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COM 251: Final Paper

This paper is an exploration on where technology and culture intersect. Throughout the semester we have been talking about broad technology applications and concepts. In the final paper, you should explore a specific space, event, phenomena, and how either technology has impacted the culture or the culture has impacted the technology (depending on your views). Things to include:

· A summary of the event, phenomena, space, etc. (keep this as a brief overview)

· An analysis on how/why this is occurring

· A look at some aspect(s) through elements brought up in Slack & Wise (control, power, agency, articulation and assemblage, politics, economy, identity). This does not need to include all of them, just what you think is most relevant

· A discussion/conclusion on what you think the future looks like for this particular topic

· At least 4 outside sources, this can include discussions from the news, podcasts, journal articles, etc. on the topic. *Slack & Wise should be one of these sources.

The topic should be focused. For example, discussing video games would be too broad, but discussing how the introduction of the platform Steam changed the video game industry could work. Another example, discussing YouTube would be too broad, but discussing the impact of YouTube on the beauty industry could work. You could also get very narrow and discuss the growth of Among Us due to COVID and how that influenced culture.

Length and Requirements

Each response should be between 1250 and 2000 words. It is an additional challenge to be able to condense all of your thoughts into this brief format. Please turn in a Word or PDF document to Brightspace (I cannot open .pages)

Other tidbits:

· Please cite materials from the text, or outside readings/sources that you’ve read/watched/listened to. Make sure you’re citing the page or website you’ve found them on. Although I am most familiar with APA format, as long as you cite the material in some format (for example, Cybersecurity typically uses APA, while engineering more often uses IEEE), I’m okay with it.

Rubric for Written Responses

This is the criteria I will use to evaluate and grade written RRs.

A 150-135 points	· Focused topic throughout writing. · Writing is organized. · Many supporting details from text. · Writing contains your own ideas and thinking. · Creative word choice. · Writing has smooth sentences of different lengths · Writing contains few grammar, spelling, and mechanics errors.
B 134-120 points	· Focused topic is generally maintained. · Writing is organized with some lapses. · Some supporting details from text. · Writing contains some of your own ideas and thinking. · Some creative word choice. · Writing has smooth sentences of different lengths. · Writing contains some grammar, spelling, and mechanics errors.
C 119-105 points	· Topic may include unrelated ideas. · Writing has an organization with lapses. · Supporting details from text are not fully developed. · Your own ideas and thinking were not sufficiently included or explained. · Few creative word choices. · Writing has choppy sentences and uses mostly simple sentences. · Writing contains many grammar, spelling, and mechanics errors.
D/F Below 104 points	· Writing has no clear topic. · Writing has little or no organization. · Little use of details from the text. · Limited word choice. · Sentences are difficult to read and understand. · Writing has major grammar, spelling, and mechanics errors.

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