Humanities Homework Help

University of Limerick Justine Sacco Digital Media Criticism Questions

 

I’m working on a history writing question and need a sample draft to help me study.

Journalist Jon Ronson published So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, a book about digital media and public shaming, in 2015. He published a very short excerpt from the book in the New York Times Magazine. After the publication of the excerpt, he wrote a column for The Guardian about his experiences.

Please read Ronson’s How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” (the New York Times Magazineexcerpt) and “How the Online Hate Mob Set Its Sights on Me” (The Guardian column).

PLEASE NOTE: these articles quote from tweets aimed at Ronson and at the people about whom he writes; many of the quotations use offensive and demeaning language.

Please answer the following questions:

  • Please briefly summarize the two articles. What, in Ronson’s view, happened to people like Justine Sacco and Lindsey Stone? What happened to him after the publication of the New York Times Magazine article?
  • Does Ronson have an optimistic or pessimistic view of digital media? Please elaborate on your answer by drawing on specific examples from the articles.
  • Please compare/contrast Ronson’s view of digital media/the Internet to at minimum of one of the perspectives discussed in the course lecture.
  • Should we consider the phenomenon that Ronson describes as a continuation of the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s? Why or why not?
  • Please follow the following formatting guidelines for this primary source assignment:Students are STRONGLY DISCOURAGED from consulting sources outside of course materials.
    • Use 12 point Times New Roman font
    • Make sure your assignment is double-spaced
    • Submit your assignment as either a word document or a PDF or type your response directly into the assignment; other formats will not be accepted and will not be graded.

    This assignment will be graded according to the following criteria:

    1. Does the assignment address all the questions posed?
    2. Does the assignment demonstrate a close, careful, and thoughtful reading of the primary sources?
    3. Does the assignment demonstrate a strong familiarity with course topics and themes?
    4. Are all the claims made in the assignment accurate?
    5. Does the assignment make sense? Are the ideas within it communicated clearly within it?