Assignment 10- A Research Paper on the Power of Social Media Networking

For this project you will write a research essay that answers the following question:


What are the 'roots' of the Occupy Wall Street movement, how was it inspired by or modeled after other world events, and how did the social media networks play a role in starting OWS up and keeping it going?


Directions- (If you did a good job when you answered the five questions from assignment 9, most of your work is done already!)

• Review your answers for the five questions from assignment 9

• Write an introduction for your essay that is a very short summary of some of the facts  that will answer the question above. Keep it short , give the main idea, and don't give many details in the introduction.  This will be paragraph one.

• Now take your answers to the five questions and make one paragraph for each answer. this is where you will give all the details that you found out when you did the research. This will make paragraphs two, three, four, five, and six.

• If your paragraphs are too short, an easy way to fatten them up is to go back to the web pages you looked at and find some quotes to add. You do it like this-  Joe Smith of the NY Daily News said,"Those dirty Occupy Wall Street people…blah, blah, blah, etc."

• Last you must have a bibliography of the Internet sources of your information. This bibliography is where you cite your sources. 

• You should end up with about three pages in a 12 or 14 point ‘Arial’ or ‘Times New Roman’ font.

Please take note.  A goal of this class is to have the students (you!) learn how to correctly cite your sources and make a bibliography. Therefore, if there is no bibliography you will get an automatic 'F' failing grade and will have to resubmit your work. Also, If your sources are not in MLA style, you will have 20 points deducted from the grade on the project!

A Problem With Dragging Pictures

Many students have been adding pictures to their work by dragging a picture from the internet onto their microsoft word page. The PROBLEM is that when you EMAIL the document, the picture DISAPEARS!

The CORRECT way to add a picture to your work is to DRAG IT TO YOUR DESK TOP FIRST! Then you can drag it to your microsoft word page.

Assignment 9 -The Power of Social Media Networking - Research Question Help

Part TWO -Help and Hints for Questions

Please note that you can use your own internet searches in addition to these links!

Question 1-What is Adbusters and what is the evidence that Adbusters started OWS ?

• You might find conflicting stories about if Adbusters started OWS. Report on all of them, whether yes or no!
• Adbusters is a magazine and a group of people who work there. Adbusters is described as 'anti-consumerist'.  What does that mean? You must give a definition for anti-consumerist or anti-consumerism.
• Give at least three examples of Adbuster campaigns as examples of their anti-consumerism beliefs.
• Get a picture of a typical Adbuster magazine cover.
• Get a picture of an Adbuster poster.
• Here is a link that could help you- http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html

Question 2- What were the 2011 Tahrir Square protests and the 2011 Spanish protests?

• These are two separate things and must be researched in different google searches!
• This is a link that may help you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_revolution
• Another-http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/21/spain-reveals-pain-cuts-unemployment
• Another-http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/29/spanish-protests-occupy-people-together 

  Question 3-How were those 2 protests (question 2) similar and/or inspirational to the OWS protests?

• What this question is asking is what do the Egyptian, the Spanish, and the Wall street protests all have in common? How are they the same?

Question 4- Who or what is Anonymous, and how is it connected to OWS?

• You would need to google search  'anonymous group'
• You would try to find out what they stand for (what their beliefs are) and what kind of things they do.
• Get an image for Anonymous.
• Here is a link that may help you-http://www.anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=1185
• Another- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/anonymous-threatens-fox-news_n_1032701.html
• Another-http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-09/tech/anonymous.facebook_1_facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-denial-of-service-attacks-user?_s=PM:TECH
• Another-http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/05/anonymous-denies-psn-outage/

Question five- How did the use of social media (email, texting, twittering, blogging, Facebook, Youtube) help the movement get started and stay going?

• This question is about how did using cellphones and computers and everything connected with them help the people protesting get information, spread the news,  and stay in touch with each other.
• Use this link- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/occupy-movement-focuses-on-staying-current-on-social-networks.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1323202161-J2wIGgz8RXkXVVqq0T1sYw
• And this one- http://business.newsfactor.com/news/The-Full-Occupy-Story-Is-In-the-Tweets/story.xhtml?story_id=121003W8NVMH&full_skip=1

Assignment 9- The Power of Social Media Networking

Part ONE- Five Research Questions

Directions: On a blank document write your name and copy the questions. Write the answer after each question. Getting credit for this assignment requires you to do some research,do not write one sentence answers! Use the links at the bottom of this page. Also do your own Google searches. Email it in the usual way when you are done.


Rumors have said that the Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWS) was started by an email to subscribers of a magazine called Adbusters.

Use the links at the bottom of this page (and your own internet research) to answer the following questions:

1. What is Adbusters and what is the evidence that Adbusters started OWS?

2. What were the 2011 Tahrir Square protests and the 2011 Spanish protests?

3. How were those 2 protests (question 2) similar and/or inspirational to the OWS protests?


The flag of Anonymous

4. Who or what is Anonymous, and how is it connected to OWS?

5. How did the use of social media (email, texting, twittering, blogging, Facebook, Youtube) help the movement get started and stay going?

Directions: On a blank document write your name and copy the questions. Write the answer after each question. Email it in the usual way when you are done. Do not write one sentence answers!

Links for Part One

Exploring Occupy Wall Street's 'Adbuster' Origins
MARTIN KASTE

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141526467/exploring-occupy-wall-streets-adbuster-origins

How 'Occupy Wall Street' Started and Spread
BRIAN GREENE

October 17, 2011
http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-whispers/articles/2011/10/17/how-occupy-wall-street-started-and-spread

Occupy Wall Street: From A Blog Post To A Movement
BILL CHAPPELL

October 20, 2011
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141530025/occupy-wall-street-from-a-blog-post-to-a-movement

Twitter, Live Streaming Create Alternative News Network for Occupy
By Adam Dickter
November 25, 2011 8:32AM
http://business.newsfactor.com/news/The-Full-Occupy-Story-Is-In-the-Tweets/story.xhtml?story_id=121003W8NVMH&full_skip=1

Protesters Look for Ways to Feed the Web
JENNIFER PRESTON
Published: November 24, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/occupy-movement-focuses-on-staying-current-on-social-networks.html

Live OWS protest Thursday November 17th

http://occupywallst.org/
Live streaming video of today's (Thursday November 17th) protest marking the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Rubric for Assignment Eight- Essay/Research Paper

Your essay is on a topic that you chose to research after reading the quotes from the "Occupy Wall Street Day 19" video.

Your must research five different websites to get information about your topic.

Your essay should be written in your own words.

That includes restating (paraphrasing) information you have discovered in your research, and using direct quotations. In both cases you must cite your sources. (in other words you must say who said it and where! For example- Joe Smith of the Daily News said that…blah, blah, blah, etc.)

DO NOT submit a collection of cut and pasted paragraphs from different websites. That will not be acceptable!

Your essay must have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

Your essay should be three typed pages in a 12 or 14 point ‘Arial’ or ‘Times New Roman’ font.

Last, you must have a bibliography ( a list of your sources of information) at the end of your essay.  This is what we practiced doing in assignment 8b.  Your bibilography should look just like what you did with the five web pages in 8B and look like this:

John Walke, Extreme pollution agenda in Senate targets lifesaving clean air standard, Grist:a Beacon in the Smog. Grist Magazine, Nov. 10, 2011. Website. Nov 13,2011   http://www.grist.org/pollution/2011-11-10-extreme-pollution-agenda-in-senate-targets-lifesaving-clean-air-

for all five of your sources!

Assignment (8B) Practice citing your sources in a bibliography.

HOW TO CITE INTERNET SOURCES IN A PAPER

When citing Internet sources in a paper, you must be sure to answer the following questions:

1. Who wrote or edited it? (authors/editors/translators)

2. What is it called? (title)

3. What is the name of the Website (usually the name on the 'banner' on top.)

4. What is the name of the organization/company/person who runs the Website (look at the bottom of the page or click on "about us")

5. When was it published? (date)

6. Where did you find it- in a book, magazine, website, newspaper, dvd? (answer- Website)

7. When did you access the site? (the date that you looked at it on the Internet)

The URL address (it must work and take you to the article, not just the home page!)
Here is an example:

John Walke, Extreme pollution agenda in Senate targets lifesaving clean air standard, Grist:a Beacon in the Smog. Grist Magazine, Nov. 10, 2011. Website. Nov 13,2011   http://www.grist.org/pollution/2011-11-10-extreme-pollution-agenda-in-senate-targets-lifesaving-clean-air-

This includes the information you must have-

The Author(s), Title of the Article, Name of web site. Name of organization or company that owns the  site, date published or updated. Where you found it (Book, DVD, Newspaper or Web.) Date of your access (when you looked at it), the URL address.

It is important that the Internet address link actually work. It should take you or your college professor directly to that article on that website. (Test the one above!)

To make a bibliography, you just make a list of these sources on the last page of your essay.

The last thing you do is make the list alphabetical according to the author's name. Go to the links below and create the five citations. Do it the same way as the example above! Don't forget to make the list alphabetical.
When you have done that, email it to me! Thank You.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/nasa-finds-arsenic-life-form/

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2011/05/the_discovery_of_arsenicbased_twitter.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1202/How-does-an-arsenic-based-life-form-work-exactly

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/27/6730755-arsenic-life-debate-hits-a-new-level

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/12/02/mono-lake-bacteria-build-their-dna-using-arsenic-and-no-this-isnt-about-aliens/

Assignment Eight-Video Interview

Video is another way to present information on the internet. In fact it could be the most powerful way to spread information. You could point to the way that a YouTube video can go 'viral' as evidence of this fact.

For this assignment, we will show a video "Occupy Wall Street Day 19" that was created by teenagers.


As you watch the video, listen for these phrases spoken by the protesters who were interviewed.

1. Corporations are influencing our politics. End the influence of corporations in politics.

2. End corporate personhood.



3. Corporate greed is wrecking our planet.

4. Protesters practice non-hierarchical consensus-based decision-making.

5. There’s a huge inequality gap between Americans.

6. Politicians are creating bad legislation because they’re influenced by corporations.

7. Corporations in our politics have created the war on drugs and stopped us from nationalizing health care.



8. Fight, fight! Housing is a human right. Make Wall Street pay for the Depression that they caused.

9. There should be a 1% tax on all Wall Street Transactions.

10. We need student debt amnesty!

11. Stop all foreclosures.  Stop throwing hard-working Americans on the street because they can’t pay these fraudulent mortgages.



12. The government has to stop cutting funding for education, which will mean that they will have to cut the defense budget. It's a tough choice, but they have to do it!

13. Tax the rich! Make more education programs for the poor, make more programs for cleaning up the environment.

14. Enforce campaign finance limits.

15. Have only individuals be able to contribute to political campaigns.

What controversial issues are talked about in "Occupy Wall Street Day 19"?

Participants in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests made the comments in the list above. For this project you will choose one of the phrases and RESEARCH the topic.

1. Pick one of the phrases. Translate the phrase into your own words.

2. Identify the KEY WORDS in the phrase that you have chosen.

3. Do a KEY WORD search in GOOGLE. Click the links, and look for explanations of the issue or topic.

4. Take notes on a blank Word document page for each article that you find. Be sure to list the key points of the article, and state whether you agree or disagree with the author on the topic. Remember to copy the information you need to CITE YOUR SOURCES!

5. Write an essay describing your opinion on the topic, based on your research that helps support your opinion.


Thank you Camilla S. for your help on this post!-MONZINGO

Assignment Seven- Charts, Graphs, and Other Data

There are many ways information is presented on the Internet. Different kinds of information, or data, are best shown in different ways. People make decisions on how to do this- they choose to use words, graphics, pictures, music, audio, video, or some combination of all of them.

When you want to prove your point of view, you should find the best way to present your evidence. 

For example, what would be the best way to present the data that would support the following statement?

"The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation's history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high."
-Henry Blodget

• Task- go to the link to find out how the author decided to present the information for this topic
• On a blank word document, make a list of the reasons for the protest, as presented in this article. 
• Choose one line graph chart, one bar graph, and one pie chart. Drag them to your desk top.
• Add the three graphs/charts to your word document. Under each graph discuss the meaning of the information that is presented and how it helps support the viewpoint of the author of the article.

Here's What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About..

 

Assignment Six: Photo Essay

There is a saying that picture is worth a thousand words. It is true that a viewer can make a fast assessment or judgment about a picture or photograph without words getting in the way.

Because of that fact, photographs can be a good source of unbiased information. What you see is what you get.

But can you be manipulated by pictures? Anyone who has seen a picture of a sad puppy on a donation box knows that the answer to that question is yes!

The Internet is a rich medium of both words and pictures. What is important to think about is that every picture and photograph you see posted on some website has been chosen by someone.  

So you should ask yourself some questions when you evaluate pictures on the internet-

• What is the purpose of the picture?
• What information is in the picture? 
• What is the emotional impact of the picture?
• Who picked the picture?
• Does the picture show anything about the opinion of the person who placed the picture on the website?
• Why did they choose this picture?
• Does the choice of that picture show any  positive or negative bias?

TASK- The Boston Globe newspaper website posts photo essays every week  that present  world news events.

•  Do a Google search for Boston Globe Big Picture.
• Locate the "Occupy Wall Street Global Protests"  which was posted October 17,2011
• Examine the 40 photographs you find there.
•  Choose your ten favorites and drag them to the desktop. Create a file and put them in it.
• Create a blank word document. Write your name on it!
• Drag or paste one of the pictures onto the blank page. The photo will automatically resize to fit the page.
• Under the photo write a paragraph about the photo. Include the facts and information you get from that photo. Do you have any emotional response to the photo? Also answer questions like "Why did they choose this picture?"  Include any feelings you get about whether the creators of the photo essay are sympathetic, neutral, or negatively biased against the subject of the photo essay.

• Repeat this for all ten of the pictures that you picked.

Rubric for Assignment Five Essay/Research Paper

Your essay should answer the topic/ focus question- “Did Steve Jobs change the world?”

Your essay should be written in your own words. However that may include restating information you have discovered in your research, and using direct quotations. In both cases you must cite your sources!

Your essay must include information from a minimum of five sources.

Those five sources (minimum) must be cited TWO ways!

First way to cite-  in the body of your essay. (For example- Joe Smith of the Daily News said that…)

Second way to cite- In a bibliography at the end of your essay (see the posting on how to cite your sources).

So, just to be clear,  each source is cited twice!

Your essay must have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

Your essay should be three typed pages in a 14 point ‘arial’ or ‘times new roman’ font

You may include one picture  if you wish, but it is not required.

DO NOT submit a collection of cut and pasted paragraphs from different websites. That will not be acceptable!

How to cite an Internet source

There are two ways to cite an Internet source that will be required in this class.


First, you can and should tell where your information is coming from in the body of your essay.
 You do it like this- 

In his article in the New York Post titled Please Leave Wall Street Alone!, Joe Smith said that " The protesters are a bunch of unorganized idiots...."

This way it is vey clear where the information came from.


Second, you must put the same information in a bibliography at the end of your essay. This is where you include the URL address, the name of the website, the author, and the date it was written and or the date that you found and read it.


Please go to this link from Montgomery College for examples on how cite an Internet source in a bibliography.

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/library/citinginternet.pdf

Assignment Five- Steve Jobs

Who was Steve Jobs and how did he change the world?

For this assignment, please research the question above. Use your internet research skills to find biographical information and also what people's opinions are about him. Be aware of what is fact and what may be bias. 

Please gather your facts and prepare to write a biographical essay about his life that includes information on how he changed the world.

You must cite your sources in the final essay so keep notes on where your information was found (the URL links, the website name, and authors). We will have a lesson soon on the way your college professors expect you to be able to cite your sources so that you are never accused of plagiarism.

Assignment Four- Editorials

Occupy Wall Street PART TWO- Editorials

In the New York Post article “Ghoulish on Wall St”, October 4, 2011, The writers HANNAH RAPPLEYE, DAREH GREGORIAN and BOB FREDERICKS used some interesting words to describe the protest. They said such things as: “The wacky Occupy Wall Street protest…” and “The move came as the protest’s loopy lefties showed no signs of giving up their chaotic rallies…”

See this article at http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/ghoulish_on_wall_st_he7Pz8IHFneJgsKWQtbeNO

The use of words like wacky, loopy, and chaotic clearly tell us that the writers and the newspaper are biased against the protest.

While the NY Post makes their feelings obvious, other news sources still have bias although it may be harder to see. In the research we have already done on the Occupy Wall Street protest it was interesting to see how some news sources seemed sympathetic to the protest and protesters, and others seemed hostile.

A good news source should try to remain neutral (not take sides), but there is a place in newspapers where opinions are usually expressed- the Editorial section.

Steps

1. Do internet searches for “Occupy Wall Street opinion” and  “Occupy Wall Street editorial”

2. Download a fresh (blank) copy of the document we have been using.

3. Fill in the boxes the same way except for in the box for facts, write down the opinion of the writers in the articles you find.

Here are some additional opinion sites you can visit:

politics.salon.com

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/03/occupy_wall_street_todays_whiskey_rebellion/

Thebloodycrossroads.com

http://thebloodycrossroads.com/403/the-mass-media%E2%80%99s-disgraceful-coverage-of-occupy-wall-street/

marketwatch.com

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-elites-enjoy-police-protection-2011-09-27?link=MW_story_investinginsight

censorshipinamerica.com

http://censorshipinamerica.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-fighting-bankster-greed-and-the-surveillance-state/

Assignment Three- Following the Media

One of our goals for this class is to train ourselves to look closely at the websites we get our information from. We should always be questioning if the information is reliable, reputable, and if there is bias that might change the way the 'facts' are presented.


In our last assignment, many students stated that they trusted the news media such as newspapers and television news programs and the websites connected to them. The most common reason given  for trusting them is because they are well known sources.


In today's assignment we will look at how the news media covers a news event to look and see if there are any differences in how the same event is presented to us. This will help us be more sensitive to bias that may effect even the news sources we trust the most.

You may have heard about the protest that has been going on in Manhattan. For  this assignment, please search for "occupy wall street" on the internet.

STEP ONE

Look at several (many) websites that come up and check on the following things-

1. What are the basic facts?

2. Are the facts on different websites the same or different?

3. Do some sites seem friendly to the protest in some ways?

4. Do some sites seem  unfriendly?

5. On a Microsoft Word page document take some notes on 1,2,3,4. Make sure you copy the URLs when you cut and paste some examples when you find them. These notes will be checked on and counted as class work!

Assignment TWO

Hello students! Congratulations to those of you you have successfully emailed me the outline for the "Obama's childhood and teenage years" research. You will be receiving individual emails from me to confirm that I have received it.

For our next assignment we will continue to look at the ways you can judge what makes an Internet source reliable.

2. Choose one of these topics:

A. In the past ten years, has teenage pregnancy in the United states increased, decreased or stayed the same?
B. In the past ten years, what age groups and what ethnic groups have shown the most increase in being diagnosed with AIDS?
C. What are the leading causes of the current economic recession in the United States?

4. Closely examine the internet site and fill out the work sheet.
5. Hand in the work sheet.

REQUIRED READING! READ THIS!!

WHO CREATED THE WEBSITE?
Find out who wrote the information on the website, and write down those details.

ASK YOURSELF: Who are they? Who is the author of the website? What organization or group is behind it?

ARE THEY REPUTABLE?

Have you already heard about the authors or institutions behind the website and do you know that they're reputable already? (for instance, students suggested that one might go to merriam-webster.com, because we already know that they are a good company that publishes dictionaries.)

Always verify your information by looking at more than one reputable source.
Read the information on the website carefully. Is it sound? Does it make sense? Does it seem credible?
Determine who wrote the website by looking at “Contact Us,” or “About Us,” or the citations and bibliography at the bottom, or
Verify your source by making sure you look at more than one source.

ARE THEY RELIABLE? Is there a second website that confirms the information on that website?

When did they update their page last?
Google the owner and/or author.

WHAT DOES THE URL TELL YOU?
Go back to the root directory of the website to see who hosted it. For example, in the url http://www.columbia.edu/texts/religion/philosophy.html, the root directory is www.columbia.edu. When looking at the root directory, look for the type of website it is. You can find that out by looking at the letters that come after the first dot. For example:

.org = organization (non-profit)
.edu = college or university (- usually. Sometimes it’s a school system.)
.net = is a commercial designation. (In other words, anyone can get it.)
.com = company or commercial. Anyone can have one.
.gov = U.S. Government web site.
.info = information about some agency or group.

Assignment One- The Internet is a Tool

These are some of the questions we will be exploring in this class.


How will we use the Internet as a tool to do research? Where will we find reliable information? How can we tell if the information is fact or fiction? How can we tell true facts from someone's opinion? How can facts be manipulated to create more than one "true" story? What is "bias" and how does it effect the news we receive everyday through word of mouth, newspapers,radio, television, and the Internet?




Assignment One-  Research Barack Obama's childhood and teenage years. 

Steps- 
Before you start, think about what the best sources of information could be. Is there any controversy surrounding President Obama's childhood that may bias the sources?


1.Create an Obama file on your desktop. 
2. Start  gathering  information and save it in the file . Very important: Copy the Internet addresses of the sites you get the information from.
3. Save several pieces of information ( you can cut and past into a word document for example) Check to see if there is any conflicting information and ask yourself why that might be.
4. Start to organize the facts into an outline for an essay that will be titled " Barack Obama's Childhood and Teenage Years"

5 . By the  end of class tomorrow you will Email your outline  to me at monzingoinfotech@gmail.com


Homework-  Look up the word 'bias'.  What does it mean? Have a clear understanding of the meaning of the word and how it affects the news we receive everyday.

Welcome to Mr. Monzingo's English Writing and Research

This is where you'll find all your assignments for this class.  Just remember monzingo.blogspot.com. You can also get my syllabus here. You will be emailing your work to me at this address:  monzingoinfotech@gmail.com.