Web Guide Assignment
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Downloadable version
of web guide assignment info.
Submission requirements
Assignment Description
Bonus: Suggested steps for writing your web guide
Sample web guide: Cyber-libertarianism
Choice of topics: week-by-week
Sign-up list
Submission requirements
Your web guide is due on Tuesday of the week for which you have signed up -- i.e. if you have signed up for January 29-31, your web guide is due on January 29.
You must turn in both paper and electronic versions of your paper, as follows:
2 pm: Printed (hard) copy of your assignment, in class.
5pm: Electronic version of your assignment, via e-mail to alex@alexandrasamuel.com. If possible, save your web guide in HTML format before e-mailing it to me. Click here for instructions on saving a Word document in HTML.
The electronic version of your web guide will be posted on our web site, where it will be password protected so that only members of our class can read it. If you do not wish to share your web guide with other members of our class, your alternative is:
- Indicate in your e-mail that you do not want your web guide posted to the site.
- Use the add a link feature to add links for the 3-6 web sites reviewed in your web guide. Make sure that you include your review of each site in the description field for each link.
You must meet both the paper and electronic deadlines for your paper to be considered "on time". Late papers will be marked down one-half grade (e.g. B becomes B-) for every day late; papers that come in late on Tuesday will also be marked down one-half grade.
Web Guide Assignment: Description
Click here for a downloadable version of these instructions.
The web guide is a short (3 pages, double-spaced) paper that provides
a guide to a small set of web sites, relevant to one week’s readings.
Each student will submit one web guide at some point in the semester;
please sign up in class for the week in which you will submit your guide.
Your paper should:
- Be on a topic or sub-topic that is directly relevant to the week’s readings.
- Identify 3-6 web sites that are in some way relevant to the week’s reading.
- Make an overarching argument about a pattern or difference you found in the sites you visited.
- Support your overarching argument with short (1-2 paragraph) descriptions of each of the sites you identified.
Example: From Week 1, “Introduction to the Internet.”
- Reading topics included: how different types of Internet technologies affect communication.
- Possible web guide topic: “The Use of E-Mail Lists by Environmental Groups.
- Relevant sites include: Web pages providing advice on using e-mail as an organizing tool. E-mail lists archived on different web sites.
- Possible argument: Environmental groups have made creative use of e-mail lists as a tool for organizing their own supporters, but are limited in their use of e-mail as a tool for broadening their base of support.
- Supporting evidence: Cite the organizing advice that was provided on a web page about environmental politics. Describe the type of messages you read in e-mail archive #1, and what they revealed about the organizing strategy of the parent organization. Describe the type of messages you read in e-mail archive #2, and what they revealed about the organizing strategy of the parent organization.
Tips on picking your web sites:
- Your sites do not have to represent the full breadth of the week’s materials. Pick a theme or issue in the week’s readings, and look for web sites that relate to that theme.
- The links that are provided on the course web site may be a good starting
place for finding other related web sites.
Format:
- Submit your web guide in both paper and electronic form. I will return the paper version to you with your grade; the electronic copy may be posted to the course web site.
- Include the full URL (web address) for each of the web sites you discuss, even if you also format them as hyperlinks.
- Submit the electronic version to me via e-mail, preferably attaching your guide in HTML (.htm or .html) format. Click here for instructions on saving a Word document in HTML. You can also send it in Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Suggested steps for writing your web guide:
- Choose a topic with political relevance, appropriate to this week’s readings.
- Visit a range of relevant web sites.
- Note any pattern or theme that sheds light on an interesting issue or question.
- In the introductory section of your guide, present your core insight into the issue or question you are examining.
- Use your reviews of 3-6 web sites as online evidence to support your argument or insight. If you can, insert hyperlinks to each of these sites into your paper; click here for instructions on inserting hyperlinks in a Word document.
- Sum up your findings in a concluding paragraph or two.
Note: 3 pages is a short paper. You will find it more of a challenge to keep in short, than to find enough to say.
For an example of a web guide, please click here.
Choice of topics: week-by-week
Week 3: January 22-24
Topics: Social and political alignments, cyber-libertarianism.
Relevant web sites include: political science research on social alignments,
political organizations for Internet users, political surveys of Internet
users, libertarianism.
Week 4: January 29-31
Topics: Free speech, gender & race on the Net.
Relevant web sites include: censorship, women online, ethnic communities.
Week 5: February 5-7
Topics: Political parties and interest groups.
Relevant web sites include: interest group sites, party sites, campaign
sites.
Week 6: February 12-14
Topics: Interest groups online, Napster.
Relevant web sites include: interest group sites, intellectual property
issues, copyright, music piracy.
Week 7: February 26-28
Topics: Political participation on & offline.
Relevant web sites include: online petitions, campaign web sites, e-democracy
projects.
Week 8: March 5-7
Topics: Civic engagement, social capital, web page design.
Relevant web sites include: civic organizations online, online communities,
resources for educational or political web site design.
Week 9: March 12-14
Topics: Social movements, hacktivism.
Relevant web sites include: social movement organizations (environmental,
anti-globalization, gay/lesbian, etc.), political hacker organizations.
Week 10: March 19-21
Topics: Political economy, modernization, democratization.
Relevant web sites include: online development projects, political economy
research resources, resistance projects.
Week 11: March 26-28
Topics: Development, digital divide.
Relevant web sites include: online development projects, community networking
projects, accessibility projects.