Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Queen's University/SOCY 362 Cultural Studies for Sociology (Winter)

SOCY 362: Cultural Studies WINTER Wednesdays 4:00–5:30, Fridays 2:30–4:00 Botterell B139 Instructor: Dr. Sharday Mosurinjohn Office: Theological Hall 230 Office Hour: Friday 1:30-2:30 Email: sm110@undefinedqueensu.ca (please put the course code SOCY 362 in the email subject line) OnQ: Access through Solus (use your queensu net ID to log in)

Teaching Assistants:

Steven Richardson 14sr1@undefinedqueensu.ca (Working Groups 1-6 please put the course code SOCY 362 in the email subject line)

Derya Gungor 13dg9@undefinedqueensu.ca (Working Groups 7-12 please put the course code SOCY 362 in the email subject line)

Course Description: Cultural studies is a many-splendored thing; it may not have any easy definition, but it certainly has its histories and its animating currents. Nor is its relation to sociology completely clear, though Janet Wolff (1998) has claimed that “cultural studies at its best is sociological.” We will consider this relationship as we focus on empirical studies and sociological perspectives that have emerged as emphases in cultural studies, including new historicism, the new art history, post-colonial and feminist approaches to literature and culture.

In compiling the materials in our reading list I have tried to think not in terms of covering all the obligatory issues or writers or identity politics, but rather in terms of the conditions in which a range of subject positions and social and cultural problematics have emerged. It attempts to give attention to seminal works from the twin origin points of the field of cultural studies in the mid-20th century Birmingham and Frankfurt schools, as well as to specifically Canadian perspectives on the field, and to a range of contemporary writers situated in diasporic and postcolonial conditions around the world. Lectures will engage these readings through a case study approach to guide our in-class discussions. We will also watch and listen to a selection of topical videos and podcasts in class. As noted below, additional news items or podcasts related to our (often emerging) cases may be added to OnQ throughout the semester.

Learning Outcomes:

Through this course you will learn to:

-Locate the emergence of cultural studies as an interdisciplinary field in the various contexts in which it has been, and continues to be, constituted; -Recognize some of its hallmark commitments (eg. to social justice) and identify some of the core concepts that it uses for cultural critique; -Explain the relationship of its earlier projects to the concerns guiding the social justice aims of cultural studies today; -Apply these concepts as you practice writing with cultural studies methodologies (ie. using sources from multiple disciplines with a coherent discursive strategy)

Wikipedia:

This course is supported by the WikiEdu Foundation and we will be partnering with them to add scholarly rigor to course-relevant articles. We will discuss issues surrounding the reliability, purpose, and methodology of Wikipedia itself, as well as what writing for a “tertiary” or encyclopedic resource entails. We will discuss how to select an appropriate article and I’ll teach you the nuts and bolts of actually editing Wikipedia yourself.

Complete online training ~1 hr 5% (By Week 7)

Critique an Article (5%) (Any Time Throughout Weeks 7-13)

and either Add 2 Sentences or Add an Illustration (5%) (Any Time Throughout Weeks 7-13)

post a link to your contributions 3% (Any Time Throughout Weeks 7-13)

Critique an Article: Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article’s talk page.

Add to an Article: Using course readings or other relevant secondary sources, add 2 sentences of new information to a Wikipedia article related to the class. Be sure to choose your contribution carefully: ask yourself how this information improves the article’s coverage, depth, balance, etc.. Integrate it well into the existing article, and include a citation to the source.

Illustrate an Article: Find an opportunity to improve an article by uploading and adding a photo your took or a drawing you made.

Week 1

 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

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Handout: Editing Wikipedia

Week 7
you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Complete the online training for students. During this training,


 * Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.
 * Evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
 * A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):


 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

Resources: Evaluating Wikipedia, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_talk_pages.pdf Using Talk Pages ]


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.


 * Identify an article that would benefit from illustration, create or find an appropriate photo, illustration, or audio/video, and add it to the article.


 * All media uploaded to Wikipedia must fall under a &quot;free license,&quot; which means they can be used or shared by anyone. Examples of media you can use are photos that you take yourself, images and text in the public domain, and works created by someone else who has given permission for their work to be used by others. For more information about which types of media can be uploaded to Wikipedia, see Commons:Help desk.
 * To add a media file to an article, you must first upload it to Wikimedia Commons. For instructions on how to upload files to Commons, refer to Illustrating Wikipedia. This brochure will also provide you with detailed information about which files are acceptable to upload to Wikipedia and the value of contributing media to Wikipedia articles.