Sarah Welsh

What does “celebrity” mean after Twitter and Instagram? How do you get attention when there’s so much noise, and similarly, how do you make people forget something you’ve said online when you want them to? In this course, we’ll talk about internet celebrity and digital personas, and examine questions about virality, privacy, and managing your own ethos. In so doing, we’ll think about how we build identities online, how we direct (and redirect) attention, and why we trust these platforms in the first place.

In the first unit, we’ll look at how celebrity is curated on the internet and what methods are used to stay in the spotlight. In the second unit, we’ll look at what happens when celebrity goes wrong and how reputations are ruined. Finally, we’ll consider how those reputations can be reclaimed and managed, even when it comes to our own personal and professional goals. While each unit has a multimedia assignment, no prior facility with technology is required: some classes will be devoted to workshops that will help build these skills.

Required Texts

• A course packet on Canvas will include selections from the following texts:
• Abidin, Crystal. Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018.
• Hennessy, Brittany. Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media. Citadel Press, 2018.
• Marwick, Alice E. Status update: Celebrity, publicity, and branding in the social media age. Yale University Press, 2013.
• Rettberg, Jill. Seeing Ourselves Through Technology. Palgrave Pivot, 2014 

Assignments and Grading

• Project 1 | Writing a digital history of fame—webtext/essay (20%)
• Project 2 | Analysis of a social media disaster—video (20%)
• Project 3 | Personal branding project—website or social media rehab (20%)
• Reading Responses (30%)
• Participation and Attendance (10%)

What does “celebrity” mean after Twitter and Instagram? How do you get attention when there’s so much noise, and similarly, how do you make people forget something you’ve said online when you want them to? In this course, we’ll talk about internet celebrity and digital personas, and examine questions about virality, privacy, and managing your own ethos. In so doing, we’ll think about how we build identities online, how we direct (and redirect) attention, and why we trust these platforms in the first place.

In the first unit, we’ll look at how celebrity is curated on the internet and what methods are used to stay in the spotlight. In the second unit, we’ll look at what happens when celebrity goes wrong and how reputations are ruined. Finally, we’ll consider how those reputations can be reclaimed and managed, even when it comes to our own personal and professional goals. While each unit has a multimedia assignment, no prior facility with technology is required: some classes will be devoted to workshops that will help build these skills.

Required Texts

• A course packet on Canvas will include selections from the following texts:
• Abidin, Crystal. Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018.
• Hennessy, Brittany. Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media. Citadel Press, 2018.
• Marwick, Alice E. Status update: Celebrity, publicity, and branding in the social media age. Yale University Press, 2013.
• Rettberg, Jill. Seeing Ourselves Through Technology. Palgrave Pivot, 2014 

Assignments and Grading

• Project 1 | Writing a digital history of fame—webtext/essay (20%)
• Project 2 | Analysis of a social media disaster—video (20%)
• Project 3 | Personal branding project—website or social media rehab (20%)
• Reading Responses (30%)
• Participation and Attendance (10%)

Our basic idea is that the media industry is in rapid transition and that people still have enduring human needs. They want to be informed, they want to be entertained, they want to be inspired…”

 – Jonah Peretti, CEO, Buzzfeed

Magazines, newspapers, books, and other traditionally print-based writing forms have been forced to undergo serious changes. Not only has this involved the development of effective digital formats, but publishers have also had to figure out how to generate revenue for a product that readers aren't interested in paying for. Born-digital venues are constantly challenging print-based media to find ways to stay relevant online and to make money in a world where technology is in constant flux. This also poses a unique challenge for writers, who must make themselves heard in what seems like an endless sea of voices vying for attention. So what writers and venues are succeeding and why? Furthermore, does “success” now simply imply writing that generates the most likes, views, and shares?

We will start our investigation by looking at journalism just before the dawn of the internet, and will move into an examination of writing in digital spaces. We will speculate together as to how and why writing practices have changed for a digital audience. In so doing, we will build a greater awareness of the ways digital spaces shape our writing practices. 

Assignments/ Assessment:

• Blog post responses on class website, 5%
• Short Paper 1: Rhetorical analysis of an archival piece of journalism, 10%
• Paper 1: Comparative paper, 10%
• Short Paper 2: Analysis of a born-digital platform, 10%
• Paper 2: Audience Analysis, 20%
• Short Paper 3: Pitch, 20%
• Paper 3: Longer Pitch (Optional creative component) 20%
• Final Presentation: 5%

Required Texts: 

• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2007.
• A course packet will be available on Canvas. Some journalists and writers featured will include: Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion, Nathan Heller, Adrian Chen, and Lindy West. 

Multiple meeting times and sections. Please consult the Course Schedule for unique numbers.

This does NOT meet the Writing Flag requirement.

This composition course provides instruction in the gathering and evaluation of information and its presentation in well-organized expository prose. Students ordinarily write and revise four papers. The course includes instruction in invention, arrangement, logic, style, revision, and strategies of research.

Course centered around the First-Year Forum (FYF) selected readings. Students focus on the foundational knowledge and skills needed for college writing. In addition, they are introduced to basic rhetoric terms and learn to rhetorically analyze positions within controversies surrounding the FYF readings.

RHE 306 is required of all UT students. Contact the Measurement and Evaluation Center, 2616 Wichita (471-3032) to petition for RHE 306 credit.