undergraduate RA position in social media and urban ag (spring 2014)

I am looking to hire an undergraduate research assistant (RA) for spring 2014. The RA will work with me on the first stage of research towards the Jesuit Garden Network, an online/offline community of faculty, students, and staff at US Jesuit colleges and universities interested in sustainable agriculture. With the Jesuit Garden Network, faculty, students, and staff will come together to share seeds, skills, and curricula in sustainable agriculture.

Ideal candidates for this RAship will have advanced interests and skills in social media and urban/sustainable agriculture as well as experience with the USF Community Garden. The RA will work approximately 10 hours a week, for 15 weeks, and be paid $10.55 $10.74/hour.

The RA's responsibilities will include:

1. Searching, locating, and identifying people, projects, and programs in organic gardening, urban/sustainable agriculture, and food distribution at all 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the US;

2. Contacting and communicating with faculty, students, and staff (from US Jesuit colleges and universities) who are involved in urban/sustainable agriculture projects and programs;

3. Maintaining a database of all relevant people, projects, and programs (from US Jesuit colleges and universities) in urban/sustainable agriculture; and

4. Coordinating with students and faculty in 2 USF spring 2014 courses – Urban Ag: Spring (ENVA 140) and Community Garden Outreach (ENVA 145) – to create social media about growing, harvesting, preparing, and distributing organic food.

If interested, please send a brief email expressing your interest and qualifications for the job to Professor David Silver (dmsilver [ at ] usfca [ dot ] edu) by Wednesday, December 4, at 5 pm. Decisions will be announced the following week.

a day of comments assignment

for students enrolled in digital media production

1. on tuesday, november 5, refrain from posting original content on all social media sites.

2. comment all you want. comment on your fellow classmates' wordpress blogs, their flickr sets, and their photos on instagram. on twitter, feel free to reply, to retweet, or to favorite. just don't tweet. in other words, spend a day commenting on other people's social media, not creating your own.

3. when the day is done, reflect upon your experiences. type, write, or draw one page worth of reflections upon what it means to use, give, and get social media. bring the page of reflection to class on wednesday.

cool class alert: tapping the apocalypse

this spring, novella carpenter returns to USF to teach two courses, including this exciting new class. spread the word.

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ENVA 390: Special Topics in Urban Agriculture: Tapping the Apocalypse
Mondays, 11:45-3:25
Novella Carpenter

Urban agriculture tends to take hold first in places that can be defined as apocalyptic. These damaged zones, in cities like Oakland or Detroit, have suffered from years of poverty and neglect, and are now hosting some of the most vibrant - and urgent - urban farms. This class will begin with an examination of how agriculture came about in the first place and how industrial agriculture (creating an apocalyptic landscape of its own) came to dominate our food system. The class will then delve into the revival of small-scale farms and urban farms, questioning what forces came to pass that allowed this turning point to occur. We will take field trips to urban farms and meet guest speakers who work on the ground. Students will create a food experiment loosely based around an apocalyptic or catastrophic event. We will also write personal essays based around a turning point in our lives where everything changed, when an old self was destroyed, allowing a new self to germinate.

Novella Carpenter is an urban farmer, freelance journalist, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, and co-author The Essential Urban Farmer.

wordpress assignment

for students enrolled in digital media production

1. sign up for a wordpress blog.

2. read three chapters of Simple WP Guide:

a. Writing Posts
b. Formatting Content
c. Using Images

3. write and publish a post using wordpress. the post should include 2-3 paragraphs of text, at least 1 photograph (one of your own!), and at least 1 hyperlink. hint: don't knock yourself out trying to write the best blog post ever. the key to this assignment is to get up and running in wordpress prior to wednesday's in-class workshop.

4. you are welcome but not required to share your post via twitter. if you do share, be sure to include #dmp13

5. wednesday's workshop will be on wordpress. bring a laptop or tablet to class.

3 photos assignment

for students enrolled in digital media production

1. take 3 photos, make them public, and tweet links to them. be sure to include #dmp13 in your tweet.

2. the 3 photos must include: a) a selfie; b) a shelfie; and c) a view from where you live. one goal of these photos should be to convey something meaningful about yourself to the rest of us.

3. the 3 photos must somehow relate - a similar theme, object, filter, color, whatever. as we discussed in class, if these 3 photos were part of a large photo album, we should be able to easily identify them.

4. your work must be finished, made public, and tweeted by the beginning of class on friday. be ready to demo your work in class. if you do not have work to demo, do not come to class.

tips and advice:

a. follow directions.

b. take way more photos than you end up using.

one more thing:

on wednesday, you will workshop your work in class. bring work - on your phone, camera, sketchpads, journals - so another student can offer you feedback. be ready to share your feedback with others.

twitter assignment

twitter assignment for students enrolled in digital media production:

1. if you have not yet joined twitter, join twitter.

2. create a profile. in either your user name or bio (or both), use your real name.

3. make your profile public. if you already have a twitter account that is private and wish to keep it that way, create a new account for this class.

4. find and follow all members (students and professor) of our class. also follow @GleesonLibrary.

5. by friday's class, post at least one tweet that relates directly or indirectly to digital media production. be sure to include our class hashtag: #dmp13

6. get into the habit of checking twitter at least once a day.

digital media production, fall 2013

MS 320: Digital Media Production
MWF 11:45-12:50 (Section 2)
MWF 1:00-2:05 (Section 1)
Kalmanovitz Hall 211

Professor David Silver
Contact: dmsilver [ at ] usfca [ dot ] edu
Office: Kalmanovitz Hall 141
Office hours: MF 10-11 & by appointment

Digital Media Production is a media studies production course designed around creating, sharing, and collaborating with social media. Using words, photographs, animation, and maps (not to mention links, sets, and hashtags), students will explore and experiment with social media, participatory media, or what we might as well just call contemporary media. Along the way, students will research and participate in an issue, organization, or movement that combines social justice and social media.

Learning Goals:
1. To learn how to use many different social media tools and platforms quickly, independently, creatively, and collaboratively;
2. To dig deeply, through research and participation, into a particular issue, organization, or movement that combines social justice and social media; and
3. To develop, through social media, a unique voice that combines creative expression and engagement with others.

 
Course Texts and Costs: All readings will be made available for free – online, via Gleeson Library, or outside my office. All students are required to make at least one $25 micro-loan, via kiva.org, which will be returned in full.

Calendar: In general, Mondays will be spent discussing readings, Wednesdays will be devoted to workshops and field trips, and Fridays will be guest lectures and Demo Days (class periods when students demo new work). On Fridays, the professor, in collaboration with the students, will decide next week’s topics, readings, workshops, and assignments.

Course Grading:
20% Quizzes and homework
20% Class participation
30% Individual projects
20% Group projects
10% Collaborative content project with students enrolled in Adam Fish’s Viral Video Production course at Lancaster University, UK

Attendance Policy: Missing class, or attending class unprepared, will significantly affect your final grade. If you do miss class, contact a classmate or two to find out what you missed. After doing this, if you have questions about missed material, visit me during office hours.

Course Rules:
1. No late work accepted.
2. If you have no new work on Demo Day, do not come to class.
3. Starting Friday, 8/23, no drinking out of non-reusable containers in class.