Thursday 1/18: Jeff Collins, Technical Communication MS candidate presents "Navigating Hypertext: Relevance, Usability and Control." Discussion of navigational techniques in hypertext. Brief overview of RCS tools, including basic UNIX commands.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read LeMay pp. 98-201 (Ch. 5-8; Days 3-4); also read:

Week 2

Tuesday 1/23:Discussion of papertext vs. hypertext. Is the writing  really different? In-class quiz #1. Review LeMay; discuss Search Engines and other online resources for writers. Ethics discussion: is stealing (borrowing?) code "plagiarism"?
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read LeMay pp. 206-292 (Ch. 9-12; Days 5-6); Porush Chapter 1 and Appendix A.

Thursday 1/25:Kevin Hunt, Assistant Editor, Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine presents "The Rhetoric of the Homepage." In-class writing day; Q+A with Karen and Mick regarding HTML basics and RCS setup. Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Finish LeMay. If you do not have a homepage, you should build one over the weekend. Doesn't have to be anything spectacular -- just someplace to start! Also read:

Week 3

Tuesday 1/30: NO CLASS. All students should schedule a 20-minute conference with Mick (and/or Karen) on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. This is a REQUIRED CONFERENCE. You must finish LeMay, build a starter homepage and have all journal assignments complete BEFORE attending.

Thursday, February 1: Chris Lapham, News Editor, Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine  presents on "The Electronic Newsroom." Discussion of the hierarchical structure of news production and how this relates to linear vs. hypertextual writing environments.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Visit this source and analyze it for structure and content:

Week 4

Tuesday 2/6: Graphics Day!!! Karen answers questions from any and all regarding the use of graphics on our websites. Practical and theoretical question welcome!
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read Porush chapters 2-3.

Thursday 2/8: In class "quiz" #2. Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday.
[Mick will miss class today; he is presenting a paper at the Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Computers and Writing Conference called "The Netorical Situation: Kludging Linear Thought into Hypertextual Realms."]
Assignment: Assess another group's effort at Quiz #2 (as assigned). Read Porush chapters 6-8. Also read:

Week 5

Tuesday, February 13: Discussion: >Writing! ... Grammar, usage and mechanics; why a lecture like "Our Friend the Semi-Colon" doesn't have to happen in a collaborative multi-media writing environment -- even though semi-colons (and their ilk) should still be used correctly! Review Quiz #2 and discuss relevant issues.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list.

Thursday, February 17: Amelia DeLoach, Links Editor, Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine  presents "Linking Because We Should, Not Because We Can." Remainder of class spent in discussion led in MOOSpace by Greg Siering, Links Editor, Kairos.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read Porush, chapters 14-15.

Week 6

Tuesday, February 20: NO CLASSES, Institute holiday.

Thursday, February 22: In-class presentations: everyone should come prepared to "pitch" their proposed contribution to the final publication to everyone in class.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read Porush, chapters 17-21 carefully.

Week 7

Tuesday, February 27: Catch-up day. In-class writing and responding. Finish your contribution to the collaborative website done as Journal #6, and read everyone else's contributions. Where should there be links? Finish your abstract (see Porush Chapter 7!) for your proposed final project, code it and place it in the "abstracts" subdirectory of our syllaweb. Re-read the class syllaweb and post any and all questions or comments you have to the class list -- essentially, you are re-thinking your very first journal assignment with the benefit of having taken almost half the class now!
Assignment: keep working on whatever you haven't finished in class.

Thursday, February 29 (Leap Day! ): Continue work from Tuesday. Class MOO session.
Assignment: Review carefully Porush; discuss with your partners for Quiz #3 how you can approach the Tuesday in-class writing. Where do "writing" issues closely become "writing to the WWW" issues? Where do they intersect? Where don't they?

Week 8

Tuesday, March 5: In-class quiz #3. Gradeable products due by the end of class.
Assignment: Journal entries, posted to class list. Read some of the webs done by/for other classes working in the same area. What are your reactions?

Thursday, March 7: NO CLASS; midsemester review conferences. All students should schedule a 20-minute meeting with Mick (and/or Karen) on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. This is a REQUIRED CONFERENCE. You should come prepared to discuss the work you have done in class to this point, and the topic(s) and tools you want to pursue for the remainder of the semester.
Assignment: Think about how you want the class publication to "look." Come back from break with ideas! Required: Enjoy Spring Break.

Friday, March 8: Last day to drop a course or to add/remove a Pass/No Credit designation; Spring Break begins after final class.

Week 9

Tuesday, March 19: Fun with meta-text! In-class writing, using the prompts provided on the class e-list.

Thursday, March 21 Discussion of coding issues; review metatext: why? Assigned: By next Thursday, have a "rough draft" of your front node and several other pieces of your personal final project in place for consideration by other members of class.

Week 10

Tuesday, March 26:
Work in assigned small groups, discussing collaborative strategies and what the role of your editing team should be in the larger project.

Graphics: meet with Karen. Code: follow up on discussion of March 21. Copy: Gather appropriate resources into one accessible place. Content: make a list of possible questions/responses you might use in challenging people to make better webs. All groups should post, by the end of class, a "position statement" defining how they see their role in the group process, and most importantly what the expect from their classmates.

Thursday, March 28:
In-class writing and revising. Work on responding to the work that has been done by your classmates, in your role as a member of one of the editing teams. Address e-mail comments to them, or better yet, insert "comments" in their coded text. CAREFUL: be sure that only one person has a document open at each time. Much work can be lost, otherwise!!!

Incidentally, Mick will not be in class; he is helping lead a workshop at the national Conference on College Composition and Communication called "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally on the World-Wide Web."

Week 11

Tuesday, April 2:
In-class writing. By Friday of this week, have URLs to give to Mick and Karen for both your final project and your meta-text, so we can comment on your in-progress work!

Thursday, April 4:
Group work; in-class writing and revising. Get those URLs ready!

Week 12

Tuesday, April 9:
Guest presentation from Lynne Cook, Chief Copy Editor for Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine.  Come ready with questions ... you may wish to ask specific questions about the texts we are working on in class.

Thursday, April 11: Gender issues in writing. First half of class: guest presentation (speaker TBA; awaiting confirmation) ... second half of class, MOO session on these issues. Mick will not be in class, physically; he is presenting a paper at the Texas Tech University Conference on Communication called "Hypertext as Social Act: Rhetorical Invention and Writing to the Web."He will attend the MOO session remotely from Texas.

Week 13

Tuesday, April 16 and Thursday, April 18
Production Week #1
Assignments: as announced.

Week 14

Tuesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 25
Production Week #2
Final copy edit and link check; last-minute stuff (and there always is) ...
Assignment: Finish the publication!!!
Additional assignment: Argument for grade (explained in class)) due by Friday at 5:00.

Week 15

Tuesday April 30: Last Day of Class! Send announcements about our publication to all appropriate listservs and newsgroups. Course evaluations. Class photo. (Seriously!) Last-minute wrap-up. Discuss final exam for those who wish to take it.

Wednesday, May 1: All classes end.

Thursday May 2 and Friday, May 3: Study Review. No classes.

Exam Week

Monday May 6 - Friday, May 10: Our exam time and place TBA.

Grades will be available on Wednesday, May 1 to help you decide if you'd like to take the final. If you take the exam your final grade will be available 48 hours after the scheduled exam time or Friday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m., whichever comes first!