Wednesday, August 29, 2012

"Who isn't coming to dinner"

Rehearse 'Deliberative Dialogue' by writing about "Who isn't coming to dinner" from The Economist.

The Economist editorial suggests that three factors are at work that help to explain why Congress fails to live up to citizens' expectations: 1) growing ideological differences between members of each party in Congress; 2) flaws in the fundamental design of our Congressional system; and 3) members' unwillingness to honor the Founders' belief in “deliberation, institutional loyalty and compromise.”

Which of these three factors seems the biggest challenge that Congress must overcome? WHY?

REMINDERS:
1. To satisfy the requirements for this assignment, you must either: 1) post your opinion - thoughtfully; and/or 2) respond to one of your classmates' posts - in the spirit of deliberative dialogue. (Daily grade)
2. Consider writing in MS Word and using copy-and-paste to enter your comment... at least until you are comfortable using our blog.
3. Remember to 'sign' your post with first name and last initial - to earn full credit.

Monday, August 27, 2012

On The Filter Bubble

Now that we have viewed Eli Pariser's TED Talk (from March, 2011) and discussed its implications in class, please comment on one of the following questions:

1) Is it okay if you are only seeing search results (articles, ads, etc.) that mirror your political beliefs?
2) Do we need a policy? Should government set guidelines for filtering algorithms on the Internet?

For further study: visit Eli Pariser's BLOG, called THE FILTER BUBBLE

To satisfy the requirements for this assignment, you must either: 1) post your opinion - thoughtfully; and/or 2) respond to one of your classmates' posts - in the spirit of deliberative dialogue.
(Daily grade)

THREE IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. Consider writing in MS Word and using copy-and-paste to enter your comment... at least until you are comfortable using our blog.
2. In order for the post to be saved at our blog you'll likely need to sign-in; use this opportunity to follow our blog!
3. Remember to 'sign' your post with first name and last initial ONLY - to earn full credit.