Assignments

Assignment I:  Turing Test
Overview This assignment complements Part I of the course, "The Cybercultural Imaginary: History, Philosophy, and Politics." You will learn how to devise their own version of the Turing Test, carry it out, and analyze the results for the ways in which their version of the test sheds light on identity and on the human / machine interface. Our test is a modified Turing Test which focuses on the performance of personas mediated through a chat application. We will also begin to build their research and library skills. The assignment has five steps, as follows:
Steps
	Step 1	Retrieve, research and test one AI chat program	Due 09/04 at 10 am
	Step 2	Comparative Analysis	Due 09/10 at 10 am
	Step 3	Define a Persona with a Back Story	Due 09/17 at 10 am
	Step 4	Perform your Persona Test	Due 09/24 at 10 am
	Step 5	Evaluate your own Persona Test	Due 10/01 at 10 am
Assignment II:  Home Page: Performing Identity
Overview This assignment complements Part II of the course, "Embodiment and Identity Online." Students will learn how to analyze a home page for its performance of race and gender and how to produce their own home page and link to others in ways that are thoughtful about these elements of identity. The steps are as follows (please see below for due dates):
Steps
	Step 1	Network Analysis: Select a homepage and analyze it's location as well as its race and gender performance	Due 10/09 at 10 am
	Step 2	Start the design of your own home page: Site Map	Due 10/16 at 10 am
	Step 3	Start the design of your own home page: Resources	Due 10/23 at 10 am
	Step 4	Produce and upload your own home page	Due 10/30 at 10 am
	Step 5	Link your site to other trusted sites	Due 11/01 at 10 am
Assignment III:  Digital Divide
Overview You will do ethnographic and bibliographic research on an embodied aspect of the digital divide and its more current embodiment, digital disemancipation, and create a web-based research paper or creative project incorporating this information, your analysis, and finally, a policy recommendation, a creative intervention or a website which addresses the divide you observed.
Steps
	Step 1	Identify and Observe a Digital Divide	Due 11/14 at 10 am
	Step 2	Compare your observation with Digital Divide literature	Due 11/19 at 10 am
	Step 3	Create a Final Exam question	Due 11/26 at 10 am
	Step 4	Collect primary Digital Divide observations	Due 12/3 at 10 am
Final Product The final product of this assignment is a website--one per working group--containing or with links to the requested deliverables in 3.1 through 3.5. It must be clear from the front page of your site how to get to the assignments. When your website is complete, please post it as follows: Google Spreadsheets: Lab 0
Evaluation As for assignments 1 and 2, evaluation is primarily based on completing the steps in a satisfactory manner and submitting them on time in the right way. Also as for assignments 1 and 2, you will receive written feedback from one of us after the end of assignment 3. And finally, as for each required part of this course (attendance at lecture, tutorial, and section, and completion of readings and assignments) your participation during this final part of the course will count toward your final participation grade. Giving assistance to your peers earns you extra credit that will be factored into your participation grade.