ILS 2385: Social Justice Project (Midterm Exam)
By the end of this project, you should be able to answer each of the following questions:
- How do photographs convey meaning and how do they contribute to constructing sociological meaning?
- What role can photographs play in revealing injustice? What role can they play in encouraging individuals to take action against injustice?
Step 1)
Review each of the following photo galleries:
Think of the following questions and freewrite informal responses to each question; point to specific photos in your answer. You must refer to at least one photo from each collection. Your responses to the questions below must be a minimum of 900 words total :
- How are these photos different from a professional fine photographer's artistic work? How are they similar?
- Which photos stand out the most for you and why?
- How do photographs capture a person's point of view?
- How do photographs convey sociological messages?
- How and why are photographs important historical documents?
Step 2
Discussion Board: Social Justice in the Community Discussion
As part of this discussion, each student is required to post/contribute one photo from the Charlotte and/or campus community to the discussion board, caption it, and explain each of the following:
1) What does this image reveal about injustice and/or inequality in our community?
2) What are the sociological messages communicated by your photo?
3) Why did you decide to frame your photo the way you did? Explain your process? What did you leave outside of the frame and why?
Your written post must be a minimum of 300 words and no more than 400.
Choose ONE of the following projects to complete as your midterm exam (Due Week 5):
Option 1: Original Portfolio of Photographs
Look for creative opportunities to capture social justice issues in your everyday life and then take your own photographs. Put all of these together in an electronic portfolio.
You must have a minimum of 15 photographs and should write a caption for each and write a paragraph or two beneath each caption that answers each of the following questions.
Beneath the caption, explain why you framed the photo the way you did and explain your process. What did you leave outside the frame and why? What does the image reveal about injustice and/or inequality? What are the sociological messages communicated by the image?
Option 2: Online Journal/Blog
Create an online journal where you write about one new photo that you see/encounter each day. Read an online newspaper every day, or peruse a news website (cnn.com, npr.org, washington post, New York Times, etc.). Pay attention to advertising on billboards, in magazines, images on Facebook, Instagram, etc., and locate images that are interesting to you. Take 15 minutes each day to write about at least one photo and include how it made you feel and what it was about the photo, its content and/or its composition, that led you to feel that way.
You must have a minimum of 15 photos and responses in your journal.
YOUR ONLINE JOURNAL/BLOG MUST BE SEPARATE FROM THE BLOG YOU USE FOR YOUR IN-CLASS POSTS. YOU CAN EITHER CREATE SEPARATE PAGES FROM YOUR IN-CLASS BLOG (SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW) OR CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS.
Option 3: Create a Social Media Campaign
Share some photos on a social media site to draw attention to a particular social justice issue. These can be your own images or images found elsewhere. Just be sure to give appropriate credit if you aren't the photographer.
You can create an Instagram to draw attention to the topic, a Facebook group, etc.
Encourage friends and others to get involved by providing links to resources, links to online petitions related to the issue, etc.
Option 4: Have another idea that relates to photography and social justice? Submit a topic proposal for approval.
REFLECTION AND HOW TO SUBMIT FINAL PROJECT:
On the date your project is due, you are required to submit a one page, informal reflection discussing the following:
- What did you find most challenging about this project? What did you like most? What did you like least? Which photograph stood out most to you and why? What did you learn about the sociological messages communicated by photography from this assignment? If you had more time to work on this project, what would you change and why? What are you most proud of?
- THIS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED AS A MICROSOFT WORD FILE. Think of it as a focused free write. You don't need paragraphs, but it must be one FULL page.
- INSIDE OF THIS SAME DOCUMENT WITH YOUR REFLECTION, ON PAGE 2 OF THE DOCUMENT, EXPLAIN WHERE YOU SUBMITTED YOUR WORK. IF IT IS ON A PAGE YOUR LINKED FROM YOUR CLASS BLOG, JUST MENTION THAT IS WHAT YOU DID. I ALREADY HAVE THE LINK TO THAT.
- IF YOU CREATED A FACEBOOK SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN, MY PROFILE IS AT HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/KEN.HARMON2. ADD ME AS A FRIEND AND LIST YOUR PROFILE NAME ON THE SECOND PAGE OF YOUR REFLECTION.
- IF YOU CREATED AN INSTAGRAM SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN, I AM @KEN.HARMON2. FOLLOW ME AND LIST YOUR INSTAGRAM PROFILE NAME ON THE SECOND PAGE OF YOUR REFLECTION.
- IF YOU CREATED A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN ON ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM, INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 2 OF YOUR REFLECTION FOR HOW I CAN FIND YOUR PROJECT (PROFILE NAME, ETC.).
- The reflection and explanation of where your project was submitted must be uploaded to Ulearn by class time on the due date listed on the course schedule. NO EXCEPTIONS.
- TO SUBMIT, GO TO: SUBMIT ESSAYS/ASSIGNMENTS > SOCIAL JUSTICE PROJECT > LINK TO SOCIAL JUSTICE PROJECT AND REFLECTION
CREATING A PAGE OR PAGES ON YOUR BLOG FOR THE SOCIAL JUSTICE PROJECT
NOTE: IF YOU USE THE SAME BLOG FOR YOUR SOCIAL JUSTICE PROJECT THAT YOU USE FOR OUR IN-CLASS POSTS, YOU MUST USE A SEPARATE PAGE (OR SET OF PAGES) FOR THE PROJECT.
TO SET UP SEPARATE PAGES:
1. LOG INTO YOUR WORDPRESS ACCOUNT (BLOG)
2.. Begin by clicking "my site" then click "customize" on the left menu. This is just below "Design."
3. Next, click "Widgets" and then "primary widget area" and select the location of the link from your blog (top of page, side of page, or bottom of page. Depending upon the theme you have chosen for your page, sometimes you will only have one option).
4. Next, select "pages." AT THIS POINT YOU SHOULD SEE A "PUBLISH ICON" IN THE UPPER-LEFT CORNER (LIKELY BLUE). CLICK PUBLISH AND THEN THE ARROW THAT POINTS LEFT IN THE UPPER LEFT CORNER TO EXIT.
4. This should take you back to the "My Site" toolbar. Just scroll to the top of the menu at the left of the page and click on the title of your blog just below "My Site" to view your page.
17. AT THIS POINT, YOU SHOULD SEE A LINK TO EACH OF THE PAGES THAT YOU CREATED IN STEP 8. The link should be in the location that you chose (bottom of page, top of page, side of page).
