Digital Media Communications & Media Essay Research Paper

** See attached document for everything, as the following is straight from that**
Throughout this course, we have considered the many different, and above all, contradictory ways in which digital media, technologies, and networks have transformed our social and cultural world. In particular, we’ve considered how digital media can either 1) reproduce and reinforce already established economic, political, and cultural relations, which are for the most part dominated by a few powerful social groups, interests, and organizations, by extending traditional forms of power, control, and surveillance or creating new ones; or 2) subvert and challenge hegemonic power structures and systems, by producing radically new and distinctive forms of identity, community, knowledge, and cultural production, which are potentially more egalitarian and democratic than their offline counterparts. From social networking sites to MMORPGs to digitally reproducible media and fire-sharing – in principle, all of the different kinds and sites of digital culture examined in this course can end up both 1) supporting, or even further deepening, already existing social relations, inequalities, and forms of power in our society; or 2) undermining them and making possible new configurations of social and cultural exchange.
The objective of this paper, then, is for you to argue in favour of one of these two perspectives, 1) or 2), in relation to one of the following themes from the course, by focusing on one or a few specific contemporary examples (a sample question has been provided but you are free to generate your own):
a. user-generated content. Has the ability to publish and share blogs, videos, wikis, and so on given a voice and outlet to ordinary people, especially the youth? Or has it only empowered and enriched the platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) on which user-generated content is featured and shared?
b. political economy of search and search engines. Have search engines mostly served to organize the Internet and empower its users? Or have they put too much power in the hands of companies like Google, and the algorithms and forms of artificial intelligence they use?
c. surveillance and privacy. Have digital media and the Internet led to the death of privacy for individuals, and especially children and youth? Or have they made it possible for those same individuals to challenge, resist, and slip by, as well as expose and call attention to, systems of surveillance?
d. virtual communities and identities. Has the ability to found and establish new forms of community online helped young (and older) people to combat the loneliness and alienation of the modern world? Or are virtual communities making people only more estranged and separated from one another?
e. peer production and the commons. Has peer production been successful in restoring culture, knowledge, software, and the like to the public in free or accessible forms? Or do some of the problems with how peer production has achieved its results suggest a continuing need for traditional or commercial alternatives?
f. civic participation, Internet activism, and the public sphere. Are digital media and technologies making possible new, bold forms of political activism and democratic engagement from young people? Or are they encouraging more passive and limited kinds of participation that are less capable of delivering political, social, and economic reforms?
g. citizen journalism and news media. Have the Internet and social media rejuvenated journalism by allowing everyone to report on the news? Or have they precipitated the decline of the press and encouraged the spread of “fake news?”
h. remixing, piracy, and intellectual property. Have the Internet and digital technologies made remixing easier than ever before, undermining copyright and intellectual property regimes? Or have digital media and technologies made it easier for rightsholders to contain and crack down on online remixing and sharing
i. Students may pursue their own research agenda and pose their own questions (or modify an existing one), with the prior approval of the instructor.
The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the student’s ability to specify a topic that relates to the course themes and independently research and write on that topic; closely read and explicate a limited number of academic texts that are germane to that topic; and articulate and expound an informed, well-reasoned critical opinion in regards to that topic. As such, the short paper will be evaluated according to the following three criteria:
1. persuasiveness and rigour in arguing for a particular position or perspective in relation to the chosen theme from the course, as illustrated through references to contemporary examples, issues, and debates about digital culture related to that theme;
2. relevance, use, and explication of academic sources, that is, how judiciously they choose and faithfully they reconstruct the scholarly literature on the chosen theme from the course, demonstrating that they have undertaken a studied engagement of the course material and/or external scholarship through quotes, paraphrases, etc.;
3. quality of writing, as reflected both in the attention to proofreading, editing, citations, etc., to limit typographical, grammatical, and other errors, and in the observance of the assignment’s formal and technical requirements, e.g., citation style, spacing and margins, etc.