Things to do today (Aug. 30) or by Wed. Sept. 4

1. Set up a weblog account (blogger.com, xanga.com, or your choice)
2. Paste your 5 paragraph essay “What am I doing here” into your weblog account (you might want to test your account with a short message first).
3. Ask three other people for their weblog URL: read their short essays; add them to your blogroll or list of “Sites I read.” 
4. Go the NDSU library home page (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu) then:

• scroll to the bottom,
• click on “Ebsco” (one of the databases),
• choose the “Academic Search Elite”  database within Ebsco
• enter the search term “Levinson, Melvin” in the “Find” window,
• click the “Search” button,
• click the “HTML file”
• choose “print,” “email,” or “save”
• read the essay, “Needed: A New Literacy” by Melvin E. Levinson.  Be prepared to discuss it Wed. Sept. 4^th (i.e., be able to explain his three main propositions, be able to identify points of agreement and disagreement, be able to ask questions about aspects of the essay you are not clear about, be able to explain how the essay seems relevant to this class and weblogging).

Before you read this essay, or anything else in this class, you should ask these questions of the piece:

• When was it written? (what are the significant dates going to be for technology and literacy?”)
• Who wrote it (not just a name--what do you know or what can you infer about the author?”)
• Where was it published (i.e. what magazine, journal, or website)?  Who were the intended readers?  What might I need to do in order to make sense of a complicated essay?

Two more tasks, but you can do these either before or after class on Wed. the 4^th, depending on your schedule.

1. Write a summary of this article, and post that summary to your weblog.
2. Before you write a summary, find a website that gives you some ideas about how to write a summary.  You can filter this website, or just bookmark it. 

Yeesh, one more task, to be done some time before Friday, Sept. 13. Please take 10-15 minutes to fill out an online survey related to the research I am doing with my colleagues on "Weblogging as a Learning Tool."