For this project, focus on a social justice issue that YOU are passionate about, something that you want to stay informed about for your own wisdom.  

The concept is simple.  Think about the society you would create if, like Nas and Lauryn Hill discuss in the background… if you ruled the world. The difficulty will be in coming up with the topic that you like well enough to follow throughout the semester. 

Choose your justice issue intentionally. Make interesting choices. Be bold.  Be adventurous.  Be unique.   And, most of all, make sure that you like this issue because you will be spending a lot of time with it this semester.  You attend a college in New York City committed to social justice.  In every class, you experience the full range of world heritages and world languages. You have a unique contribution to make in this project.  Step up to the plate ….and swinnnnnnng!

Your Writing Assignment: Digital Log #1

DigitAl Log #1

​Is there an artist (musician, painter, dancer), poet, scholar, or writer who you would like to follow?  This has to be someone who maintains a social media/digital presence themselves--- not the machine/record company behind them--- and has a social justice focus.  You are going to take a look at their digital archive this semester. This cannot be a mega-millionaire artist either.

OR, is there an activist or activist group who you would like to follow?  You are going to explore the social justice that motivates the group or person.  The person or group has to be directing and maintaining their own social media/digital presence though. You are going to take a look at their digital archive this semester.

Or, is there a hashtag that you would like to follow?  You are going to explore the social justice that pushes this hashtag forward.  You are going to take a look at the digital archive of this movement this semester.
​

After you have chosen your ONE artist/ activist/ cause, you will come DIGITAL LOG #1 where write about how and why you have made your choice (at least 500 words). In writing, explain ALL OF THE FOLLOWING: 

1. Why are you choosing this topic, issue, group, or person?  What compels you most?  What is most interesting for you?
2. What background or history do you already know about this issue, person, or group?  How, when, and where did you learn or hear about all of this?
3. Why is this issue so compelling for you?  Why should other people be paying attention to it?
4. What are your plans right now (these can change later) for following this person or group. Will you follow and look at their blog or website?  Their facebook page?  Their instagram? Their vines?  Their twitter feed?  Their youtube or vimeo account? (Is anything else missing here?) You MUST be very specific with this question--- name the URL, twitter handle, faceboook page, instagram name, etc  

Your writing needs to be at least 500 words and MUST not repeat these prompts.  The writing should be interesting to read!  The essay needs to be written in such a way where someone who is not in this class and who has not received these assignment guidelines can understand what you are doing and what you are talking about.   Yes, this is a school assignment, but you need to show that you can do more than write for a teacher--- that's a high school quiz, not a college essay.  Make this writing SING!

What counts as a digital justice topic?

A digital justice topic is ANY event/person/movement that uses digital tools to achieve its social justice goals.   Be creative and wide-ranging in how you conceptualize this.  You CANNOT use something or someone that has millions of dollars of money to do the digital work.  You can follow a website, youtube channel, facebook page, blog, instagram site, a particular tweeter/blogger, a hashtag, etc, or a moving event that encompasses digital work. Choose something that you are genuinely interested in following and looking at. Click the examples at the right.

African American Policy Forum
#BlackLivesMatter
The Center for Media Justice
​The Innocence Project
​I Want To Live Project
​LeftRoots
​#MeTooMovement
​Rewrite the Code
#SerNegroEsHermoso
We Are All Dominican
​Worker Association Canvas
Youth Represent

What you can expect down the road...

We are going to do many things with your digital justice focus this semester:
We will do individual class presentations using prezi or google presentations.
We will spend time researching the background of this digital justice focus.
We will create collaborative websites using weebly (the platform you are on right now) showcasing this digital justice focus.
We will engage rhetorical analysis of the digital tools our groups and people in focus are using.

... So have some fun with iT!

The Red, the Black, & the Green by Carmen Kynard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

"Digital Justice" by Carmen Kynard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.