Hello all,

Welcome back! Excited to see you all on Friday!

Quick reminder: Today we’ll be meeting on Zoom: Here’s our permanent link:

https://pratt.zoom.us/j/94983539221

Systems Thinking:

Donella Medows – In a World of Systems

Discuss ch 1. Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows and discuss your reading responses – in particular the examples.

Let’s put into a context:

In this original 12 minute animation featured in Water is Love: Ripples of Regeneration, we portray a healthy water cycle, the consequences of its destruction and how our broken water cycle can be restored. An essential educational resource for people of all ages to learn about the importance of water management on climate!

This animation is now publicly available on the Waterbear Network: https://www.waterbear.com/watch/how-water-makes-climate

An intro to systems thinking for journalists

Loopy – A tool for thinking in systems.

Class Readings:

Silicon Valley Fairy Dust by Sherry Turkle on November 6, 2023

Discussion:

  • How is an aspect of networked technology a system? Social media?
  • What is democracy?
  • What is the relationship between “social media” and democracy?
  • What are the advantages to being networked and what is lost?
  • How has networked technology/sociamedia changed how we interact with each other?
  • Does being networked make us cyborgs? How or how not?
  • What is the relationship between cyborgs and AI?
  • How does knowledge from experience differ from knowledge that is learned?

Writing personal Essays:

Essays are pieces of writing that are subjective attempts of making sense of something. In this case you will be making sense of your experience and what it means to live in a networked society and on a broader level: what does it mean to be a person in a networked society today?

Writing Rubric:

  • Thesis Statement, Introduction, Conclusion
  • Examples, Evidence and Content 
  • Organization and Structure
  • Writing Mechanics and Style

Homework:

  1. Read and write a 1 pg reading response:

What is the difference between theory and experience? Story and life?

Common Cyborg by Jillian Weise

‘I’m nervous at night when I take off my leg. I wait until the last moment before sleep to un-tech because I am a woman who lives alone’

2) Processing your field notes

  • Look through your feild notes notes, observations and highlight what you think is interesting. Take notes. What is obvious and what lies below the surface.
  • Extract a thesis that you will be exploring in your essay. Write it down.

Not Required:

What are the multiple meanings of information?

As we watch James Gleick speak let’s consider how the concept of information came to define our era, and further more how information informs digital technology.

The Information by James Gleick – Prologue

Gleick video

Time code: 3:36 -15

Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle