Discuss at least TWO substantive differences that highlight how bits have transformed that communication act.

There is no fixed word or page limit for your answers. You should write what you feel is necessary to adequately answer each question prompt. No more, no less. That said, you should consider the different point values of each question (and their component sub-questions) to help you determine the relative time and effort you may want to allocate.
Rules on the use of materials:
You are free to consult the readings assigned in the course.
You are free to use any notes that you may have taken on readings and course lectures.
When writing your responses, you should NOT need to use the Web beyond accessing course materials.

Question 1:
Both the “computers as social actors” paradigm and the “Apparatgeist” perspective describe the social roles of media technologies. For this question, please briefly discuss how the two approaches compare to and contrast with one another. As you do, please specifically discuss how they are similar AND how they differ with regards to the following:

The users’ conscious intention when treating technology socially (5 pts)
(When treating technology socially, the conscious intention of users who regard “computers as social actors” is

We respond to communication media as if they were alive (devices) and physically immediate (content), not just tools or representations Like actual places and persons “media are full participants in our social and natural world”
Similarly, “Apparatgeist” captures both the technical (function, execution of a task) and sociological (social operation and significance) of a technology. “The spirit of the machine that influences both the designs of the technology as well as the initial subsequent significance afforded to them by users” (p.305) “

The inevitability of how users treat a technology.

The level of analysis associated with each approach (e.g., micro/individual/ psychological vs. macro/societal/sociological)

How a user would likely describe their own social treatment of the technology when asked about it directly.

Question 2 (36 Points Total)
Steuer (1992) helps explicate the concept of telepresence by breaking it down into two key dimensions: interactivity and vividness. After defining these two dimensions and how they may be operationalized, he then describes how each of these dimensions contributes to the experience of telepresence. Finally, he uses these two dimensions to compare the relative amount of telepresence provided by several different types of media technologies.

For this question, please repeat this process for the concept of pseudo-community (also called pseudo-gemeinschaft). In particular, please do the following:

First, provide a detailed definition of pseudo-community. Your definition should draw directly from course readings and/or discussion.
Pseudo-community is
Suggest TWO different key dimensions that may determine the extent to which a media message or technology creates a sense of pseudo-community. You are free to come up with any dimensions that you would like; however, they should be directly related to how the concept was discussed in class and in the readings.

For each dimension, provide a detailed conceptual definition.

For each dimension, provide at least one example of how it might be operationalized.

Create a chart similar to Steuer’s (p.90). Each axis should represent one of the dimensions you have selected. Axis values should range from “low” to “high” (if a continuous dimension/variable) or “absent” to “present” (if a binary dimension/ variable). Then plot the following media technologies on the chart, with their relative locations based on the extent to which they are characterized by the dimensions you selected:
Instagram feed
Netflix recommendations
Celebrity Twitter accounts
Facebook ads
Google search results
Smartphone digital assistants (e.g., Siri, Cortana)

Note – you are free to produce the chart within Microsoft Word or to insert an image you create elsewhere (in PowerPoint, with pencil & paper, etc.).

6. For each of the technologies listed above, justify its relative location on the plot. That is, provide a detailed explanation for why you placed each technology where you did.

Question 3 (36 Points Total)
Smartphones are media devices through which several types of bits converge. As such, they allow us to perform a variety of different communication acts. Among other things, smartphones allow us to:
Make & receive voices calls
Make & receive video calls
Send & receive text messages
Send & receive emails
Take pictures and instantly share them in online photo albums
Track / check-in / share our location with others
Read books, news stories, and magazine articles
Purchase and immediately listen to music
Purchase and immediately play video games
Select and immediately stream television programs and movies
Consider THREE such communication acts you have recently completed with a smartphone. For each communication act, please complete the following:
In 3-4 sentences describe the process of completing that communication act from start to finish. Provide as many specific details as you can – when during the day it happened, where you were, who else may have been involved, and so on. (3 pts)

Now pretend it is 1985, a point in time in which the vast majority of our media content was still composed of atoms rather than bits. What would the equivalent analog (non-digital) action be for the smartphone action you described above? In 3-4 sentences, describe the process of completing this equivalent non-digital action, from start to finish.

Based on your above answers, how would completing this action in the world of atoms compare to completing it in the world of bits? Discuss at least TWO substantive differences that highlight how bits have transformed that communication act.

For each difference discussed, please draw upon one of the following terms. In doing so, explain what the term means (it may be useful to cite a specific reading) and how it relates to the communication act you’re discussing:

Timeshifting / synchrony
Cognitive demand / effort
Perpetual contact / the tethered self
The extended self
Public performance
Perceived sincerity
Information we “give” vs. information we “give off”