1996 Writing for Electronic Media: Class Schedule

WRITING

FOR ELECTRONIC MEDIA

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE

Unit 1 Week 1: Taylor Text Week 2: Turkle 1995, Lustiger 1992, Fetterman 1989 Week 3: Zuboff 1988, Rheingold 1993

Unit 2 Week 4: Benahum 1994, Bush 1945 Week 5: Boese 1996, Tuman 1992 Week 6: Negroponte 1995 Week 7: Birkerts 1994, Lanham 1989

Unit 3 Week 8: Bolter 1991, Joyce 1995 Week 9: McKnight, Dillon et al. 1991 Week 10: Atkinson 1993, Redish 1993 Week 11: Barnum 1993 Nord and Tanner 1993 Week 12: Duin 1993

Unit 4 Week 13: Ruiz 1988 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16

Note: Please stay on top of class activities, since this is only a rough guide of what we will be doing and when. I like to make adjustments as student needs and interests (or computer glitches) dictate.

Unit 1: Staying afloat in a world of nonlinear, multi-threaded discourse.

Project 1: Asynchronous Electronic Writing.
Semester-long, weekly participation in electronic class bulletin board, SSMinnow.

Week 1

Tues. Jan. 16: Classes begin. Course introduction. Grading criteria.

Thurs. Jan. 18: MacLab Computer Orientation. Bring blank disks. Make crib sheet.

Reading Assignment for Week 2: Turkle 1995, Lustiger 1992, Fetterman 1989.

Week 2

Tues. Jan. 23: Listservs and News Readers. Participant-Observation.

Thurs. Jan. 25: Participant-Observation Reports Due. Class Discussion f2f.

Reading Assignment for Week 3: Zuboff 1988, Rheingold 1993.

Week 3

Tues. Jan. 30: Reading Discussion. Criteria settled.

Thurs. Feb. 1: Work on Class Web.

Reading Assignment for Week 4: Benahum 1994, Bush 1945.

Unit 2: Mastering Text-based Virtual Environments: Purposeful and Informal Spaces

Project 2: Synchronous Electronic Writing.
Practice writing in Class MOO space leading to an hour-long presentation, an evaluated debate performance.

Week 4

Tues. Feb. 6: Introduction to MOOing.

Thurs. Feb. 8: MOO Class Discussion. Participant-Observation.

Reading Assignment for Week 5: Boese 1996, Tuman 1992.

Week 5

Tues. Feb. 13: Reading Discussion. Participant-Observation Reports Due.

Thurs. Feb. 15: Criteria Discussion. Criteria Web.

Reading Assignment for Week 6: Negroponte 1995. Debate Topic, To Be Announced.

Week 6

Tues. Feb. 20: President's Holiday NO CLASS

Thurs. Feb. 22: MOO Debate, Evaluated Performance. Logged Session.

Reading Assignment for Week 7: Birkerts 1994, Lanham 1989.

Week 7

Tues. Feb. 27: Begin Contacting Web Clients. Get approval. Discussion of logged MOOtext.

Thurs. Feb. 29: Revise Criteria Web. Postmortem on MOOs. Future Projections.

Reading Assignment for Week 8: Bolter 1991, Joyce 1995. By now you should be familiar with the first half of your Taylor text, through Chapter 7.

Unit 3: World Wide Web: Creating a Comprehensive Web Site for Real World Clients.

Project 3: Design and write a comprehensive Web Site.
Audience Analysis, Initial Presentation, Revision, Updated Presentation, Self-Evaluation.

Week 8

Tues. March 5: Introduction To Nonlinear Navigation, Structure, and Thinking. Participant-Observation.

Thurs. March 7: Web Work Day. Applying what you've learned. Home Page Linkups.

Reading Assignment for Weeks 9 and 10: McKnight, Dillon et al. 1991Concentrate on working with your Client, collecting information, interviewing sources, and designing your web site. Use Spring Break to lay the groundwork, as this project can be time consuming. Plan Ahead! Read Ahead. Atkinson 1993, Redish 1993.

Week 9

Tues. March 12: SPRING BREAK NO CLASS

Thurs. March 14: SPRING BREAK NO CLASS

Week 10

Tues. March 19: Participant-Observation Reports Due. Informal Oral Presentations. Criteria Web discussion.

Thurs. March 21: Audience Analysis Report Due. Design Conference Room Orientation.

Reading Assignment for Week 11: Barnum 1993 Nord and Tanner 1993

Week 11

Tues. March 26: Initial Web Site Presentations. Peer Review Comments Due.

Thurs. March 28: NO Formal Class Meeting. Revision Work Day.

Reading Assignment for Week 11: Duin 1993.

Week 12

Tues. April 2: Updated Beauteous Presentations. Self Evaluations Due.

Thurs. April 4: Polishing Up Work Day, Conferences, Grading Session.

Reading Assignment for Week 13: Ruiz 1988.

Unit 4: Class Collaborative Final Project

Project 4: Writing Yourself on CD-ROM--You ARE the Text.
Collaboration, Initial Presentation, Revision, Updated Presentation, Self-Evaluation.

Week 13

Tues. April 9: Introduction to Final Project. Planning Session.

Thurs. April 11: Orientation to Authorware/Director

Reading Assignment for Week 14:

Week 14

Tues. April 16: Participant-Observation CD-ROM Session. Work Day.

Thurs. April 18: Design Conference Room Session. Participant-Observation Reports Due.

Reading Assignment for Week 15

Week 15

Tues. April 23: Final Criteria Web Complete. Revise and Polish CD-ROM Material.

Thurs. April 25: Project Wrap-up and Postmortem.

Week 16

Tues. April 30: Last Day of Class. Final Presentations.

This site is best viewed using Netscape 1.1+.

Unit 1	Week 1: Taylor Text	Week 2: Turkle 1995, Lustiger 1992, Fetterman 1989	Week 3: Zuboff 1988, Rheingold 1993
Unit 2	Week 4: Benahum 1994, Bush 1945	Week 5: Boese 1996, Tuman 1992	Week 6: Negroponte 1995	Week 7: Birkerts 1994, Lanham 1989
Unit 3	Week 8: Bolter 1991, Joyce 1995	Week 9: McKnight, Dillon et al. 1991	Week 10: Atkinson 1993, Redish 1993	Week 11: Barnum 1993 Nord and Tanner 1993	Week 12: Duin 1993
Unit 4	Week 13: Ruiz 1988	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16