Technology in Society Paper

Let's take a look at technology in our cultural artifacts, including movies, TV, music and more. How is it depicted? How do characters in fiction or in art interpret and interact with technology? Does technology appear to have a positive or a negative impact on our culture?

You may already have some ideas about this, but we will spend this module looking at how technology impacts our lives from many different angles, including how we work, learn, interact, and keep ourselves healthy. During this time, you'll be responsible for writing a 5-page analysis of your chosen media, including what it's all about, what you think it is trying to convey, and how it relates to the current state of our global society. Based on your own thoughts and experiences, you can take your paper in whatever direction you see fit, as long as you back it up with resources.

Objectives:

Our goals for this project are to:

1. Describe technology as a presence in our lives and throughout history, including both positive and negative aspects.
2. Discuss the relevance and impact that technology has had on global culture, based on what you have read and seen in various articles and other reference sources, as well as your own experience.
3. Find clips from a movie/TV show, a video game, a piece of artwork, or some other visual media source depicting an aspect of technology and its impact on society, and analyze its meaning and implications in a 5-page analysis paper.

How to Complete - Your Task

1. Find a piece of media. YouTube is, of course, full of great video with clips (and sometimes full episodes) of all kinds of movies and shows. If you have a Netflix or Amazon Video subscription, there might be things there worthy of investigation as well. If you're into art, Google is a great place to go to find links to photography and museum exhibits, and there are other collections of amateur and semi-professional art out there as well such as DeviantArt. If you're into games, you could capture a screen recording, find one existing online, or emulate it on a computer and record the screen there. Ideally, regardless of what form it takes, you'll want something that you'll be able to reference and link to within your paper (so that the rest of us can see it, too).
2. Share it with us. So that we don't all pick the same pieces, we will use a BlackBoard discussion board to share our media and initial thoughts about what we're doing. This discussion is due by September 23, and you should, at minimum, post your thoughts and respond to at least one other person in the class.
3. Do the research. You'll need to do a little research to get some sources to draw from. We'll spend time in class discussing the writing of an analysis and using sources meaningfully to help support your ideas. There are also a lot of resources here in this module to help you.
4. Tell us all about it. The main product that you'll create in this module will be a 5-page paper analyzing the media that you found in terms of what it's trying to say about technology and society. We'll use a little app called PeerGrade.io (class code: BH6EMU) to share drafts of our paper by September 30, with your review for your partner due no later than October 7.
5. Finally, you'll turn in your final paper by October 14.

Guiding Questions and Things to Consider

As you develop your paper, think about all of the topics that we bring up in class during the time we are together, as well as check out all of the resources posted into BlackBoard for you. There are many directions you could go, but don't feel like you have to go everywhere at once. Try to find a central argument or point to make, and stick with it as you develop the paper. This will help you stay on track and avoid a paper that is difficult to follow, overly lengthy, or otherwise has a hard time making its point clear.

Some questions to consider:

• What is your media piece about? What's the central theme, or themes, as you see them? Is this something new to you, or something you were already familiar with (i.e., a movie you've never seen versus a favorite movie you've watched a million times)?
• How is technology depicted in your media? Is it a tool to be used by humans, a force with its own power or sentience, or something else entirely?
• How does your media relate to today's global society? Is the tone generally positive or negative with regard to technology?
• Has your analysis and thinking around this media in this way caused you to reconsider your own relationship to technology? How, and in what ways?

Doing Research

There are of course many places to go to do research, and where you find the best sources may be related to the piece you're analyzing and the direction in which your analysis is going. For example, if you're a Nursing major looking at the future of healthcare through the lens of Star Trek, you may want to search nursing and medical sources as well as humanities-related sources. Conversely, Communications or History majors might want to spend time looking in both humanities and education journals when analyzing the communications technologies depicted in shows like The X-Files, Lost, or Black Mirror.

Below are some resources that may be useful to you when doing research. Note that you may use sources such as YouTube videos or podcasts, as long as they are properly cited in the style of your discipline (APA or MLA), and you have also included at least two peer-reviewed scholarly sources as part of your source list.

You should have at least 5 sources for your paper.

Writing Resources

• The MEAL Plan handout (in BlackBoard and discussed in class)
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Avoiding Plagiarism and Improving Writing Skills module (in BlackBoard)
• The Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (with lots of useful self-quizzes and tutorials)

Research Resources

• EBSCO and other search tools at the PNW Library
• Purdue University Libraries (note that as PNW students, you have access to some resources here, but not all - you may, however, get citations that you can use to find the source elsewhere, either at PNW or at the public library in your area)
• Directory of Open-Access Journals (Thanks to technology, a number of journals are now publishing openly on the Web, meaning you can get access to many peer-reviewed articles without a paid subscription. The only downside is that not every field is well-represented in open-access format.)
• Media, Culture, and Society (A journal specific to analysis of media and culture - our PNW library does subscribe to this journal and there are many good articles, including international perspectives, on media and culture relationships of all kinds.)
• TWIT.tv (Believe it or not, a podcast network known as TWIT - or, This Week In Tech - is a really good source for information related to the industry of technology, analyzed from multiple angles and perspectives in its various shows. It may be worth a look.)
• Ars Technica (Like TWIT, this isn't peer-reviewed, but the articles at Ars Technica are among the best in terms of looking globally at the technology industry and how it relates to society.)

Turning it in

You have three things that will be turned in during the course of the four-week module:

• Discussion, September 23 - post your topic and media ideas, and reply to at least one other person
• Peergrade.io, September 30 (post draft) and October 7 (review)- post your paper draft and respond to your partner with feedback
• Final paper due October 14

How you're graded

Discussion - 10 points

	Unacceptable – 0 pts	Beginning - .5 pts	Developing – 1 pts	Proficient – 2 pts
Content (2 points)	Postings present no specific viewpoint and no supporting examples are provided.	Postings present a specific viewpoint but lack supporting information.	Postings present specific ideas and some supporting information. A media or a topic may not be chosen or well-explained.	Postings present a focused and cohesive viewpoint, and includes a topic with supporting information such as media options.
Thoroughness (2 points)	Postings answer none of the questions posted in the discussion prompt.	Postings thoroughly answer one of the questions posted in the discussion prompt.	Postings thoroughly answer some of the questions posted in the discussion prompt.	Postings thoroughly answer all the questions posted in the discussion prompt.
Creativity (2 points)	Postings are written in a half-hearted, disjointed manner that reflects no awareness of effective communication.	Postings are brief and unimaginative, and reflect minimal effort to connect with the audience.	Postings are generally well written with some attempts made to stimulate dialogue and commentary.	Postings are creatively and fluently written to stimulate dialogue and commentary.
Mechanics (2 points)	Writes with numerous major errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. (More than 5 errors)	Writes with major errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. (3 - 4 errors)	Writes with minor editing errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. (1-2 errors)	Writes with no errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. (0 errors)
Replies to Peers (2 points)	No replies to peers made, OR writes openly disrespectful and negative comments.	Writes comments on other students’ postings which fail to show respect for other opinions.	Writes comments on other students’ postings that are generally positive, respectful and add value to the discussion. (No more than 1 comments)	Writes comments on other students’ postings that are consistently positive, respectful, and succinct while providing a meaningful addition to the discussion. (1 or more comments)

 

PeerGrade.io - 20 points

	Unacceptable	Beginning	Developing	Proficient
Critique thoroughness 20 points	Not completed	There is little attempt made to provide helpful feedback to the partner; OR your own paper has not been submitted to PeerGrade.io for review. Feedback is frequently not respectful or considerate.	There is some attempt made to provide helpful feedback to the partner. However, comments provided may lack substance or otherwise consist of "Great job," or "I liked what you did," kinds of comments, without further explanation. Feedback may not always be respectful or considerate.	The feedback provided to the partner is helpful, useful, and complete. Feedback is provided to help make the paper stronger, and is always respectful and considerate.

 

Paper - 70 points

	Unacceptable	Beginning	Developing	Proficient
Introduction and Thesis 10 points	Not submitted	Thesis is unclear and unsupported, or misunderstands assignment or the text.	Thesis is somewhat clear and somewhat supported with concrete details and commentary.	Thesis is very clear and well developed. Main points are introduced clearly. Interpretation is supported throughout with concrete details & appropriate commentary.
Summary of Media 10 points	Not completed	Gives a summary with limited information to satisfy the audience, with few details to support the presenter's goals	Gives a brief summary with some information about the media and evidence that somewhat supports the presenter's goals	Gives a brief summary with enough information to satisfy the audience, with details from the media and evidence that strongly supports the presenter's goals
Technology and Media Analysis 10 points	Not completed	Very little evidence is shown to support basic claims as to how the media depicts technology and its impact on culture or society.	Some evidence is shown to support solid claims as to how the media depicts technology and its impact on culture or society.	Strong evidence is shown to support fully developed claims as to how the media depicts technology and its impact on culture or society.
Evidence 10 points	Not submitted	Evidence given doesn't support argument, or very little evidence is given at all. Less than three sources are used.	Evidence is present and sometimes supports argument. Less than five sources are used.	Evidence draws on outside sources often to support argument with persuasive and effective choices in evidence. At least five sources are used.
Analysis 10 points	Not submitted	Ideas/evidence not well explained in body paragraphs. Evidence not used to connect to the argument in the essay.	Supports argument of the essay, though ideas may be obvious or basic.	Creative/original thought interpreting the evidence.
Formatting of References 10 points	Not submitted	APA/MLA format references and contains more than 5 errors in usage or are missing references in the text and at the end of the paper.	APA/MLA format references contain 3-5 errors in usage or are missing references in the text or at the end of the paper.	APA/MLA format references contain no more than 2 minor errors in reference formatting on in-text citations.
Grammar and Mechanics 10 points	The paper contains more than three major spelling and/or grammatical mistakes; OR is not turned in.	The paper contains two to three major spelling and/or grammatical mistakes.	The paper contains only a small number of minor spelling and/or grammatical mistakes.	The paper contains no spelling and/or grammatical mistakes.

 

Resources

In addition to what's provided above for writing the paper, check out the ideas below and in BlackBoard.

There are lots of different places you can go online to find media clips and other material, such as YouTube, Google, Amazon, and Netflix. YouTube is likely to be a one-stop shop for your needs, but don't limit yourself!

Stuck on an idea that grabs you? Think about your favorite movie or show or game. Does it have a relationship to technology? If not, what about other things you've seen that did in some way? It could be social commentary, or it could be a plot or setting device, or all of the above. Some examples might include:

• Wall-E (Disney film)
• Black Panther (recent superhero movie with some interesting technology in society messages)
• Star Wars (any adaptation)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a personal favorite, with multiple versions of the movie and book available)
• Blade Runner (the 1982 version is better, but there is a recent one as well)
• The Matrix
• The Fallout series, the Final Fantasy series, or the Assassin's Creed games series (for starters, as lots of games depict interesting dystopian visions or ways of using technology to serve humanity or destroy it)
• Mr. Robot, 24, Lost, The X-Files, Prison Break, Black Mirror, and countless other TV shows
• Some of these really cool pieces of artwork
• LOTS of Japanese anime and anime-inspired films such as Ghost in the Shell and Akira