Assignments

Class Participation: 10%

The course is focused on the close reading of multimodal media. As such, it is expected that we will all engage equally in spirited discussions. Everyone’s participation style differs, but we ask that you come ready and prepared to learn with peers. Our suggested goal for you is that you speak in a discussion at least once per class.

Leading Class Discussion & Presentation: 20%

Every week, you are expected to come to class having done the readings that are listed under the week heading in the class schedule.

The course has a communal slide deck (Canvas > Assignments). Use the sign-up sheet (shared during Week 1 class) to register yourself for a week with a topic that interests you and prepare a single (one) slide for the slide deck that is a response to the reading for the week. You will have 3 minutes to ‘pitch’ your slide to the class. Your goal is to start off the week’s discussion: share with your classmates what you found the most interesting (or confusing, or upsetting, even) and provide provocative discussion questions. We will help you along the way, but you will steer the conversation around the slide you prepared. Feel free to be as creative with your response as you like (using text, image, audio, video, memes, etc.) but be sure to prepare interesting questions.

Weekly Reading Responses: 10%

In addition to leading the discussion and preparing a slide deck, most weeks you will post and read short responses on Canvas on the readings or the media texts before the weekly seminar. Please write your responses on Canvas by 8pm Sunday evening before the Monday the readings are due, and read your classmates’ posts before coming to class. You should, over the course of the semester, write 10 of these in total. You may not write your responses for previous weeks’ threads unless the instructors specifically ask that you do. The first three of these reading responses should be done in the first three weeks of the course; thereafter, you can pick which weeks you do the next seven.

Your responses can take many forms. You can:

1. Pick a quote, phrase, or a term that you find compelling or confusing, and pose a comment or a question.
2. Find a relevant media text or real-life examples that relate to the readings and offer your thoughts on it.
3. Pose questions for your classmates in an argumentative or interpretative position.

In addition to any of the above, you can also respond to a classmate’s post, assuming there are posts entered before 8pm.

What your response should not be is a simple summary of the reading, or any closed statements that do not invite further engagement from the class. Your responses should be around 100-200 words. They should show that you made a thoughtful engagement with the class materials; keep in mind that you are asking the class to read your responses!

You will automatically get a point for a completed response, provided that it meets our expectations described above.

Midterm: Responding to the Anthropocene: 20%

For the midterm, you’ll write a response of no more than 1,000 words to the assigned reading on the topic of the Anthropocene. These readings will be distributed in Week 7 along with clear instructions. In general, the prompt will ask that you address questions like the following: What is the author arguing for in their article? What are the key concepts in the article? How have other writers responded to the author’s original argument? Are there any counterarguments to the argument? Finally, which of the ideas presented in this debate do you resonate with the most and why?

Submission Format: 1,000 words (not including citation and bibliography), double-spaced, one-inch margin, Word (.docx) document, with references (in Chicago style) submitted to Canvas no later than 11:59pm on Sunday, March 16, 2025. Provide a declaration stating if you have or have not used any generative AI applications in formulating your response (see the Generative AI section of the course syllabus).

Note: The reading will be made available on Canvas in Week 7.

Final Project: Imagining a ‘-cene’ of the future: 30%

The final assignment will be in the form of a creative multimodal project. Below, you can find the prompt in its general form. The project description may change and evolve throughout the course, depending on everyone’s areas of interest; the mechanics of the assignment (i.e. the second and third sections after project description) will stay the same. A detailed and finalized description of the assignment will be shared in class in Week 10 (March 24).

Project Description:

Imagine your hometown OR the city of Philadelphia has become situated in a different environment. You can decide what that environment is; it could be anything from a different type of climate, stationed in outer space, or submerged underwater. You can come up with better ideas than us!

What does this new environment feel like? How does it operate? How are things mediated in this environment? What kind of infrastructures are in place? What type of energy does it require to function? What ‘-cene’ is this new world part of?

Your work should consist of two parts:

1. A written statement describing and explaining your reasoning behind the city and your new “-cene” term. You can use an existing ‘-cene’ or define a new ‘-cene’.
2. A creative work that conveys this vision for a future media environment: an illustration, a video essay, a photo album, a podcast episode, creative writing, a map, text-based games, a sculpture, a comic strip, a zine, or an advertisement. We are sure you will come up with better ideas than these!

Your written statement should comprise, at minimum: 

• a 150-word abstract;
• a written description;
• a rationale (this is where you integrate your literature review);
• a discussion of your methodology (identifying the methods you have used to explore your new -cene);
• a reflection on the experience of working with the medium/s you chose to explore your new -cene;
• a bibliography / mediagraphy of relevant work. For tips on writing abstracts and bibliographies, see “Abstracts and Annotated Bibliographies” by Shannon Mattern

Final Presentation: 10%

Our final week of class will be in-class presentations of your new ‘-cene’. Each project will be part of a 3-person panel, organized by shared themes. Each presenter will offer a presentation of their finished project (duration TBD, depending on class size). Each panel will respond to questions and comments on the themes raised. (Note: this is not a group assignment; the format of panels follows a standard conference setup, and individual students will still present their own work)