This assignment leads students through an analysis of media coverage of the 1965 Watts uprising. The intention is for students to learn more about the uprising and how a database can be used as a digital humanities tool.

For this assignment, students will spend time as a critical media observer - namely, their own uses of media in a 72 hour period.

There is a large body of research on corporate ownership and control of traditional media, such as print, television, and radio. Comparatively, research about corporate control of what we see online is underdeveloped, yet search engines are often the first place students uncritically look for research as opposed to the library website, catalogs, and discovery services. Dr. Safiya Noble shows that Google image searches for black women often perpetuate and reinforce dominant narratives involving racism and misogyny.