Today’s plan:
- Attendance
- That’s not an embedded link
- Reviewing project possibilities
- Homework
Project Possibilities
The majority of class today will be a discussion about possible projects. While I was impressed by the range of topics, and think there’s quite a few with real potential, I was quite surprised so many of you pitched “topics” and not “communities.”
Homework
Complete fandom research assignment; submit link to Google Doc to Canvas.
Here’s some instructions for getting a shareable link via Google Docs.
For homework, I want you to start drafting your project proposal. The final proposal is a 600-1000 word document. I will talk a bit more about the format of the proposal next week. Here’s what you should do over the weekend to prepare.
First, you should identify 2-5 places on the Internet that readily publish material on your topic and allow comments. Check the dates and frequency of publication. If possible, click on author’s names to see how much they post. Google author names to see if they publish in other places. Etc.
For each of these places, find one or two recent articles. Read them enough to provide summaries of them.
After this research, write a few sentences that identify the controversies of this community. What’s the disagreements? What keeps people writing?
Then try to think about something this community needs, something you could research (note: this might not be possible for every community). But you should be thinking about what your contribution will be. Summarizing and comparing is a good start, but what can you bring?
Take a stroll down Amazon.com with your topic. Take a stroll down the UNC library search field with your topic. Take a stroll down Google Scholar with your activity. Find interesting stuff you could read and summarize for your community.
Search for big events coming up for your community. Put together a calendar.
Finally, begin generating your own schedule for writing. . For weeks 4-12, imagine what you might read and write every week. Of course, I won’t hold you to this exact calendar–I want you to respond to what’s happening in your community and to have the freedom to follow any interesting lines of thought. But, you do need to prove to me that you can sustain the project for ten weeks.
