The writing reflection for this week covers the lectures "Memetic Warfare" and "Virtualized Horror". This reflection is due on 10/31 at 5:00pm.

Note that the course staff are looking for your own thoughts on these topics. Writing in the first person, taking divergent viewpoints, and bringing in ideas from outside of class are encouraged. Write as if you are targeting a public audience. Particularly insightful or convincingly contrarian statements might be shared with the entire class in lecture or in the course slack.

In this writing reflection it's time to visit the weird corners of the Internet:

1. Memes have become a vital form of communication on the Internet. What types of memes do you like sharing? How do you use visual communication in your daily life? In what contexts are memes simply better than text? If for some reason you do not share memes, why not? Is this is a conscious decision?   
2. A great deal of content on the Internet, and especially social media, is some form of virtualized horror. As we've discussed in class, this is everything from extreme forms of pornography to torture videos from war zones. But we've also learned that much of this content is fake, and is simply created to shock the viewer. What does shock content say about our culture? Does it serve some purpose other than just generating cheap thrills? Use one of the ethical frameworks to examine these questions. 

Grading

Each reflection should be between 500 - 1000 words. It will be graded in terms of:

Does the reflection adequately address the prompt?

Does the reflection reference the readings and class discussions to support the writing?

Does the reflection exhibit thoughtfulness and creative expression?

Does the reflection utilize proper grammar and style?

Is the reflection an appropriate length?

Submission Instructions

• Prepare a doc in that folder named using this convention: lastname_firstname_duedate. Example: Joyce_Ellen_103123
• The TAs will collect each assignment directly from your drive after it is due