Objectives: to conduct extensive research into an appropriately narrow topic; to marshal significant evidence in support of original claims; to create a unified, coherent analysis.

Audience: an educated, computer literate Net audience

Description: In his 1997 book Interface Culture: How new technology transforms the way we create and communicate, Steven Johnson writes: "There's a funny thing about the fusion of technology and culture. It has been a part of human experience since the first cave painter, but we've had a hard time seeing it until now.  ...Why should the connection seem more feasible to us today? The answer is simple: speed. Technology used to advance in slower, more differentiated stages."  

Your task for this paper is to write about the connection between technology and culture. Yep, this is a huge topic, so one of your immediate and most important tasks will be to narrow your topic. You can't write about all aspects of technology and culture in a mere 8 (or more) pages. You will need to find a topic  which is narrow enough to allow you to go into depth but broad enough to allow you to find relevant sources and say interesting things. For example, if you chose to discuss the use of virtual reality in the sciences you'd be choosing a topic that was way too broad. On the other hand, if you chose to write about the pros and cons of using VR to aid surgeons, you would indeed have a sufficiently narrow topic. But here's an important tip: don't simply present pros and cons. You have to take a stand. Are you in favor of this application of technology, or do you think the liabilities are too great and the benefits too small?

You must have a clear thesis statement near the beginning of your paper. Your paper must be analytic; that is, you cannot simply accumulate and synthesize the "facts" of the issue you discuss, but must focus your material around an original insight/observation of your own.

This will be a collaborative paper.  Teams are listed below. Both of you will be responsible for half of the paper.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM:  WRITING CENTER VISIT Your team MUST visit the Writing Center BEFORE the final draft is submitted. You can do so before the rough draft is due, if you like.  But there must be a tutorial which you both attend before December 10.  MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT WELL IN ADVANCE.  The second half of the first semester is THE busiest time at the Writing Center.  If you make your appointment before the rough draft is due, the session should be 30 minutes in length.  If you make your appointment after the rough draft is due, because of the length of the assignment, your tutorial will be 60 minutes long.  (In the latter case you can simply bring the draft with you to the tutorial.)

Some possible topics include (but these need to be narrowed):

• technology and  the psychological dimensions of identity
• legal dimensions of technology
• using technology for art
• sexuality/pornography in technology
• technology in education
• medicine and technology
  
• individual rights and technology
• war/terrorism and technology
  

• use the databases and Library of Congress system to begin to limit your topic
  
• look for appropriate sources in some of Ames's online databases; Google searching is a poor second
• look for appropriate print sources (or print sources now digitized and available through Interlibrary Loan or databases we subscribe to. START EARLY because many of the articles you may have to get through Interlibrary Loan, or at the ISU library.

• A central claim, or thesis, about whether your chosen application of technology is positive, negative, or simply different
• A description of the technology you're investigating
• A series of claims indicating your position with supporting evidence including in-text citation
• A suitable conclusion which summarizes the content of your paper, restates your main idea, and tries to stress to your audience why this topic is important
• A Works Cited page, or bibliography, which gives the citations for all the sources cited in the paper, in APA style.

Minimum Length: 8 pages

Each writer should  include a one-page commentary on the problems/successes you experienced while writing this paper.
 
Teams:
1.:  Kristen, Qing
2.: Maddy, Patrick
3.: Nick, Lorry
4.: Jonathan, Brett
5.: Adam, Ben, TJ*
6.: Eryn, Frederick
7.: Colleen, Carter
* For this team, each will be responsible for 1/3 of the paper, and the paper should be at least 10 pages long.

How will this be graded?