Smart Classroom Exercise: The Shallows References
I. Working with a partner for ten minutes, analyze the Wikipedia article that you've been assigned. All the articles relate to the chapter of The Shallows that your TA has chosen for the writing assignment. Pay attention to:
1) Are there any editorial notes at the top about possibly disputed content or problematic features in its tone or use of evidence? Reading the article, why do you think doubts about its appropriateness were raised?
2) How much does the article link to other Wikipedia articles and how much does it link to other kinds of Internet sources?
3) Does it include references to print sources? Does this make the article seem more or less trustworthy? (These sources may be vetted by paid editors, but you can't access them as easily.)
4) Would you consider linking the Wikipedia-style article that you are going to be writing to this one? Why or why not?
II. Everyone will then report back to the group. Even if it isn't your turn, you will want to listen and look actively as you review the range of articles presented. During this class discussion you should ask questions and make comments, so that everyone can succeed with this assignment, which is very different from the academic essays that you might have written in high school.
III. Now, with The Shallows in hand, you will work individually searching and browsing within Wikipedia to try to find at least one other relevant article that could be added to the existing list of articles. You'll be discussing your suggestion with the group.
IV. If time remains your discussion leader will foster brainstorming about how the assignment could be logically organized. Although Wikipedia articles often seem to use a similar template, there is actually a lot of variety in how articles are structured.
2. The Vital Paths
NietzscheÕs typewriter (17-19)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansen_Writing_Ball
FreudÕs study of neural cells (19-20)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Wilhelm_Claus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Wilhelm_von_Br%C3%BCcke
JamesÕ interest in the brainÕs adaptability and his reading of Dumont (21)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Dumont
Early Cartesian models of the mind (22-23)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes
Merzenich (24-26)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Merzenich
Pascual-Leone (31-33)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvaro_Pascual-Leone
3. Tools for the Mind
Cartography (39-40)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography
Measuring Time (41-44)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time#History_of_time_measurement_devices
Darning (44)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darning
Geiger Counter (44)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_counter
Birth Control Pill (44)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_control_pill#History
PlatoÕs Phaedrus (54-55)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_%28dialogue%29
OngÕs Orality and Literacy (57)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ong#Orality_and_Literacy_.281982.29
4. The Deepening Page
Sumerian writing (58-59)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_cuneiform
Papyrus (59-60)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus
St. AugustineÕs Confessions (60-61)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_%28St._Augustine%29
Scriptio continua (61)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptura_continua
Gutenberg (68-69)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg
James Carroll (67)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carroll_%28novelist%29
octavo (70)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavo
7. The JugglerÕs Brain
Torkel Klingberg on working memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory (118)
Unconscious thought theory of Dijksterhuis (119)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_Thought_Theory
EliotÕs Four Quartets (119)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets
JohnsonÕs Everything Bad is Good for You (122-123)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Bad_Is_Good_for_You
George Landow (126)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Landow_(professor)
multitasking (133)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_multitasking
Screen reading research - including ÒF patternÓ (134-136)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reading
Distraction (throughout)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distraction
8. The Church of Google
Taylorism (149-150)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorism
Marissa Mayer (150-151)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer
A/B Testing (151)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/B_testing
PostmanÕs Technopoly (151-152)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technopoly
Google Books (161-165)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Books
Memex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex
TuringÕs ÒComputing Machinery and IntelligenceÓ (174)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_Machinery_and_Intelligence
9. Search, Memory
commonplace books (179)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
Clive Thompson (180)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Thompson_(journalist)
David Brooks (180)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brooks_(journalist)
Don Tapscott (181)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Tapscott
Mnemosyne (181)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne
Aplysia genus of sea slugs (184-185)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia
hippocampus (188-189)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus
David Foster Wallace (195)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace
10. A Thing Like Me
ELIZA (201-204)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
computational linguistics (202)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_linguistics
ShawÕs Pygmalion (202-203)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(play)
Noam Chomsky (202)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky
John Culkin (210)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Culkin
McLuhanÕs Understanding Media (210-211)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media
Martin Heidegger (222)