Unit4: Welcome to the Digital Age/Era!
Intro:
Social networks, PCs, tablets, apps... Here are a few of the best-selling items in the last 15 years. The world entered the digital age and this had a tremendous impact on everybody's way of life. In this Unit, we will try and reflect on the ways social media make the world a better place to live in.
Survival kit:
Download this file and add whatever you think is important.
Step0 (intro) + Step1:
Step0: Intro + the pros and cons of new technologies (main facts):
- Digital Revolution:
Definition (Techopedia)
Révolution digitale : s'adapter ou mourir (a very interesting article in French)
- Social networking:
List of Social networking websites (Wikipedia)
The History of Social Networking (A video which is both funny and thorough, an Odd Tod
Cartoon, Time)
What is social networking? (A very useful website to collect whatever information you need about social
networks)
Mashable (One of the most famous websites about social networking)
Step1: New technologies can be a CURSE: The dark side of new technologies:
- The dangers of the Internet or new technologies:
4 Dangers of the Internet (webmd.com)
Internet dangers (Protectkids.com)
Cyberbullying (StopCyberbullying.com)
Internet trolls (The Guardian)
Cyberattack (Techopedia)
Filip Smartwatch (Laptop)
The Facebook whistleblower (doc1b)
Prince Ea: "Can we auto-correct Humanity?"
"Can we auto-correct Humanity?" (with French lyrics)
Prince Ea's song about Freddie Gray and Mike Brown (cf Unit2)
Prince Ea's official website (doc1a below):
Step2: Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding: How these new trends empower people:
(doc2a)
What is Crowdsourcing? (Business News Daily)
Top 100 Crowdfunded Companies (Entrepreneur.com)
Predicting the Growth of Crowdsourcing
The rising popularity of crowdfunding (Financial Times)
- Famous crowdsourcing websites:
Patients Like Me (doc2b)
"Petitions are going viral, sometimes to great success", NPR (doc2c).
-WeThePeople: online petitions on the White House website
Step3: The tremendous power of the Internet: How new technologies have changed the world:
- YouTube:
"How YouTube Changed the World" (The Telegraph) doc3a
= How YouTube changed LEARNING
(Hajar, Martha, Clémentine, Noah, Magali and Théo) / Your google.doc
- How A.O.C. (Alexandria Ocasio Cortez) channels the power of YouTube, Twitch, Twitter etc in POLITICS : doc3b
"Here is why A.O.C. is a political powerhouse" (CNN)
(Alexandre, Paul, Baptiste, Malo, Ariunzaya, Emma, Leyan)) / Your google.doc
- A counter-argument: the spread of QAnon (a far-right group and conspiracy theory) through the Internet: doc3c
a counter-argument
(CSIS) + BBC link
(Emmanuel, Charles, Evan, Justine, Hamza, Angus) / Your google.doc
Step3 (follow-up): Silicon Valley and Tech entrepreneurs:
"The Political Leanings of Silicon Valley" (New York News and
Politics)
"Mark Zuckerberg in Washington to lobby for immigration
reform"(Los Angeles Times)
"The 30 Most Influential People in Tech" (Forbes)
"Palo Alto's New Tech Barons" (Departures)
Here are Jack's answers about Silicon Valley for you!
Translate! Practice!
From French into English:
-"Comment les marques vous espionnent sur les réseaux sociaux" (Le Nouvel Obs)
-"Crowdsourcing : le crash-test" (Girls in ze web)
-"La Silicon Valley affectée par le "shutdown" américain" (Les Echos)
From English into French:
-"Crowdsourcing rules for Super Bowl ads", USA Today
Reading comprehension:
The pros and cons of crowdsourcing
The Promises and Pitfalls of Social Media for Police(NPR)
The Change in crowdfunding regulation (Bloomberg)
Tech moguls and charity work (New York Times)
Listening comprehension:
Pictures or cartoons:
Go further:
- General knowledge:
-The rising influence of social networks in politics: link1, link2, link3.
-"Ideasphere", a Chicago event
-Facebook's tactic
to motivate its employees
-"People Power" : Wikipedia
- Movies:
The Social Network (2010)
Jobs (2013)
Steve Jobs (2015)