Essay 1 - instructions

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You have to write an individual essay twice during the course; one in the beginning and one more right when the course ends. Writing these essays are compulsory. Below are the instructions for the first essay.

Please download and use the template that is available in Bilda (Bilda/DM2571 fmed14/Documents/130908 FoM essay 1) when you write your text. Use your family name to name your file ("Pargman essay 1") and upload it to the "drop box" that has been created exclusively for this purpose in Bilda (see "contents"). Do note that you can only upload the file formats .doc, .docx (MS Word) or .pdf to the drop box.

If you have any practical or other questions about this task, please ask them in the form of a comment to this blog post so that others can see the question and the answer!

Deadline for handing in the essay is Monday Sept 8 at 13.00 (just before the Monday lecture). I'm sorry for the delay in handing out the instructions, but, this task is meant to be neither comprehensive nor especially time-consuming.

Instructions

1A. "Expectations and apprehensions". 

This is the 12th time the course is given. Some students have previously seen one or several final presentations and have furthermore (perhaps) talked with older students about the course - while others know very little beyond the course introduction that was given at the beginning of the week. In both of these cases, it is important for us teachers to avoid misunderstandings, to adapt the course according to the participants' preferences (where possible) and to explain why that is impossible in other instances.

Please write 200-600 words (0.5 - 1.5 pages) about your hopes and expectations, or your fears and apprehensions about the course as it now starts - based on whatever information you have available right at this moment. Perhaps you have opinions about the form or the content of the course that you would like to voice?

1B. "My relationship to the digital commons, the sharing economy and collaborative consumption". 

Please write 400-1000 words (1 - 2.5 pages) about your personal relationship to the theme of this year's course. What if anything does the digital commons, the sharing economy and collaborative consumption mean to you? Have you or do you use any services that belong to these categories? If so, which and in what context? If you have no idea of what the digital commons and the sharing economy is about then read this short article from The Economist (2013), "The rise of the sharing economy", have a look at these Ted talks or check out this absurdly long directory with 1000's of companies that are active in this area. If you haven't used any such services, why do you think that is? Have your habits changed lately or at some earlier point in your life*?  Have you ever been involved in not just consuming but also in creating and sharing "resources" of some kind on the internet (or off the internet)? Are there already at this point some issues that you find particularly interesting and that you would like to immerse yourself in (or suggest that someone else should immerse themselves in) during the project phase of the course?

*I (Daniel) for example habitually check Airbnb before I search for a hotel if I am travelling somewhere these days... 

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