Put yourself imaginatively in the year 2050 (a “near future” far enough ahead to get you beyond today’s trends, but not so far as to inspire pure utopian or dystopian science fiction). Write an essay that draws on what you have learned about the prehistorical or historical development of media, computing, and the Internet, and also on what you know about the contemporary state of these technologies, to give a prediction about computing and digital media / communication / information in 2050.
Your essay can be written either in a descriiptive/analytical mode (e.g., “In the year 2050, people will…”) or in a “fictional” or POV (1st or 3rd-person “point of view”) mode (e.g., “Jane woke up early and checked her I’m-smarter-than-you phone…”). Your essay will be graded based on a combination of the following criteria:
Whether you draw on features/trends of the past and present of media, computing, and digital communication/information you have read about in the course to help shape your prophecy. (If you do not refer to such evidence or reading materials in your explicit argument, add notes and links for the purpose).
The quality of your insight or vision.
Cohesiveness and effectiveness of your argument (including organizational cohesiveness).
Writing quality.
And appropriate (but not over-the-top) “bells and whistles” (e.g., links, images, example audio or video files, and any other material useful in exemplifying your thesis).
