CIE100: Common Intellectual Experience - McLuhan Writing Prompt (10 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:

1. To reflect upon the course texts in preparation for thoughtful discussion
2. To organize thoughts into a concise and cohesive response to a targeted question
3. To consider multiple viewpoints about ideas

The Assignment

In this writing prompt, you will consider the questions below and respond in marginalia form, equivalent in length to a 1-2 paragraph response. Choose two short passages from the reading and write rich marginal annotations for each: an observation, a question, and a connection, quoting the passage you are annotating. Then distill your reading into one aphorism of your own, and add one counterargument note, supported by a quote, against your own aphorism. Submit your annotations and aphorism through Canvas before the start of class.

UDL choice: this genre is the default for this reading, but you may swap in any of the five response genres (analytic, letter, dialogue, marginalia+aphorism, or the Four A’s) as long as the quote and counterargument requirements are met.

Struggling with the reading itself? See the guide: How to Read Hard Texts in CIE.

Writing Prompt

1. McLuhan claims that the medium is the message: that the form of a medium shapes us more deeply than any content it carries, and that the content distracts us from noticing. Restate this claim in your own words with a quotation, and discuss the strongest objection you can think of to it.

2. Pick one medium you use daily and analyze its message apart from any content: what does it train your attention, your body, your sense of time, and your relationships to do? Where would a conversational AI fit in McLuhan’s framework, and what might its message be, independent of anything it says?

Submission

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