COM 329 Final Project Part I Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

Part I of the final project for this course is the creation of an emerging technology report.

It may be hard now to imagine a time when digital social media did not exist. But in fact, social media giant Facebook was only founded in 2004. Add to that the current plethora of new media technologies available to communicate about ourselves and our businesses. As a result, work and personal worlds have become decidedly smaller and faster. This course, as part of a new media concentration, will introduce you to some of the most used new media platforms and encourage you to explore them as well as those that are emerging and poised to take the stage. In this new world, your business or organization (or even you) will rely—at least in part—on delivering important messages to your audiences via new media. As a communications professional, you must learn to use, choose, and leverage the proper platforms for the proper situations.

Thefinalprojectforthiscourseisdividedintotwoparts.Inthefirstpart,youwilltakeadeepdiveintoanemergingnewmediatechnologyofyourchoice.You willdiscover,throughbothresearchandhands-onexperience,itshistoryandworkingsandevaluateitseffectivenessindifferentspheresofinfluence.Youwill then write a report on your findings. The second part is a presentation in which you will apply the new media technology you studied in the first part to a company or organization, and then make recommendations for how to use that platform to achieve communicationgoals.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Analyzemajordevelopmentsintheevolutionofcommunicationtechnologiesandnewmediafortheirimpactonsocietynowandthepossibleimpacton thefuture
• Evaluate the effectiveness of emerging media technologies for business, governmental, social, or personaluse

Prompt

Choose a new media technology that you would like to learn to leverage for personal and professional purposes. Explore this technology, via research and hands- on experience, learning the pros and cons so that you can draw conclusions about it. You will immerse yourself in the history and workings of this technology for the purpose of writing a report on your findings and observations. In this report, you will analyze the historical development of the technology and the major turning points in that development, especially in relation to other new communication technology/media platforms. You will also examine the technology’s impact on the social, political, economic and personal spheres of the world around you. You will use information from this course as well as your own exploration and experimentation with this platform. Your emerging technology report should be approximately 4–6 pages.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Historical Development of the Emerging New MediaTechnology
   1. Define“newmediatechnology.”Usecourseresourcesandpersonalexperiencetosupportyourdefinition.Forinstance,whatconstitutesthis sort of technology? What does not? How has new media in general impacted ourworld?
   2. Provide an overview of your chosen platform and its development and major societal impacts. Be sure to include your own experiences with this platform in your overview. You should address questions such as: Why did you choose this platform? What are its major features and uses? How does it qualify as a new mediatechnology?
   3. DiscussthehistoryandimpactoftheadoptionForinstance,howdidthetechnologyoriginate?What are the major factors that contributed to the development of this technology? What factors have contributed to the popularity of this technology?
   4. CompareBesuretouseclassresourcesandpersonalexperiencetobackupyour assertions. For instance, what are the strengths and weaknesses of your platform in comparison toothers?

1. Effectiveness of the New MediaTechnology
   1. Evaluate the effectiveness of your chosen platform within the social sphere (for example, interpersonal and group communication, social relationships, intercultural relations, etc.). Your assertion must be supported by course resources and your personal experiences with this platform and new media ingeneral.
   2. Evaluate the effectiveness of your chosen platform within the political sphere (for example, social movements, government regulations, internationalrelations,etc.).Yourassertionmustbesupportedbycourseresourcesandyourpersonalexperienceswiththisplatformandnew media ingeneral.
   3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your chosen platform within the economic sphere (for example, business growth, profit cycles, employment trends,etc.).Yourassertionmustbesupportedbycourseresourcesandyourpersonalexperienceswiththisplatformandnewmediaingeneral.
   4. Evaluatetheeffectivenessofyourchosenplatformwithinthepersonalsphere(forexample,entertainment,status,convenience,etc.).Your assertionmustbesupportedby course resourcesandyourpersonalexperienceswiththis platform andnewmediaingeneral.
   5. Predict the future uses of your chosen platform. Provide information to support your predictions. Information could come from sources that mayincludecoursematerials,anyadditionalresearchyoumayhavedone,oryourpersonalexperience.Forinstance,howmighttheplatform evolve or improve to meet future needs? Do you predict that it willlast?

Final Project Part I Rubric

Guidelines for Submission: Your emerging technology report must be 4–6 pages in length (plus a cover page and references) and must be written in APA format. Use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Include at least six references cited in APA format.