Description
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Unit 7: Assignment #3 (due before 11:59 pm Central on WED MAR 6):
a. As promised, we now come to the point in our course where we talk
about cats and the Internet.
b. First, learn about the pre-Internet history of the public’s use of cats for
emotional engagement by doing the following:
1. Read through Public Domain Review’s summary of the 1911 (!)
book Kittens and Cats: A First Reader to see the public’s love
for “Cats and Captions before the Internet Age.”
2. Read Know Your Meme’s (no date) brief background on the
1970s cat sensation, “Hang In There, Baby” (and take a look
at one of the iconic 1970s “Hang In There, Baby” posters).
c. Next, learn about some of the more famous Internet-cat personalities
by doing the following:
1. Watch the original “Keyboard Cat” YouTube video.
2. Meet Grumpy Cat, who appeared on the Today Show, Good
Morning America, CBS Evening News, Anderson Live,
American Idol, a season finale of The Bachelorette, and WWE
Monday Night Raw and who unexpectedly passed away in May
2019.
3. Cruise through the LOL Cats website.
4. View the original “I Can Has Cheezburger” photo.
d. Then, to better understand why there are so many photos, gifs, and
videos of cats on the Internet – and why Internet-users get so much
emotional pleasure from watching and sharing photos, gifs, and
videos of cats, read each of the following articles. [Spoiler Alert: No
one knows for certain why, but numerous hypotheses have been
proposed.]
1. Tian Jin’s (no date) article, “3 Hypothetical Reasons Why
Cats Are Popular on the Internet.”
2. Elizabeth Fish’s (2012) article, “Why Does The Internet Love
Cats?” (4 hypotheses)
3. Amy-Mae Elliott’s (2010) article, “The Million Dollar Question:
Why Does the Web Love Cats?” (7 hypotheses)
4. Jack Shepherd’s (2014) article, “Why the Internet Loves Cats
– Not Dogs.” (2 hypotheses)
5. Perry Stein’s (2012) article, “Why Do Cats Run the Internet?
A Scientific Explanation.” (4 hypotheses)
6. A press release about Radha OʼMeara’s research on why cat
videos are a ‘crowd pleaser.’ (1 hypothesis)
7. And, for an alternative perspective, Keith Spencer’s (2017)
article, “Goodbye Kittehz, Hello Doggos?”, in which the
author argues that dogs are overtaking cats on the Internet (2
hypotheses for why Internet users are starting to prefer
watching dog videos over cat videos)
e. Go the Unit 7: Assignment #3 Discussion Board and make a new
post, of at least 200 words, in which you do the following:
1. First, identify (using the author/s’ name/s) and describe one of
the hypotheses that no one else in your section has yet
identified and described.
2. Second, state whether you agree with this hypothesis. If you
agree, why do you agree; if you don’t agree, why don’t you
agree?
3. Third, state whether the hypothesis is scientifically testable. If
you don’t think it is, why don’t you think it is? If you think it is,
how would you scientifically test the hypothesis?
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
