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5.3.7 Practice: If I Were a Cyberstar I’d Use My Power To . . .

Practice Guide

Media Literacy (S2318458)

Date: ____________

Now’s your chance to develop a social cause campaign in which you imagine using the power of networking through the Internet to cause a change in the world that you want to see happen. In this activity, you will identify a social cause that is important to you. You will describe this cause (what you want changed in the world or society) and some specific ways people could help or take action. You will also describe in detail your plan for using the Internet to spread the word about your social cause campaign — using social media, networking, and more — and think of other uses of media to help catch people’s attention.

Your final social cause campaign presentation should be at least two to three paragraphs in length, and include at least one media piece (or an idea for media use) for your campaign.

Step 1: Understand the Assignment

Rewrite the assignment in your own words. Underline any important words that help you focus on the task.

Step 2: Choose Your Social Cause and Explore Your Piece

Review your notes from the lessons for information that might help you with the assignment.

The first step is to identify your social cause. Think about what sort of problems you would like solved in society. You can look over work that you have done in this course and blogged about to help you pick a social cause, or think about problems or issues you see in the paper or in your immediate community. Your cause can be local, national, or international. It can be related to politics, the environment, human rights, or something else. Use this space to come up with three to five different ideas, and then underline the one you’re most excited about working on.
Note: It’s O.K. if your social cause is a very large one, or one you’re not sure how to solve yet. You might not be able to solve this problem all at once, but you can still plan a social cause campaign that can make a meaningful and positive difference.
Once you’ve chosen the social cause you want to focus on, describe it here. Then describe at least one way your social cause campaign could encourage people to change or take action in order to help solve this problem.
Now write a list of five ways you would use the Internet to convince people to follow your campaign and make this change. For example, you might use the Internet to network, ask celebrities to be your campaign’s spokespeople, connect to cyberstars, or use social media.

Step 3: Write Your Plan

Using your ideas and notes above, as well as any new ideas that come to you as you work, write two to three paragraphs in which you describe your entire social cause campaign. Identify the cause, what you want to change, how you will use the Internet to influence people to make this change or take action, and ideas for the media you would use in your actual campaign (or you may include actual media examples if you want).

Use a separate piece of paper if you need more room.

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Step 4: Read Back and Revise

When you’re done writing, read back through your work and make sure it reads smoothly, is written in complete sentences, contains everything you meant to include (especially details and examples!), and that any spelling or grammar errors are fixed. Good work!

Step 5: Present Your Creative Ideas

Now decide how you would like to share your social cause campaign to an outside audience in the form of a presentation. You don’t have to make your presentation yet (although you are welcome to!) — you just need to describe how you would want to share your social cause campaign in the form of a class presentation.

Some options for your presentation include giving a speech based on your two- to three-paragraph description of your campaign, making a visual presentation of your social cause campaign (such as a poster, a video, or a collage), and so on. Use a separate piece of paper to describe your presentation.