDM Rewired Web site. This project requires you not only to have a first-hand experience with the fetish object, but also to conduct research on the object through consumer reports, web site descriptions, catalog entries, etc. You may also choose to conduct a separate field trip of your own, and bonus marks will be given for finding techno-fetish items on campus. You might even consider doing a Fetish parody. Present your Fetish idea to Prof. O'Gorman before you begin the project.

You must provide dialogue in this article or excerpts from interviews that you conduct. You must also submit images, illustrations, and/or graphs to give your piece a pictorial identity. Finally, as always, you must consider your audience: where are you going to submit the article? What are the guidelines or format requirements for the magazine or web journal? This must be discussed with Prof. O'Gorman.

One way of approaching this article is to let it grow out of your interview. What were some of the issues covered in the interview? Should you conduct another interview to probe the issues more deeply? Another possibility would be to seek out a new "wired" experience and write about it within the context of digital culture. For example, you might ask someone to give you a lesson in server maintenance or digital video, or you might spend some time in a chat room or on a discussion list. You might even ask to spend an hour at the Computing Services help desk. Whatever you do, remember to ask questions, take notes, and conduct background research.

UDM REWIRED - 15 points (Group Grade) - Due Exam Week
In the last weeks of class, the students and professor will engage in a collaborative web project entitled UDM REWIRED. The goal is to update and redesign the current UDM Rewired Web site that focuses on wired people, places, and things on the UDM campus. In collaboration with ENL 491 (E-Crit Majors), groups will organize themselves into Design Units and submit proposals for layout and design. The groups will then decide on a master design for the site and tasks will be assigned for each group member. The grade will be determined according to the conceptual strength of the group's designs, as well as the group's ability to divide tasks efficiently and evenly according to the strengths of its members.

UDM Rewired 1.0 | UDM Rewired 2.0 | UDM Rewired 3.0