Day+1--Intro+to+Feed+&+Technology


 * **__Literature Journals__**

As with previous texts and units, you will be expected to create and maintain your literature journals. Remember--these journals are useful to you and me to keep track of not only the length of time you read the previous night and the page number you started at and finished with, but you need to write a short synopsis of what occurred in your reading plus any predictions, connections and questions you have regarding the text. These will be collected periodically for spot checks during the unit and at the end.
 * __**Journal Topic**__
 * __**What is a Dystopian Society? What does this mean?**__

  A dystopian society usually exhibits at least one of the following traits from the following non-exhaustive list: An apparent Utopian society, free of poverty, disease, conflict, and even unhappiness. Scratching the surface of the society; however, reveals exactly the opposite. The exact problem, the way the problem is suppressed, and the chronology of the problem forms the central conflict of the story. Social stratification, where social class is strictly defined and enforced, and social mobility is non-existent.

Dystopias share the negative characteristic of being undesirable societies. Described as dangerous and alienating future societies, a fictional dystopia serves to critique then-current actual cultural trends observed by its author. It is a culture where the condition of life suffers from deprivation, oppression, or terror.

Fictional dystopias are commonly urban and frequently isolate their characters from all contact with the natural world. They generally require their characters to avoid nature. The hero's goal is to either escape from or destroy the social order. However, the story is often (but not always) //unresolved //. That is, the narrative may deal with individuals in a dystopian society who are unsatisfied, and may rebel, but ultimately fail to change anything. Sometimes they themselves end up changed to conform to the society's norms. This narrative arc is a sense of hopelessness. It contrasts with much fiction of the future, in which a hero succeeds in resolving conflicts or otherwise changes things for the better.

A dystopia is more than a yarn about a person who acts badly in an otherwise sane world. In a dystopia, everything (from subordinate characters to setting and beyond) focuses on one evil premise. The protagonist is an outcast of this world and usually the only one able to see the problems inherent in it. A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

  You will be assigned a day, starting with Day 2, to bring in an artifact from your own life that you can relate to the texts. If your presentation falls on a day that we are watching V for Vendetta, please bring in an artifact that is representative of that text. Please note, that once an artifact is used, you may not duplicate artifacts later on. This does mean that the later presentations may have a more difficult time, you will just have to be more creative!!!
 * =**__Artifact Presentations__**=

= =  Use this quick survey available online through Google Docs. This survey will determine where you stand technologically speaking. The results will be posted and analyzed in real-time in class.   Technology surrounds us. It consumes us? If you had to estimate how many hours a day, a week, a month you spend on some form of technology, would it surprise or shock you? Please watch the video below and for homework write a 300-500 word response on the discussion page of this wiki.
 * =__Introduction to Technology__=
 * ==What is the role of technology in your everyday life? How dependent (co- or inter-dependent) are you in regards to technology? Could you live without your iPod, cell phone, laptop?==
 * =__Role of Media, Technology and You__=

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