In the course, we only have one seminar per week. That seminar represents your best opportunity to ask questions, to discuss issues and to make your voice heard - but 2 hours is not a lot of time. This blog represents an opportunity to take our "remaining" questions, comments and discussions on-line.
This is thus the place for all the "I wish I would have said ... at the seminar" comments. As well as blog posts about stuff that relates to the course (a newspaper article, an invitation to an event or a lecture somewhere else) and thoughts/opinions/critique about the lecture you just heard.
You have a very good incentive to post at least a couple of blog posts here during the course - you can get 2 bonus points in the course for your contributions to this blog. Do note that these really are bonus points - you are not forced to write if you don't want to and you can get top (maximum) points in the course without contributing to the blog.
So what kind of blog post qualifies for bonus points and which don't? Based on experiences from a previous course (see this blog post), you can typically contribute with:
- A blog post with some information or tips about sustainability & media technology/ICT; for example events happening in Stockholm or elsewhere, relevant newspaper/magazine/blog articles (with links) etc. The blog is our collective eyes and ears keeping track of relevant news and events during the course.
- A blog post with a summary, analysis, critique and/or thoughts that were initiated by a lecture in the course.
- A blog post with a summary, analysis, critique and/or thoughts that were initiated by course literature.
- A good (elaborate) comment on someone else's blog post!
I will not specify how long your contribution should be in terms of number or words etc. The important criteria is that your contribution should add value. "I agree", "me too" or "the lecture was great" does not add value. It is obviously hard for me to beforehand draw a clear line, but your blog post should contribute to an ongoing "class discussion" about issues and questions that are relevant and related to the course. It just isn't good enough to post a link to a random resource (text, comic strip, movie) on the web and say "look what I found on the web". You are welcome to post links to resources, but you have to "frame" them; to explain why this thing you are linking to is interesting, how it relates to the course (to issues that have been raised by lecturers, by the literature or in seminar discussions). If you link to a long text or a movie that is 20 minutes long, you really have to explain why it would be worthwhile for your classmates to invest the time to look at it - and what you yourself think about that text/movie! For example, what questions and what thoughts did that movie raise for you?
In short: the keywords are "added value" and "quality" (not quantity).
Do comment on this blog post if you have any questions. I will comment on some of your early blog posts here in order to provide you with feedback and direction as to what "adds value" and what constitutes "quality".
/Daniel
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