History of the Information Age — Fall 2011

In addition to Version 2.0 of the syllabus, today’s class discussed what are the parts of all timeline events.  Here are modified notes from Nicole for what we decided:

• What must be included in an event/point on timeline:
•       Name/title
•       If an invention, a brief definition or description, and significance.
• At a minimum, 1-2 sentence description of what the item is. If there’s a picture you can easily include, then do so.
• Contextualize: “this is an early version of (x other invention)”
•       Citation
• Need more reliable websites
• Need actual citations. [Images also need to be cited.]
• Put your source citations on the bottom, and italicize them.
• What should be able to be included in an event/point on timeline:
• Image or video, if relevant.
• Down the road: link to other relevant website
• [Someone’s potential final project: go through and link up to related events.]

By Tuesday, groups should start fleshing out information/events.

We also decided that we would ask our friends in DTLT if there a way to prevent the display of the hour/minute on the timeline entries, given that we don’t know that information for almost any event.

I’ve typed up and posted the discussion leaders for the semester at: http://infoage.umwblogs.org/info-age-discussion-leaders/

Remember that each set of discussion leaders will need to meet with me, preferably in the next 2 weeks, to set the readings for your week of discussion.  [The first set will announce the reading for next Tuesday soon after class on Thursday. ]

For this Thursday, Sept. 8, you need to have completed the following:

• Read all of Gregory Downey’s Technology and Communication in American History, and the introduction to Brian Winston’s Media, Technology, and Society.  [As you read, be thinking about potential projects, topics to explore, events to add to our timeline.]  Be prepared to discuss these readings.
• Post at least 1 item/event/invention/etc. from your group’s list to infoagetimeline.umwblogs.org as Martha showed you how to do today.  Include date, brief description, proper category, and the source.  If you’re feeling adventurous, include a relevant image or even video.
• Be prepared to talk about & hopefully finalize our plans for assignments for the semester.

On Thursday, I will be prepared:

• To lead discussion of the readings
• To discuss the timeline, guidelines for entering that data, and our goals for the timeline going forward
• To finalize the assignments for the semester
• To discuss my expectations in terms of your individual blogging for the rest of the semester.

Thanks to DTLT for all their help today and to all of you for another productive day.  We’re getting closer to nailing down our plan for the semester.