Syllabus

Spring 2003, Tues. and Thurs. afternoons, 2:00 -3:15 in Campus Center 42. Section 01, #47064. Course home page: http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/3220/

Dr. Craig Stroupe, 726-6249, Humanities 424
cstroupe@d.umn.edu; Office hours Tues and Thurs mornings, 9:30 - 10:30 or by appointment

Purpose | Expectations | Resources Needed | Grades

Purpose

The Lock Ness Monster is our emblem for this course because "Nessie" exists only in visual culture. Since the 1960s, she has served globally as a visual rhetoric to express the yearning for the mysterious, the unexplained, and the mythic, as well as to support a minor tourist industry around Inverness, Scotland. Consider for a moment how many other hopes, fears, ideas, understandings and memories that we share as a culture exist in the life of the mind not as words but as visual objects or spatial maps.

In this class offered through the Composition department, we will explore the creative, rhetorical, technical and social possibilities of creating graphic projects, using the methods and perspectives of writing, rather than those of Computer Science or Graphic Design. At the same time, our textbooks and other resources draw eclectically from many disciplines, including a digital art, statistics, childrens' literature, engineering, and software design.

Since this is a university class, you are here not simply to learn the mechanics of graphic production, but to become skilled in interpreting and directing the use of visual discourses strategically and intellectually. Ultimately, the subject matter of the class is not only the graphic work that you will do but also the ways you'll discover to conceive, describe and contextualize that work in words.

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

1. employing principles of rhetoric and design to create visual projects that convey information and insight;
   
2. creating projects that effectively combine visual and verbal discourses;
   
3. discussing graphic work in critically and historically informed ways;
   
4. working with teammates and clients in productive relationships;
   
5. using a variety of software to create graphic projects for delivery via the Internet;
6. engaging potential audiences of visual texts on a variety of levels;

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Expectations

The Projects

The five graphic projects (numbers 1-3 and 5-6) are sequenced to progress from smaller assignments using basic image-editing techniques to larger projects that use visual rhetoric to realize more sophisticated critical and informational tasks. On the Assignments Page, these and other major projects are listed as numbers (1-7). In addition to posting these graphic projects to the Web as HTML pages, I will also ask you to print out the images (black-and-white is fine) and hand these hard copies in on the due date (or the next meeting after a non-class-day due date). I am assuming no background in HTML- or image-editing software.

The fourth and seventh assignment will be an analytical essays which will give you the opportunity to reflect on your experiments with graphic communication and visual rhetoric/culture generally.

There is a three-point penalty per day for late projects, including the hard copies.

Other Writing and Design Work

In addition to the design, creation and/or writing of the projects themselves, you will complete

• exercises to learn and practice technical skills in Dreamweaver and Photoshop (done in class, though you have 24 hours after the class meeting if necessary to post the completed exercise for credit)
• analytical or speculative writings on the readings in our textbooks,
• plans and preliminary writings or designs for your projects,
• peer critiques,
• other writings.

Many of these writings will be kept in a journal, as numbered "journal entries," which you will turn in at the end of the semester and perhaps periodically during the semester. The exercises will be designated by letters (A-Z) on the Assignments Page to distinguish them from the major projects (labeled numerically). On days when readings are assigned, you can expect brief quizzes or to write and turn in "pop" 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 three (over 10% of the class meetings) will deduct 2 percent each from your overall grade.
• These three 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 three instances of arriving late or leaving early to use (with or without an excuse) if necessary. Instances in excess of three will decrease your overall grade by a percentage point 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.

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Resources Needed

• Weinmann and Lourekas, Photoshop 7 for Windows and Macintosh, Peachpit Press
• Molly Bang's, Picture This, Little Brown, 2000
• Edward Tuft's Visual Explanations, Graphics Press, 1997
• a UMD e-mail account
• a 100MG Zip disk for saving and transporting your work
• occasional access to a digital camera, or several high-density, IBM-formatted floppy disks for use in a digital camera to be checked out from UMD
• access to a printer, or funds for printing
• a flat binder to organize and keep in-class writings (journal)

Grades

• Your work on the seven projects (weighed variously according to the size and complexity of the project): 60% total
• The quality and consistency of your exercises; insight and extent of your assigned, occasional writings (including the lettered assignments and journal entries); performance on quizzes and guided readings: 30%
  
• Participation in class generally, including in-class activities and contributions, peer workshops, group work, promptness, attendance in class and individual scheduled conferences: 10%

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