During our first class, I believe I told you that this class was going to be like one of those travel-Europe-in-a-week structured tours, except the continent in this case was digital rhetorics.  The digital text presentations were pretty much proof of this.  They were diverse, and engaging, and exciting samples of what the digital world has to offer, and you were all outstanding tour guides.

The presentation technology was awkward, but we still like the intimate conference room better than the vaultlike SINC.  As one of you put it, “this room is home.”  Learning to deal with challenging technology is the mark of an educational expert these days, and you are pros, or well on your way. (To paraphrase Michael’s presentation, it’s our very own Dark Souls challenge.) In related news,  I think I may have found a suitable space for our final presentations!  And someday not to far off in the future, we may be able to design a 21st-century seminar room that works on several levels.  But enough of that.

What I came away with is that you all have so much to contribute to the realm of digital literacy, no matter what your current major or interest or career path.

We had Allison’s eye-opening critique of a Common Core literature text with a digital interface, complete with real student feedback; Scott’s analysis of a virtual memorial on Facebook; Ryn’s queer reading of Sherlock’s Irene Adler episode and Nicole’s discussion of embodiment and cyborg theory related to the same; Deborah’s analysis of two different music websites and observations of engagement and interactivity therein; Mària’s rhetorical visual and auditory analysis of Tim Blais’ music video on string theory, “Bohemian Gravity” (which I have since been insufferably running around showing everyone, including all the Writing faculty and TLT director Chuck Powell); Michael’s argument about how a difficult game like Dark Souls could be used as a model for challenging middle-school students facing difficult Common Core curriculum; Bryan’s courageous descent into Grand Theft Auto V and analysis of how the game implicitly teaches social stratification; Anne’s analysis of the Google Poetics blog, which demostrates a literal evolution of William Carlos Williams’ statement that “A poem is a machine made of words;” Aneela’s analysis of a preservice teaching blog and examination of the concerns of preservice teachers about online public presentation as they enter the competitive job market; and Libby’s analysis of a virtual music idol from Japan, Aimi Eguchi, within a framework of cyborg and remediation theories.

As we move forward into the second half of the semester, I hope that we can all benefit from considering, along with which of these areas we may want to deepen for the final project, how our own networks and associates with other can be informed by the kind of work you have done here.