Assignment+Guidelines

MUS 250 Eurovision 2009 Wiki Project— Details & Guidelines


 * Each group of 4 students has been assigned to a participating country for the 2009 Eurovision song contest. Collectively the group will compose a “wiki” page about their assigned country/artist. The required elements of the wiki page are listed below. Be sure to address the issues, questions, or other content stipulations for each section. Feel free to be creative and have fun, but do take the assignment seriously!


 * Each student will be evaluated individually and as a member of the group. Points for individual participation (i.e. posting/editing actively and on time) will combine with an overall evaluation of the wiki as a whole (with each student in the group receiving the same score for collective effort in rigor and content). Pay attention to deadlines, and draw on the various communication resources available to you within both the Wikispaces site and Blackboard to keep the group work lively and equitably distributed.

DEADLINES & DATES: There are several important dates to keep track of, all of them listed clearly in the syllabus. Here are some details on each one:

May 11 & 13 = In-class group meetings; I will post a schedule to Blackboard and the Wikispace homepage, but each group will have ONE fifteen minute meeting during our regular class meeting time on either May 11 or 13. I will be talking with each group, helping to sort out approaches to the Eurovision wiki project. Each group member must be present, and you only need to come for your meeting slot.

May 8 = By midnight of May 8, each group must have posted at least two of the four required sections for the Wiki; these may be drafts (i.e. you can edit them up until the final deadline), but they should be robust and demonstrate substantial work.

May 15 = By midnight of May 15, each group must have completed their Eurovision 2009 wiki page; any edits after midnight will not be considered in the grading of the projects.

WIKI SECTIONS: There are four required sections to the wiki, and for the sake of standardization they should appear in the order listed below. They do not have to be completed in that order, however. Each section must be labeled clearly, and you are encouraged to include content other than text. A text-only wiki, however, will be just as likely to receive full credit. Each section should be between one and three paragraphs long! In this case, a paragraph is more than three sentences, and should convey the required information. The wide paragraph range should account for the differential in information pertinent and available from one country to the next; e.g. a country in EUROVISION for the first time this year will not have as extensive a history with the competition as, say, the United Kingdom. See my sample wiki for examples on how to approach each section; there are many ways to complete this assignment, however, so do not feel that your wiki must look like mine.

1. Artist biography: A biographical sketch of the act (solo or group) representing the country you have been assigned. Information you might include: musical history (i.e. other bands, training, career high/low-lights); discography; non-musical tidbits; and description of style/genre. This section should provide a vibrant portrait of the individual(s) representing your assigned country.

2. Song information: A sketch of the song to be performed for the competition. Find out who composed it, what it is about, what language it is written/sung in, and what people are saying about it (either in the “home” country or elsewhere). Include a description of the sounds (i.e. a “listening diary” of sorts) and attempt to fit it into a genre and/or style. You may include lyrics and/or translations, but these will not contribute quantitatively toward your paragraph count.

3. Narrative of the entry: A description of the particular story about how this act/song made it to the competition. Include discussion of the national search (i.e. competitions within the home country), as well as information pertaining to the particular country’s involvement in this year’s Eurovision competition. It is here that you will include any scandal, conflict, or cultural politics that emerged in the search for a national pop music representative for your assigned country.

4. Country’s EUROVISION history: An overview of the country’s long-term involvement in Eurovision. How many times has it participated? Won? Any important/unique facts about past performances by national representatives? If the country has not competed before, is there a story there? It is in this section that you may be able to address dynamics connected to defining “Europe” and the scope of this competition (depending on your particular country).

TIPS: Here are a few tips toward creating a successful group wiki on your assigned Eurovision participant.

1. Communicate! Within Wikispaces, there is a ‘Discussion’ tab on each page that allows users to talk with each other via text messages; you may also use email (via Blackboard, specific to each group) or the discussion board in Blackboard connected to each group. You can also meet in person! However you do it, keeping in touch with each other will lead to overall better projects.

2. Divide the work, but take collective responsibility: I do not dictate how you sort out the workload, and most groups will likely have one person compose each of the four sections. However, given that your final grade will be a combination of your own individual effort and the collective product, keep in mind that you have responsibility for the whole thing as a member of the group. Simply posting your ‘section’ does not constitute fulfillment of group responsibility. The workings of a wiki depend on everyone editing and checking everyone else’s work, contributing and discussing in order to make a cogent and comprehensive entry. That said, if one group member slacks off, others may have to step in and take up that slack; in grading, I will be able to track such unequal efforts.

3. Put your group’s wiki page in our MUS 250 Wikispace: In their rush to dive into the assignment, groups in the past have created their own Wikispace instead of building a page within our course space. Doing so makes things much harder to manage, so please be sure to keep your work within our course space.

4. Do a lot of research! I have provided some starting points for gathering info (eg. the Eurovision official site), but there are many more sources of info out there. As we approach the contest finals, more blogs and sites will appear as fans around the world gear up for the culminating performances/voting. Draw on these resources in order to keep your wiki entry as up to date as possible.