The Impact of Podcasts on Community Information Access and Sharing Capabilities

Please follow the requirements given by the teacher and contact me if you have any questions. If this proposal is approved, I will ask you to complete the final essay.Thank you.

This assignment is to a standard academic research paper. Your papers are expected to make use of original research (i.e., you MUST go beyond the readings listed in the syllabus), develop an original insight or perspective, and put forth an original and compelling argument. Instructions for Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography The proposal component of this assignment is to both get you thinking about your final paper early in the term and to provide an early opportunity for you to get some feedback on your ideas. Your task is to provide a basic outline of what you intend to do in your final paper, and the proposal should contain three basic elements of information: 1) provide a clear outline of your paper’s topic including your proposed research question (i.e., describe WHAT your paper will be on), 2) indicate why it is a significant and worthy topic of investigation (i.e., explain WHY this topic is appropriate and important with respect to this course), and 3) provide an outline of how you intend to organize and carry out your investigation (IOW, provide a brief preliminary outline of your final paper) by introducing the examples or case studies you will use to illustrate your argument (i.e, explain HOW you will organize your paper). Your annotated bibliography should have 3 scholarly sources, none of which are assigned as course readings (you can use course readings as sources for your final paper, but NOT for the proposal). Each bibliographic entry should provide (1) a properly formatted bibliographic entry (APA style, preferably), (2) a brief summary of the source, and (3) a brief description of how it is appropriate to your chosen research topic. Each annotation should be between 1/3 to 1/2 a page, doublespaced. ** Please note that the 3 scholarly sources requirement is for the proposal ONLY. Your final paper will require AT LEAST 5 more sources. ** Suggested Research Topics 1) Profile an alternative media organization of your choice. Pay attention to its historical development. What inspired its founders to create the organization? Does it cooperate with other similar organizations? What sort of challenges has it faced over the years? What, exactly, makes it alternative? 2) Compare similar alternative media organizations across national boundaries, history or technologies. For example, how is community radio different in Canada and the United States? How is pirate radio constituted differently in the UK and the US? How is alternative news podcasting different from alternative or community radio? 3) Do an historical overview of a particular alternative media practice. What are the origins of this particular practice? Are there related or similar practices in different media? Has there been any sort of social, cultural, legal or economic resistance to the development and proliferation of this practice? Be sure to provide a compelling argument as to why your chosen focus constitutes an alternative media practice. 4) In the current era of resurgent far right-wing populism, ethnic nationalism, and autocratic leaders like Donald Trump around the globe, the idea of “alternative media” has been co-opted by those on the far right to cover their own media outlets. How does this application of the concept of alternative media fundamentally clash with those presented in this course? In your answer, be sure to directly explore and reference at least THREE definitions of alternative media in line with the course perspective (and the scholars who provide them) and include concrete examples to illustrate your argument. 5) How has the Internet helped transform a particular alternative media practice? How has it changed the conditions for practitioners or audiences? Has it made things easier, or more difficult? In what ways? Be sure to clearly identify the media practice you are talking about, as well as describe its history and the dynamics of change you are identifying. ***NOTE: This is NOT a general question about how the Internet has changed the media. Be sure to clearly define the alternative media practice your paper will be exploring, and be sure to provide a discussion of what makes this practice alternative in the first place. 6) Develop and propose your own topic. If you wish to do this, it is a very good idea to consult with me before either part of the assignment is due.