Session 1: Today we will be discussing and distributing the take home final essay questions. Although the curriculum in our program focuses heavily on the technical aspects of interactive media design and development, it is important to examine the purpose and direction of this technology. These final essay questions focus on the impact of web applications on you and your community as well as society at large. Draw on your experiences implementing Open Source applications, developing your own tools, and from the films and reading assignments in class to form your answers. Please write a minimum of one double spaced page per question. Due on Session 2 week 11.

1. Web applications have a significant impact on the way we lead our lives today. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace along with e-commerce sites like eBay, Amazon and iTunes have changed the way our society operates. Beyond email and instant messaging, how have web applications effected your day to day activities? Are these effects on our lives positive or negative and in what way?

2. If you had the means to create any kind of web enabled, interactive application that doesn’t currently exist what would it do? How would it improve your personal life, workflow, art, or community?

3. Out of all the web applications we have looked at in this class, what do you find the most functional and well developed? What makes this application stand out? What purpose does it serve and how do organizations and individuals use this software?

4. What role do you think Open Source software and Open Content will play in the future? Will sites like Wikipedia play a role or are they too unreliable to be taken seriously? Will Open Source software be viable or are we better off using propriety software?

Session 2: Final project progress reports are scheduled for today.