week 2 – digital networking

This week:

understanding the context and economics of digital publishing

why networks matter

what does it mean to “blog”?

first blog posts and comments [Monday]

demo reading access [Monday]

set up slideshare accounts for discussion leaders [Wednesday]

Housekeeping

email
* Please use clear subject lines and include “COM495″ — send to kegill at uw dot edu. If you do not use COM495, do not expect me to answer promptly (or at all – it’s quite possible I’ll not see it); your emails are filtered into a folder for this class.
* If you have an urgent question, say so in the subject line. I try to return email within 24 hours M-Th. Please sign the email with your first name. If you have not heard back from me within 48 hours (M-Th), please re-send with a new subject line and/or Tweet me and/or phone me. Cell phone in email footer.
Blogs & Copyright
If you embed any image in a blog post that is not your personal property, you must identify the source of the material. If the material is copyrighted, you must either remove it or explain why you believe your use entails a “fair use” of the material. These details can appear in the foot of your post under a paragraph entitled “Credits.” We’ll talk more about this in Week 3.
Absences
Reminder of policy on absences

Historical context (Mon)

Three important characteristics of digital communication (Mon)

Two factors: collapse of time and space
Trace through reporting of disasters:
- Lisbon earthquake, 1755, 60K died; months for news to spread, brief mention in NY and Boston
- Indonesian Tsunami, 2004, ~200K died from the tsunami; minutes for news to spread, global response
- Haiti earthquake, 2010, ~230K died; seconds for news to spread, unprecedented fundraising: American Red Cross raised a record US$7 million in 24 hours when they allowed people to send US$10 donations by text messages
- Japanese earthquake and tsunami, 2011, 16K died; seconds for news to spread, unprecedented UGC video
- See Social media as a communication lifeline during a crisis
Third influence of digital technologies: perfect copies that are basically “free”

Thinking about “Free” (Mon)

For discussion Monday:

“in 1992, MTV held a town hall debate featuring the Democrat and Republican candidates for president. During that debate, a young woman in the audience asked Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton if he wore boxers or briefs.” From week 2 reading
* What are some examples from the past 20 years (or the past 2) that mirror this sort of “making the private public”? [not required that they be political but shouldn't be "normal" celebrity gossip]
How do you get your news? How has that changed in the last five years? What are the factors that led to the changes?

Lab Monday:

Discussion leader assignments

See the students page
See the assignments page

Your first reading post

Log in to WordPress and find your dashboard.
Click “Posts -> Add New” or Mouseover your blog name in the header and select “new -> post”
In the WYSIWYG view, enable the “kitchen sink” [Kathy demo]
Paste your reading reflection into the text box
Give your post a catchy title (NOT “week 2 reading”!) that is informative
Start using the “more” tag so that only part of your post shows on the home page – screen capture
Select the proper category (right hand side; what is the right category?)
Click “Publish” (right hand side)
Paste the URL of your reading post into this Google spreadsheet

Your blog design

Begin experimenting with different themes. By the time we come to class on Wednesday, you should no longer have the default theme enabled on your blog.
Themes can be found in the Dashboard -> Appearance -> Themes. When you see an interesting one, click the “preview” link to see what it looks like!

Why Networks and Social Production Matter (Wed)

What does it mean “to blog”? (Wed)

Lab Wednesday:

Your first comment

Refer to the assignment summary sheet
Read and comment on the blog post of the person whose name follows yours on the list. [If you are the last person, you comment on the post of the first person]

Your Slideshare.net account

Set up an account at Slideshare.net
Kathy to demo uploading PPT and finding the shortcode to embed the slides in a WP post. Also see this blog’s resources page.