Final version posted 28 August 2019 for Fall 2019 semester. Any modifications will be announced. Deletions will use strikethrough and additions the color red.
Blog roll (40%) There will be short writing assignments approximately every other week (10 total possible prompts) You are required to do six (you must do #3, #8 and #10). They are graded on a ten point scale each. +/- 500 words each). The format for this will be a blog post, a form of 21st-century public writing. They will be either reflective pieces on a conceptual issue that has arisen in class or a report or review about a project or experiment carried out. One of the main points is to learn to communicate ideas in an open forum and to develop a voice for research blogging. Students will learn how to install an instance of WordPress.org and to choose a theme appropriate to representing embedded digital materials. Students choose at the end of the term if you keep your blog or if you delete it. See http://hosting.nyu.edu for more details.
Participation (10%) I expect active participation from all students and non-students in the course. This course will require participation in discussion, preparation of readings and experimentation with digital environments. A willingness to try and fail on some exercises is important. Between the course meetings, students may have to investigate a problem to learn how to do it themselves— taking initiative will be rewarded. In addition, we come to the course with different skills and helping out fellow students and fostering a collaborative spirit in the classroom will be rewarded. A laptop will be essential for almost every session. Participation will be assessed by the extent to which the students have prepared for in-class discussion and are ready to address the thought questions found in this syllabus.
Zotero bibliography (10%) Each student will build a bibliography on a topic in quantified self and digital humanities of particular interest to them. There will be an introduction to Zotero in class. This bibliography should be put together as an “open group” Zotero and be open to the world. A blog posting should accompany the bibliography at the due date (early November 5, 11:59pm) summarizing major elements of the bibliography and lessons learned about the topic.
Project portfolio (40%) Over the course of the term, we will engage in project-based learning. Over the course of the semester, students will each develop three datasets about themselves.
The final portfolio is composed of three parts:
(1) Each student will carry out one individual mini-project in which they do data storytelling based on one of the datasets. (15%)
(2) Each student will write about one of the datasets during the artist-in-residence session. (15%) A draft of this write up will be required after the visit is over.
(3) Finally, each student will conceptualize (but not actually build) an app (see blog #8) dealing with elements of self-quantification (10%). The latter will be experimental and necessarily small in scope, but will require reflective analysis, contextualization and visuals.
We will begin to work on these three parts of the final project before the midterm and continue through the semester. Expectations for this portfolio and the breakdown of how much each part is worth will be clearly explained to students. You should use as much of the theoretical reflection and readings from the courses as speak to the particular projects you choose.
Due date for all course work: 17 Dec, 11:59pm
In my years of teaching I have found the breakdown above to be more or less reflective of the work that you do in class. Around the midterm, students will have the opportunity to collectively renegotiate the assessment breakdown, if they feel that the various elements of the class merit more credit in the overall grade.