Schedule | Fall 2015

September: 1, 8, 15, 22, 29| October: 3, 10, 17, 24 | November: 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 | December: 7, 14, 21, 28 5

Today
     
R 12/10
LAST CLASS

Homework

Bring to Class

Bring The Circle, and hard copies of all articles, chapters, and handouts that we have discussed since moving to the LSBE classroom.

 

Day 27. Conclusions, Exam Preparation

tree
In this session, you will use the provided Final Exam Study Tree to follow these directions.

Resources

Next Meeting
     
WEEK 16
FINALS WEEK:
R 12/17
 

Online FINAL EXAM via Moodle (open book, open note, 2-hour time limit)

Complete the two-hour final exam via Moodle sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today.

Remember to answer only three of the five questions.

If you have technical issues during office hours, call the ITSS Help Desk at 726-8847.

As a precaution, be sure to write each answer in text-editing software and save it in a file on your computer.

After you have completed each answer, copy the text into that question's text box in Moodle.

If you have technical problems with Moodle during the exam time, please copy the text of your answers into an email and send the email to me no more than two hours after the time you started the exam.

If you are using Firefox and have trouble typing into a text box, use the handle grip in the lower right of the text box to enlarge it slightly.

 

 

Semester Schedule:
September

Homework To Complete In Class

WEEK 1
T 9/1

 

 

 

Day 1. Introduce Class

Discuss Syllabus

Three Projects--One Theme:

Action, Identity, Community--the Physical and the Digital

What is Web Design?

Meaning and Presentation: CSS Zen Garden

Introducing the First Project

action project

See the due date and the "The Action Project" Assignment Page.

What is HTML?

"Next, we're going to take five weeks to learn the mechanics of web design with Dreamweaver and Photoshop...."

Exercise: HMTL

See the handout:Marking Up with HTML

For this exercise, we'll use the program

-- (on a Mac) "TextEdit" (use your computer's "Spotlight" search to find it;
-- (on a PC), use "Notepad" ).


Right-click on the whale image below, and save it onto your desktop in a new folder called "markup"
whale
When we complete the exercise, we'll save the result as "index.html" to the "markup" folder. .

We'll visit the page with a web browser

Then we'll open the page in Dreamweaver (we will learn more about the tag inspector on the lower left)

Finally, we'll save the "markup" folder onto a USB drive or in the "My Files" folder on your desktop (to be retrieved later).

Reconsider

Meaning and Presentation: CSS Zen Garden

R 9/3

 

Homework

 

1. Obtain all books and buy or designate a USB drive for use in this class.

2. Create the following set of nested folders on your USB drive (with all lower-case letters!):

web design

www

4230

exercises

action

assets

glocal

assets

scene

assets

3. Read the beginning of McFarland's Chapter 1, pages 3-36. Mark passages and details you don't understand and would like to discuss in class.

4. Bring the McFarland book to class

5. Read over syllabus and bring in additional questions

 

Day 2. About the Class

1. Questions on the syllabus?

2. Dimensions of the Class arrow

3. Questions on McFarland's pages 3-36

Idiom of Web Design

See the examples:

Follow-Up Markup Exercise

Files and Folders

Missing CDs

Getting Started with Dreamweaver

7. Set Up for McFarland's Chapter 1 "Test Drive" Tutorial (pages 38 - 63, due next time) arrow

 

WEEK 2
T 9/8

Homework

1. Complete McFarland's Chapter 1: Dreamweaver Test Drive tutorial, pages 37-67.

You will need to complete this chapter sitting at a computer with Photoshop installed. See Computer Labs ("Full Service" including Dreamweaver and Photoshop)

Important Reminder:

Note that on page 42 when McFarland tells you to browse and select the "Chapter01" folder from "MM_DWCC," you should instead choose the "Chapter01" folder that you copied to your "exercises" folder inside of "4230" which is inside of "www."

If you didn't copy this folder to "exercises" in class, be sure to do so before you go any further with this tutorial.

2. Read Chapters 2 and 3 of McFarland.

Day 3. Test Drive (C1)

Help Session

McFarland Help Session McFarland C1

Setting Up "www" Sites and Posting to the Web

moodle In class, we will follow the steps in the tutorial Setting up a "www" site to introduce our "www" folders to Dreamweaver, post the 4230 folder to the web, and visit that folder to copy the URL of the "about.html" page from McFarland's Chapter 1 to a Moodle forum.

We will also export your "www" Site Info onto your USB ("www.ste" file) so you won't need to go through the process of setting up this site again and again.

action project

Brainstorming ideas for "The Action Project"

Idiom of Web Design

See the examples:

 

 

R 9/10

Homework

Read

Chapter 2 of McFarland

Read and Complete

Chapter 3 and complete the tutorial in Chapter 3 "Introducing Cascading Style Sheets"

Day 4. Cascading Style Sheets (C3)

Importing Your "www" Site

  1. Choose Site > Manage Sites
  2. Click the "Import Site" Button
  3. Navigate to your USB drive
  4. Find and select the file "www.ste" from your USB drive to import it.

Help Session

McFarland Help Session McFarland C3

Posting Chapter 3

moodle Posting the Chapter03 folder to the Web

Action Project

  • Questions about "The Action Project"?
  • Career | Family | Entertainment | Community  
  • Two-sided clustering: before/after

Idiom of Web Design, the Action Project, and Poe's "Unity of Effect"

 

WEEK 3
T 9/15

Homework

moodle Read McFarland's Chapter 4, "Links," complete the tutorial, post it to the web, and send the URL to the "McFarland C4" Moodle forum.

Action-Focused Web Sites I

moodle Example of action-focused web sites. In the Moodle forum "Action-Focused Web Sites," provide the URL of a web site that is primarily intended to persuade and enable an audience to do some physical or social action.

Beneath the link, write a commentary that explains:

  • How the designer uses the "idiom of web design" to move the audience to act
  • How the choices of design help direct the audience to what they need perform this action

 

Day 5. Links, Action in the Idiom of Web Design, Rhetoric

Help Session Chapter 4

McFarland C4 "Links"

Action Focused Web Sites

Discuss the Action-Focused Web Sites you found and commented on.

How might these serve as positive or negative models for the Action Project?

Idiom of Web Design (Samples and Features)

 

  • Color: Feeling or Atmosphere
  • Visual Texture
  • Layout: Traditional v. Modern v. Contemporary v. Radical
  • Typeface, Fonts
  • Imagery
  • Focus: Visual Hierarchy
  • Clean /
  • Appropriateness

Unity of Effect (Poe)

Rhetorical Analysis

We can analyze how a web pages persuades its audience using the tools of rhetorical analysis.

Aristotle defined rhetoric as the "art of discovering the means of persuasion"

He broke these means down into three areas

  • Logos (appeals by way of reasoned argument, facts, ideas)
  • Ethos (appeals by means of the speaker's own credibility, likeability, character, trustworthiness, coolness, etc.)
  • Pathos (appeals to the audience's own identity or emotion)

 

 

 

 

R 9/17

Homework

Read Chapter and Complete Tutorial, Upload

1. moodle Read McFarland, Chapter 5 "Working with Images." and complete the tutorial "Inserting and Formatting Graphics"

Post the final product to the web, and send the URL to the "McFarland C5" Moodle forum.

Action-Focused Web Sites II

In the Moodle forum "Action-Focused Web Sites," look over the postings and reply to one (not your own) with a paragraph analysis of how the

  • unity of effect and
  • rhetoric (means of persuasion)

of that site attempts to prompt a specific action.

 

 

Day 6. Images (Chapter 5)

Image Tutorial Troubleshooting

Visual Hierarchy and Screen Real Estate

Visual Hierarchy Introduction

See Visual hierarchy

Discussion of Homework

Homework applying principles of visual hierarchy and screen real estate.

Readability/Usability, Screen Real Estate


Jakob Nielsen

Robin Williams' Design Principles that Achieve Visual Hierarchy

  • Proximity
  • Alignment
  • Repetition
  • Contrast

Banners in Photoshop I

moodle Exercise: Beginning Banner Techniques

We will make a new banner for the index.html page from your McFarland Chapter 1 exercise.

Copy the image file "logo.png" from the "images" folder of Chapter 01 to your "web design" folder (not "www"!) and open it in Photoshop.

Follow the directions on the Banner Techniques page for downloading the other image file we'll use to the same folder and opening it in Photoshop.

I will give you copies of the handouts: "Beginning Banner Techniques" and "Intermediate Banner Techniques."

 

WEEK 4
T 9/22

Homework

McFarland Chapter 6

1. moodle Read McFarland, Chapter 6 "Working with Tables." and complete the tutorial "Creating Tables"

Post the final product to the web, and send the URL to the "McFarland C6" Moodle forum.

Rate and Analyze in Moodle

Rate and analyze the following pages from CSS Zen Garden (1-5 with 5 being best) for the following criteria:

The Criteria

  • use of visual hierarchy,
  • use of screen real estate,
  • unity of effect realized in the idiom of web design
  • readability/usability

The Pages to Rate and Analyze

Write Two Paragraphs and Post

moodle In a reply to the Moodle Forum, "Visual Hierarchy and Screen Real Estate," provide the titles and clickable links to the pages listed in rank order.

  • Beneath the title and link of the page you rated best, write a paragraph about that page, addressing each of the criteria above.
  • Beneath the title and link of the page you rated worst, write a paragraph about that page, addressing each of the criteria above.

Be prepared to discuss the best and worst of what you analyzed.

Day 7. Tables (Chapter 6)

Getting Ready for Class

  1. Open up Dreamweaver and Photoshop
  2. In Dreamweaver, import your "www" site information
  3. In Photoshop, open up your Beginning Banner Techniques image from last time ("richlighthouse.psd") from your "web design" (non-www) folder.
  4. In Dreamweaver, open your Tables Tutorial page (C6) and discuss it with a neighbor.

Tables (Chapter 6) Troubleshooting

Visual Hierarchy and Screen Real Estate

Discussion: Your analyses of the visual hierarchy and screen real estate in 4 pages from CSS Zen Garden.

Robin Williams' Design Principles that Achieve Visual Hierarchy

  • Proximity
  • Alignment
  • Repetition
  • Contrast

Readability/Usability, Screen Real Estate


Jakob Nielsen

Complete Beginning Banner Techniques

moodle Exercise: Intermediate Banner Techniques

Intermediate Banner Techniques

moodleSee the page Banner Techniques.

I will give you copies of the handout: "Intermediate Banner Techniques." Also, any remaining copies of "Beginning Banner Techniques" from last time if you need them.

For inspiration, we'll look at the backgroud banner from Chapter Four's tutorial.

Resources

"Classic 45's CSS Zen Garden" from CSS Zen Garden

R 9/24

Homework

McFarland Chapters 7 and 8

Read

moodle Read McFarland, Chapter 7 "Working with HTML." and Chapter 8, "Finding and Replacing Text, Tags, and Code"

Do

Complete the tutorial "Building Pages in Live View," which will be our first attempt at creating a page from scratch.

Post

Post the final product to the web, and send the URL to the "McFarland C7" Moodle forum.

Day 8. HTML and Tags (McFarland's C7 and C8)

Getting Ready for Class

  1. Open up Dreamweaver and Photoshop
  2. In Dreamweaver, import your "www" site information
  3. In Photoshop, open up your Intermediate Banner Techniques image from last time ("richlighthouse.psd") from your "web design" (non-www) folder.
  4. In Dreamweaver, open your "Building Pages in Live View" Tutorial page (C7) and discuss it with a neighbor.

"Building Pages" (Chapter 7) Troubleshooting

Action Project

action projectChecklist

I will give you a copy of the evaluation checklist for the Action Project.

Turning in the Page

The Action Project will be due on a non-class-meeting day: next Wednesday, 9/30 by noon.

To turn the page in, simply follow the same process we've used for the McFarland tutorials:

  1. Save the page (name the file "index.html") and all supporting files in the root folder "action" (www/4230/action),
  2. Upload the entire "action" folder to your "www" folder on the UMD server
  3. Visit the page with a web browser
  4. Copy the URL from the browser's location bar
  5. Paste the URL--as a clickable link, please!--in the Moodle forum "Action Project URLs"

Turning in the Commentary the Next Day

The commentary will be due the day after the page itself at the beginning of class on Thursday.

Intermediate Banner Techniques

moodleSee the page Banner Techniques.

I will give you copies of the handout: "Intermediate Banner Techniques."

For inspiration, we'll look at the backgroud banner from Chapter Four's tutorial.

WEEK 5
T 9/29

Homework

Begin Action Project

If you haven't done so already, begin work on producing your Action Project page.

Bring

Bring all materials necessary to work on your Action Project page in class.



action projectDay 9. Studio Session for Action Project

 

Resource:Forms tutorial. (Note: if you put form fields on your Action Project page, you are not required to make them work as this tutorial directs.)

W 9/30

Action Project Due

moodle By noon, post your Action Project to the web and send a clickable link in a reply to the Moodle forum "Action Project URLs"

 

 

 

 



October
     
R 10/1

Homework

Action Project Commentary

I will collect your Action Project Commentary at the beginning of class. Please print it out double spaced.

Read Chapter and Complete Tutorial

Read and complete the tutorial for McFarland's Chapter 9 "Advanced CSS."

Upload and Send URL

Upload the completed Chapter09 folder to your "exercises" folder (www/4230/exercises).

As usual, visit the page with a browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a reply to the Moodle forum "McFarland C9."

Day 10. Introduce Scene to Scheme Project; McFarland C9: Advanced CSS

Collect Action Project Commentaries

Introduce Scene to Scheme Project

This project focuses on

  • using the "idiom of web design" to create an identity (rather than promote an action or address a virual community)
  • one way to invent a design scheme for a web page or site.

See the Scene to Scheme Project Assignment Page.

Sample Project: Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice

The Scene

See the scene starting at 12:10 in this video from the 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice.

Context for the Video

Mr. Collins is a clergyman attached to Rosing's Park, the manor house of Lady Catherine De Bourgh. By turns prideful and simpering, Mr. Collins cannot stop talking about the beauty of Rosings and the nobility of his patroness, Lady Catherine. Earlier in the nove/film, Mr. Collins was (ridiculously) a suitor to the story's protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett. After she rejected him, a friend of Elizabeth's accepted a proposal of marriage.

Mr. Collins' Home Page

See The Reverend William Collins, Humble Servant of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, created from a scene from Pride and Prejudice

Brainstorming a Scene

Discuss "Remember Earth Clearly" and its relevance to the S2S Project.

moodle Do the group exercise "A Design-Scheme Mockup from a 'Memory of Earth'"

WEEK 6
T 10/6

Homework

Read Chapter and Complete Tutorial

Read and complete the tutorial for McFarland's Chapter 10 "Choosing a Page Layout."

Upload and Send URL

Upload the completed Chapter10 folder to your "exercises" folder (www/4230/exercises).

As usual, visit the page with a browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a reply to the Moodle forum "McFarland C10."

 

 

Day 11. McFarland on Page Layout (C10)

Trouble Shoot Chapter 10

Questions?

Something on the Scene to Scheme Project?

Memories of Earth Groups Completed

moodle Revisit "Remember Earth Clearly"and do the group exercise "A Design-Scheme Mockup from a 'Memory of Earth'"

Show and Tell

Scrolling

See Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox column on "Scrolling and Attention"

We'll look at UMD's Home Page as an example.

Return of Projects

 

 

R 10/8

Homework

Read Chapters and Complete Tutorial

Read Chapter 12 "Designing Web Sites for Mobile Devices" and Chapter 13 "Building Fluid Grid Web Sites." Complete the tutorial for McFarland's Chapter 13

Upload and Send URL

Upload the completed Chapter13 folder to your "exercises" folder (www/4230/exercises).

As usual, visit the page with a browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a reply to the Moodle forum "McFarland C13."

Come in with 2 Passages on Paper

Come in with two possible passages for the Scene to Scheme.

Each of these passages should be "telling scene" that uses sensory details and specifically worded language to reveal some insight into a character and his/her world.

 

 

 

 

Day 12. Scene to Scheme; McFarland Responsive Design (C12 & 13)

Troubleshoot Tutorial from Chapter 13

Optional Revisions

See the page "Collaborative Revision Process." This process is governed by a Revision Contract.

Deadline for meeting with me about a revision of the Action Project is Thursday, November 12.

Questions?

...about the Scene to Scheme Project?

The Problem: Getting from Scene to Scheme

The Semiotic Square of visual vs. verbal, literal retelling vs. complete departure

The Answer:
Contrasts, Oppositions, Dialogics

Resources

 

WEEK 7
T 10/13

Homework

Bring all materials necessary to work on your Scene to Scheme Project in class.

Day 13. Scene to Scheme Studio Session

 

W 10/14

Scene to Scheme Project due by noon today.

moodle The page should be posted to the web, and the URL sent as a clickable link to the forum, "Scene to Scheme URLs"

 
R 10/15


Homework

Commentary on Scene to Scheme

Write, print, and bring in a 500-word commentary on the Scene to Scheme Project.

Read

Chapters 18 and 19 of McFarland: "Introducing Site Management" and "Testing Your Site"

Day 14. Introduce Glocalization Project

Why We Read McFarland 18 and 19

Three Projects--One Theme:

Action, Identity, Community--the Physical and the Digital

Introduce Glocalization Project

See the Glocalization Project Assignment Page

Topic and Angle

Resources

 

 

T 10/20

Homework

Topic/Angle Due By Noon

By noon today, use this form to send me a "topic/angle" for a potential Glocalization Project. This may or may not be the topic/angle you ultimately use.

The topic/angle may be in the form of an "as" phrase ("The Masters as a Rite of Spring"), or as a declarative sentence ("The Masters is a Fashion Show") or a description of purpose ("I will look at The Masters to show how..."). The topic/angle might be as short as a sentence fragment or as long as two sentences.

Day 15. Glocalization Topics and Angles

Questions?

See the Glocalizaiton Project Page.

Sharpening Topics and Angles

I will give you a copy of the Topics and Angles (Fall 2015), but you should also open this file up in Word on your computer.

 

R 10/22

Homework

Read Chapter and Complete Tutorial

Read the chapter and complete the tutorial for McFarland's Chapter 22 "Templates."

Upload and Send URL

Upload the completed Chapter22 folder to your "exercises" folder (www/4230/exercises).

As usual, visit the page with a browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a reply to the Moodle forum "McFarland C22."

Day 16 McFarland C22: Templates; Site Design and Menus

Troubleshoot Templates Tutorial

Soylent Green Cafe

Questions?

On the Glocalization Project? Anything else?

Menus (Some Terminology)

  • Link Anchors vs. Link Destinations
  • Internal Links vs. External Links

Site Design: Usability

See the MSP Airport Signage example

Analytical Aspect of Menus

Resources

 

R 10/22

Homework

Read Chapter and Complete Tutorial

Read the chapter and complete the tutorial for McFarland's Chapter 22 "Templates."

Upload and Send URL

Upload the completed Chapter22 folder to your "exercises" folder (www/4230/exercises).

As usual, visit the page with a browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a reply to the Moodle forum "McFarland C22."

Day 16 McFarland C22: Templates; Site Design and Menus

Troubleshoot Templates Tutorial

Soylent Green Cafe

Questions?

On the Glocalization Project? Anything else?

Menus (Some Terminology)

  • Link Anchors vs. Link Destinations
  • Internal Links vs. External Links

Site Design: Usability

See the MSP Airport Signage example

Analytical Aspect of Menus

Resources

 

WEEK 9
T 10/27

Homework

A Site Plan for Your Project

Come in with a site plan for your Glocalization Project on paper:

  1. a brief description of your topic and angle for the Glocalizaiton Project
  2. an explanation of the global audience and its connection to your local topic (identities, passions, interests, etc.)
  3. a list of the internal link anchors that could compose the menu items that will provide access to the pages of your site
  4. a short analysis of why you chose to chunk the content of the subject matter in this way, and to word the link anchors the way you did.

 

Day 17. Glocalization Project: Logos, Color

Color

 

Seven Contrasts of Color

"Huey Lewis Can't Compete So Stop Explaining."

  1. Hue
  2. Light and Dark
  3. Complementary
  4. Cool and Warm
  5. Saturation
  6. Simultaneous Contrasts
  7. Extension

Logos

 

 

R 10/29


 

No Class Meeting: Fall Break

 


November
     
WEEK 10
T 11/3

Homework

Work on your Glocalization Projects

 

Day 18: Image-Based Design

Resources

 

 

R 11/5

Homework

Bring all materials to work on your Glocalization Project in a Studio Session

Day 19. Glocalization Studio Session

 

WEEK 11
M 11/9

Glocalization Due

 
T 11/10

Homework

Glocalization Commentary

Write and print out the commentary for the Glocalization Project.

Be sure to review the guidelines for this project's commentary, as well as the guidelines for commentaries generally.

Download, Print Out, Read, and Mark:

David Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous.

  • Prologue,
  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 3

All are available from the "Readings" section of Moodle.

Class Will Be a Device-Free Zone

Please read these chapters on paper, and bring the hard copies to class.

Do not come to class without these hard copies, and do not plan on using a computer, laptop, or other device to refer to these readings.

Complete and Print Out

Complete and printout the Weinberger Reading Guide

Day 20. Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous

Discussion

Miscellaneousness vs. Geography

Resources

T 11/10

Homework

Print and Read

Download, print out, and read Roland Robertson's "Comments on the 'Global Triad' and 'Glocalization'."

Start with paragraph 9 that begins, "But having said, this, let me turn very briefly...."

Annotate

On your copy of Robertson's article, write in the margins at least three comments where you can connect what Robertson is saying to your Glocalization Project.

That is, look for the possible implications of what Robertson is saying to a fuller understanding your project's

  • effects,
  • intentions,
  • structure,
  • logic,
  • appeal,
  • production,
  • audience,
  • topic,
  • organization
  • etc.

Read and Bring:

The Web 3.0 handout I gave you in class last time

 

Day 21. Meet in LSBE 165!

Roland Robertson; Web 3.0

Final Exam Format

I will give you a hard copy of the Sample Exam Format.

Kinds of Things to Know:

  1. who said/thought/represents what
  2. transformative terms and statements
  3. components of important ideas and how they relate ("W" is made up of "X," "Y," and "Z")
  4. key distinctions made on the readings ("this vs. that")
  5. Make connections and elaborate narratives ("this goes with that," or "this leads to that" or "this is like that")

Active Reading

See Active Reading

Discuss Glocalization: Terms and Ideas

globalization, anti-globalism, relativization, indigenization, glocalization, totemic places, particular and universal.

Semantic Web

Discuss the Web 3.0 handout

Resources:

Optional Revision of Action Project

Deadline for Meeting about any Optional Revisions

 

WEEK 12
T 11/17

Homework

Chris Anderson

Download, print out, read, and mark Chris Anderson's The End of Theory.

Use the practice of Active Reading discussed last time.

Reading Question: Much of what we learn at college are conceptual models, analytical methods, or theories. However, Anderson argues that "big data" will makes these obsolete.

- Mark three quotations that help explain why Anderson thinks so.

In fact, will the access and analysis of data make the very idea of education obsolete?

- Mark two quotations that you can elaborate on to either support or critique Anderson's thesis.

Pierre Levy

Download, printout, and read (using Active Reading) Pierre Levy's "Collective Intelligence," available from the "Readings" section of Moodle.

Complete the Levy reading guide, and print it out to turn in.

Day 22. Anderson and Levy. Meet in LSBE 165!

Review Robertson

"Comments on the 'Global Triad' and 'Glocalization'."

Semantic Web

Discuss the Web 3.0 handout

Chris Anderson

models, agnostic, science is target, correlation is not causation vs. correlation is enough, Google as model,

Pierre Levy

Anthropoligical Spaces, Knowledge Space, Subjectivity

Resources:

 

WEEK 12
R 11/19

Homework

Bolter's and Grusin's Remediation

Download, read, mark, and bring to class a hard copy of Chapters 1 and 2 of Jay David Bolter's and Richard Grusin's Remediation.

Read This First

While I am not assigning you Bolter's and Grusin's "Introduction"--which is slow to define remediation as a term--please read the following key passage carefully to give you a context for understanding what these chapters are attempting to do:

We will argue that...new media are doing exactly what their predecessors have done: presenting themselves as refashioned and improved versions of other [older] media. Digital visual media can best be understood through the ways in which they honor, rival, and revise linear-perspective painting, photography, film, television, and print. No median today, and certainly no single media event, seems to do its cultural work in isolation from other media, any more than it works in isolation from other social and economic forces. What is new about new media comes from the particular ways in which they fashion older media and the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the challenges of new media (14-15).

Remediation, then, is a process by which one medium repurposes characteristics of another medium: the ways that a web page, for instance, might imitate features of an Old-West Wanted poster or a mid-century newspaper's front page.

Answer these Questions, Print, and Bring Them In

Copy and paste these questions into a text file and type your answer in a paragraph beneath each.

In each answer, quote Bolter and Grusin (with the page number cited parenthetically) at least once.

Print your document and bring it to class.

1. What are "immediacy" and "hypermediacy," and how do they differ from one another?

2. How do "immediacy" and"hypermediacy" relate to "remediation"?

3. Describe what you think is the most interesting and revealing example of remediation from the chapters. What did this example make you understand (or think about) concerning the relationships of various media.

4. What is the role of "reality" or "authenticity" in Bolter's and Grusin's discussion of media?

A Warning about Class Being a Device Free Zone

Do not plan to use a laptop, tablet, or cell phone in class.

Printing these assignments, reading them on paper, and bringing the hard copies to our meetings are absolutely necessary steps to being prepared for class each day.

If you attempt to use a device in class instead of a printed copy, I may or may not cause a scene by asking you to leave, but I will mark you absent for not being prepared.

Day 23. Bolter and Grusin. Meet in LSBE 165!

Discussion of Bolter and Grusin

Terms and Ideas

remediation, immediacy, hypermediacy, reality, authenticity

Resources

 

 

WEEK 13
T 11/24

 

 

No Class Meeting: Optional Conferences

 

If you could like to schedule an optional conference during our classtime, please email me at <cstroupe@d.umn.edu>.

I will list the times of already scheduled conferences below:

 

 

R 11/26  

Thanksgiving: No Class Meeting


December
  Homework To Complete In Class
WEEK 14
T 12/1

Homework

Read The Circle

David Eggers' The Circle, through page 306 (end of Book One).

Obviously, this holiday break is a good time to get ahead on things, so finish The Circle if you can.

Thought Questions:

On The Daily Beast, James Poulous has described this novel as part of a "hipster...insurrection" against contemporary society's "insatiable technoconsumerism":

Hipsters are often accused of fashionable contrarianism, relevant only to a marginal, self-styled elite. That’s a charge increasingly out of sync with reality. Only a group with as strong a hold on our attention as hipsters could launch an insurrection against the plugged-in life -- against its winners, in the name of its losers. And today, the anti-web mentality is primed to go viral.

Rebellion is already stirring amid the wreckage of our pre-internet creative industries. Remember the novel? The Circle, hipster laureate Dave Eggers' new one, is a blistering attack on the philosophical and anthropological foundations of the web economy: he has one character observe that "privacy is theft." 

In what ways does Eggers criticize social media, high-tech culture, and the "web economy"?

In what ways does Eggers give them a hearing?

Come to Class With 3 Page Numbers and 3 Sentences

On paper, write down

  1. 3 page numbers of quotations that answer the questions above,
  2. a sentence explaining the context of each of the quotations and its implications for Eggers' critique of social media.

 

Day 24. Egger's The Circle 1

Resources

R 12/3

Homework

Read The Circle

Read David Egger's The Circle, through page 399, if you haven't finished it already.

Thought Questions

Mae, and much of The Circle generally, seem to be motivated by positive impulses and desires.

Eggers shows that Mae usually doesn't recognize the dark side of these positive intentions or their consequences.

  • How does Eggers lead the reader to understand these dark consequences of The Circle's "completion" which Mae herself doesn't see?
  • How does Eggers attempt to make Mae believable as a character in her unconsciousness or denial of these negative consequences?

Write a Paragraph

Write and bring to class, on paper, a substantive paragraph in which you answer the questions above, quoting from the novel at least three times (with page numbers cited parenthetically).

Day 25. Egger's The Circle 2

 

Terms and Ideas

parable, allegory, collective intelligence, capital.

Resources

 

 

WEEK 15
T 12/8

Homework

Read The Circle

Read David Egger's The Circle, through the end.

Thought Questions

  1. How do the three founders of The Circle differ from each other in their roles and interests?

    In what ways do they allegorially represent different aspects of digital culture or modern society (or at least Eggers' dystopian version of it)?

  2. Annie declares near the end of the book, "I don't know if we should know everything." This suggests that Eggers' book is not just about "communication" or "community," but about knowledge (as in Pierre Levy's "knowledge space").

    In the novel, what are some ways Eggers demonstrates the dangers of being able to know everything? What are the advantages he suggests of not knowing some things?

 

Write a Paragraph

Choose one of these questions and answer it by writing a subtantive paragraph on paper, quoting the novel at least three times with the page numbers cited parenthetically.

 

Day 26. Egger's The Circle 3

Terms and Ideas

Completion, intentions, communism, capitalism, alllegory, knowledge space (Levy),

R 12/10
LAST CLASS

Homework

Bring to Class

Bring The Circle, and hard copies of all articles, chapters, and handouts that we have discussed since moving to the LSBE classroom.

 

Day 27. Conclusions, Exam Preparation

tree
In this session, you will use the provided Final Exam Study Tree to follow these directions.

Resources

WEEK 16
FINALS WEEK:
R 12/17
 

Online FINAL EXAM via Moodle (open book, open note, 2-hour time limit)

Complete the two-hour final exam via Moodle sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today.

Remember to answer only three of the five questions.

If you have technical issues during office hours, call the ITSS Help Desk at 726-8847.

As a precaution, be sure to write each answer in text-editing software and save it in a file on your computer.

After you have completed each answer, copy the text into that question's text box in Moodle.

If you have technical problems with Moodle during the exam time, please copy the text of your answers into an email and send the email to me no more than two hours after the time you started the exam.

If you are using Firefox and have trouble typing into a text box, use the handle grip in the lower right of the text box to enlarge it slightly.