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Digital issues (redirected from digital issues)

Page history last edited by Bing Miller 7 years, 2 months ago


As we prepare for our reading of Fahrenheit 451 and/or 1984, we are discussing the issues of living in the increasingly digital and "connected" world of today's society. This page contains some valuable resources to help you understand the topic and complete the assignments in the unit.

 

Essential questions

  • What are the challenges of living in an increasingly digital and "connected" world?

  • How do the authors of dystopian novels get across their warnings about our society?

  • What are Bradbury and Orwell trying to warn us about and do we still need to listen today?

 

Student skills and concepts

At the end of this unit, students will be able to...

 

  • identify an issue in today’s world that is relevant to them in terms of the challenges of an increasingly digital and connected world: threats to privacy and individual freedoms; Over reliance or dependence on technology; abuse of technology; potential for mindless entertainment to stifle individual thinking; the power of information, propaganda, and language distortion.
  • identify a warning in 1984 and/or Fahrenheit 451 that is relevant to them in terms of the challenges of an increasingly digital and connected world: threats to privacy and individual freedoms; Over reliance or dependence on technology; abuse of technology; potential for mindless entertainment to stifle individual thinking; the power of information, propaganda, and language distortion.
  • draw a parallel between an issue in today’s society and a warning made by Orwell and/or Bradbury.
  • evaluate how serious today’s issue is to them and whether Orwell’s or Bradbury’s warnings are still relevant in 2012.

     

Ongoing Assignments

Before we begin, we will read a series of nonfiction articles that deal with some of the issues of living in a increasingly digital and connected world. You will identify a challenge and write a two-minute speech that explores this idea.

 

As we begin to read our dystopian novels and select which one we want to read, you will be asked to write a solid paragraph that defines what a dystopia is. You must use information from the different definitions we discussed AND include a relevant example from one of the excerpts read in class.

 

Later in the unit, the larger essay assignment will be an essay that examines an issue in today's society and connects it to one of the warnings made by either Bradbury or Orwell in their dystopian novels.

 

Audio of novels

Audio of 1984 - George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book_64kb (1).m3uGeorge-Orwell-1984-Audio-book_64kb (1).m3u

Complete audio of entire book: http://www.archive.org/details/George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book

 

Link to audio of Fahrenheit 451, read by the author himself -

http://mravella.weebly.com/fahrenheit-451-audiobook.html

 

Allusions in Fahrenheit 451: http://451allusions.pbworks.com/w/page/80311/FrontPage

 

Resources

In addition to the texts of the novels, here are the articles we will use in class:

 

Sales of dystopian literature growing after Trump

http://time.com/money/4648774/trump-1984-dystopian-novel-sales-brave-new-world/

 

Videos of Ray Bradbury from his website

http://www.raybradbury.com/at_home_clips.html#

 

Interview with author of Alone in the crowd about how social networking is affecting our relationships and ability to live offline

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/social-networking.aspx

 

Article on brain and distractions

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/a-focus-on-distraction.html

 

What Bradbury already knew in Fahrenheit 451

http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/11/29/people-solutions/fahrenheit-451-what-ray-bradbury-already-knew-about-our-future-sustainability/

 

NYT article on brain training with some exercises to do:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/a-new-kind-of-tutoring-aims-to-make-students-smarter.html?pagewanted=all

 

Your brain on e-books and apps:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/your-brain-on-e-books-and-smartphone-apps/

 

Boston Globe series on Our Data, Ourselves: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/05/22/our_data_ourselves/?p1=News_links

 

Six news stories that connect to Orwell's 1984

http://www.tengrrl.com/blog/2010/08/31/6-news-stories-to-connect-to-orwell%E2%80%99s-1984/

 

Privacy laws need updating:

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA309722169&v=2.1&u=s0003&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

 

PBS series on teen brains and multitasking - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se8jmKHlXvU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WosCGJ47gSA&feature=more_related

 

PBS series 5Across about online privacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S91w6ymnXZo

 

PBS resources MediaShift http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/

 

The New York Times' series on "Your Brain on Computers" http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/timestopics/series/your_brain_on_computers/index.html?scp=1&sq=wired%20for%20distraction&st=cse

 

The Wall Street Journal's resource page on digital privacy: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html

 

More from The Wall Street Journal about What They Know, a series on marketers and online privacy: http://blogs.wsj.com/wtk/

 

PBS Series "Digital Nation" - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/

 

Articles dealing with issues of airport security: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122902767.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/us/13scanners.html

 

"You're leaving a digital trail. What about privacy?" from The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30privacy.html?_r=1

 

Teens and technology: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/23/13-things-to-know-about-teens-and-technology/

 

60 second recap has some great blurbs on Fahrenheit 451 - http://www.60secondrecap.com/library/fahrenheit-451/

 

Amazon deletes some copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from its Kindle, similar to memory hole: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html

 

Article on government efforts to get cell phone records without warrants: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/scholars-reject/

 

New chip tracks students in schools

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/POLL-Parents-and-students-oppose-new-school/GE1hbcyV80Sk36JAXHCU-w.cspx

 

Big  Brother is watching

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13482761-the-assault-on-privacy-big-brother-really-is-watching

 

Resources on video surveillance in the wake of 9/11

 

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/feb/surveillance/020225.surveillance.html 

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4236865.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/nyregion/05security.html?_r=1

 

Article on language and effect of simplistic language

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/12/06/let_us_now_praise_jingles/

 

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html?ref=education

 

This used to be the land of the free. Is it still?  Rather than leave us free to choose, writer Jeff Jacoby says that Big Brother increasingly makes the choice for us.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/14/big_brother_out_of_control/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed3

 

The latest on the webcam case in Pennsylvania

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/20/technology/AP-US-Laptops-Spying-on-Students.html 

 

Cyber Snoops track students' activity

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/cyber-snoops-track-students-116276.html

 

Classroom activities

Below are the presentations and materials related to our class discussions.

 

 

 

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Related links

As  you explore the issues raised in our class discussions - privacy and surveillance - use this page as a resource for articles, videos and other information.

 

 

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