The writing reflection for this week covers the lecture "Cancel Culture". This reflection is due on 11/7 at 5pm.

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.

This week you will reflect on the debates surrounding the control of speech on the Internet:

1. Can content moderation be an effective mechanism for quelling problems on the Internet? The conversation on moderation tends to take the form of an absolutist defense of freedom of speech or an inclination to ban speech that is deemed unacceptable to certain groups. Neither feels like it's the right framing for this conversation. What would be a sensible policy for effective moderation?
2. Imagine that you have posted a controversial, yet respectful and not intentionally inflammatory, take on social media. After public outcry, this lands you in hot water with the platform and you find yourself banned. What do you do?

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_110723
• The TAs will collect each assignment directly from your drive after it is due