Author: J.J. Sylvia IV

In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to the spread of not only a deadly virus, but also new conspiracy theories and confusion over evolving scientific advice about how to best protect oneself from the virus. At this moment, we face the intersection of both a global virus pandemic and an infodemic. 5G networks have been falsely linked to the spread of the virus (Ahmed et al., 2020). Others believe the virus is a hoax that is propelled by fear-mongering media (Relman, 2020). The CDC changed its guidance on the necessity of wearing masks to limit transmission…

Presenters: Collin Bjork (Indiana University), Jeffery A. Sternstein (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Brent Lucia (William Patterson University), and Jason Barrett-Fox (Weber State University) This panel on “Posthuman Futures for Rhetoric, Composition, and Pedagogy” examined the posthuman futures of rhetoric through two key aspects fo the field, ethos and pedagogy. Collin Bjork introduced the panel, situating it in the context of prior work in the field (see image above). This panel seeks to move beyond meta-level discussions about what posthuman rhetoric might be and instead explore ways that it might actually be used in practice. Collin Bjork, “Bitcoin and Posthuman Cumulative Ethos” Bjork transitioned into…

How can I make the theoretical critique at the heart of the Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society course more tangible to my students? This was my driving question as I began developing the syllabus for my STS 214 course at North Carolina State University. One of the assignments previously used in the course was an activity based around inventing a new technology. With this assignment, students worked together in groups to compose a simplified patent application. In 2013, NCSU libraries launched a new Makerspace with the opening of the Hunt Library branch. I had been brainstorming ways to integrate makerspace…