IT

In roughly 300 words, you will explain a new, “emerging” information technology or I.T. concept, describe how it benefits individuals or society writ large, and describe its actual and/or possible harms. In short:

1. What is it?
2. How is it good? What good comes from the use of this technology?
3. How is it bad? What harm comes from the use of this technology?

What can you write about?

The technology or concept you write about must be something relatively current and even forward-looking. Some examples of topics you could write about are:

• “Web3” whatever the heck that even is.
• The Metaverse (and not just the dumpster fire that Mark Zuckerberg created, but all the other dumpster fires as well.)
• “Crypto” (but hurry up, it might actually die off soon if we’re lucky.)

Presenting both sides

The way I have worded my examples above makes it clear that I have an opinion about these technologies and concepts. You must not make your own opinion clear. Or more precisely, you must present both sides equally regardless of whether you believe the technology to be good or to be harmful: The actual and potential good of a technology, and the actual or potential bad. It must not be evident in your writing whether you believe a technology to be good or bad.

Essay Structure

The structure of your essay will consist of three paragraphs. The essay must have a descriptive title, and the second and third paragraphs must have descriptive subheadings.

• Paragraph 1: Explain the technology, and provide exactly three sources that provide factual information about this technology. You do not need to cite all of these in your essay, but you must identify them and provide the reader with a link to them. Think of these as your way to give the reader of your essay somewhere to go if they want to learn more about the topic
• Paragraph 2: Explain how this technology does (or should) provide a social benefit. Be clear about who is likely to receive these benefits; after all, technology does not help everyone equally.
• Paragraph 3: Explain how this technology does (or may) produce a social harm. Be clear about who is likely to be harmed; after all, technology does not harm everyone equally.

Sources for first paragraph (the explanatory paragraph)

You must provide exactly three sources of factual information about this technology.

• You must not use Wikipedia as a source, but perhaps that is where you might find good sources by reviewing the References section of a Wikipedia article.
• At least one of these sources must be from a scholarly journal. Google Scholar
• Links to an external site.
• is a good place to search for such articles, but not everything found there will be from a reputable scholarly source. Unsure of what a scholarly source? Here is some help.
• Links to an external site.
• Three sources from the same person, company, organization, etc. is a bad idea.g., Facebook/Meta has a good page about their Metaverse projects
• Links to an external site.
• but all three factual references cannot be from this company.

All sources have the potential for bias, especially those from companies and people who will profit from their ideas being broadly accepted (looking at you, Mark Zuckerburg). Just make sure that your factual sources are more descriptive and are not written to persuade.

Bibliography creation and format

I am not concerned with which format you use (MLA, APA, etc.) but you must use one. I recommend ZoteroBib

Links to an external site.

for generating bibliographic entries for your references.

About Word Count Targets

Students in past semesters have often found the 300-word limit to be difficult to stick to. Here are some answers to questions they asked that might help you:

1. 300 words is the target number. It is not a strict rule in the sense that you may go a little over or under without worrying about penalties.
2. It is a target, not a limit. What this means is that you should not go too far over this number, but you also must not come too far short of this number. If you write too much, make sure your essay tightly-written. If you write too little, you may fail to produce an informative essay.
3. What I am strict about is garbage words. After you finish your essay, you should remove or rephrase unnecessary words in order to tighten-up your writing. This is a good resource with examples of what I mean.
4. Links to an external site.
5. I really cannot stress this enough. Student writing — even from students who generally write quite well — is often chock full of unnecessary words and it is rather easy to fix this as long as you leave yourself time to do so.
6. Headings, references, and other “meta content” are not counted towards your target.

Sources to defend your arguments

Here’s where things get interesting! I am not going to require references for these sections, though you may use references if they help you with your arguments. If you believe a technology can be a societal good, then you, with your own sound logic, can argue well for it. But you must argue equally-well an opposing argument.

 

Checklist

• Your essay has a descriptive title and headings
• Paragraph 1 explains the technology/concept
• Paragraph 2 explains how this technology does (or should) provide a social benefit
• Paragraph 3 explains how this technology does (or may) produce a social harm
• You provide exactly three sources that provide factual information about this technology
• At least one of these sources must be from a scholarly journal.
• Your essay is formatted like a standard essay; e.g., not a list of bullet-points or an outline
• Your essay sticks to (or close to) the target word count
• Your essay is “tightly written” meaning that you have removed unnecessary words.must stick to (or close to) the target word count