Final Exam: Crowdfunding Project

For your final exam, you will produce a crowdfunding presentation (5 to 7 minute presentation) for a project related to your imaginary business. 1. First, Select a Crowdfunding Site that is Suitable for Your Project. Kickstarter.com is currently the most popular, but there are many others, and a lesser-known one may be more suitable for your project. Explain why you selected the specific site you chose. 2. For the rest of your presentation answer the following questions: Define Your Project: Crowdfunding is used for specific projects, so the first step is to define your project: What are you raising money for? How much do you need? What is the timeline for your project? Rewarding Contributors: Will you be paying investors back their investment with interest? Or will you be offering a tangible reward? Will you have a leveled reward system for contributors? Promoting your Project: How will you use social media to promote your project? Bring a copy of the file to class for viewing on Monday, April 28th (Please email me a copy as well). You will have time in class on Monday, April 21 and on the morning of April 28th to prepare and practice your presentations. Presentations will be given in class on the afternoon of April 28th.

Create a Website for your Imaginary Business (For the week of April 14th)

Your assignment this week is to create a home page for your imaginary business on http://sites.google.com. (You can login using your Google account.) Make sure as a minimum that your site has the following: 1.)A catchy name 2.)A nice design 3.)At least one image related to your business taken from any of the following public domain archives: Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons, or Internet Archive 4.)An “About” section on your website where, in 5 paragraphs, you describe the following about your company: 1.) What it does (in general), 2.) The customers it serves, 3.) What makes it unique and differentiates it from the competition, 4) How it can be reached via social media, 5.) A call to action to motivate website visitors to visit one of your social media related sites. Once you have created your site, post the URL as a comment in response to this post. You will use this site to post your final exam project (instructions will be given out in class next week).

Create a Blog Post for your Imaginary Business

For your blog post this week, you will create a blog post for the imaginary business you created for the midterm exam. Include at least one legally-reusable image or video file to make the post more attractive. Sites you can search for files you can legally use include: Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Internet Archive

Ease of Access vs. Privacy and Security

There is no doubt that cloud computing and mobile devices are convenient to use, but they do raise serious questions about privacy and security. Do the benefits of such technology outweigh the downside? Which is more important to you: ease of access, or privacy and security? Write a blog post of at least 250 words giving your response to those questions, and read and respond to at least two classmates' blog entries.

Social Media

What is your experience of social media? What (if any) social media accounts (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) do you have? What do you use it for? In your experience, what are the positive and negative aspects of social media? Write a response of at least 250 words on your blog. Read and respond to at least two of your classmates' blog posts.  

Welcome to ELP 102 Sping I 2014

Each week I will post a "blog question of the week" here for you to answer on your blogs. Your first assignment is to create a Blogger account if you don't already have one, and then create a personal blog for this class. Once you have done that, email me the URL for your blog. Use your personal blog to post the answers to the "blog question of the week." For each question, you must also read at least two classmates' blogs and post a comment on their blog in response. Your first blog question is the one posed by James Burke at the beginning of Connections: “...take a look at the room you’re in, and above all the man-made objects in that room that surround you. The television set, the lights, the phone, and so on. And ask yourself: what do those objects do to your life just because they’re there?” Pick one such object and write a post of at least 200 words answering Burke's question.