Resources & Logistics
v. 1.0
[Essentials] [Schedule] [Resources + Logistics]
Section Outline
DIGITAL PLATFORMS
We will use a few different digital platforms for sharing class resources and assignments, linked below:
DROPBOX
Dropbox will be used primarily as our shared portal for geospatial data and other heavy files– the “back end” for storing and managing technical course materials. You will be able to access course materials throughout the quarter.
ARE.NA
Are.na is a free platform for saving digital content, creating collections of that content, and connecting with other collections and members. We will use Are.na as an informal space for gathering interesting materials, posting work-in-progress (WIP), and sharing resources with each other. It’s a simple and useful tool to quickly bookmark, collect, and organize digital media without knowing exactly where you’re heading, or what that material will do for you in the longer term. Students, artists, and designers often use it as an individual and/or collective repository for images, videos, texts, and other media; you’ll inevitably spend time exploring other members’ collections, called channels, and the items they contain, called blocks. You can either clip directly from your web browser (using a plugin) or manually link or upload materials.
MEDIUM
Medium is the publishing platform where you’re reading this syllabus. We will use it for posting information about the class, like this document and weekly lab assignments and step-by-step tutorials, as well as original contributions by you all for individual and group work. We will use Medium, in effect, as a course publication that will be built throughout the quarter. By the end of the course, we will have published a small online zine together, featuring your creative and critical work!
CARGO
We have also requested free student accounts from Cargo, a popular website builder for artists, architects, designers, and others with creative personal or professional needs. You can create accounts using this code: 07d6d8d8.We will not be covering how to build a personal website in this class — there simply isn’t time!– but you are welcome to explore how Cargo works for you within or beyond the scope of the course. While we will use Are.na and Medium to post work, you may find that you want to build a portfolio for future use that features work made in this class or elsewhere.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN + LEARNING WITH DIFFERENCE
We want this course to be accessible to as many different modes of learning and thinking as possible. The class will, by necessity, explore several ways of approaching, looking at, experiencing, and interacting with a variety of texts and spatial media. We intend these to not only expand the accessibility of the conceptual material we’ll cover, but to enrich everyone’s creative and critical capacities for thinking, making, and learning. Disability studies scholars have long shown that “disability” is a relation between people and environments, not personal trait or individual property; in this spirit, we want to shift from a framework of accommodating disability to designing for physical and neuro-diversity as a universal individual and collective condition for learning. We believe, in other words, that where learning with difference is always the starting point, universal design is good for everyone — including (and perhaps especially) instructors!
There are two primary ways we’ll go about this.
First, we will be inviting each of you to complete an anonymous and optional survey every week to assess what we can do to better design our lectures, discussions, and assignments for this unique class (as individuals and as a collective). This will not count as part of your participation grade, but it’s ultimately an opportunity for us to communicate about the class in a more nuanced way than a typical end-of-term evaluation. The survey does not ask or require you to share any information about a disability; disclosing disability status is entirely your choice, and protected by federal law. We also always welcome your personal feedback if you feel comfortable talking to us directly! If you feel there are structural barriers to your full participation in the course, whether that entails the physical environment or particular activities or assignments, please let us know as soon as you can. In the event you want to communicate beyond the anonymous surveys, we will always keep these discussions confidential.
Second, the university makes a range of resources available through Student Disability Services (SDS). The process of making use of those resources is summarized here. If you have a documented disability, we encourage you to register with SDS to get support through official accommodation. You can contact them via email at disabilities@uchicago.edu, call them at (773) 702–6000. Their offices are located at 5501 S. Ellis Avenue.
ON LAND + LABOR
At root this course is about how collective spatial imaginaries are mediated by complex entanglements between ways of thinking and seeing. In that spirit, it is crucial to resituate and reground where we understand ourselves to be imagining from — the homelands of Peoria, Miami, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi Nations— and how these social spaces have been built — with unfree and economically exploited African and African American labor. The tools of geographic visualization, moreover, have often been central to abetting or perpetuating those legacies in and around Chicago, whether through settler-colonial land surveys or practices of redlining. There are many critical perspectives on the importance of acknowledging these truths that simultaneously point out their necessity (as part, for instance, of Native protocols of hospitality) while critiquing the all-too-often performative aspects of acknowledgment without concrete action (especially, for instance, around “land back” demands for the return of stolen and illegally occupied Native land). Similar critiques have been levied from the point of view of Black labor, accompanied by powerful arguments for reparations here at UChicago. Because this course does not directly contribute to those struggles, we offer this land and labor acknowledgment with humility and the hope that the tools of critical spatial media can be put to work for justice. To learn more, the library has assembled some excellent resources that inform this section.
LOGISTICS
CLASS EXPECTATIONS + POLICIES
In-class expectations:
The basics: Come prepared, give attention generously, get engaged. Participate in ways that thoughtfully direct your particular strengths and sensitivities toward our individual and collective work. Always, always be patient and careful with yourself and your class comrades in that work, whether it’s creative or critical. Don’t weaponize your experience or expertise, and be open to the different experiences and expertises of others. Help build a space attuned to how we can thrive within and beyond the scope of the course!
In practice, that means following a few common-sense ground rules:
- Never be on your phone, on social media during class, doing unrelated work/play, using a device that makes sounds, or being dismissive, aggressive, or discriminatory.
- Sometimes: (but not always!) take notes, look something up, and/or refer to readings on your laptop or tablet.
- Any time: write or draw notes/ideas/schemes with a pen or pencil; ask a question/make a comment (raise your hand first please!) during lecture, discussion, or lab
Attendance:
Attendance in both weekly class sessions is required, and unexcused absences will affect your attendance grade. We understand that important things — family or personal issues, religious holidays, illness, and so on — come up, so please try to let us know as soon as possible if you know you’ll miss lecture or lab and we can discuss how best to catch up. If you miss more than 3 classes, you’ll need to come in and see us to discuss what’s going on, as passing the class may become a problem. Please note that we cannot offer make-up lectures or lab sessions due to individual absences.
Late work:
Echoing our policy on absences: we recognize that things come up. If you need an extension on an assignment for a reasonable issue, let us know as soon as possible. Unexcused late work will be accepted up to 72 hours after the due date, and will result in a reduced grade for the assignment by 25% per day. After 3 late assignments, you’ll need to come in and see us to discuss what’s going on, as passing the class may become a problem.
Office Hours:
Office hours are divided into 15 minute blocks for shorter meetings, but you can schedule two in a row if needed for discussing something requiring more time, like midterm/final or for group sessions. We recognize that schedule conflicts are inevitable and we may need to work on finding time outside of designated OH; if you need to chat, we will always find time to do so within a reasonable timeframe.
To give everyone the chance to receive individual and small group feedback for midterm and final projects, please make sure to schedule at least 1 OH session before midterm and 1 session after midterm but before the final.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Let’s keep this simple: Be honest about the sources of your work, and always give credit where credit is due. If you’re not sure, ask. This is especially important for the brave new worlds of digital making, including coding and cartography. Plagiarism is not acceptable under any circumstances, and it’s your responsibility to make sure your work maintains integrity as required by the University and demanded by the ethics of the academic community.
Just so we’re entirely clear, if you need a refresher, here is the University policy on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism from the Student Manual:
It is contrary to justice, academic integrity, and to the spirit of intellectual inquiry to submit another’s statements or ideas as one’s own work. To do so is plagiarism or cheating, offenses punishable under the University’s disciplinary system. Because these offenses undercut the distinctive moral and intellectual character of the University, we take them very seriously…
Proper acknowledgment of another’s ideas, whether by direct quotation or paraphrase, is expected. In particular, if any written or electronic source is consulted and material is used from that source, directly or indirectly, the source should be identified by author, title, and page number, or by website and date accessed. Any doubts about what constitutes “use” should be addressed to the instructor.
Citations
For citations, use the Chicago Manual of Style.
