This project asks you to explore “new media” as a social practice. Specifically, it asks you to consider an important social and political question that accompanied a particular media technology when it could properly be considered “new media”. The project has two specific components for you to consider.
Component #1 – the CONTENT of your project
For the content of your major project, you may choose one of two focuses. Each of these asks you to choose a particular social, political or economic problem, issue or question that is related to the “new media” you wish to do your project on.
As for focus, you can choose:
(A) to do an analysis of a contemporary “new media” technology (please see the Contemporary New Media Review assignment for a list of possible technologies)
Some examples:
– virtual digital assistants (e.g. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Home, Microsoft’s
Cortana)
– “smart” speakers (e.g. Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo)
– smart home technology (e.g. Google Nest) and the Internet of Things
– digital health tracking systems (e.g. Fitbit, Apple Watch)
– digital music streaming services (e.g. Spotify or Apple Music)
– High speed mobile data services (e.g. LTE, 5G)
– home broadband internet services (i.e. ADSL, coaxial cable or “fiber to the curb” systems
like Bell Fibe or Google Fiber)
– satellite internet services (e.g. Starlink, Viasat)
– self-driving vehicle technologies
– consumer (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive) OR commercial (e.g. Akamai,
Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon’s AWS) “cloud” storage services
– mobile digital videocameras or DSLRs
– console video game systems (e.g. Xbox, PS4) or portable game systems (e.g. PSP,
NintendoDS)
– VR technology (e.g. Oculus Rift)
– Bitcoin, digital currencies, or other applications of blockchain technology
– e-readers (e.g. Amazon Kindle, Kobo Reader, etc.)
OR
(B) an analysis of an older media technology when it was an example of “new media”. Some possible older forms of “new media” include video (camcorders, VCRs, etc.), television, photography, film, radio, the phonograph, newspapers or other established “old media”.
Next, your project must identify, examine and analyze a specific social, political or economic issue related to your chosen “new media”. Some examples could be:
– Contemporary Social Media and its Economic Implications for Journalism
– Artificial Intelligence and Systemic Anti-Black Racism
– Early Colour Photography, Race, and the Reproduction of Non-White Skin Tones – Early (or Contemporary Mobile) Video Games and Moral Panics About Juvenile Delinquency
– Streaming Media and its Implications for Local (e.g. Canadian) Media Production
Again, in each of the above examples you have (A) a choice of “new media” technology, either contemporary or historical, and (B) a specific social, political or economic question related to it. Please use a similar format when choosing your own topic. If you have any questions about a potential topic for this project, please get in touch with me.
Component #2 – the FORM of your project
Your major project for this course can be delivered in one of two forms:
1) A standard written research paper, 6 to 7 pages in length (double-spaced, NOT including header/title page and bibliography.
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