schedule: https://doodle.com/poll/zih8ixuru6akw3kp

*In this assignment we are using “Content” as a catch all word for art, design, online media, technology, and/or any other creative source of inspiration you encounter in the world.

This assignment exists to encourage you to consider the content* you encounter outside of this class with a newfound critical and curatorial agenda that can be used to inform your own creative practice.

While you are taking this class you are not a passive consumer of content in your day to day life, you are actively training your creative eye. You are an anthropologist, a spy, a critic, and an archivist. You are on a mission to find unexpected depth in the content around you, to figure out what it means and you can learn from it, and then to report back to us about it.

You are encouraged to go to museums, attend lectures, watch films, and get deep into online rabbit-holes in pursuit of your research. Start bringing your notebook around with you everywhere and use it as a way of taking notes, documenting your research, and fleshing out your ideas.

There will be one day a month dedicated to sharing these reports in class, so you will be spit into four groups, each going on a different content report day. When its your day to go, you will present your findings in the form of a post on the class blog. Schedule TBD for now but look out for an email about it this week.

MORE DETAILS

• Each of you will create one “Content Report” to present to the class. Think book report but for a topic in a media/genre of your choosing.
• I will send an email with your date/time slot before 9/15. If you need to reschedule your time slot for whatever reason let me know in advance via email or discord.
• These reports will take the form of a multi media blog-post-deep-dive into a specific trope or trend or topic that you have identified in the media/design/art you encounter. You will build your report as a post on the class blog using the “content report” category.
• You will share these reports with your classmates as a presentation and engage with them in a discussion about the topics you put forward.
• Fresh takes only! The opinions, synthesis, and topics in your report need to reflect original research YOU have done. Its fine to pull quotes, examples, images, and references from other places as part of your research, but the overall perspective on the topic you choose needs to come from you.
• Treat this blog post the way you would a slide show presentation, or a medium.com article. Do research. Get into it. Fill your blog post with annotated text and media to describe the topic to us and give us your read on it, and why you find it relevant or inspiring. Feel free to get creative with the formatting if you would like to.
• There should be enough in the post to support a 8-10 minute presentation. Please practice in advance.
  
• Some questions you might answer in this post:
  Where did you first see this content?
  Where did it start?
  What other cultural elements does this content reference?
  Who is the primary audience for this content?
  Who are the creators?
  What kind of technology does this content use?
  How does the technology work?
  What is the relationship between the capture technology and the platform?
  How is this trend an indicator of larger cultural issues, or movements?
  What does this trend say about our current moment in time?
  Where do you think this trend is headed?
  What is the history of the technology they are using?
  Where did you first see this kind of content?
  Why is it inspiring to you? Why do you hate it? love it? think it’s destroying the world?
  Where did it start?
  What is the relationship between the creators and the audience?
  What does this content say about our current moment in time?
  What does this content make you think about? make you feel?
  Where do you think this trend is headed?
  What is the history of the tools they are using?
  What do you want to remix from this content? Borrow from this content? Critique in this content?
  How does your background impact how you engage with this content?
  

SOME EXAMPLES AND INSPIRATION

Here are some great examples of deep dives into online content you can use for inspiration. Please look at these:

http://www.flong.com/archive/texts/lists/slit_scan/index.html

https://youtube.com/watch?v=b1tfKEVBcdY%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26wmode%3Dtransparent

https://player.vimeo.com/video/237568588?h=6c99fe61b7&dnt=1&app_id=122963

Need some help getting started? Check out previous students content report: https://experimentalcaptureandrelease.wordpress.com/category/content-report. (Note these were specially about tech, yours don’t have to be)