ENGL 4010: Course Intro Slide Deck (SP23)

Planetary Sensing
English 4010

Introduction
How can we use digital media to not only write about the world but to also change how the world
shows up for us—to change how we see, hear and touch the world (and senses beyond even
these)? That is the central question for this course, and it is the primary work of this course as well.
To focus that work, this course will take up the concerns of environmental justice and
climate collapse. We find ourselves in a moment wherein our individual and collective capacity to
sense the environment and environmental change is vitally important. How can we render
ourselves and others sensitive to the environment in ways that generate meaningful responses to
problems such as environmental injustice and climate collapse?
Students will develop a collaborative research project built around the sensing capacities
of a digital tool and directed toward a local environmental issue. How can one deploy
microphones to investigate the presence or absence of animal life in a particular location? How
can one utilize aerial photography (e.g., a drone) to map access to green spaces? How can one
use social media (e.g., Twitter) to trace the health concerns of individuals near damaged or
otherwise unhealthy environments? Student research projects will culminate in a
sophisticated and compelling report collaboratively composed to persuasively address
(and possibly redress) their chosen environmental issue.

Course Projects
Social Annotation & Participation
We share our thoughts on course readings by using Hypothes.is, an online annotation application.
Annotations vary from person-to-person, but our overriding goal is to share reactions, questions,
interests, and dis/beliefs through annotating our readings together. Annotations take the form of
comments, questions, intra- and inter-connections, and links. Annotations, crucial, add to the
readings.
The Issue Survey
This 1,000 word document briefly surveys the issue you plan on researching. At minimum, the
survey should define the contours of your issue (e.g., themes, locations, human and nonhuman
actors, history, stakes, etc.). This isn't yet your research proposal or plan, but it should lead you to
the research questions and methods you subsequently develop.
The Logbook
Following Jennifer Gabrys in How to Do Things with Sensors and drawing from Sara Pink and
others, this 2,000 word document should meticulously outline what and, more importantly, how
you are researching: the methods, digital and analog tools, research questions, key terms, actors
(human and nonhuman), events, locations, and sources you employ/deploy.

Course Projects
The Report
Near the conclusion of your (field) research, you begin designing and writing your final report,
which should be a sophisticated and compelling document composed to persuasively address
(and possibly redress) your chosen social issue. The details of this document will be discussed in
more detail later, but it is important to note here that the expectations for this document are
exceptionally high. We devote at least a month to drafting, designing, laying out and revising this
report. I fully expect this to be one of the most challenging pieces of rhetoric and writing
you have so far produced at SLU. To that end, of course, I promise to provide the tools,
instruction, and scaffolding necessary to insure your success.
The Research Binder
At the conclusion of this course, you submit a research binder. This binder includes every piece of
paper you generate over the course of the semester. The binder is thus a living archive. As an
archive, it should have an organizational scheme that makes it accessible to both you and your
instructor. Individual entries should be dated and described (e.g., quiz, reading-journal, notes,
etc.). In addition to labeling individual entries, the binder itself should be organized in a coherent,
compelling and accessible way. As an archive, it should trace the work of cultivating yourself as a
researcher and writer.

Course Projects
30%
10%
5%
15%
40%
Issue Survey
Logbook
Report
Research Binder
Social Annotation

Calendar