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Fall 2023 - MACS265: Innovation Illinois

Assignment 11: Reading Response and Interviews

Part 1: Reading Response
Read and review the assigned readings on PLATO this week. Consider Valerie Lamont's description of PLATO as a system "developed primarily as an educational device. However, the expansion of the PLATO system and the probable widespread distribution of similar equipment over the next few decades suggests that we are discussing not simply an educational device but a new type of mass communications system which offers the possibility of two-way communication among various interest groups. Such a system would seem to suggest a number of uses beyond normal classroom activities.... [including' the involvement of a larger number of people in considering community goals." (Lamont, 1971, 7). Using the 4 assigned readings, select/list at least 5 different applications or design features of PLATO that evidence how it had "widespread distribution... [signaling] a new type of mass communications system" in and outside of educational applications.

Consider how the readings frame PLATO's role in "distance learning" innovations. What differences (in user experience, affordances in design, incentives for use, etc.) do you infer between PLATO and education-oriented user experiences today on online platforms/frameworks such as Coursera, Khan Academy, Youtube, etc)? Aim to mention 2 or 3 factors/features.

Part 2: Interviews & Transcripts (a 2-week task, due by 11/13)

Here's the Interview Outreach Template.
Here's the Interview Consent Form and the Interview Consent Form Tip Sheet.
Here's a Guide for how to Record/Transcribe Video in Zoom (make sure you read well ahead of your interview).

Over the next two weeks your task is to:

Set up an interview with a relevant contact for your research project.
Send your interviewee the Interview Consent Form discussed in class and get the signed/completed version returned to you before you ask your interviewee any questions.
- Email the consent form to your interviewee in advance of the interview.
- Ask them to type in their name in a different color at the end of the Consent Form as their signature. They will then return the consent form back to you via email and note in the email that they consent to the interview and for it to be recorded. Keep this copy of the consent form and email for your records.
- Conduct the interview.
Transcribe the best 4 minutes of your interview (can be various 30 second segments, one stretch, whatever will serve you best).
- Make selections and edit your transcript to a one-page version (but keep the original for your records)
- Write up a 1 paragraph introduction for your interview that will contextualize your selected transcript for the reader
- Highlight 2 quotes from the interview that feel most important. How can you begin to use this as data and put it in conversation with other information (Survey results, Archive findings, Secondary Sources) for your final paper?

Copy your Part 1: Reading Response to your Scalar site's Assignment Page and send us (MACS265TeachingTeam@gmail.com) the link by NOON Monday 11/6. [Note: Part 2 isn't due until NOON 11/13.] Have fun with your interviews!