Online Community Advocacy Project

Project Summary:

The Online Community Advocacy Project asks students working in groups to produce a campaign to make a tangible, beneficial change in the local environment through online advocacy. The capacity of online networks and digital technologies to change social spaces is burgeoning, and (as we will see) has become a salient popular, commercial, and academic topic.

Groups will have the opportunity to incorporate multiple technologies into their advocacy campaign, including Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, YouTube, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, iPhone and other smartphone apps, etc. Choice of technologies will be determined by groups based upon the rhetorical potentials of the situation, however at least three separate technological deployments are required. Advocacy topic choice is wide open. Topics need not be overly grandiose, but they should be interesting, useful, and productive for a specific group. Topics also should not replicate existing advocacy campaigns. If an existing campaign is in place, the group must find a way to extend it to a new audience, context, or purpose for the topic to be viable.

Project Sequence and Grading:

1. Individual Topic Pitch (individual bonus points on project grade)
   Students will individually produce one-page pitches covering specific advocacy topics that provide a general overview of the proposed advocacy project's goals and how it will accomplish them. Pitches will be shared in class, and the class will vote on a limited number of topic pitches to pursue. Those whose pitches are selected will receive individual bonus points on the assignment. Excellent topic pitches will outline a workable, interesting advocacy topic, and provide a clear understanding of project goals and means.
   
   
   
   
2. Design Plan (10% of project grade)
   (Design Plan criteria available here.)
   Once groups have formed, each will produce a design plan that explicates the goals of their chosen advocacy project and how it will accomplish them (this report will likely be based in part on the selected individual topic pitch). Essentially, this report uses rhetorical elements (audience, context, purpose, medium, strategies, arrangement) to establish how the group's online texts will accomplish their goals. Excellent design plans will account thoroughly for all of the rhetorical elements established in CDA and present a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts. Excellent proposal reports also will reflect the components of the corresponding advocacy campaign, and be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics.
   
   
   
   
3. Technology Seminar (10% of project grade)
   Each group will lead a seminar covering an technological service. The seminar should respond to the question: "how can we use this service to foster local community change?" Groups will select their own topic. Examples include:

   • Twitter
   • Facebook
   • Google Docs
   • YouTube
   • texting
   • blogs
   • RSS feeds
   • podcasts
   • iPhone and other smartphone apps
   • other (pending instructor approval)

   Seminars will last half the class period (~20 minutes), and should incorporate an interactive element, such as a group activity, a guided walk-through, or a quiz. All group members should participate in the seminar. Excellent technology seminars will provide useful information in an engaging and readily-comprehensible way. Excellent training seminars will involve all group members, be on time, and be rehearsed and polished.
   
   
   
   

4. Critical Resource Analysis (10% of project grade)
   Each group will produce a short report discussing how one critical, book-length text might inform and shape our production of the Online Community Advocacy Project. Each book may be selected by only one group. Groups will select their own book. Examples include:

   • Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks
   • Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, The Starfish and the Spider
   • Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs
   • Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
   • Bill Wasik, And Then There's This

   Each group's analysis should provide an overview of the work, but the main issue is how it can help us with this project. What applicable information, strategies, or techniques may be drawn from it? How does it change the way we view the topic? These short reports will be shared with the class. Excellent critical resource analyses will provide thorough, concise overviews of their corresponding works and insightful information about how they may might inform and shape our projects. Excellent critical resource analyses will be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics.
   
   
   
   

5. Final Advocacy Materials (50% of project grade)
   The final advocacy materials include all of the works produced for the advocacy campaign, including Facebook groups, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos, etc. Although these materials are called "final," groups should think of them as the launchpad for the corresponding campaign rather than its end. Excellent materials will be thorough and appropriate to the goals and means defined in the corresponding design plan. Excellent materials will incorporate several technological services and media. Excellent materials will be polished and professional, incorporating engaging, grammatical text and original, professional-grade multimedia.
   
   
   
   
6. Final Advocacy Presentation (10% of project grade)
   Each group will present its final advocacy materials to the class, explaining the campaign's goals and how they will be accomplished through the corresponding materials. Presentations will last approximately 10 minutes, but need not incorporate all group members. Excellent final advocacy presentations will incorporate techniques discussed in class readings, be on time, and be rehearsed and polished.
   
   
   
   
7. Postmortem (10% of project grade, individual to each group member)
   (The postmortem form is available here.)
   Each student will produce a reflective postmortem that provides insight into the contributions of group members and the global performance of the team. Postmortems will be used to assign group members individual grades for this project component. Excellent postmortems will account thoroughly for all sections of the postmortem form, thereby providing valuable insight into project development, successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Excellent postmortems will be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics.
   
   
   
   
8. Results Presentation (group bonus points)
   At the end of the semester, each group will deliver a final, 10 minute presentation discussing the outcomes of its advocacy campaign. The class will vote on the various campaigns' effectiveness, and bonus points will be awarded accordingly. Results presentations need not involve all group members. Excellent results presentations will highlight the successes of the corresponding advocacy campaign, be on time, and be rehearsed and polished.