Interview Assignment
Basic Concepts of New Media
Dr. Philip N. Howard
Department Communication
Write a 500 word essay based on a research question of your choice, using evidence from a face-to-face interview of a new media expert on the topic of your choice. We have covered a large number of new media topics in this class, from community, politics, economics, and culture to the personal and global contexts of new media. We have discussed a wide range of different technologies and wrestled with a number of important social problems related to communication in the digital age. Choose one of the topics you found interesting, phrase a research question, and find an expert to help you answer your research question.
Organizing the Interview. Do not interview a UW student, faculty, or staff, or a member of your family. The interview must be conducted in person, face-to-face. Before you conduct your interview, consult the two web pages we have prepared for you, Organizing an Academic Interview and Organizing an Job Informational Interview. We do not need to see your interview notes. However, the notes you take in your interview are the raw data that will be used in writing your essay, so you are encouraged to take as many notes as possible during the conversation.
The Essay. WRITE YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS. WRITE YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS. Both your topic sentence and your research question can only be one sentence long. In the first part of your essay, explain why your research question is important. Justify your selection of the person you interview, and in the first paragraph of your essay, provide their name, phone number and email address (we will randomly contact some interview subjects). In the middle of your essay, discuss the relevant evidence you have from class discussions, notes and readings, and compare the evidence with that given by your interview subject. Did your interview subject contradict or confirm something you learned in class? What new evidence or perspective did your interview subject have on your research question? In the conclusion of your essay, reflect on the process and setting of the interview. Critically assess the findings of your interview. Which hypotheses were proven correct, which were wrong (it’s okay if they were wrong), and what can you safely generalize from your findings? In your concluding sentences, write about the things that subsequent research on this topic should consider: the next logical research questions, hypotheses, or methods that are appropriate for the next research project on your topic.
Assignment Goals. First, the goal of this assignment is to make you aware of how the basic concepts of new media we covered in class are applied in working life. Second, this assignment will encourage you to expand your social networks by making connections to the off-campus community of experts in new media. Third, this assignment will make you practice interview preparation and give you experience in interview settings.
Assignment Grading. This assignment is worth 40 points, due at 5pm on Friday December 8th. The interview must be a face-to-face interview, and you may not interview another UW student, faculty, staff, or a member of your family. If you do the interview by email or telephone, or you interview a UW student, faculty, staff, or a member of your family, you will get a 0. This assignment will be graded for good ideas, perfect spelling, and careful grammar. Label the assignment with your last name, first initial, underscore, and "interview". For example, if Laura Busch submits her assignment on E-submit, it would be labeled “buschl_interview.doc”.