Syllabus

Fall 2006

Course Information: 9:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m., in SSB 216. ref # 12793. Course home page: http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/f06/5250/

Professor Information:
Dr. Craig Stroupe, cstroupe@d.umn.edu, 218-726-6249, Humanities 425, Office Hours Tuesday/Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon or other times and days by appointment.

Purpose | Expectations | Resources Needed | Grades

Purpose

In this class, you'll learn specific, creative techniques for writing and designing in electronic media like the Web.

This course is designed to give you skills, practice and understanding toward realizing the following goals:

  1. repurposing print discourses creatively and appropriately into New Media environments;
  2. using writing to conceive, visualize and design New Media texts
  3. discussing your work in critically informed ways;
  4. writing critically and knowledgeably about issues and questions raised by digital culture and New Media, particularly the relationship of the online world to the social, civic, professional and political experiences of physical space;
  5. conceiving and carrying out writing/design projects that engage potential audiences on a variety of levels;
  6. participating in and contributing to a community of writer/designers; which are especially necessary in the creation of texts for institutions, businesses, and civic organizations;
  7. using a variety of software to create New Media texts for electronic delivery, especially via the Internet.

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Expectations

Exercises and Projects

This course is essentially a series of exercises and projects. We'll do the exercises together in class to learn particular skills or techniques, and you'll have 24 hours after the class meeting to complete and post each exercise to the Web for credit.

As described on the Works Page, the projects are larger pieces of work that you'll complete individually over a period of two or three weeks using the skills you've learned from the exercises and insights from the readings and class activities. Four of the projects are Web sites/hypertexts. Two of them are essays about the New Media.

There is a three-point penalty per day for late projects, including the annotations that are explained below.

Due dates for all requirements are included in the online schedule, which will be updated throughout the semester.

I will give you detailed directions for submitting particular, finished projects and exercises. The following, however, are some general guidelines:

All Web-based projects should be:

  • posted to the Web,
  • the URL sent to the Webx discussion board
  • a written commentary printed out (not e-mailed) and handed in at the beginning of the first class meeting after the due date. The commentary is an integral part of the assignment, and will count significantly in the evaluation.

Commentaries

The commentary should explain—in at least one substantive paragraph, and no more than two pages—how your project fulfills the criteria and goals of the assignment. More than just a list of mechanical features, your commentary is a chance to make big claims for your project as you look back at it—even if you weren't aware of everything you were accomplishing at the time you were working. Your commentary should explain why you did what you did.

This explanation should also reflect the depth of your understanding of the assignment and the meaning of your work in fulfilling it: that is,

  • what it asks you to do rhetorically and creatively,
  • what issues of writing and design it raises,
  • what's interesting about it as an occasion for social, cultural, civic, or cultural work
  • what it led (or leads) you to realize about new media writing.

Other Writing and Design Work

In addition to the design, creation, and writing of the exercises and projects themselves, you will complete:

  • writings on our online Webx discussion board
  • plans and preliminary writings or designs for your projects,
  • peer critiques for workshops
  • other writings.

While there is no final exam in this class, you will have assignments due by that time and date, which are specified on the schedule.

Readings

On days when readings are assigned, please do the following:

  • have the readings done by the beginning of class;
  • expect brief quizzes or guided reading responses at the beginning or end of class. There are no make-ups on these responses if you are absent, late or leave early.

Attendance

Since this class will function as a community of writer-designers, your regular attendance is absolutely necessary.

  • Absences in excess of 3 (over 10% of the class meetings) will deduct 3 percent each from your overall grade.
  • These 3 possible absences can be spent however you wish and so there are no "excused" or "unexcused" absences. Save your "free" absences for a rainy (or snowy) day.
  • If you are absent, you are responsible for all material covered in class.
  • In the case of absences or lateness, some requirements like quizzes and guided in-class activities cannot be made up when timeliness or group interaction is critical.
  • In addition to your budget of allowed absences, you also have 3 instances of arriving late or leaving early to use (with or without an excuse) if necessary. Instances in excess of 3 will decrease your overall grade by 2 percentage points each. If on some occasion during the semester you need to leave class early, even if it's one of your three allowed instances, please arrange it with me in advance.

Participation

A larger goal of this course is to establish a community or network of writer-designers—with a wide variety of backgrounds, expertise, and interests—to enhance your learning and enjoyment during the next sixteen weeks. The class is designed to provide a number of avenues for this community building, including peer workshopping and critiquing, in-class production work, support groups, and various Internet-based communications and collaborations. Your sincere and regular contributions to maintaining this collaborative environment will count in your grade and of course will greatly benefit your final products in the course. Because your work is the subject matter for this course, turning in all projects and writings on time is critical; work turned in late will be assessed a 3% penalty per day.

Special Needs

If you have a disability, either permanent or temporary, which might affect your performance in this class, please notify me at the beginning of the semester. Methods, material, or testing will be adapted as required for equitable participation.

Incompletes

Incompletes for the semester will be given only in the following very limited circumstances:

  • you must contact me in advance of the semester's end to make a request for an incomplete;
  • no more than one or two weeks of class, or one or two assignments, can have been missed;
  • you must be in good standing in the class (not already behind, in other words);
  • you must have a documented family or medical emergency, as required by university policy;
  • you must arrange a time table with me for completing the missed work that is acceptablefor both of us.

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Resources Needed

  • Tarin Towers, Dreamweaver MX for Windows and Macintosh, Peachpit Press
  • Janet Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck, MIT Press.
  • a UMD e-mail account
  • a USB drive (a.k.a., jump drive, pocket drive, thumb drive) for saving and transporting your work (at least 100 Mg.)
  • occasional access to a digital camera, which can be checked out from ITSS.
  • access to a printer, or funds for printing

Grades

  • Your work on the six major projects and various exercises (weighed according to the size and complexity of the project): 85% total
  • Participation in class generally, including in-class activities and contributions, online discussions, attendance, conferences, quizzes, peer workshop responses, Webx discussions, class discussion, promptness: 15%

Purpose | Expectations | Resources Needed | Grades | Top