Writing Experiment – Poetic Form

1. Writing Experiment – Poetic Form

Write a poem using one of the poetic forms in this website: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/collection/poetic-forms.

2. The Shallows

Please read Barnet & Bedau Ch. 7: 267-313; Ch. 9: 368-383;
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Ch. 7 & “Digression.”
Then complete the following activities:
Discussion Topic 1:
Please reflect briefly on your process of compiling an annotated bibliography (due 11/18). Which library sources are working well for you? Which are most helpful? Where would you like more help? (100-150 words)
Discussion Topic 2:
After reading about logical fallacies, choose 3 examples from the exercise on pp. 381-383, determine whether or not they are fallacies and explaining your reasoning. (100 words)
Please relate a logical fallacy you have used or personally encountered in recent memory. How did you or your “opponent” respond to the fallacy? Please include specific details in your response. (100 words)
Discussion Topic 3:
Please respond to the following questions about the Shallows (200-250 words total):
a) I’ve been hearing more and more young people say, when asked to defend their cell phone use, that they “need a distraction” from everyday life. Indeed, Carr writes that ” we ask the Internet to keep interrupting us” (134). My question is, when did “distraction” shift from an annoyance to something with a positive connotation? Do you feel the same way? What do you think accounts for this change in the way we look at “distraction”?
b) On p. 141, Carr writes, “The Net is making us smarter, in other words, only if we define intelligence by the Net’s own standards. If we take a broader and more traditional view of intelligence…we have to come to a different and considerably darker conclusion.” Do you agree with Carr about these two different “standards” of intelligence? How should we judge them? On what bases?