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Analytical
Essay I
Theory Meets
Practice
For due dates,
see the schedule
Write an five-to-seven-page
essay in which you do a detailed analysis of one Web site, which
answers the three questions that appear below. These three questions are
ongoing concerns in the theoretical readings from the Trend collection
on digital culture, and you should quote and cite at least two writers
from that collection. 
In analyzing how the site speaks
to these large questions, however, be sure to talk about specifics of
the site and page design. How do details of the actual practice of Web
design--the kind of concerns that Jacob Nielsen focuses on--enact these
larger social issues?
Making theory meet practice
means seeing the various elements of Web pages not just as things on the
screen, but as social practices, norms, logics, functions.
Three Questions:
Question 1: the body vs.
virtuality
- Where and how does this
site refer to (or invoke a sense of) the body, bodily existence, bodily
identity (age, gender, race, class, physical or economic "place"
in the world), a connection to nature, the concerns of bodily or economic
beings and the material commodities they need?
- How does the site realize
the hopes and/or critiques of one or two writers in the Trend collection
concerning issues of the body and virtuality? (Some relevant critics
concerning the body and virtuality include Morse, Heim, Jackson, Levy,
Turkle, etc.)
- For instance, does this
site represent an enhanced integration or coordination of the bodily
and virtual selves--to "enrich the real" (Turkle 249)--or
does it represent a "rupture of our previous relationship to time
and space" and a displacement of "life" (Jackson 349)?
Question 2: traditional
vs. virtual community/identity
- Where and how does this
site invoke and "normalize" a particular sense of community,
social identity(ies), affiliation, belonging, social interaction (actual,
virtual, simulated or implied), "public space" (Poster 263),
democracy, subcultures, traditional roles and authorities, etc.?
- How does it realize the
hopes and/or critiques of one or two writers in the Trend collection
concerning community and identity? (Some suggested writers: Turkle,
Rheingold, Heim, Levy.)
- For instance, in what ways
does this site either reinforce or subvert traditional identities, social
authority and power relationships? Who is included and excluded ("normalized"
into or out of the picture)?
Question 3: information
vs. experience
- Where and how does this
site present its content not just as static, neutral "information"
(lists, paragraphs), but as an experience, a "knowledge space"
(Levy 255), a metaphorical space or world, an imaginative "performance"
(Laurel), or as a value-added gateway to the "metatext" or
"docuverse" of the Web?
- How does it realize the
hopes and/or critiques of one or two writers in the Trend collection
concerning the Web as a knowledge space? (Some suggested texts: Laural,
Jackson, Heim.)
- For example, in what ways
does this site represent a "New Aesthetic" (Jackson) or a
disintegration of aesthetic and intellectual values?
Format:
- Begin your essay by introducing
your topic and stating a "thesis"--that is, one conclusion
that synthesizes your thinking about the significance of the Web site
as an example of the phenomenon of the Web, Web design and digital culture.
You might want to include in your introductory paragraph the name
of a critic from the Trend book whom you will depend on especially
in the essay, and perhaps even a provocative quotation to hook
the reader. Do not mention the assignment or the three questions. (Suggestion:
rewrite this introduction after you finish the body of the essay.)
- Explore the questions
without repeating them or making reference to the assignment. Make it
sound as if you thought up the issues yourself, and that discussing
them is a natural outgrowth of your informed reaction to the Web site.
Be sure to quote and cite at least two writers from the Trend collection.
It may be especially valuable is to choose two writers whose ideas constitute
a kind of debate or disagreement about digital culture (and, so, about
the Web site you're analyzing).
- End the essay by briefly
recalling the thesis or conclusion you presented in the introduction
and adding something extra (a "kicker"), perhaps an
example, detail, quotation or observation that's interesting, funny,
or thought provoking which you didn't include in the essay so far, but
which suggestions a further implication of your analysis, or that illustrates
or crystallizes your overall point.
Quotations,
Citations and Documentation
Be very scrupulous about putting
quotes around other writers' words and crediting the quotations with in-text
citations. Failing to do so, even accidentally or ignorantly, is plagiarism,
and is grounds for failure of the paper and the class. If you paraphrase
an author, be sure to use your own words and sentence structures.
Cite the authors and page numbers
parenthetically in the text--at the end of the sentence where the quotation
appears--and document the source in a "Works Cited" page at
the end of the essay using MLA
format. |
