Communication Final Exan Paper (4pg double spaced)

C O M M 3 0 6 innovation, entertainment, & the arts

For your final exam, please write a four-page, double-spaced essay as described below. As with your group projects, we encourage you to “think like a consultant”; put another way, think of this as the kind of material you could show to a prospective employer to illustrate how you can think analytically and strategically. Submit your essay via Turnitin by 4:00 PM (PST) on Monday, December 15th. NOTE: NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Citations (in any of the recognized academic styles) must be provided for any sources used. Your essay should consist of three linked components, outlined below. (Note that we are NOT asking you to turn in three separate short answers, but rather to write one essay that includes these three elements in a coherent progression.)

1. IMAGINE: What will the future look like?

First, pick a media artifact; it can be one we’ve discussed in class on one of your own choosing. For example, you could talk about a song like Blowin’ in the Wind, a movie like Iron Man 3 or Mean Streets, a website like Facebook, a video game like Grand Theft Auto V or World of Warcraft, a newspaper like the New York Times, or any other piece of media that you find compelling (including books, magazines, and so on). What might this artifact be like if it were being released 15 years from now, in 2029? Note that you can either imagine a rebooted or revamped version of the original work, or you can simply imagine an alternate history where your artifact never existed in its original form and is instead being created for the first time in 2029. Describe this new version of your artifact in detail. You might focus on the media text itself, the process of creation, the process of distribution, the act or acts of consumption, audience engagement

and response, or any combination of these elements. In addition, you can be relatively realistic or relatively optimistic in your predictions, but it may be helpful to provide supporting commentary or sources that justify why you think this is a viable future scenario; in other words, don’t just assert that we’ll all be watching TV on Google Glass without explaining why that’s likely to happen, either based on your own arguments about how audiences or media work, or relying on some other reasonable, evidence- based analysis.

2. ANALYZE: What can we learn from your imagined future about where we’re headed, and how should we feel about that trajectory? Think about how your new, speculative version of this artifact is different from the original; then, make an argument for what we can learn (about, say, business, art, or society) from these differences. What do these differences tell us about how things have changed, are changing, or should change? Does it instead prove how some things are unlikely to change? Finally, explain whether you think these developments (or lack thereof) are beneficial or detrimental; this will help set up your argument in the final section of the assignment.

3. PLAN: What do we need to do to arrive at the future you want to live in? Given the scene you’ve painted of the future, and your analysis of whether this future is utopian or dystopian, articulate a specific plan of action: What innovations or policies are necessary to facilitate or prevent our achieving the future world you’ve depicted? Think about the particular actors (e.g., one or more companies, governmental bodies, users, etc.), resources (e.g., finances, technologies, etc.), and/or courses of action (e.g., campaigns, legislation, business model revisions, etc.) that will be necessary for your desired outcome.

Think of yourself as a navigator of the future; speaking metaphorically, then, this assignment is just asking you to draw us a map, warn us of the monsters that lie ahead, and chart us a course forward.

Grading Guidelines A response in the "A" range will likely have the following characteristics:

• A clear, compelling, viable description of the future, a clear and compelling thesis comparing the past or present to this future, and clear, compelling, viable suggestions for achieving the most desirable version of the future

• A reasonable balance between all three components, such that all elements of the prompt are directly and fully addressed

• Evidence of unique insight (i.e., going beyond what was shared in lectures or readings)

• Adequate support for any assertions made (in the form of analysis, examples, or outside evidence)

• Elegant writing style free from grammatical or typographical errors • Sensible, compelling organization • Polished formatting and a page length that meets the requirements of the

assignment A response in the "B" range will likely have the following characteristics:

• A somewhat unconvincing depiction of the future, a somewhat unclear or superficial argument comparing the past or present with this future, and/or suggestions for the future that seem somewhat unclear, lacking insight, unreasonable, or unlikely to produce the desired goals

• All three components present, though perhaps in a somewhat imbalanced fashion

• Application of relevant insights and examples from class materials, without necessarily demonstrating unique insight

• Weak support for assertions made • Writing that is free from major grammatical or typographical errors,

though still needs some polish • A page length that meets the requirements of the assignment

A response in the "C" range will likely have the following characteristics:

• An essay that fundamentally ignores a major portion of the prompt (e.g., no clear description of an identifiable artifact, no clear argument comparing the past or present to the future, or no identifiable plan of action)

• Major oversight or mishandling of class concepts • Consistently unsupported assertions or illogical arguments • Major or consistent grammatical or typographical errors

A response in the “D” range will likely have the following characteristics:

• No clear relationship to the prompt • Failure to meet the page length required

A response in the “F” range will likely have the following characteristics:

• No assignment turned in by the deadline indicated • Elements of plagiarism, either via improper citation or no citation of

outside materials, unapproved collaboration between students, turning in the same paper for more than one class, or any other violation of academic integrity as articulated by university policy (note that violations of academic integrity may also result in more extreme disciplinary action)