Month: August 2017

For this assignment, you’re invited to think of writing as a form of recording—sort of like a substitute video camera for capturing the real world as you see it, hear it, smell it, etc.

Over the weekend, I want you to go sit in a public place—the cafeteria, the Atrium, a park, a busy street—and I want you to watch people.  Specifically, I want you to watch how people interact with each other and the space they’re in.  What’s the space look like?  How crowded is it? How fast do people move?  Do they sit, stand, crouch, walk, talk, stare?  How much do they interact with each other?  How do they interact with the built environment (sidewalks, curbs, doors, benches, etc.)?  What’s the weirdest thing you notice people doing?  What’s the most common thing you notice?

Take close notes and post them here by next Monday night.

For our first blog post, I’d like you to write a bit in response to the prompt below and post your response as a “comment” on this thread.  To do so, you’ll have to setup your City Tech e-mail and set up an OpenLab account here. You’ll then have to join the course here by clicking “Request Membership” on the left hand side.

The Writing Prompt (responses due by 10pm Wednesday): How is your phone a kind of self-portrait? In what ways does your phone represent your sense of self—that is, who you are and what you like to do? Explain.