Digital Media Analysis
Students use text analysis and data visualization over a set of tweets to understand the public's perception of a relevant criminal justice issue and report their findings in a 4–5 page paper.
Overview
The purpose of this assignment is to write a 4–5 page media analysis
paper on a relevant criminal justice issue. Media analysis requires us
to understand how media guides the presentation of certain critical
issues. The course establishes that society’s values, beliefs, and
positions have a great impact on criminal justice and the rule of law.
Therefore, it is important to not only have an understanding of the
societal presentation of the chosen issue, but it is also extremely
important and beneficial to understand how to use the technological
tools available to us to identify issues, frame overarching messages,
and gain insight on the many perspectives on an issue. Students do this
by collecting tweets about a criminal justice issue of their choice and
performing textual analysis and data visualization to understand the
public's perception of the issue and how that might alter criminal
justice.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this assignments, students should be able to:
- Create data visualizations from a text data set
- Demonstrate critical inquiry of media
- Use data visualization to glean society's perspective on an issue and it's potential impact on the rule of law
Prerequisites
This is general education introductory course with primarily freshman
students. There is no expectation that the students are familiar with
the software used, but they must be present when the labs are done in
class. The assignment requires that the students understand that
society's beliefs, support or lack thereof, values, and mores impact the
ever-changing rule of law. They need to fully understand this concept
to critically evaluate how the societal perspective gleaned from the
data visualizations may impact criminal justice.
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CJ100 Introduction to Criminal Justice, Fall 2018
Notes
The tools and analyses were explained in class. Students were asked to make appointments with the Tech Fellows if they needed additional assistance.
Outcome summary
The next time I give this assignment, I would dedicate more class time to learning the tools and developing the Twitter datasets. I would also spend additional time going over writing the paper. Providing a sample corpus with a model paper that meets the guidelines would help, as would posting various other resources and guides.
Materials
From the web
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There are currently no web resources associated with this assignment.
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CJ100 Introduction to Criminal Justice, Spring 2019
Notes
After implementing this assignment in Fall 2018, I changed a few things including dedicating more time class not only to learning the tools and developing the data sets but also to writing the paper, providing a sample Corpus with corresponding paper that met the guidelines, and posting various other resources and guides. This was definitely helpful in ensuring students included all the necessary components of the assignment, and they did an excellent job using the tools and had much less difficulty compared to the Fall Semester. However, it seemed that this advancement in using the tools was accompanied by a weaker degree of critical thinking. The students did a good job of telling me exactly that the data visualizations were 'showing' but there was a great degree of weakness in taking that further and explaining what that could mean and how that may impact criminal justice going forward, which was really the crux of the assignment. The limitations were mostly seen in the reflection and critical inquiry.
Outcome summary
I plan on teaching this next Fall and will definitely change a few things. Rather than just having the paper due towards the end of the semester, I plan to have a presentation element mid-semester so that they can receive direct feedback from peers as well as from me, with the hopes of really prompting the critical thinking and elevating the final product.
Materials
From the web
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There are currently no web resources associated with this assignment.