ENG 328: WTF is a Zine?

Posted on October 27, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • WTF is a Zine?

WTF is a Zine?

As I’ve previously indicated, next week we will begin working on the Crucible Fall 2021 Design project. I will provide more concrete details for the project on Monday, but here’s some preliminary info:

  • For this project, you will have the option of working individually or in teams of two
  • You will develop a front and back cover for the issue, using student submitted art
  • The aesthetic, stylistic inspiration for your design should be influenced by the zine

So that last one leads us to the question of the day: WTF is a Zine? Kenneth Burke would remind us, via the properties of identification, association, and the negative, that such a question also asks us WTF is(n’t) a Zine? Such is any ontological project haunted: to seek what something is, its properties essential and inessential, we inevitably bound upon its boundaries, borders, limits.

And so I turn to Google, contemporary arbitrator of the market’s interminable wrangle:

Okay, so what adjectives can we already use to talk about zines?

Some more resources:

Homework

Complete Adobe Classroom in a Book chapter on Printing and Exporting

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ENG 225 10.W: Surveys, Focus Groups, and Interviews

Posted on October 27, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan

  • Surveys
  • Focus Groups
  • Interviews

Surveys

Surveys typically collect three kinds of information:

  • Attitudes and Preferences
  • Opinions and/or Reactions
  • Demographic information

Generally, you measure attitudes and preferences using multiple choice, ranking (favorite to least favorite) or likert scales. While the term likert scale might be unfamiliar, I can almost guarantee you’ve encountered one before.

  • It is very likely you have encountered a Likert scale
  • It is likely you have encountered a Likert scale
  • It is neither likely or unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale
  • It is unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale
  • It is very unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale

Note: social scientists and marketers often omit the middle option above. Doing so forces a respondent to make a decision (the middle option provides them an opt out).

Note: If you do a ranking scale, make sure you tell someone whether 1 is their favorite or 1 is their least favorite. That is, if you ask someone to rank their preferences from 1 to 5, then be sure to write something like: please rank the following options from 1 (least favorite) to 5 (favorite).

We can collect more information in surveys via open ended, free write questions. There’s a few issues with these though. One is that people are likely to skip them. If you have more than one of these in a survey, your response rate is likely to plummet. The other difficulty is that these require quite a bit of time to “code”: that is, to go through and synthesize responses. However, that time is usually rewarded; for instance, I’ve published several articles on experimental class projects and I often get the best data from open-ended student responses, but this data takes much more time to analyze than a likert question.

Collecting demographic information is tricky because (some) people are skeptical of surveys. People can become suspicious if they think they know what your survey is attempting to prove. This can, if they disagree with you, create animosity, and lead to survey trolling. This is one reason it is important to create neutral, objective, balanced questions that do not preference a particular response.

This skepticism often manifests itself as a resistance to supplying demographic information. However, sometimes demographic information is extremely important! You have to think about what information you need to meaningfully code and analyze your data. If you need to collect demographic data, particularly data relating to race, sex, gender, and/or sexuality, then you need to be careful, diligent, and respectful. I think gender and sexuality are particularly difficult these days, given the rapid reconceptualization of those concepts (which is a good thing). So we should spend some time investigating how to ask demographic questions, particularly about gender and sexuality.

There’s more information on question types and some tips in this article.

What Not to Do in a Survey

Some general tips (emphasis–avoid loaded words). Some more tips (emphasis–use audience’s language).

Ok, let’s try an exercise.

A classic example of how not to construct a survey.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups

Today I want to spend some time exploring focus groups. Focus groups can come in one of two generic flavors–either simple question/response (more common) or activity-based (less common). The value of a focus group lies in collecting a variety of perspectives *and* recording how people react to the ideas/opinions/experiences of other people. There is something unpredictably inventive, or choric, about the kind of dynamic conversations that focus groups can prompt.

  • Group size: 3-5, 6-8
  • Record discussion, assistant moderator takes notes
  • Generate an outline and a “script” of questions
    • Welcome
    • Overview of Topic
    • Ground Rules
    • First Question [Build Trust]
    • Follow Up Strategies
    • Second Question [Probe Attitudes]
    • Third Question [React to Commonplace / New Information]
  • Sample questions / activities
  • How to synthesize data

Let’s start by walking through this guide to focus groups by Richard Krueger.

Outside of academia, focus groups are generally used by marketing researchers.

You will also encounter focus groups in local journalism and political research

Interviews

Like focus groups, interviews are also constructed around recording responses to open-ended questions. Asking “yes” no questions, even with a “why?” follow up, tends to be counter productive.

For instance, don’t ask: “do you think gender portrayal in AAA video games is improving? … Why / not?” That might be an okay warm up question in a focus group (maybe), but if you’ve properly researched your interview subject, then you should be able to ask a more pointed, substantive question (move from attitudes to ideas): “What are some recent examples of games that are moving gender portrayal in more positive directions?” Or “Why, as the industry as a whole moves toward more positive portrayals, do you think games like Daddy’s Sugar Factory are still popular?” Good interviews will prompt experts to *think* rather than merely respond. And, like a good focus group leader, a good interviewer will be attuned to a subject’s comfort and mood–they can notice agitation and work to pull something more out of the subject (subtly re-asking a question).

So while you should enter an interview with a script of questions, you should also treat them as more free-flowing encounters. Great interviewers adapt their tone and approach to the specifics of the situation, paying close attention to their subject’s deportment and comfort level as the interview goes on.

Two resources on interviews:

Homework

I’d like you to sink at least one hour into your project between today and Friday: I leave it up to you on how to spend that hour. Except: if you are developing a research tool (survey, focus group, interview), then I’ll ask you go back into your proposal and revise it after today’s session.

I’ll review all of the proposals before Friday’s class. We will meet in the Ross 1240 computer lab Friday for an in-class writing day.

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ENG 328 10.M: Designing Something Awesome Project Plans

Posted on October 25, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Extra-credit opportunity
  • COVID Visualization Revisited
  • Designing Something Awesome
  • Homework

Extra-Credit / Design Something Awesome Opportunity

Design a drink sponsor sheet (and write a bit of copy) for the Go West film festival. I need this on a quick turn around (5 days max).

COVID Visualization Revisited

I have come up with what I hope is a clear grading scale:

  • If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations, then you get a 75%
  • If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations and some text boxes describing those visualizations, 80%
  • If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations that are good (easy to understand findings, contains legible key/legend/labels, uses color to differentiate data) OR the text boxes describing your visualizations are meaningful, concise, descriptive, accurate, sufficient, etc: 85%
  • If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations that are good (easy to understand findings, contains legible key/legend/labels, uses color to differentiate data) AND the text boxes describing your visualizations are meaningful, concise, descriptive, accurate, sufficient, etc: 90%
  • If your infographic does all the things above and is nice to look at 95% (pays attention to contrast, repetition, alignment, and spacing/proximity)
  • If your infographic does all the things above and is really nice to look at (je ne sais quoi, something that suggests you really invested in the project): 100%

Designing Someone’s Holiday Gift(s) and/or Designing Something Awesome

Let me begin by revisiting what I mapped out in my earlier rest of year post.

People need gifts this holiday season. People need love and connection. So, instead of buying them crap, make them something special.

What might you make? If your friend is a poet, you could steal some of their poems and design them their own volume of poetry. Get that thing printed. Hand it to them.

If your friend is a gamer, then you could make them some kind of calendar with collages of their favorite game characters. Print that thing. Hand it to them.

You could also make a calendar about your relationship with someone. I hope the relationship lasts as long as the calendar. Or maybe your parents have a dog. No cats allowed.

Maybe you want to make a photo essay about a Colorado location, or person, or historic event. Maybe you are familiar with the work of Maria Kalman? Maybe you could make a photographic Kalman essay.

Maybe there’s a professor you really like and you could surprise them by turning their syllabus into a kick ass infographic. Or you could design the syllabus to be a much cooler print document rather than the standard black and white full-page fare.

Maybe there’s a novel you love and you could turn it into a zine. Or a visual essay. A poet, and a volume of their poetry. Make that collection into a multimedia collection. Juxtapose classic poems against contemporary art. Maybe you have a friend or sibling who has a favorite band: turn song lyrics into a classical volume of poetry? Maybe you could make your favorite professor a volume of poems, or a visual edition of a short story. Or illustrate one of their academic research articles. ( See the graphic guides / introducing series.

Maybe *you* have a favorite author/game/person. Make yourself something.

I used to teach a rhetoric class that concluded with the following assignment: make something that says something significant to someone. This is a bit of a rebrand: make something significant for someone. I leave it to you to fill in the details (though I will ask you what you made, why you made it, what design decisions you are particularly proud of, etc).

Assignment Expectations
Looking back through this material, I’m thinking about the following criteria for this project:

  • Audience: You will have to determine to whom you will give the final product (I will accept yourself as an option)
  • Introduction / Dedication: In most cases, your project should include either an introduction or dedication that talks about what you’ve done, why you’ve done it, and highlights the major design decisions [we can talk about this more later]
  • Copy: You will need to specify, locate, thread, and stylize body copy
  • Images / Illustrations: whether you take your own pictures, or work with found objects, there should be some kind of aesthetic/rhetorical strategy guiding your choice. You should be able to explain to me why you selected the images/illustrations/whatever given your copy and your audience

Note: the above expectations speak to books, because I expect that is what most of you will elect to develop. I am still willing to entertain the calendar option, although I haven’t done research on how to get one of those printed.

Minuteman Press
I called Minuteman Press this afternoon and got quotes for material production of a 16 page spinal booklet (front and back printing). Note: 16 is a minimum, you can do as many pages as you would like.

  • Black and White (no-bleed option) with cover, black back page: $5.50
  • Color (without bleed, slight upcharge for bleed) with cover and back page: $12.50
  • Print submission: .pdf file. They can do same day production (but you should give them 24 hours to complete printing)
  • Booklets: 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, 8 1/2″ x 11″, 8 1/2″ x 11 and 11″ x 17″
  • For full credit, you will need to bring your printed item to class on Thursday, December 2nd

(Note, there are a lot of online options for printing books, however they will likely take more time for shipping).

Design and Create Something Awesome Project’s Timeline

Something like this:

  • Today: intro discussion
  • Due Monday, November 1st: Project Proposal Due
  • Wednesday, November 10th: Project Progress Check [Complete body copy, collected illustrations/assets, InDesign wireframe]
  • Wednesday, December 1st: Show and tell with printed materials (in class pizza party)

Homework

Finish infographic.

For next Monday: complete proposal.

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ENG 328 9.W: Infographics

Posted on October 20, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Infographics
  • Homework

Infographics

So far this project has focused on developing graphs and presenting data. I realized today, as I was writing today’s class notes, that I haven’t discussed the ethical presentation of data. Whoops. Let’s cover this quickly by looking at a Business Insider article that highlights what *not* to do.

My sense after Monday’s class is that this isn’t your favorite assignment this semester–and that might be a bit of COVID fatigue, or it might be that the concept of an infographic is a bit murky. I don’t think I’ve clearly articulated the expectations for this project, so let me do that now.

When I taught this course for the first time in 2014, here’s the three infographics I used as examples:

I think they still hold up. Of course, these were “new” and “cool” in 2014, and, if you were moving around social media, you’d bump into a lot of them. Today? I’m not sure I still see them, and am wondering how anachronistic an infographic project actually is. I do think there’s importance in learning how to present data, but am wondering about how, in future classes, I might ask students to present their data.

I say future classes, because y’all are making an infographic. We are going to push through and finish this project so that we can start researching zine layout and learn how to assemble a book/magazine in InDesign.

In hopes of soldiering on, I looked into infographic templates for InDesign. Let’s take a look at what I found. Hmm. Let’s modify that search a bit. Hmm.

So it looks like Illustrator is now the program for developing infographics. Or, if you have less text/content, Photoshop. InDesign has templates for infographic-influenced brochures or presentations. What to do? We are going to ignore this fact and soldier on because I say so. We need a template for designing an infographic.

Infographic Expectations

Content: As I originally indicated, your infographic should have four different visualizations. Each visualization might be composed of one or more graphs. There should be some textual description/analysis of your graphs as well. Technical writing 101: whenever you share a graph or chart, you should concisely explain what a graph or chart says–do not leave it to the reader/viewer to figure this out.

Describing a graph can be tricky. Let’s get some language and templates.

Design: The infographic project reinforces many of the design concepts we’ve learned in previous projects: contrast, repetition, alignment, spacing, typography, and color. Let’s think about how those concepts manifest in an infographic:

Typography

  • Sans-serif
  • Headings tend to be thick (when thin, they have a tall x-height
  • Alternatively, headings can be all caps or small caps
  • Font color is rarely black; occasionally, you get gray font on a white background–trick is to make sure fonts have enough contrast that they are readable

    • Alignment/Layout/Spacing

    • Adequate margins/padding/space between elements?
    • Shouldn’t look cluttered
    • Symmetrical layout for graphics; designed on a grid; elements repeat

    Color

  • Generally a 3-5 color palette (sample palettes)
  • Strong contrast that creates a focal point

Homework

I’m having a bit of a hard time estimating how long it will take you to put a nice looking infographic together. There’s no Adobe CRiaB this week, so I’m going to ask that you have your infographic finished by Monday? [Increase in vocal pitch]

Do we want an infographic draft / revision? [more points, higher stakes] or an infographic done [fewer points and we move on]?

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ENG 225 9.W: Final Proposals

Posted on October 20, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • ENG 231: Ways of Analyzing Games
  • Sicart Paper Feedback/Revisions
  • Final Research Project Proposals
  • Reading Academic Research
  • Homework

Writing Minor / ENG 231 Ways of Analyzing Games

Moar video gamez.

Paper Feedback

Some stuff we need to work on:

Final Research Project Proposals

You will need to make a copy of this document.

Strategies for Reading Academic Research

As we move past proposals, it is time to dig deep into research. I’ve already suggested some promising research to most of you. Now comes the challenging part–reading and digesting that material.

There’s a lot of jokes out there about the nature of academic research–why is it so difficult? Is this even English? Etc. Some of these chides are well-earned. But the thing to remember here is that academic vocabularies and styles develop over long periods of time. The more people study a particular problem, the more precise and deep meanings become.

Whatever your field, you will encounter these precise vocabularies. At first encounter, the prose can be daunting and appear almost impenetrable. My focus these next few weeks is to help acclimate you to academic discourse, to help you wade in to the kind of material that you will encounter over the next few years. Learning to read complex research in a short amount of time is a hard skill, but it is important to learn how to read it strategically. Likewise, it can be quite difficult to condense a 20-page article into a few paragraphs, and certainly the I have collected a few readings that should help us do this.

From these, we can synthesize a few general rules:

  • Pass One–see the framework–Begin by reading the abstract, introduction, and conclusion. Look at any tables, diagrams, and/or illustrations. Have an overall sense of the argument.
  • In or near the conclusion, look for where the writer(s) advocate(s) for us to do something differently; what does she perceive as the impact of this research?
  • Can you summarize the paper in a sentence or two in your own words?
  • Pass Two–
  • Highlight and annotate as you go. Look for keywords that indicate findings. Try to identify what problem the article hopes to address
  • Especially when working with research, make note of the methodology. Was it a survey? An experiment? Was it qualitative research (textual analysis), or more quantitative (measurement)? When working with scholarship, pay attention to the theorists or scholars the author uses to support her argument.
  • Pass Three–Can I answer all of the following questions?:
    • What are the central arguments in the article?
    • How did they collect their evidence?
    • What does their evidence say?
    • Why is the article important?
    • What recommendations do the authors make?
    • After reading this research, what recommendations can I make?
    • How does the article contribute to my field of study, my present research?

Stewart, Arif, and Starbird (2018) detail how russian trolls inflamed arguments regarding police shootings in America by creating and retweeting highly partisan, inflamatory statements. They analyzed almost 249k tweets from 160k accounts and found that over 91% could be classified as either leans-left or leans-right. They chart how many of the top hash-tags and tweets from each leaning were produced or boosted by russian agents. Their analysis reinforces research on how filter bubbles are increasingly plaguing American political discourse: they find that troll activity “primarily circulates within and not across” political leanings (pp. 5).

At first, it might take you an hour to go through three passes of a typical 25 page academic article. It might take you two hours. With practice and experience, you will likely be able to cut those times down dramatically. But I want to stress that academic reading takes a lot more time than reading a medium.com post. When doing research, set plenty of time aside and be sure to write–DON’T JUST READ!

Homework

Okay, after all that, what is due? When is it due?

  • For Friday, do some preliminary research. Read and annotate a second article. Try to put that article in conversation with the first article you read for today. Draft up some sentences/ideas for the Preliminary Research section of the proposal
  • Friday’s class is a “work day” in the Ross computer lab. I will ask you to locate sources to include in the proposal and/or start working up your primary research tool (if you are working on a survey/focus group, questions etc if you are playing a game).
  • I will ask you to complete the proposal assignment by Monday at midnight

Note: if you are working on Sicart, read this. No, I have not read it. But I skimmed it, and it looks promising.

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ENG 328 9.M: Flyer Revision, Sharing Data, Creating Graphs in InDesign

Posted on October 18, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Sharing COVID Data
  • Creating a Graph in InDesign

COVID Data Sharing

I’ve created a Google Drive folder where you can upload whatever tables you created for today.

I’ve created a Google Doc where you can write/link to those graphs.

Creating a Graph in InDesign

Resources:

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ENG 301 8.R: Wrapping Up Project 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Two (or Three) Extra Credit / Internship Opportunities
  • Spring 2021 Writing Courses / Writing Minor
  • Wrap Up Project 2
  • Report Revisions
  • Homework

Extra Credit Opportunities

Reminder: Contact Bob for Oct 20th (see Canvas)

Okay, so are there any writing minors with podcasting experience looked for an internship/indie study. We have our set up, and we are serious about creating weekly podcasts—including interviews, etc.—and we thought it could be really practical experience for some student. We’ve done it with students who need a credit or 2 to get to 120 and graduation. But we thought maybe as a full-time gig?

And, also, The CEA Critic is always looking for a full-time intern.

Spring 2021 Writing Courses / Writing Minor

  • ENG 200 Intro to Creative Writing
  • ENG 225 Embodiment, Identity, and Society
  • ENG 225 Protest and Resistance
  • ENG 231 Ways of Analyzing Video Games
  • ENG 323 Advanced Argument
  • ENG 420 Writing as Witness
  • ENG 427 Digital Editing

Wrap Up Project 2

I’m quite pleased how our proficiency projects have developed. Before we move on, a few reminders/clarifications:

  • I have published the Deliverable #3 assignment in Canvas (apologies). Social media doesn’t have to worry about putting stuff here, I have what I need. Design should post their contest flyers and Grant Writing should post their revisions of the Programs/Benefit section
  • Let’s take a look at our contest designs!

Report Revisions

MYSTERY MEAT ABOUNDS.

Homework

One more installment of rhetorical theory, this time a few excerpts from Lisa Blankenship’s Changing the Subject, .pdf and discussion post in Canvas.

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ENG 328 8.W: Visualizing Complexity

Posted on October 13, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan

  • Mayer Poster Update (Help!)
  • Internship Opportunities
  • Visualizing Complexity: COVID-19
  • Homework

Mayer Update

From Michael:
I know this is late in the game, but I got Zackary’s title for her event: “Wherever You Are Is the Center of the Universe.”

It’s looking more and more like Lindou Auditorium.

Internship Opportunities

Okay, so are there any writing minors with podcasting experience looked for an internship/indie study. We have our set up, and we are serious about creating weekly podcasts—including interviews, etc.—and we thought it could be really practical experience for some student. We’ve done it with students who need a credit or 2 to get to 120 and graduation. But we thought maybe as a full-time gig?

And, also, The CEA Critic is always looking for a full-time intern.

Visualizing Complexity: COVID-19

Note: I’ve debated this project a lot over the past 48 hours.

Last class, I mapped out 4 projects of varying lengths for the rest of our year. Here’s what I wrote about the Visualizing Complexity Project:

This project kills two of the proverbial birds with one deliverable:

Ethically and Responsibly Presenting Data
Designing an Infographic that Doesn’t Suck

Normally, when I teach this class, I have a visualization project that asks students to choose something complicated, research it, and present their research in a visually engaging and coherent way. In short, to take something complicated and make it seem simple.

This semester I want to tweak that assignment a bit, and in the process make it a bit less open-ended. As a rhetorician, I have found COVID to be incredibly problematic given the amount of misinformation and disinformation it has engendered in America (while mis/disinformation are problems world wide, they are particularly problematic in America, which has a more divisive political field, a history of freedom of the press, a lack of social programs, a greater mistrust of government, etc etc than most other places). Also, Emerson and Thoreau. Fuck those guys. I digress.

This semester, I’d like the visualization project to focus on designing some kind of infographic that deals with some element of COVID 19. In Wednesday’s class, we are going to spend some time collaboratively collecting information, looking at/for existing visualizations, and thinking about different possibilities for projects.

Today I worked on nailing this assignment down a bit more so I can supply you with specifics.

First, I identified a data set with which everyone can work. The data set comes from Our World in Data (who, in turn, gets their data from John Hopkins University). We are going to download the complete data set as a .csv (comma separated values) from their Github site, which we can open in Excel (or Google Sheets, though it is a bit much for Sheets to handle).

This data set is absolutely massive–it contains over 122,000 rows of data (the rows equate to different days for different countries). (Note: United States starts on row 116874). The columns track a massive amount of information, including:

  • Daily data on total cases
  • Daily data on new cases
  • Daily data on total deaths
  • Daily data on new deaths
  • Daily data on vaccinations

Second, I have pinned down some clearer expectations for the project. Your goal is to translate this numerical data into charts, graphs, or timelines that visual the pandemic. What you visualize, and what argument you perceive that visualization making, is up to you.

  • You might imagine you’ve been hired by a pharmaceutical company to produce and infographic on the efficacy of vaccines.
  • You might produce an infographic to hand to your uncle Roger during Thanksgiving. Chew on that Rog.
  • You might create an infographic that compares and contrasts the American COVID experience to other countries around the world. Or you might create an infographic that focuses more attention on just one country

Whatever you create, I would like your final infographic to have at least 4 charts/graphs/timelines. At least one of these graphs should be a multitudinal timeline, meaning it should track more than one thing (comparative) over time (for instance, Deaths in the United States compared to Canada and Mexico from March 1st 2020 to October 1st 2021).

I imagine this will lead to a 10 block grid design (two top blocks for heading and textual description, 4 blocks for graphs, 2 blocks at the bottom for a kind of conclusions).

Homework: Holy Crap, How Do I Get Started?

Before we visualize data, we have to think about what we might visualize. You will create smaller spreadsheets, using Excel–one spreadsheet for each graph you intend to make. (NOTE: if 4 graphs seems excessive, we can share data next week).

In Monday’s class I am going to share a tutorial on how to create graphs in InDesign (debating between a few, this looks good now). We’ll work on it a bit in class, and I will have you finish it in place of an Adobe InDesign CRiaB lesson next week.

In preparation for that, I’d like you to assemble the data for two graphs. Create a new Excel sheet, and make sure you have at least 8-12 data points. Let’s look at an example.

We should have some time to play with. Let’s use this spreadsheet to collaborate on a sample data set.

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ENG 328 8.M: Mapping Out the Rest of Our Year

Posted on October 11, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Free Write!

Free Write on the Rest of Our Semester

So I’m a bit pressed for time today. I’ve got about 90 minutes until class starts, and a lot of thinking to do. I’m going to do that thinking here, and I’m saying right up front that I don’t know if I’ll have the time to circle back and revise this thinking into thought. We’ll see.

This week marks the halfway point in our semester, and I must say I am thrilled with this course so far: the quality of your work, and the individual improvement I’ve seen from many of you this semester has been amazing. I am really proud of y’all. As I was sitting down to map out the rest of our year this morning, I was thinking about how impressive your work has been this semester, given how fucked up our world has been these last 2 years.

I was also thinking about our world, and this moment, while thinking about our final project options. Right now I have three final projects in mind, and I see two of them as different kairotic responses to this current moment. So, here’s the three/four/five projects:

  • Crucible Spring 2022 Issue Design
  • Visual Argument: Representing COVID
  • Designing Someone’s Christmas Gift(s) / Design Something Awesome
  • Random Acts of Rhetorical Kindness

When I am planning a course, I count on having 6 hours a week of your time. Counting this week (but not counting Thanksgiving, cause y’all probably need some downtime), that gives me 48 hours of homework time the rest of this semester. Divided equally, that’s about 16 hours per project. But I don’t think the three projects divide equally. And we still have a few Adobe Classrooms in a Book to complete.

The Crucible Design Project
Starting in week 11, we will work to design the Fall 2022 issue of the Crucible literary magazine. We’ll explore zine design a bit, to get a sense for how other literary magazines experiment with typography and layout. This will be a design competition–and the winning design will be chosen by the magazine’s staff and produced before the end of the semester.

Visual Argument: Representing COVID
This project kills two of the proverbial birds with one deliverable:

  • Ethically and Responsibly Presenting Data
  • Designing an Infographic that Doesn’t Suck

Normally, when I teach this class, I have a visualization project that asks students to choose something complicated, research it, and present their research in a visually engaging and coherent way. In short, to take something complicated and make it seem simple.

This semester I want to tweak that assignment a bit, and in the process make it a bit less open-ended. As a rhetorician, I have found COVID to be incredibly problematic given the amount of misinformation and disinformation it has engendered in America (while mis/disinformation are problems world wide, they are particularly problematic in America, which has a more divisive political field, a history of freedom of the press, a lack of social programs, a greater mistrust of government, etc etc than most other places). Also, Emerson and Thoreau. Fuck those guys. I digress.

This semester, I’d like the visualization project to focus on designing some kind of infographic that deals with some element of COVID 19. In Wednesday’s class, we are going to spend some time collaboratively collecting information, looking at/for existing visualizations, and thinking about different possibilities for projects.

Hey Subaru thing. Hey look at you CDC. Hey look at you statista.

Wild fires

Ideally, this project would require you to read some really dense research on COVID and illustrate it, while making a subtle argument and urging for action (what action I leave to you).

Long infographics.

Designing Someone’s Holiday Gift(s) and/or Designing Something Awesome

People need gifts this holiday season. People need love and connection. So, instead of buying them crap, make them something special. While it sounds sappy: it will probably be sappy because it comes from you.

What might you make? If your friend is a poet, you could steal some of their poems and design them their own volume of poetry. Get that thing printed. Hand it to them.

If your friend is a gamer, then you could make them some kind of calendar with collages of their favorite game characters. Print that thing. Hand it to them.

You could also make a calendar about your relationship with someone. I hope the relationship lasts as long as the calendar. Or maybe your parents have a dog. No cats allowed.

Maybe you want to make a photo essay about a Colorado location, or person, or historic event. Maybe you are familiar with the work of Maria Kalman? Maybe you could make a photographic Kalman essay.

Maybe there’s a professor you really like and you could surprise them by turning their syllabus into a kick ass infographic.

Maybe there’s a novel you love and you could turn it into a zine. Or a visual essay. A poet, and a volume of their poetry. Maybe you could make your favorite professor a volume of poems, or a visual edition of a short story. Or turn a novel they teach into a movie poster that you could print and frame.

Maybe you have a favorite author/game/person. Make yourself something.

I used to teach a rhetoric class that concluded with the following assignment: make something that says something significant to someone. This is a bit of a rebrand: make something significant for someone. I leave it to you to fill in the details (though I will ask you what you made, why you made it, what design decisions you are particularly proud of, etc).

Random Acts of Rhetorical Kindness

About 6 years ago, I gave a conference presentation on “Kinecism,” a neologism I used for a form of pragmatic rhetorical engagement aimed at combatting cynicism. Here’s how I defined cynicism:

But realizing the engaged political world Latour describes requires more than a public shift on the part of academics; it also requires addressing the problems of a cynical public. PEW center recently reported that the “Turnout in this year’s primaries rivals 2008 record”; what might get buried in that headline is that only 29% of eligible voters have even bothered to vote (and that is significantly lower than the measly 24.7% that bothered to show up in 2004). No doubt a wide range of factors contribute to this, but I want to suggest that a major factor is cynicism, particularly the flavor of cynicism as “enlightened false consciousness” that Peter Sloterdjyk describes in his Critique of Cynical Reason. Sloterdjyk describes how modern economics (neoliberal capitalism) and philosophy (the individualistic, Kantian tradition) combine to Darwinistically produce a dismissive detachment that severs individuals from social problems and from feeling responsibility to act on those problems. This detachment is often produced by a hopelessness, a belief that structural problems transcend the agency of an individual actor; in short, a belief that problems are too big for anything I do to make any consequence.

My answer to cynicism–the hopelessness and paralysis it imposes–was to develop a rhetorical theory grounded in action. In getting people to go outside and do things. To see how doing something small (doing Just One Thing) could make a difference.

I’ve been thinking about kinecism lately. For a long time, I’ve thought about designing a class project in which we all agree to design a kind of guerilla campaign meant to engineer happiness, awareness, or acknowledgement. To help people feel seen. To make them smile. To spread a bit of joy or laughter. So, I’m thinking we can agree on a kind of theme (maybe?), and then everyone designs a poster/flyer that has something to do with that theme? And then we each agree to print 12 copies of our thing, and hang them up over campus?

Maybe we make an instagram account with all of the things and our hash tag and include it on our things?

This would be the week 15 and 16 (post Thanksgiving) project. Something light and fun.

Calendar Sketch

  • Week 8: COVID Infographic (Wednesday, What is an infographic, COVID collaborative research, sketch, templates)
  • Week 9: COVID Infographic (Monday, (un)ethical data and charts; Wednesday Work and submit draft)
  • Week 10: COVID Infographic; Gift Design ((Monday share/revise; Wednesday Gift Design)
  • Week 11: Crucible Design (Monday: WTF is a Zine; Wednesday: Provided Final Copy, In-class image/text layout exercise)
  • Week 12: Crucible Design; Gift Progress Check
  • Week 13: Crucible Design
  • Week 14: November BREAK
  • Week 15: Random Acts; Gift Share [Show us the physical thing
  • Week 16: Exam week w/ Random Acts

Homework

Really think about what you want to make someone/yourself.

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ENG 225 8.M: Completing Project 2, Introducing Project 3

Posted on October 10, 2021 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Completing Project 2
  • Introducing Project 3
  • Intellectual Meandering
  • Homework

Completing Project 2

As I’ve said a couple of times before: the aim of Project 2 is to teach you how to set up a qualitative research project. The emphasis is on three different facets of methodology:

  • Collecting Objects (ensuring that someone else could replicate your method and get a similar collection of objects)
  • Analyzing Objects (building off previous research, using recongizable categories and techniques)
  • Ensuring Reliability (doing something to defend the integrity of your findings, i.e., making sure two different people review results, conducting “norming” sessions, etc).

Because I’d like to move on to Project 3, we aren’t going to finish this research and write up a formal paper. But I would like everyone to write up a one-page, single-spaced summary of the work you’ve done thus far.

What goes in this Project 2 Summary paper? Let’s look at the 5 parts of a qualitative (or quantitative) research paper:

  • Introduction: introduces problem, glosses previous research quickly, states initial hypothesis and summarizes the key findings (often in compare/contrast to the hypothesis)
  • Previous Research: reviews all relevant previous research on the subject
  • Methodology: covers the three things above–collecting samples/specimens/objects, methods of analysis, methods of ensuring reliability
  • Data/Findings: Charts, graphs, tables, survey results, whatever the methods produced
  • Discussion: Where the hard thinking happens (more on this later)
  • Conclusion: quick summary of the paper (often repeating parts of the introduction), indicating what future research should happen, often a move to explain what should change based on the research

For the final summary paper, I’d like you to take a swing at writing up the methodology section. These are probably harder than they sound: you have to be detailed enough that someone can recreate your research–which is kind of like writing a recipe to teach someone how to bake a cake. It requires more fine detail than you might initially think.

Then, share your data/findings–tell me what your preliminary analysis found (I know each group completed a different amount of research).

Finally, take a swing at discussing those findings. Discussion sections do several different things (often depending on what you found, and whether what you found matched up with what you expected). Here’s a short, modified heuristic that I use in my Writing as a Job class:

  • How does it compare to previous research? Similarly: How does it compare to your hypothesis? Did you find what you expected to find?
  • Any weird, idiosyncratic results? Like one finding that was a complete surprise?
  • If there were any surprises, then speculate as to why?
  • Any trouble executing the research methodology? The planned analysis? As you were doing the analysis, did you notice a pattern of tricky objects to analyze?
  • What are the implications of this research? Does it tell us something we have to do differently? Think about differently? [NOTE: Sometimes this happens in the conclusion, it kind of depends on what kind of paper you are writing and whether your initial research questions where purely theoretical or connected to real-world problems/practices]

While I realize the research projects were collaborative, I’d like everyone to write up their own one page (or so, it is fine if it stretches beyond a page) research report so that I can provide feedback on organization, logical development, and sentence syntax.

Project 3

Now that we are wrapping up Project 2, it is time to move onto our final Project. Let’s revisit the syllabus for a second:

I will ask you to develop your own research question centered around a particular game or gaming community. This paper will incorporate 100-150 pages of research (whether a book or books chapters and articles) on a game as well as your own contribution. We’ll work on a proposal project in which you identify a game you would like to study, scout out some preliminary perspectives on the game, and hypothesize what you think you’ll find (or something like that, I tend to give a lot of latitude to design your own project here).

Gamers–this is your opportunity to write about that game you love (first surveying what other scholarship is out there on that game). Or to write about that game you hate. Or to write about an awesome player community. Or to write about how player communities are toxic. Or to write about how games can impact the way we act in the real world. Or to write about how games make us terrible people. The controller is in your hands.

Surveying recent projects:

  • What the hell is Blaseball? (funky collaborative online story-telling and decision-making)
  • Ethical and Pro-Social Decision-Making in Detroit: Become Human (Taking time to apply Sicart to a longer game)
  • Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Last of Us II
  • Dealing With Toxicity: Looking at the Lack of Prosocial Behavior in EVE Online
  • Humans vs. Zombies: The Benefits of Campus Wide Alternate Reality Games (Grows out of Bogost’s work on procedurality)
  • Testing the Promise of SuperBetter: Can we gamify our daily lives?
  • Exploring the Application of Video Games to the Music Classroom to Increase Good Performance Behaviors in Students

Over the next week we’ll watch some videos about games, read some articles about games, and examine some past student papers about games as you develop both a paper proposal and a reading list (and/or play schedule, depending on the type of project you develop).

I am also open to you continuing your Project 2 research (or collaborating with another team). If you choose this option, then I will ask you to develop a slightly longer lit review (more reading) and/or to extend your research project (say, double the amount of objects analyzed).

I am open to you returning to Project 1, and using Sicart’s ideas on player complicity and wicked problems to analyze another game.

I am open to you telling me what your favorite game is and then doing the legwork to find out what academics are (and aren’t) saying about it.

Intellectual Meandering

Let it begin with one of my favorite video game scholars, Jane McGonigal”

I am probably going to want to talk about SuperBetter.

Homework

Let the intellectual meandering continue. For Wednesday, I’d like you to select one source from the following page and prepare what I call a talking point. A talking point is a prepared sentence, written out and read aloud, that summarizes what you read, highlights a particularly interesting/relevant/controversial fact or idea in it, and concludes with a question for discussion. You can submit your talking point to Canvas and we will review them in Wednesday’s class.

Here is a link to the research behind McGonigal’s SuperBetter program.

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