Hi ladies … thanks for the great Introductions! Just a friendly reminder that for tomorrow you have your first reading response due. All blogs are always due the night before class, at 11:59pm (so technically this first post is due tonight!), but since this is your first blog and the reading was a bit heavy, you can submit your posts until 1pm tomorrow. Yay for me being nice 🙂

Just a reminder that you should check out the OpenLab Composing section on our site, to learn more about expectations and guidelines for your posts. Your response blogs should definitely show that you’ve done the reading (so you should reference them), but you should not spend the posts simply summarizing the material. Find something in one of the readings (or multiple readings: synthesis is good!) that strikes you, that you are intrigued by, or have questions about, and that you want to discuss. Maybe you were struck by the concept of “mediation” in the “Mediated Me” chapter and want to discuss how your life is mediated by various technologies, and the affordances / constraints they offer. Or maybe Manovich’s “Principles of New Media” prompt you to analyze some type of new media you encounter on a daily basis, and think about how they fuction. Maybe, in light of the readings, you want to use this space to think through, comparatively, how you compose in different settings (digital, networked, print, etc.). Or maybe you want to revisit the two Virginia shooting articles in light of this week’s readings, considering how new media is a key component of those stories. Or maybe something else entirely. This choice is yours: the only thing to keep in mind is that your discussion should be grounded in the texts you read, and should show you providing critical analysis and connections among the readings and your experiences / lives (and remember, it’s ok–and encouraged–to post things you didn’t fully understand, and to post questions to the class for further discussion!). I encourage you to provide images, videos, links, etc. in your posts as you see fit.

Happy blogging!