CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY VISUAL PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES Description This social media assignment will require you to collect

photos/images and write analyses (2-3 paragraphs) of these images to create a 6 to 8-piece visual portfolio related to each of the social theories we will discuss (similar to a blog). The goal of this assignment is for you to critically analyze and apply sociological theory to new ideas, concepts, images, events, and scenes from social life, etc. Your portfolios should also serve as a site to begin exploring topics and incubating research questions for your comps project. You will be required to post your portfolio pieces each week on the course website and give a 2 to 3-minute professional presentation to the class that either 1) showcases your best work or 2) teaches the class about a social theorist we have not devoted any significant attention to this semester. Individual visual portfolio projects will count toward 50 points of your final grade. Objectives To meet the course objectives of building a solid knowledge of social theory, critically analyzing ideas through a sociologically informed lens, and communicating your thinking on social theory and social life, you will be required to build a visual sociology project that you will share with the public online and with your peers and me in class. The visual portfolio provides students the opportunity to critically analyze social life and apply sociological theory to new images, scenes, events, ideas, and concepts. It also serves as a space for you to explore research topics and incubate research questions for your final comps projects. My hope is that this will serve as online repository for your final comps project where you will be able to gain valuable feedback from your peers, the public, and me some of your initial ideas and research questions. Specifically, the two primary objectives of the visual portfolio include: 1) Critically analyze and apply social theory to new ideas, etc. from social life 2) Develop your thinking on social theory and research interests/questions for your final comps project Guidelines What are the steps I need to follow to meet these objectives? You will be required to: 1) Take photos or images from social life 2) Post 6-8 pieces (or posts) to the course website at soctheory.iheartsociology.com 3) Comment on your peers work to provide them with valuable feedback on their own projects 4) Present your work or a new theorist in class to your peers and me 5) Write a memo to me on your reflections, best work, and progress on final comps thinking Source: Danielle Dirks, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, M-26 Los Angeles, CA 90041 // danielledirks.com // dirks@oxy.edu // @danielledirks

What are the requirements of this project? You will be required to complete a visual portfolio, share the project on our course website, provide comments to your peers on their visual portfolios, give a presentation outlining your favorite portfolio piece or introducing us to a new theorist, and submit a memo to me outlining your reflections on your portfolio, what you feel is your best work, and your progress on your thinking about your final comps project. Your portfolio should: 1) 2) 3) 4) Include 6-8 individual pieces Engage various theories we have discussed in class Try to relate to the weeks readings or relate to theories previously discussed in class Develop your research ideas for your final comps project

Each individual portfolio piece should include:

1) A title that is capitalized (no more than 140 characters)

2) At least one photo or image 3) 2-3 paragraphs of your analysis (i.e., how does this photo/image relate to the theories we have discussed?) 4) 1-2 research ideas or questions (clearly marked at the end of your postfeel free to number so that you can easily return them to later) 5) The correct category selected as Visual Portfolio (so that we can follow your work) 6) At least three tags that describe the theoretical perspective, the theorist(s), or any related topics in your post. Please separate tags by commas (and keep everything lowercase, including proper names). For example: the power elite, mills, inequality, income, wealth distribution. Your comments and feedback to your peers should: 1) Be thoughtful, engaging, and respectful 2) Offer points of discussion, analysis, and/or critique to assist with their research interests and/or questions 3) Provide additional relevant resources if possible (e.g., concepts you have learned in other sociology classes, books you have read, studies you know, links to other sites or sources, etc.) 4) Be consistentplease post/comment on at least 1-3 of your peers pieces each week by using the Reply/Leave a Response tool on our course website. Please remember that QUALITY is better than QUANTITY in terms of your comments. What do you mean by visual sociology? Although anthropologists and others have long used photographs to collect data or portray research ideas, visual sociology is one of the newer arms of sociology. It operates under the assumptions that images are excellent means to communicate ideas and sociological understanding; that photos/images can be used as part of data collection; and/or that photos/images can serve as data themselves. We are using photos and images for your projects as they allow you to begin thinking sociologically in new ways, to develop your skills of thinking critically and analyzing social life through the lens of sociological

theory. While this is the short explanation, I am happy to discuss visual sociology further if you are interested in this for use as part of your final comps projects. What are examples of Visual Portfolio pieces? The visual portfolio is not a novel endeavor, your pieces will closely resemble the work of professional sociologists who share their ideas and develop their research thinking through blogging. This list is by no means comprehensive, but these are some pieces and blogs that have very similar components to the pieces you will develop. I encourage you to look through these blogs to get a feel for what your pieces will resemble. These are also excellent spaces to see how colleagues and other viewers leave comments and feedback to discuss or challenge these ideas and/or develop each others research thinking collaboratively. Blog posts with similar components to visual portfolio pieces:

Urban Outfitters is Obsessed with Navajos Wal-Mart Education Summer Blockbusters Traffic in Racist Caricatures

Blogs with similar components to visual portfolios (from our course websites blogroll): Citings and Sightings Digital Ethnography GOOD OrgTheory Racism Review The Sociological Imagination Threadbared Cyborgology Everyday Sociology Graphic Sociology Racialicious Sociological Images ThickCulture Understanding Society

What types of photos and/or images should we use? I prefer that most of your project consist of individual photos that you have taken in the course of your daily life while in this class. This illustrates your sociological thinking and ability to critically analyze and apply the course concepts, theories, and theorists to everyday life. However, I realize that not all of you have regular access to a camera. You are permitted to include images sourced online but please follow the guidelines below in #5. Reiterating our in-class discussion, a special note on the nature of taking photographs: 1) No people as main subject // kids photos 2) Err on side of permission always 3) Do no harm 4) Pay attention to positionality 5) If the image you seek does not lend itself well to photography (e.g., prisons, prisoners), please use a suitable image licensed for your use found from the sources we discussed in class (e.g., Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, ArtStor) Feel free to use fun and/or fancy photography apps (e.g., Hipstamatic, Instagram) or create your own images (e.g., Poladroid, GOODs No Chart). You do NOT need a fancy camera for this project. The Clapp Library does, however, have a camera available for borrowing if you would like one. Photos taken with your cell phone are perfectly ok.

If you find video clips that you feel that you must use rather than a photo or image, they may be included sparingly and must include a justification for their usage in the body of your text. Specifically, what should I include in my presentation? Your presentation provides the opportunity for you to illustrate your favorite/best piece or the work of a theorist you have become familiar with that we have not discussed in any significant way (classical or contemporary theorists are both permissible). You will give a very brief professional presentation to the class that will highlight either. Depending on how many individuals are presenting, the presentation will be anywhere from 2-5 minutes (please check with me). If presenting your favorite or best piece, your presentation should include the following information: Why did you choose this photo or image? What you were doing when you located this photo or image? How did the scene, event, idea, etc. trigger your sociological thinking? Why do feel that this is your favorite or best piece? How has this piece developed your research thinking for your final comps project?

If presenting a new theorist, your presentation should include the following information: Why did you choose this theorist? How did you become familiar with the work of this theorist? What are some of this theorists most well-known and/or useful contributions to social theory? How could the work of this theorist be useful to your peers or to the class overall? How has their theorist developed your research thinking for your final comps project?

Please remember that presentations should be practiced for timing. If your presentation goes over on time, the presentation portion of your grade will be cut in half. I will give you several warnings for timing during your presentation as well. Specifically, what should I include in my memo? In addition to the presentation, you will also submit a single-spaced memo that will document and elaborate on some of the questions above and the ones below. The purpose of the memo is to clearly organize and present your work so that I can see your best work and understanding your thinking and progress made in your visual portfolio. I will be able to view all of your work and comments using the Author feature of our course website, but I will also ask you to include links what you feel are your best posts as I describe below. All of your work must be documented in the memo, it is the only way I have of knowing your own reflections, your best work, and your thinking on your progress for your final comps project. Your memo should follow the organization below: 1) Your name and course website username 2) AbstractBrief synopsis of your project (<200 words, please) 3) Question 1: How well overall do you feel your project turned out?

Some questions for consideration: i. What were the strengths of the project? ii. What were the weaknesses of the project? iii. How would you improve upon the project? iv. How would you evaluate the responses you received on your pieces? What were response to your project like? 1. Examples: a. X number of people responded to my pieces b. My pieces developed engaging discussions c. My piece was shared on a separate blog or was tweeted 4) Question 2: What do you feel is your best work from the project? a. Please choose and organize your top three pieces in a separate paragraph and provide for each: i. The direct link/URL for your piece ii. An explanation of why you feel this is your strongest work iii. An explanation of why the photo, image, theorist, etc. was important to this piece iv. Any reflections on the responses you received on these specific pieces? 5) Question 3: How has this project helped to develop your research thinking toward your final comps projects? a. Please respond to these questions, at the least, and provide any other additional reflections on your project: i. Looking across each of your pieces, what are some of themes in the theorists and/or theoretical frameworks you chose to write about? ii. Looking across each of your pieces, what are some of themes in the research interests and questions you wrote at end of each piece? iii. How could any of these theoretical perspectives and/or research questions turn into something that you would like to explore (or are exploring) in your final comps projects or in the future? iv. Reflections and Future Work: 1. What have you learned from completing this project (I hope at least something!)? 2. Of all of your peers who commented on your work, please provide the usernames of 1-2 of them who were especially helpful with their feedback 3. Of all of your peers whose work you read, please provide the usernames of 1-2 of them who you felt did especially well on their projects 4. Do you have questions for me on further reading or extant research related to your interests? 5. Any other reflections on this project? How do we submit our projects? Your visual portfolio pieces are due each week. Before the deadline, please be sure that all links for your project materials are working and that your work is posted publicly (i.e., you do not need a password to access the materials). As you will have already posted your project materials online, you will send me your memo via email. Please copy and paste the memo directly into the body of your email to me and attach it as a document (Word or PDF, as long as links are working correctly). Please be sure to follow these important guidelines throughout your project:

a.

1) To protect your anonymity, please only use your username in your pieces. Please strip your project (except for the memo) of any personally identifiable information. 2) If you have used references or citations for your project, please include a reference list in your memo or your pieces (e.g., course texts, online sources, image sources, etc.) 3) It is better to err on the side of providing too much information than not enough in your pieces and memo. When are our project deadlines? Due dates can be found on the Coursekit Calendar. How will my project be evaluated? 1) Were your photos or images relevant and presented clearly? 2) Did your visual portfolio follow the basic guidelines for pieces, length, deadlines, etc.? 3) Did your project successfully illustrate your ability to: a. Critically and creatively analyze social life using social theory? b. Apply social theory to everyday life? c. Develop your research thinking on your final comps project or future projects? d. Theorize and/or use your sociological imagination? 4) How well did you serve as a resource in commenting on your peers work in providing them valuable feedback on their projects? a. Did you provide thoughtful feedback? b. Did you help them discuss their research ideas? c. Did you offer your peers additional relevant resources to their interests? 5) Overall, how creative, clever, and interesting was the project and presentation? 6) Overall, how insightful, analytical, and well organized was your memo? What if we have questions or need guidance? I am more than happy to discuss project ideas and any other related questions. I have set aside special office hours for your projects just for this purpose. I hope you enjoy working on this project and I look forward to seeing your projects come to fruition!