New! Check out the writing tips here!

DUE SEPTEMBER 20th by Midnight (email to your TA or for 3 bonus points, post your Koobecaf Ethnography as a new page on this wiki. Just sign in and click "Add page" to the left and add your ethnography here. Note that this wiki is open to everybody in the world with internet access, so it will be a public document. It will certainly be read by future students of this class looking for good examples)

Write your own 500 - 600 word (2 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font size 12) ethnography of Facebook, using the terms and conceptual tools we have learned in this class. Take some time and really put some thought into this. This is a much more challenging assignment than you might expect. For those of you who are Facebook natives, this can be especially difficult. As they say, "It wouldn't be a fish who would discover water." Whatever you do, be creative and insightful. For example, you might try to approach the Nacirema as Horace Miner has done in his article on body ritual among the Nacirema.

To focus your paper, you might consider answering one of the following sets of questions:

1. Why has Facebook become so popular in our culture? What is it about American culture that would allow Facebook to become so popular? Use the barrel model to describe American culture and explain how Facebook fits in with American culture's characteristics.

2. How is Facebook changing American culture? Use the barrel model to describe American culture and explain how Facebook might be changing some of American culture's characteristics.

Regadless of which set of questions you choose, use your own experiences on Facebook as your source of insight. Consider yourself an ethnographer doing *participant observation* Harness your ethnographic toolkit of communication, empathy, and thoughtfulness to reach for deep insights.



If you want to see how I have done a similar project, check out my video below:



GRADING SCALE: (50 points available)
0-30 points (F): incomplete assignment.
30-35 points (D): complete assignment of 500-600 words but not clearly written and does not demonstrate a thorough understanding of Facebook in relation to American culture.
35-40 points (C): basic understanding of Facebook and American culture but it did not demonstrate and harness the perspectives gained in the class & text
40-45 points (B): The assignment not only shows a basic understanding of the Facebook and American culture, but also uncovers aspects of them that typical Americans do not readily recognize about themselves and their activities on Facebook.
45-50 points (A): Very creative and insightful papers that are especially original and intriguing.