 |
Magna Carta Debate |
| Assignments &
Evaluation | | Magna Carta | | Position Statements | | Last
Update |
| purpose |
prepare for the future of
marketing with new media |
| due |
written report due May 5, 1999; oral presentations on May 10, 1999 |
| objectives |
1. to sharpen your understanding
of the forces and trends that are creating and shaping marketing through new media |
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2. to practice your search skills
through the use of:
search engines
directories
meta-searches
specialized searches
site searchesYou have some
fuzzy topics that will involve more than simple searches. Check out the search page on this course web. |
|
3. to practice your writing
skills:
logical support of a thesis
predicting cause / effect relationships |
| process |
Please think
through your own position on the two statements.
That will become your thesis. Write a 500-word essay explaining the extent to
which the evidence and the counter-evidence support your position (your thesis).
Using a search engine such as Metacrawler, find
evidence to back up your assigned position. A good place to start would be
key phrases from the Magna Carta. You will end up with three kinds of evidence:
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statements and counter-statements by authorities |
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statistics
that tend to prove and those that tend to disprove |
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your own observations
that come from first-hand Web surfing |
| In addition to Nicholas Negroponte's
explanation of the difference between bits and atoms, we found four essays so essential
that everyone needs to read them. |
| "Utopian Visions of Cyberspace,"
by Laura J. Gurak, in the May 1997 issue of Computer Mediated Communications (CMC). The
article begins, "I'm sure many of you have seen the recent television commercial
from one of the major telecommunications companies touting the magical ability of the
Internet to banish all social ills. 'There is no race,' someone claims, as a montage of
faces flash by. 'There is no gender,' says yet another bright-eyed Internet
believer." |
 |
| The secretary of commerce, William M. Daley, announced the
release of a new report, "The
Emerging Digital Economy". It has a lot of mind-boggling numerical projections to
glaze your eyes. It has clear statements of official government policy about its role in
the new economy. It has lots of information about marketing practices and trends. It has
very useful URL's in the Endnotes. On top of all that, it's written in clear and plain
English rather than "bureaucratese" or geek. |
| Please note that if you download the free Acrobat Reader, you'll be able to search the document for
keywords like "government regulation." |
|
| How much will two bits be worth in
the digital marketplace? Read The Information Economy by Hal
Varian. |
| George Keyworth, one of the Magna
Carta authors, has speculated further about The Shape of Things:
Exploring the Evolving Transformations in American Life. |
|
| format |
On the due date, email the position paper to me. If you get it to me
soon enough, I'll be able to return it with comments before the debate. |
Debate Schedule
The debate schedule has moved to
the s99 students' home page. Once I receive your
texts, there will be links to them on that page.
With such complex topics, I suggest that you get
together with the other person on your side. Make your positions mutually supportive or
two parts of a whole, or find some way to organize them and decide who goes first. |
Debate Forum
| The debate will be in the Alumni Room. I'll arrange for a
projector. If you're going to use visuals, run them from your laptops. I'm also going to
announce the debate to the campus as a whole and invite them. I don't expect a soul to
show, but it's good marketing. |
| The front of the room will have two tables with a lectern
between them. The chairs will be arrayed in theater-style rows facing the front. |
| By "read," I mean stand up behind the lectern and
in a clear and distinct voice give a convincing reading of your argument. Imagine you're
at a professional conference with potential employers or clients in the audience. Please
see the oral evaluation criteria on the Assignments
page. You can read off the projected screen so everyone can read along. You can use paper
if you're more effective with that. Pause now and again for eye contact and to gauge your
audience's interests. Don't ask for questions after you're done -- we'll do it
collectively after all four papers on a topic are read. |
| During the discussion, you'll be sitting, but otherwise all
the oral evaluation criteria still apply to you. Keep imagining that you're at the
professional conference. The audience can express support for one side or the other and
reasons why. The debaters can respectfully disagree with each other. They would do well to
not include some evidence in their papers and save it for the discussion. |
Debate Format
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Bruce will briefly introduce the
topic by trying to explain what's at stake from a larger marketing context. |
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You'll read your position statements
alternating pro and con. Maximum 15 minutes each, please. |
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After all the positions are read,
each side will have a chance to respond -- pro, con, then pro again. |
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Bruce will lead a discussion about
which was more persuasive. |
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When the hour is up, we'll vote on
the most persuasive position. |
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