English 3370: Digital Ethics and Public Advocacy

Prof. Aaron McKain

Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs: 1:00-4:00
Office: GLC 115 CW
Office hours: Tues/Thur 4:00-5:00, or by appointment
Phone: Dont use it.
Email: amckain01@hamline.edu

Course Description:
The most characteristic concern of rhetoric [is] the manipulation of men's beliefs for political ends...
the basic function of rhetoric [is] the use of words by human agents to form
attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.
- Kenneth Burke

So what is professional writing?

That seems like a good place to start this course. To begin, theres all the stuff that professional
writing obviously is: All the memos and letters and white papers that constitute that part of the
world we call work and which countless textbooks and community college courses are happy to
teach you to write. But professional writing means more than that. Writing, after all, is about
rhetoric and rhetoric, after all, is about judgment and power. And, from the perspective of
judgment and power, professional writing is the study of the systems of discourses (an English
majors two-dollar word for words) that create our jobs, that keep us working, and that create
the economic relationships we have with each other and with the world.
If thats the lofty, liberal-artsy statement of purpose for this course, the brass-tacks version goes
something like this: It doesnt matter how smart you are, or how hard you work. If you cant sell
yourself, and see how others rhetorically are trying to sell you, you are not going to get very
far. And so, in addition to juggling larger questions about professional communication in the
early 21st century -- What are the ethics of professional communication? How has digital media
changed professional communication? How do we judge and evaluate professional
communication? we will be learning how to excel in common genres of professional
communication.

Texts:
-

Lori Andrews, I Know Who You Are And I Saw What You Did
Big Data: A Revolution

Various materials on Blackboard, or otherwise online as indicated.

The instructor reserves the right to assign one more item that needs to be purchased. (So set
aside about $20.)

Course Requirements and Evaluation:

Given that this is a professional writing course, we are going to operate on, and you are going
to be evaluated on, a model that best resembles actual professional writing environments.
Final drafts will be expected to be perfect, or as perfect as possible. This is going to require
lots of drafts, and, just like in professional writing environments, you are going to be working
actually working -- with co-workers on these drafts before and after they are submitted to
me. It also means, just like a real job, that we dont know what is going to happen tomorrow,
let alone next week. You are expected just like any employee (or college student circa
1995) to keep track of a complex array of assignments and deadlines, and to attend class
every day.
Here is a breakdown of the carrots and sticks:

Grade breakdown:

Participation: 15%
The success of this course (and your grade) depends on reading all of the assigned
materials carefully, completing in-class and pre-class writing, participating in effective
and timely peer review, and coming to class prepared to enter the discussion.
o I strongly suggest arriving each day with (at least!) one thoughtfully crafted
observation about the readings.
o

You also must come to class with a printed outand marked upcopy of the
reading.

If you have difficulty speaking in front of people, or are particularly concerned

about this requirement, it is essential that you come speak to me as soon as
possible.

If you expect an A in participation, you should be contributing almost every day.

Quizzes: 15%
There will be reading quizzes, more or less randomly distributed through the term.

The remaining elements of the course will be assesed and assigned

depending on which of two tracks you decide to pursuse:
Intro to Professional Writing and Rhetoic
or
Advanaced Topics in Rhetorical Theory and Data Ethics.

Intro to Professional Writing and Rhetoric

o Assignmnet One: Cover Leter

20%

Assigmmet Two: Memo Hypothetical

30%

10% of the grade will be the outline (which will have

multiple components).
o

Assigment Three: PR proposal

20%

Advanced Topics in Rhtorical Theory and Data Ethics

o

Class voted on this on 1.21.15

Assigment 1: A research component, with some sort of class/public

presenation of research

This replaces the cover letter

20%

Assignmnt 2: Some sort of written/composed analysis and argument for a

theory of data, privacy, or professinoal communication ethics.

This replaces the memo hypothetical

(though it may be a memo)

30%

***Note: There will be multiple components to all assignments, all of which

must be completed for a grade. No exceptions.

Annotations on Tumbr

10%1

10%2

Average of Assignment 1 and 2

No peer review letters for Assignment 23

***Note: Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in all class events. We are picking
tracks simply to keep he graded work products manageable and fair.
Other Policies:
Attendance is critical to your participation grade and the success of the class. Given the
already tight schedule of the J-Term, any absence after your first will drop your final
grade by a full letter. No exceptions.
Late work is simply not acceptable in a professional writing class, as it inconveniences
your colleagues and denies them a full opportunity to participate. Any assignment due to
a colleague i.e., a draft that is late will result in a failing grade. My inconvenience is
a bit cheaper, however, so any assignment due to me (i.e., a final assignment) will only
cost you a full letter grade per day. No exceptions.
Electronic rudeness. Any in-class use of laptops, phones, pads, or other gadgetry that does not
directly pertain to our class will result in an F for your course not class -- participation
grade.
Tardiness is disruptive to the classroom environment, and prevents you from fully participating
and assimilating the information and materials discussed in class. Excessive tardiness
will lower your participation grade.
Plagiarism is the unauthorized use of the words or ideas of another person. If you get
caught, you will have to deal with whoever it is at Hamline that deals with such things.
This person will also likely laugh and snicker at you behind your back, since being
caught plagiarizing in a class about ethics and writing will make you look colossally
stupid.
The Writing Center is there for a reason. Use it.

Daily Schedule:
1

Negotiated and assigned in class 1/26/15

Negotiated and assigned in class 1/26/15
3
Negotiated and assigned in class 1/26/15
2

1/5

Day 1: What is Professional Communication? What is Rhetoric? What is Ethos?

Unit 1: Ethos: The Public Performance of Self (and the Crisis of Privacy)
1/6

Day 2: How Do We Articulate What We Are Losing in Terms of Privacy and Ethos?
Andrews, I Know Who You Are
(Read chapters 1-4 and The Social Network Constitution." Then read either 6, 8, 9, 13.
No need to memorize every word. Just figure out the main arguments and take notes on
the most striking examples)

1/7

Day 3: How Can We Re-Think The Problem of Privacy and Ethos?

Bring the Andrews book back to class.
Reading strategy:
The Foucault is kinda hard. It will take some time. Give yourself time to figure him
out. There will be a quiz. It will count double. If you read, you will do fine.
Foucault, Means of Correct Training (.pdf on Blackboard).
Unless youve already taken my class, in which case: Foucault, Truth and
Power, also .pdf on Blackboard). {though, honestly, reading both wouldnt kill
you, and might make him easier.)
Belk, Extended Self in a Digital World
Follow the link: http://www.dies.uniud.it/tl_files/utenti/crisci/Belk%202013a.pdf
o Print this out. Read it. Ive never read it. Think about what the main
argument is and why you believe (or dont believe) Belk.
Booths implied author

http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/Implied-Author.htm

If you have taken a prior class with me, or want to learn more, read
Booths Resurrection of the Implied Author on Blackboard.

***Dont worry about the Tumblr thing for now. (You have enough to read.) But be
prepared to answer the following questions: Thinking about either an aspect about your
digital life (including texts, emails, browser history, social networking, Netflix, etc.) that
you really like OR an aspect that you know you dont like and note: You will not be
expected to share either of these involuntarily which theory of ethos (Foucaults ideas
about power, Booths implied author, Belks xx or thinking about yourself as a
brand) do you think offers you the best options in terms of character and community
standards of judgment? Why?
Also, how does narrative storytelling play a role in all of this? For instance:
http://jpgtf58625885.wordpress.com/ ?
1/8

Day 4: Ethos and Privacy (Conclusion)

Bring back in Andrews and Foucault.
Read Belk if you did not read it for 1/7. It will be on the quiz.

Bring in it will count as a quiz grade a list (in any form, design, medium, etc.) of your
personal, professional and educational accomplishments and/or life goals.
Recommended: Start reading Big Data: A Revolution (chapters 1-4, plus 8) which will
be due on Monday (along with other things that will be assigned in class on 1/8).

Unit 2: Logos: Common Sense, Judgmnet, and Big Data

1/12

The Rhetoric of Big Data

Big Data: A Revolution (chapters 1-4, plus 8)

1/13

What is the Logic of Big Data:

Correlation versus Causality, Narratives versus Numbers
Big Data: A Revolution (chapters 1-4, plus 8)
Edwin Black, IBM and the Holocast in Nazi Nexus (.pdf on Blackboard)4
Intro Class stays the whole period. Theory class is free to leave at halftime.
***Assign Job Letter
***Assign each student their number.

1/14

The Commodification of Knowledge

[Intro to Rhetoric group is not required to meet]

Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition (.pdf on Blackboard)

1/15

For today, we have Jean-Francois Lyotards The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.
30 years ago, he seemed sorta like a lunatic. (And Im not convinced everyone teaching him quite
understood what he was getting at.) Today, it kinda looks like maybe his version of the world
turned out to be true. His concerns are about the information economy and how it displaces
narrative knowledge in favor of scientific knowledge. Dont get hung up on his precise
terminology; rather, keep an eye on the big distinctions he makes and ask yourself whether his
view of knowledge seems scary or useful in 2013? Are we already inhabiting Lyotards world
(and is that the problem)? Or does he still have things to teach us?

Peer Review of Job Letters

[Advanced Theory Group IS NOT required to meet.]

****Job letters due, via Blackboard, by 4 p.m. on 1/14/15. Only sign with your number.
***For quiz credit, you must turn in marked up copies of all of your assigned letters.
Group A: 1:00-2:15
Travis H
Andrea
MacKENZIE
MAROLYN
GRETCHEN
4

***Note: if you are skeptical about Blacks sources, go to his homepage to learn about his historical
methodology. Or check out his full length book on IBM and the Third Reich

Group B: 2:20-3:35
Sam
Brittany B
Tyler D
Megan Gjere
Jalen
Group C: 3:40-4:55
Brittany J
Jimmy
Karel
Rachel
Brittney W.
1/19

MLK Day, no class

***Note: Assignments will be in process (and potentially due) over the break.

1/20

The Ethics of Knowledge

Theory Group: Public presentations of Lyotard are due by class time. Make sure that
they are converted into a digital format. Please post them to our Blackboard Discussion
page (under Lyotard project) and email yourself a copy/bring a copy to class to present.
Intro to Rhet Group: Job Letters are due to McKain via email and hard copy by the
start of class.
Everyone: Make sure you have read Edwin Blacks IBM and the Holocaust.
Intro to Rhet Group: Peer Review and Second Draft Assignment:
o

By noon on Saturday, upload a second draft of your job letter to Blackboard.

(Under discussions, second draft.) Sign it, and your post, with your name.
(The anonymity thing is already dead.)

By 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, please upload (to Blackboard) your peer review of
ONE colleagues Second Draft job letter. How do you figure out who to review?
Look at the list below and figure out what Group you are in. (A, B, or C.) Then
review the person IN YOUR GROUP whose name is below yours. (Or, if you
are at the bottom, the person at the top.)

Your peer review can take any form, but you must be able to upload it to
Blackboard for the other person to see. Peer reviews are graded as
follows:
If you do it competently and professionally, nothing happens.
If you do it exceedingly well, your final grade on your Job Letter
is raised by 1/3 of a grade.
If you do a really shitty job, and dont take it seriously and/or
dont communicate any meaningful information to your

colleague, your final grade for the Job Letter is reduced by 1/3 of
a grade.

***Note: in previous classes, I assigned a chapter from my

textbook on how to write peer review letters. I will post this in
Blackboard (Commonplace, Chapter 4) but it is NOT required.
In other words: Your safest bet is to write your colleague a letter.
But if you have a better idea, Im game.
o Exemplary Peer Review letters will be posted in
Blackboard under Content.

My notes/highlighting from the group peer review session on

1/15 are uploaded to Blackboard content under Group peer
review session.

Group A:
Travis H
Andrea
MacKENZIE
MAROLYN
GRETCHEN
Group B:
Sam
Brittany B
Tyler D
Megan Gjere
Jalen
Group C:
Brittany J (a.k.a Cross Country)
Jimmy
Karel
Rachel
Brittney W.
Unit 3: Memos and How to Make Arguments About Professional Communication Ethics
1/21 Data Ethics (final day) / Intro to Making Arguments
Please refer to the document (under Syllabus on Blackboard) called Homework on
Data Ethics)
1/22 Review Argument Outlines / Memos
****Argument outlines due by class time. See the Memo Assignment prompt on
Blackboard (on the Syllabus page)
Then, take a look at some of the information on Briefing Memos:

Look over Purdue OWLs advice on the format for memos:

o http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/02/

Then look at Sample Memo on Blackboard

***Memo drafts due to McKain, via Blackboard, by 10 a.m. on Sunday. Drafts will be returned
by class time on 1/26. Drafts turned in earlier than Sunday will be reviewed in the order they are
received.***
1/26

PR Assignment / In Class Workshop on Letters and Memos

1/27

Job Letters / In Class Workshop

1/28

Small Group Peer Review of Memos

Schedule and Groups posted on Blackboard.
No regular class. We will meet in your small groups. In addition to posting your
memo on Blackboard (at the designated time for your group), be sure to bring 2 examples
of Tumblr annotations.

1/29

In class workshop
Attendance is required.

***All projects due Monday, Feb 2 at noon, via Blackboard and STAPLED HARD COPIES
(delivered to McKains mailbox or under his office door, GLC 123W.)***