Oklahom State University
AMST3423: American Popular Culture

Popular Culture Web Projects (Home)

Rationale: Popular culture is not truly popular unless “people” take an active role in creating the meanings and values derived from cultural objects and practices. This exercise is designed to make you active producers of cultural meaning. It will give you both an opportunity to show your creativity and a set of skills (collaboration, critical thinking, research, and web design) you can trumpet on the job market.

Instructions | Criteria for Grading | Due Dates

Instructions: With your designated partner, you will build a website that illustrates some facet of the history, socio-cultural organization (what people or institutions are responsible for shaping the culture and how), and social effects of contemporary forms of popular culture. David Nasaw’s book Going Out will be our model for this investigation. It details the history of various early popular cultural forms of amusement, tells us something about the men and women who shaped these amusements (the “show businessmen,” for example), and describes the effects of these amusements on peoples’ sense of themselves and their communities (that popular amusements helped immigrants become “Americanized,” for example). Steps to follow include:

1. Define a topic. You may focus on a particular practice (dancing, podcasting, eating, etc.), medium (TV, Film, the Internet, Radio, etc.), "fad" (Atkins dieting, mood jewelry, the Macarena, etc.), trend (SUV ownership, consumption of fast food, etc.) or critical term (ideology, semiotics, race, sex, class, etc.) related to the study of popular culture.
2. Conduct research into the history, socio-cultural organization, and effects of your chosen topic. How, for example, did the trend of “supersizing” come about in the fast food industry? Who/what is responsible for this trend, and what effects has it had on people’s lifestyles or senses of identity? You will need to cite a minimum of three outside research sources for this project (i.e. sources not used in this class). Of these minimum sources, only 1 can be a website. To be clear, you may use more than three sources if you wish, and you may use class texts if you wish, but you may not count class texts toward this minimum. Also, you may use more than one web-based source as long as you have at least two print or other non-web-based sources.
3. Strategize about how best to organize your data to convey information easily to potential viewers of your website. Consider issues of design (what makes a good/bad website, what sort of navigation (buttons and links) is easiest to use, what background and text colors are easy on the eyes, how many pictures or other non-text items (sound, movies, etc.) should be used, etc.) as well as issues of content (how can we make people who are unfamiliar with our topic understand it best? How much information should we include or exclude? How can we use images, movies and sounds, to illustrate our argument? etc.).
4. Create a website with the following minimum content (you are free to exceed all minimums):
   
   • 3 web pages, one of which MUST be a Bibliography page listing the works you cited directly in your web content. Sources should be cited in MLA bibliographic style and listed alphabetically. If you wish to add a list of additional works on the subject (a “for more information” section), you may, but this is not required.
   • At least 1,000 words of text on the two (or more) pages that are NOT your bibliography page (i.e. the bibliography does NOT count toward this total). 1,000 words is approximately 4 pages of typed, double-spaced writing.
   • At least one image, movie, or sound file appropriate to the topic. Ideally, this material will not simply “illustrate” the argument, but get viewers to think critically about the topic (ask viewers questions about the images, for example, or offer a critical analysis of an image/movie clip/song as part of your written content).
   • Appropriate internal links connecting the 3 (or more) web pages together (i.e. navigation buttons and/or links)
   • At least 5 external links directing viewers to alternate sites of information on the web (these can become part of your bibliography or can be worked in during the argument by, for example, making keywords into links to other sources of information).
     
5. Follow all instructions for naming files, creating links, and saving images. You will receive a handout explaining these things during lab time.

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Assessment: This assignment will be worth 300 points and will comprise 30% of your course grade. Both partners will receive the same grade for this assignment. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT THE DIVISION OF LABOR WITHIN YOUR GROUP IS FAIR AND EQUITABLE. If there are problems with the group dynamic, you may contact me to intervene but only AFTER discussing the issue with your partner and ONLY IN ADVANCE OF THE DUE DATES. If you tell me you couldn’t contact your partner on the day your draft is due, for example, I can’t help you; if you tell me two weeks before, I can.

Web pages will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

The accuracy, clarity, concision, and coherence of the topic discussion (~70% of grade)

• Is it clear what the topic is and why it matters?
• Is there a clear and consistent focus throughout the website? Are all pages “on topic”? Do the topics build on each other logically?
• Does the website both describe the history and socio-cultural organization of the object or practice and analyze its social effects? That is, does the website do more than just list names, dates, and places? Does it develop a claim about how this cultural object or practice impacts individuals and/or social relations, giving meaning to these otherwise random names, dates, and places?
• Are the descriptions accurate and complete but also selective (i.e. not everything you discover will be relevant to your analysis; don’t include irrelevant information)? Is the analysis thought-provoking and far-reaching (i.e. is there a sense of why this topic is important or interesting in relation to contemporary society)?
• Are ideas fully developed and supported by primary (images, sounds, etc.) and secondary (scholarly or analytical) source materials? Remember to meet the minimum requirements in both cases.
• Is the meaning and import of all evidence explained sufficiently? (i.e. don’t just plop images and other material in for decoration—use it to help develop your claims)

The clarity and contribution of the design elements (~30% of grade)

• Does the design contribute to rather than distract from the ideas on the page? (is the background color or image “viewer-friendly”? Are the font color, style and size legible against the background? Are links clearly visible? Are annoying images and sounds used sparingly and with a clear purpose in mind, etc.)
• Is there a nice balance between the use of text and images, graphics, & sounds?
• Are all ideas easily accessible within the organization of the page? Are tables, lists, or frames used to help organize data where appropriate? Are key points highlighted in bold, italics, or alternate colors where appropriate?
• Are font sizes, styles, and colors varied only to indicate importance or a shift in focus (i.e. don’t over-use these strategies)?
• Are links clear and logical? Do all links (internal and external) work as they should? Be sure to double-check the links for accuracy (do they take viewers where you want them to go)?

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Due Dates:

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