Schedule | Spring 2013

calendar


Current Meeting and Next Homework

 

     
F 5/10

Homework

Bring all materials to work on your Essay+ Project in class

Last Day of Class
Studio Day: Essay+

Course Evaluations

Permission to Display your Projects in Future Classes

Please complete the brief Permission Form.

Students who agree to permit display of their projects in future classes become collaborative partners in the development of the course, the program, and UMD generally.

Consider providing permission--with any restrictions you'd like to include--for future students to benefit from your work this semester.

I will be emailing you a response to the Writing in Augmented Space Project

Studio Day

 

FINALS WEEK
T 5/14

 

"Essay+" Assignment due by 4 p.m on Tuesday, May 14

1. Essay Hard Copy

Submit a hard copy of your essay to my mailbox in Humanities 420

2. URL to Moodle

Post a message containing a clickable URL to your trailer as a reply to the forum "Essay+ Movies." Be certain that the .mov or .mp4 file plays. I would suggest posting the video file to YouTube where it would be streamed for smoother, more reliable play.

Resources

 


 

Semester Calendar

 

January


   
WEEK 1
W 1/23

In Class: Introduce "New Media Writing" and "The Social-Creativity Project"

Terms

  • New Media
  • Writing
  • Reading
  • data entry
  • writing
  • "New Media's Always Very Tricky"

 

Handout

Ikea (3 written treatements)

The First Assignment

The Social-Creativity Project, due 2/19 arrow

Resources

 

F 1/25

Readings

Printout, read, mark, and bring in Sven Birkerts, Introduction and Chapter 1: "MahVuhHuhPuh," both available as PDFs via the course Moodle site.

Follow the "Moodle" link in the menu above, and then open the PDF files under the section heading "Readings").

As you read these assignments, try practicing the techniques of Active Reading as you look for responses to the following questions. Be sure to mark your printouts to show where and how Birkerts speaks to these issues:

Thought Questions

1. In what particular ways does Birkerts define writing and reading?

2. How do these styles of writing and reading represent not just literary practices but social and personal values and ways of living?

3. How does "New Media" threaten these ways of writing, reading, and living?

Do not come to class without these printouts! You can printout a PDF with two pages per sheet if you wish.

Advice

Note that the first paragraph of Chapter 1 is something of a false start: dense and vague. Don't let it put you off. Start with the second paragraph if necessary.

 

Writing, Reading, Thinking, Living

Review of Wednesday

  • NMAVT (characteristics of New Media)
  • PVIPEN (characteristics of "Writing" with a capital "W," as in sample C from the Ikea hanout from last time):

Point of View

Voice

Implication

Presence

Experience

Narrative

 

The First Assignment

The Social-Creativity Project, due 2/19 arrow

Discussion

Discussion of Sven Birkerts and his relationships to the The Social-Creativity Project.

 

WEEK 2
M 1/28

Readings

Printout, read, mark, and bring in Janet Murray's Chapter 3, "From Additive to Expressive Forms" available as a PDF via the course Moodle site

Do

1. Come in having memorized Murray's Four Principles of New Media, which you can remember by the acronym "PEPS."

2. Using the techniques of Active Reading, identify passages that you think might speak to some of the concerns and issues from Birkerts, either agreeing or disagreeing with him.

Principles of New Media

Discussion

Discussion of Janet Murray's Four Principles of New Media (PEPS) and The Social-Creativity Project.

 

Writing

Dialogue of Birkerts and Murray about Traditional and New Media.

 

W 1/30

Readings

Read the beginning of McFarland's Chapter 1" Dreamweaver CS3 Guided Tour," pages 21-49.

Be sure you have a good handle on the location, look, and purposes of the following elements of the Dreamweaver interface

  • document window
  • file panel
  • property inspector
  • tag selector

 

Write Online

In a message to the Moodle forum "Birkerts and Murray," pair up quotations from these two writers as described on the handout and then write a short paragraph of your own commenting on the degree to which Birkerts challenges Murray, or that Murray answers Birkerts.

Do

On your USB drive, create the following set of nested folders:

new media writing

www

4250

exercises

social

assets

essay

was

assets

Dreamweaver Introduction
Missing CD

Review of Monday

  • Murray's PEPS and how they make each other necessary
  • Manovich's NMAVT ("New Media's Always Very Tricky")
  • Duration and the Social-Creativity Project

 

Social Creativity Project

The Social-Creativity Project (Implementation and Murray's Four Principles of New Media)

 

Dreamweaver: Setting Up to Do McFarland's Chapter 1

Setting Up to Do McFarland's Chapter 1 "Test Drive" Tutorial (pages 53-84, due next time) arrow

 

Creating Our First Web Page

As part of Setting Up to Do McFarland's Chapter 1, you will create your first web page


February
>

Homework Topics
F 2/1

Readings

Read McFarland's section from his Chapter 1 "Managing Files and Folders with the Files Panel," pages 49-53.

Do

Complete McFarland's Chapter 1: Dreamweaver Test Drive tutorial, pages 53-84.

You will need to complete this chapter sitting at a computer with Photoshop installed. See


- Computer Labs Locations and Hours (be sure to look for "Full Access" Mac Labs that include Dreamweaver and Photoshop)

-
Computer Lab Schedules (UMD)

- Abobe Dreamweaver Trial Version of CS5! (30 days only)

Sites, Files, Folders, McFarland C1

Setting Up a "www" Site

Setting up and exporting/importing a "www" site, uploading files/folders using Dreamweaver,

See the page "Setting up Your www Site" arrow

 

Uploading McFarland's Chapter 1 Tutorial

Together in class, we will post your McFarland's Chapter 1 to the web and send a clickable URL to the Moodle forum "McFarland Chapter 1"

 

Submit Your Work on Chapter 1 for Credit

A. "newpage Exercise"
Before the end of the day, turn in your "newpage" exercise by

  1. visiting the page on the web (after you've uploaded it),
  2. copying the URL from the location bar of your browser, and
  3. pasting the URL into a reply to my message in the Moodle forum "'newpage' exercise."

 

B. McFarland Chapter 1 Tutorial
Follow the same steps to send a URL to your McFarland Chapter 1 page to the Moodle forum "McFarland C1"

 

Social Creativity Project

 

WEEK 3
M 2/4

Readings

Read Chapters 2 and 3 of McFarland

Do

Complete the tutorial in Chapter 3 "Introducing Cascading Style Sheets" and bring in the results on your USB drive. We will upload the results together at the beginning of class.

McFarland C3 Tutorial: Cascading Style Sheets

Announcement

We will not meet on Friday. Out-of-class activities for that day to be announced.

Submit Chapter 3 Tutorial for Credit

At the beginning of class today, we will turn in the McFarland Chapter 3 Tutorial materials by

  1. importing your "www" site information (the "www.ste" file) into Dreamweaver
  2. Uploading the entire Chapter 3 folder from your "exercises" folder (Up Arrow or "Put").
  3. visiting the page on the web with a browser,
  4. copying the URL from the location bar of your browser, and
  5. pasting the URL into a reply to my message in the Moodle forum "McFarland C3."

 

Comment: "Not Objects, But Rules..."

PEPS and CSS Zen Garden

Discuss Social Creativity Concepts (Pairs)

Looking at one of the examples of Social-Creativity on the assignment page, how would you answer the Question 7 on the Social-Creativity Project Prospectus Form for that example?

You will answer this and the other questions about your own project as homework for our next meeting.

Resources:

CSS Zen Garden as example of the procedural nature of New Media

W 2/6

Read

Read McFarland's Chapter 4

Do

Complete the Links Tutorial at the end of Chapter 4 and bring the result in on your USB drive.

Complete Online Prospectus

By the beginning of class today, complete and submit a Social-Creativity Project Prospectus Form.

McFarland C4 Tutorial: Links
Social-Creativity Prospectus

Troubleshoot Chapter 4 (Links) and Upload

Chapter 4 Help Session

 

"Creativity"

Why "Creative Freedom" is a contradiction in terms (knock-knock jokes)

 

Discuss Social Creativity Concepts (Pairs)

Looking at one of the examples of Social-Creativity on the assignment page, describe the "creative restrictions" that define the shape, tone, and meaning of the entries called for

 

Resources

Mario Maningham's Superbowl Catch (2012)

Bill Keaggy's 50 Sad Chairs

F 2/8

Read

McFarland's Chapter 5, "Images,"

Do

Complete the "Images" tutorial at the end of Chapter 5. Then,

  • Upload the entire "Chapter 5" folder to the web
  • Visit the page(s) completed with a web browser and post the URL(s) as clickable URLs in a reply to my message in the Moodle forum "McFarland C5."

 

Create a Sample Entry

Create a sample entry of the kind you're asking for in your Social-Creativity Project.

Be sure to have that sample entry saved in digital form to be pasted or uploaded into Moodle.

 

No Class Meeting

[ McFarland C5 Tutorial: Images ]

As an alternative to a class meeting, I will ask you to

  • post a message to the Moodle forum "My Social Creativity Idea For Now," by midnight on Saturday, and then to
  • reply to at least two classmates by classtime on Monday.

 

In your initial message,

  1. Post a sample entry (a.k.a., "lexia") that illustrates the what your Social Creativity Project asks participants to contribute.

    You may paste or upload this entry (words, images) into Moodle to appear in your message, or you may provide a clickable link in your message to that sample on the web.

  2. Beneath the sample, write a draft of the prompt or explanation that will appear on your project's home page. This prompt should be addressed to your project's audience, and be sufficient to make clear the project's concept, and the specific guidelines for contributing a creative and relevant entry.

  3. In a short paragraph addressed your classmates, explain a problem, challenge, or concern about the conception of your project. That is, you should put aside for the moment issues having to do with the construction of the site in Dreamweaver and other technical matters, and to focus on the idea or concept itself.

 

In your First Response to a Classmate

In a reply to one classmate's message, construct and post an entry to his or her project. In your entry, try to realize the purpose, spirit, tone, format, and conventions as described in the prompt.

Beneath this entry, offer feedback on the creative potential of the project's concept and the guidelines as described in the prompt. Say what you like about the project and about what it led you to create. Offer suggestions for focusing the concept or rewriting the prompt.

 

In your Second Response to a Classmate

In a reply to another classmate's message, respond to that person's short paragraph about a problem, challenge, or concern regarding the conception of the project.

After studying the sample entry--and any entries posted by other classmates--offer advice and suggestions about a solution. If possible, provide clickable links in your message that point to examples of solutions to the challenge. You can choose these instructive examples from our list of sample projects on the assignment page or elsewhere. In your response, be sure to explain specifically how this example is relevant to the problem, rather than just linking to it.

It would also be very effective to point to other student projects described and illustrated in this forum which offer instructive examples. Feel free to point to your own project if you think it helps make the point.

 

Resources That Might Be Useful

WEEK 4
M 2/11

Read

Read McFarland, Chapters 8 and 9

Do

Complete the tutorial "CSS Layout Tutorial"

  • Upload the entire "Chapter 9" folder to the web
  • Visit the page(s) completed with a web browser and post the URL(s) as clickable URLs in a reply to my message in the Moodle forum "McFarland C9."

Page Layout with CSS (C9)
Layouts
Photoshop (Banners)

Troubleshooting

McFarland Chapters 5 "Images," and 9 "Page Layout"

 

Comment

writing vs. Writing

  • Ikea (information vs. experience)
  • 50 Sad Chairs (creativity "out there" vs. "in here")

 

Your Own Pages (Not Quite) from Scratch

Your own pages from DW's "CSS Layouts" (see McFarland 452-464).

 

Exercise: Banners

moodle Beginning Banner Techniques (Photoshop). arrow

  • Save the working .psd file to your "new media writing" folder
  • Save the finished product (.jpg file) to a folder called "www/4250/exercises/banner"
  • send the URL to the Moodle forum "Banners"

 

W 2/13 Work on your Social Creativity Project, and bring in one good question to ask or answer.

Home Pages
Banners in Photoshop


Getting Ready

  • Open Dreamweaver
  • Import your "www" site information
  • Open your "index.html" page from "layout" folder from last time (www/4250/exercises/layout)
  • Open Photoshop

 

Comment

Why we're learning Dreamweaver; how expectations are different from those in Web Design

Review from Last Time

Your own pages from DW's pre-made "CSS Layouts" (see McFarland 452-464).

Discussion:
Home Pages in Networked New Media

Home pages need to

  • make clear immediately what the project is
  • give an example of a contributioin
  • inspire potential contributors
  • making explict the procedures by which a contributor participates

 

How do the following home pages of Social-Creativity sites realize these criteria?

 

Exercise: Banners

moodle Beginning Banner Techniques (Photoshop). arrow

  • Save the working .psd file to your "new media writing" folder
  • Save the finished product (.jpg file) to a folder called "www/4250/exercises/banner"
  • send the URL to the Moodle forum "Banners"

 

F 2/15
Work on your Social Creativity Project, bring in all materials for a Studio Session next time.

Banners in Photoshop Completed

Getting Ready

In Photoshop, open your banner techniques file "richlighthouse.psd."

What Do You Need to Know?

Let's talk about any gaps in your basic knowledge of Dreamweaver that would prevent you fron putting together a set of linked pages as a platform for your Social-Creativity Project.

For homework, we will use Moodle to ask and answer these kinds of questions.

Comment

Think about some examples of great writing:

  • a novel,
  • a movie,
  • a piece of non-fiction in which the author's vision and voice are important,
  • a "concept album" of music in which the lyrics are prominent.

Can you imagine the same effects being achieved in a work of Social Creativity in which the author relinquishes some control and authority to others?

Exercises

moodle Complete "Beginnng Banner Technqiues" and "Intermediate Banner Technqiues."

  1. We will save the final .jpg file into a new folder called "assets" inside of the "layout" folder (www/4250/exercises/layout)
  2. Then in Dreamweaver, open up "index.html" from "layout" and try inserting your banner image. You may need to adjust the page's width or want to change page colors to go with the banner.
  3. Upload the page, visit it with your browser, and copy the URL as a clickable link into a message in the forum "Banners on CSS Layout Pages."

 

WEEK 5
M 2/18

Homework

2 Moodle Postings

moodle In the Moodle forum "Dreamweaver Gaps," post at least one question about Dreamweaver which would help you in completing the first project. 

Then answer at least one question from a classmate.

Begin your posting with a brief title that immediately identifies what you're needing to learn to do. 

In answering, you can refer to pages in McFarland, to online tutorials and other resources, or simply explain. 

Feel free to answer more questions beyond the one required. 

Bring Today

Bring in all materials to work on your Social Creativity Project in class in preparation for turning in your project tomorrow by noon.

 

Studio Session

Though you'll be working individually today, this day still counts as a class meeting. Please plan on staying and being productive through our scheduled meeting time.

T 2/19

Social Creativity Due

Before today at noon, post your Social Creativity project to the web at www/4250/social and send the URL to the forum "Social-Creativity Project URLs"



W 2/20

Homework

Write Your Commentary

Write, Printout, and bring in a 500-word commentary on the Social-Creativity Project. See the Guildelines for Commentaries.

Read Manovich

In Lev Manovich's The Language of New Media

  • "Prologue: Vertov's Dataset" (xv-xxxvi) and
  • "How Media Became New" (pages 21-26).

Complete the Reading Guide on your USB

Follow the directions and answer the questions in the the Reading Guide.

Type your responses directly into the downloaded Word file saved on your USB and bring it to class to submit electronically.

Before class, print out your responses--or make notes from them--so you don't need to be online as we discuss Manovich.

Watch

As part of completing the Reading Guide, you will watch the opening credits and at least 10 continuous mintues of Vertov's film The Man with a Movie Camera.

Manovich's "Vertov's Dataset," and "How New Media Became New"

Turn in

Commentary on the Social-Creativity Project

Send Me

Send to me your responses from the Reading Guide via an email with the subject line "Manovich 1".

Please do not send the questions. Simply number each response.

Print out your responses--or make notes from them--so you don't need to be online as we discuss Manovich.

Comments

  • How Manovich is looking both forwards and backwards.
  • Manovich's work is to new media what the periodic table is to chemistry

Discuss

  • Manovich's "Prologue" (database imagination)
  • Manovich's "How Media Became New"

Resources

 

F 2/22

Homework

Read Manovich

  • Read over the four prompts below before starting these readings. Consider writing the number of any prompt in the margin at points relevant to the prompt's concerns.
  • Read "Principles of New Media" pages 27-48
  • "What New Media is Not" pages 49-61

 

Complete the Reading Guide

Copy the following four prompts into a document (any text-editing software) and respond to each in writing.

Before class, print out your responses--or make notes from them--so you don't need to be online as we discuss Manovich.

Also--by the beginning of class--use this online form to send me your responses.

The Four Prompts:

 

"Principles of New Media"

1. In a paragraph, quote a line or passage from Manovich (with page number) that you think best characterizes one of his five principles of New Media.

Then describe an example of New Media from your own experience (a particular video game, web site, app, database, etc.) and explain how your example serves to illustrate and elaborate Manovich's point in the quotation.

2. In another paragraph, do the same as the above with a different line or passage about a different principle (of Manovich's five).


"What New Media is Not"

3. On 49, Manovich lists six "popularly held notions about the differences between old and new media" and says he will "subject [them] to scrutiny."

After reading the section, write a short paragraph evaluating why Manovich does this. Why do these popularly held notions need scrutinizing? In what ways do they lead us wrong? Quote a line or passage (with page number) that illustrates your analysis.

4. In a paragraph, describe an example or passage from "What New Media is Not" (with page number) where Manovich's "scrutiny" serves to help you understand better his definition of New Media.

Connect that example or passage to one or more of Manovich's 5 Principles of New Media (27-48). Be sure to cite the page number of a particular word, phrase, or passage from the "Principles" section.

 

Manovich's "5 Principles of New Media"

Getting Ready for Class

  • Be sure you have a printout of--or written notes on--your responses to the Reading Guide prompts. You will not be able to use an online copy during class.
  • Before you put your computer to sleep, be sure you've used this online form to send me your responses from the Reading Guide.
  • Skim over Manovich's "How New Media Became New" (21-26), which we read for last meeting and didn't have time to talk about.

Question:

Does having this "Current Meeting" section at the top of this web page make any difference to anyone?

Review "How New Media Became New"

  • Two parallel developments from 1800 to now
  • Two factors in the development of "mass society" (pgs. 22.10-23.1)
  • Jacquard (22.3)

Memorize Why...

New
Media's
Always
Very
Tricky.

Discuss

5 Principles from your Reading Guide responses.

Resources:

 

whale

 

WEEK 6
M 2/25

Homework

Read

Manovich: The Operations, pages 117-145 (Selection and Compositing).

As You Read

Follow the procedures of "Active Reading" using the reading questions from "Guided Reading: Manovich's Chapter 3, Part 1"

Create and Upload

1. Create an HTML version of your Social-Creativity Project Commentary using these online directions.

2. Save the page as "commentary.html" in your "social" folder, and upload page to the web.

3. Post the URL as a clickable link in a reply to your own message in the Moodle forum "Social Creativity Project URLs."

Manovich's Selection and Compositing

Comment: Why Focusing on Particular Words, Lines, Passages Matters

"Critical" reading means not reading for information or general ideas, but reading to see

  • who says?
  • in what way?
  • in the context of what?
  • why?
  • from what position (historical position, cultura positionl, political postiion, disciplinary postiion, optimistic/pessimistic postiion, theoretical postiion)?
  • in relation to me/us?

 

Manovich: "[T]here is no "'innocent eye,' there is no 'pure computer'" (117.1).

Comment: The Structure of Manovich's Book

Characteristics, Operations, Forms

Homework's Questions

1. Two Operations

In our reading for today, Manovich describes two of the three key operations of new media: selection and compositing.  What defines these two operations, and how do they inevitably result from the five defining principles of new media we talked about in Chapter 1? 

2. Compositing

How are the aesthetics of new-media “compositing” different from composing a film using montage, or a composing novel using scenes, chapters, flashbacks, and other narrative techniques? 

3. The Tyranny of Understanding

Find and mark three statements that aren’t clear to you, that seem wrong or backward, or that seem to contradict one another.  Consider that identifying these might be the keys for unlocking a fuller understanding of the text. 

4. Why Does It Matter?

According to Manovich, what effects do the operations of new media have on cultural categories like authorship, imagination, creativity, individual vision, critical reading, etc.? 

Resources

 

W 2/27

Homework

Read

Manovich: The Operations continued, pages 145-175 (Selection, Compositing, and Teleaction)

Follow the procedures on "Active Reading."

Post to Moodle

moodle Before 8:30 a.m., post a message to the Moodle forum,"Manovich C3.2 which includes":

  • a quotation from the readings highlighting an important idea concerning selection, compositing, or teleaction
  • visible image of a screen shot from an example of new media which serves as a visual illustration of that idea.
  • a short paragraph explaining how this quotation and visual example demonstrate an "operation" of New Media ("Operations" being the title of the whole chapter), and attempting to read the quotation "critically." (see in-class "Comment" from last meeting)
  • a URL to the original source of the image (if applicable) or a resource with more information about the image or idea.

 

Be prepared to explain your visual example and its relevance to the quotation and the operation(s) of new media.

In Class: Manovich's Operations of New Media: Selection, Compositing, and Teleaction

Handouts

  • Sample Exam Format
  • "A Narrative of Lev Manovich's Chapter 5"

Review: Compositing

  • See Montage vs. Compositing 144.6 ("Montage aims to create..." through "DJ's art")

Comment: Critical Reading/Writing II

Does Manovich believe Virilio's Big Optics is a characteric of New Media? What distance is there between Manovich's thinking and that of Benjamin. Virilio, or Crary?

  • See 172.7 ("As Small Optics...")
  • See 173.10 ("In the words of art historian...")
  • See 175.4 ("Thus the standard...")

Discussion: Teleaction

How is Telepresence or Teleaction different from old-media "tele-'s (telephone, television, CCTV)?

Is the difference more significant than the new technologies just being "better"?

  • See 175.1 on the relation of sight and touch (optic and haptic) ("In Western thought, vision has always been...")

Resource

Return of Social Creativity Projects

 


March


   
F 3/1

Homework

Read

Manovich: "The Forms" (first part), pages 213-243.

Write and Submit Before Class Time

Using the form "Reading Guide Responses: Manovich C5.1," send me responses to the following:

1. According to Manovich, why are narrative and database "natural enemies"? In what ways is modern media a "battleground" between these opposing principles?

Write a paragraph answering those questions, supported by two quotations from Manovich (cited with page numbers).

2. Describe and explain an example of a book, movie, TV series (or some other old media) where the chronological, linear, cause-and-effect narrative has been disrupted, complicated, enriched, something by a "database" logic. How does this example show signs of media being a "battleground" between narrative and database.

Example: Lost

In Class: Database and Narrative

"Inbox Zero" as Database

Inbox zero (via a New Yorker piece) as an example of database vs. narrative, and as an example of the distinction between Synchronic (Paradigmatic) and Diachronic (Syntagmatic).

8 Key Lines Activity

For this activity, we will use the In-Class Handout for Lev Manovich's Chapter 5, Part 1

  • 215.1 "True cultural forms--general ways used....human existence in this world."
  • 219.5 "Indeed, after the death of God (Nietzche)...model it as a database"
  • 217.1 "If traditional cultures provided people with well defined narratives...tie it all together."
  • 225.6 "As a cultural form, the database represents the world as a list of items... natural enemies.... make meaning out of the world."
  • 226.4 "In general, creating a work in new media can be understood as the construction of an interface to a database."
  • 233.8 "I prefer to think of them as two competing imaginations two basic...long before modern media."
  • 234.4 "Modern media is the new battlefield for the competition between database and narrative."
  • 243.7 "Thus in the hands of Vertov, the database....how to merge database and narrative into a new form."

Resources:

 

M 3/4

Homework

Read

Lev Manovich: "The Forms" continued, pages 244-285

Post to Moodle by 8:30 a.m.

In a message to the Moodle forum "Manovich C5.2, do the following:

1. Consider this question:

How does Manovich characterize "navigable space"?

2. Choose and quote three lines or passages from the readings for today. (Read over the messages already posted and be sure you don't repeat more than one line or passage).

3. Write a paragraph synthesizing those quotations (putting them together into a single, complex understanding extrapolated from Manovich's argument).

4. Insert a visible image to illustrate your paragraph.

An Example of a "Synthesizing Paragraph"

See how Manovich synthesizes Benjamin and Verilio on 173.2, "Given the surprising similarity of Benjamin's and...instant electronic transmission."

Resources That Might Be Useful

 

Navigable Space (The Legible City of Manovich C5.2)

"Cultural Forms" and "Trajectories"

  • 215.1 "True cultural forms--general ways used....human existence in this world."
  • 285.8 "In this book, I have chosen.... Like a river...spline... to create trajectories...what came before."

Creating a Legible City of Manovich C5.2

 

  • If I rode a bicycle down your street, what words would I read in the landscape? What line epitomizes Manovich's key ideas in your particular section? What quote best represents what that section contributes to Manovich's analysis of "navigable space."

 

Navigable Information Space in this Room

Doom and Myst

244-253

The Navigator and the Explorer (flaneur)

268-273

Computer Space (haptic / optic, systematic / aggregate)

253-259

Kino-Eye and Simulators (non-places)

273-281

The Poetics of Navigation (Legible City)

259-268

EVE and Place (supermodernity)

281-285

 

Post that line to the Moodle forum, "Legible City" with page number (down to the tenth!) and the beginning and ending words.

Be sure your message includes the names of all the people in your group.

Examples of (Simulated) Navigable Space?

Possible examples from your "Reading Guide Responses: Manovich C5.1"

Resources

 

W 3/6

Homework

Read

Tom Bissell's Extra Lives, pages xi-xiv, 1-65

Write and Submit Before Class

Using the form "Reading Guide Responses: Bissell 1," send me responses to the following:

1. While Manovich takes a distanced, scholarly persepctive on new media, Bissell reports from inside the individual experience of new media. Write a substantive paragraph about a connection or common idea between what Bissell describes and thinks about, and what Manovich analyzes.

2. Bissell is, by profession, a writer--but he is a writer immersed in video games. What signs of tension, contradiction, or conflict do you see between Bissell's writerly, narrative self and his digital, "database" self? Use one or two quotations from Bissell to write a critical paragraph about Bissell's conflict.

 

Why Video Games Matter

Quote from Janet Murray

"[T]he next step in understanding what delights or dangers digital narrative will bring to us is to look more closely at its characteristic pleasures, to judge in what ways they are continuous with older narrative traditions and in what ways they offer access to new beauty and new truth about ourselves and the world we move through" (94).

Partial List of Connections or Common Ideas from the Homework

  • narrative and database 5
  • interaction/choose what happens next 4
  • navigable space 2
  • underlying "messages" 1
  • new world; one separate from the real world 1
  • [Games aren’t meant to be taken seriously 1]

Resources:

 

F 3/8

Homework

Read

Extra Lives, page 66-127.

Post to Moodle by 8:30 a.m.

moodle Choose one of the games that Bissell talks about, and try looking on YouTube or elsewhere for a video trailer or playthrough.

From this video, take a screen shot to illustrate a quotation from Bissell. Try to choose a quotation that comments on one of the following themes from the book:

  • innocence
  • game play
  • stupidity/intelligence
  • manipulation/surrender,
  • problems in video game design
  • framed narrative/ludonarrative
  • character
  • art

 

In the Moodle forum "Bissell 2," send a reply to the opening message that includes:

  1. the quotation from Bissell with page number (including tenths)
  2. the screen shot inserted as a visible image
  3. a short paragraph commenting on how the illustration helps to explain or extend the quotation.

Resources That Might Be Useful

 

Bissell 2: New Media / Writing

Review from Last Time

Two Ways of Knowing:

  • Analytical (Manovich) and
  • Literary (Bissell)

Two Senses of "New Media Writing" (Meaning in Video Games)

 

How can a piece of writing have simple ideas and still infect the reader with the excitement of its thinking? The answer, I'd say, is that ideas are not the sum and substance of thought; rather, thought is as much about the motion across the water as it is about the stepping stones that allow it. It is an intricate choreography of movement, transition, and repose, a revelation of the musculature of mind. And this, abundantly and exultingly, is what I find in Woolf's prose. (Birkerts 11.9 - 12.1)

  • "It opens in 2277 ...gee-whiz futurism… future never-never land weirdness... George Jetson Beyond Thunderdome" (Bissell 7.2 - 7.6).
  • Fallout 3 (game play)

Your Examples:

moodle We'll look at the quotations and the visual illustrations you selected, and try to use them to connect up the various themes I asked you to look at (see the Homework section at the left).

New Media/Writing (Making a Lot Out of a Little)

Make the argument that one of the lines indicated below provides THE key to Bissell's explanation of the tension between "new media" and "writing"--as well as the potential of new media to serve as a new form of writing.

Chapter 5: Littlebigproblems (DICE Conference in Las Vegas) 67

  • I did the smoke... 72.8
  • technology means knowledge of a skill 73.1
  • strip-mining of childhood 74.7
  • uncanny valley problem 75.9
  • authentic 81.2
  • story but poor gameplay vs. superb gameplay and laughable story 81.9
  • begin as engineering culture, trans to business, and like bright millionaire, poetry 87

 

Chapter 6: Braided (Jonathan Blow) 91

  • don't pose argument vs. present systems 85.7
  • [As a writer,] I start with the variables, not systems 86.1
  • pure text...rarely connectable to world in rational way...Timothy Leary...spiders 99.6-.8
  • save the world, resentful Republicanism 92
  • A game.... dynamical meaning...otherwise. 92.10 - 93.3
  • "saving the world again and again, then our core-value propositon.... It will make us money, but will not touch people authentically and deeply'" 92.7-.8
  • story force vs. friction force 93.4

 

Chapter 7: Mass Effects (BioWare) 105

  • "...more writers than developers..." 111.10
  • writers early and late 112.2
  • script for Mass Effect contains three hundred thousand words 112.4
  • Mass Effect: Revelation [the novel] pleased me perhaps one-hundredth as much as Mass Effect the game 117.4
  • aquarium of possibility 123

Resources:

 

WEEK 8
M 3/11

Homework

Read

Extra Lives, page 128-183

Post to Moodle by 8:30 Today

moodle 1. From our readings for today, choose one passage that demonstrates how Bissell's writerly sense of voice and vision imbues a video game (new media) with meaning.

2. In the Moodle forum "Bissell's Motion Across the Water," type in that passage.

3. In a paragraph, explain how Bissell is not simply conveying information (as McFarland does), and not analytically breaking down his subject into component ideas (as Manovich does), but is creating a literary experience of meaning in words.

For more explanation of this "litearry experience of meaning," see my Birkerts quotation from last meeting, and the opening pages of Birkerts' first chapter of The Gutenberg Elegies (11-14 for example, especially the passage on 12 which Birkerts offers as an example of Woolf's "verve").

In what ways does your chosen passage illustrate that Bissell's method is closer to the kind of writing Virginia Woolf does (according to Birkerts), than Manovich or McFarland?

 

Bissell 3: Literary Voice and Vision in Non-Fiction Writing

Dialogical Tension and Meaing

See the example again of the Fallout 3 Game Trailer

Literary Moves in Non-Fiction

From your examples, how can we define the "moves" a writer makes when taking a literary approach to a non-ficiton subject?

Some Examples of "Literary Non-Fictiion"

Resources

 

W 3/13

Homework

Print and Read

Download, printout, and read Alan Liu's The Laws of Cool (Introduction and Chapter 9), available as a PDFs from the Moodle forums under "Readings."

Write, Print and Bring in

1. Copy the following five questions into a Word file.

2. Record page numbers and verbal tags for at least three quotations from Liu which help answer each one.

3. Write a short paragraph for question, synthesizing what Liu is saying in the quotations.

4. Print the document out and bring to class (handwritten answers okay if you prefer).

  1. If "literature" is a stand-in for writing, what are the challenges fraced by writing in the age of "postindustrial knowledge work"?
  2. What characterizes "postindustrial" society and why has it formed?
  3. What characterizes "knowledge work" and "knowledge workers"?
  4. What is "cool" (the "ethos of cool") and how is it important to knowledge workers?
  5. What is "slack"? Why is it significant in knowledge work?

 

Alan Liu's The Laws of Cool

Explanation of Friday's Onlne Session

Starting Places

  • '"'Excellent Knowledge'...is a post-historical knowledge... the defining issue for a field like literary study...position with regard to information....juggernaut of postindustrial knowledge work" 6.5 - 6.7

  • "What is of interest now is...churning...Joseph Schumpeter, creative destructiuon...their very lives" 2.3 - 2.5

  • "But before we can glimpse the future literary, we need to make...hack of contemporary knowledge" 9.6-9.8

  • "We can describe the laws of this sociality--the postindustrial sociality of 'neocororatism and informationalism....Law of Nature...Mobility...Cool...resist information" 292.4 - 293.6

Resources

 

F 3/15

Homework:

A "Yes, And..." Critical Improvision Session Using Birkerts, Murray, Manovich, Bissell, and Liu

In a reply to the Moodle forum"Birkerts, Murray, Manovich, Bissel, Liu" by Friday, March 15 at 11:59 p.m., please do the following:

A. Post an Initial Message

  1. Write a paragraph that includes a quotation each from two of the four writers named in the header above: Birkerts, Murray, Manovich, Bissel, Liul.
  2. For each quotation, be sure to cite the page number parenthetically (with tenths).
  3. In this synthesizing paragraph, emphasize either a connection (agreement) or contrast (disagreement) between the two quotations/writers
  4. Above your paragraph, type in a brief title which encapsulates the terms of this connection or contrast
  5. Make this title 3 to 6 words that are unique on the page (so a "Find" command could locate it). Also put the title in bold.

 

B. Reply to a Classmate's Post

  1. Reply to another classmate's post (you may need to check back if there are too few to choose from). Be sure to click the "Reply" link immediately under the message.
  2. In choosing a post to reply to, be sure that the post shares at least one of the two writers with yours, OR that the post's connecting or contrasting idea is related somehow to that of your own posting.
  3. In this reply, write a synthesizing paragraph that somehow relates your post to his or hers. Your reply should not criticize or bluntly disagree with the origial.
  4. In this reply, also refer to your post by its unique title so it could be found easily with a "Find" command in the browser.
  5. Your reply could seek to extend, balance, qualify, deepen, illuminate, etc. your classmate's post (essentially, to say "Yes, and...." in the manner of improvisation).

 

C. Reply to a Second Classmate's Post, or Reply to a Reply

  1. Follow the same directions from Step B to reply to a different post--either an initial post or a reply.

 

Online Exam Preparation: No Class Meeting Today

WEEK OFF
M 3/18

SPRING BREAK

W 3/20

SPRING BREAK

F 3/22

SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9
M 3/25
1. Download, print, and read "The Poetics of Augmented Space" (Manovich). Pages 1-15. The PDF is available from the course Moodle site under "Readings."

Manovich: Augmented Reality

Complete

Discussion of Liu, You Suck at Photoshop

Resources

 

W 3/27

Homework

Bring to Class

Bring all books and materials (except McFarland)

Review for Exam

Priorities in Exam

  1. Transformative terms/definitions, analytical itemizations, distinctions
  2. Who says what: sources, ultimate sources
  3. Key ideas for explaining how the principles and effects of writing can be realized in New Media--and why that realization is not easy or automatic
  4. Debates, Dialogues, Differences, Tensions:
  • this vs. that,
  • this parallel to that,
  • this led to that,
  • this similar but not the same as that in an interesting way....

 

Resource

Sample Exam Format

 

tree

In this session, you will use the provided Midterm Exam Study Tree and follow these directions.

 

F 3/29

Homework

Post to Moodle

moodle By Thursday at sundown (7:00), write and post to the Moodle forum "Sample Midterm Exam Short-Answer Question" a question containing the same elements as the example from the Sample Exam Format:

  • identifies a term / definition / quotation / example from a source,
  • uses an imperative verb to indicate what is to be done in the answer,
  • may ask for an example
  • asks for a distinction between--or nuanced difference from--another idea or example
  • asks for a connection, comparison, or contrast to another idea or example

 

Bring to Class

Bring a blue or black pen that you trust.

 

Midterm Exam



April

Homework Topics
WEEK 10
M 4/1

Homework

Bring Manovich's "Poetics of Augmented Space

Read over the assignment for the project Writing in Augmented Space "

moodle Write a review of one of Janet Cardif's audio walks in the forum "Cardiff Reviews." Choose one of the walks at Cardiff/Bures Miller Walks, read the text, look at the slideshow, and listen to the audio excerpt. Include a clickable link to the walk in your posting.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the location and intended effect of the walk (as best you can tell from the description, the audio excerpt, and dialogue included, etc.)

2. How does the walk exploit differences between the location as the audience finds it, and the place as created by the audio/video. (This gap is the same as the discrepancy created by the video telescope in Cardiff and Miller's introductory video.)

3. What are some techniques that we might learn from this walk for creating effects in our own WAS Projects?

4. Include a clickable URL to the page of the walk.


Writing in Augmented Space

Introduce Next Project:

Writing in Augmented Space

Receive

The handout "Juggling"

Discuss

Cardiff audio walk reviews

Resources

W 4/3

Homework

Read, Write, and Post

moodle Read the handout "Juggling" and try writing a paragraph that practices this technique. Post these experiments in the Moodle forum "Here Now/Not Here Now."

Be Ready to Discuss

How do Cardiff's New-Media techniques for what Stern calls "sliding" from the Here/Now to the Not Here/Now differ from Stern's text-based techniques?

Juggling and Interweaving, Personal and Public Writing, Genre

Questions?

The Writing in Augmented Space Project?

Another Example of Format

"Down an Old Dirt Road"

Interweaving Here/Now and Not Here/Now

"Juggling" (handout), from Jerome Stern's Making Shapely Fiction (vs. Golden Retriever Effect).

Interweaving Techniques in New Media

Alter Bahnhof Video Walk (Cardiff/Bures Miller)

Discuss

Public and Personal Writing, Genre

Resources

 

 

F 4/5

Homework

Write and Post to Moodle

As you are on campus, take notice of the QR codes on the walls, which are part of the campus self-guided tour.

qr code

Choose one of the locations where the QR code appears and write an altnerative, WAS script for that location, which focuses on something entirely different from what you would expect of a campus tour (especially an official one).

Use

  • a Cardiff-like imperative voice,
  • details of the location,
  • Stern's juggling/interweaving, and
  • whatever New-Media equivalent techniques you can think of

to imbue that location with meaning and feeling. Try to achieve that effect in 100 words or less. You can also include verbal cues for sound effects or music.

moodle Post your altenrative script to the Moodle forum "Campus Anti-Tour," and include the location.

If you would like and are able to, include a visible picture of the location (with QR code visibie if possible, even if only distantly). What matters more that the picture emphasizes the key details of the location which you are writing about, rather than the QR code itself.

 

Interweaving in Augmented Space; Embedded, Interactive Street Views

Getting Ready

1. Plug in your USB drive

2. Open up Dreamweaver and import your "www" site information (the file www.ste).

3. In a browser, use Google Maps to find a Street View of a location you might use in your Writing in Augmented Space Project, or a location that is significant to you either personally or intellectually.

Get help from your neighbors if you're not sure how to do this.

The Issue of Private, Personal, Public: Another Example of a WAS Project

"Rental Property"

Writing Exercise: Voice, Person, Tense

  • Imperative Mood vs. Indicative Mood vs. Interrogative Mood (asking questions)(see Mood and Voice)
  • Person (First, Second, Third),
  • Tense

These are important because they establish and make consistent a relationship between the writer/speaker and reader/listener.

- How are these used in Alter Bahnhof Video Walk (Cardiff/Bures Miller)?

- If these voices, moods, persons, tense are mingled, in what proportions do they appear?

- Is there a cause-and-effect relationship between these shifts and what's happening in the performance?

Digital Exercise: Embedded Street Views

Example: Oxford Street View (This is the location for the sample track from the Oxford Poetry Walk)

Directions: See the online tutorial, Embedding Google Street Views into your Web Page. We will complete this exercise in a new folder, "www/4250/exercises/here_now".

Then for homework, you will write a short script to add to this page.

Resources

 

WEEK 11
M 4/8

Homework

Script for your Embedded Street View Page

For the Google Street View that you inserted into your exercise page from class, write a piece of a script that juggles from some visible detail in the view's "here and now" to a topic or line of thought from the "not here and now"

Try practicing some of the techniques of place-based, mediated writing we've talked about:

  • the juggling/interweaving of the here/now and not here/now;
  • the conscious, strategic choice of tense, person, voice, mood, etc.;
  • the use of sound effects or music (use the script tag format: "[sfx: light wind.]")

 

moodle Post a clickable URL to the page in the forum "Google Street View Here/Now and Not"

 

Genre in Augmented Space, Editing Sounds with Audacity

Getting Ready

On your computer, find and open the software "Audacity"

From the Moodle site, download to your USB drive the two sound files under "Resources": Crickets, and the music file "Among the Falls"

Open Dreamweaver and import your "www" site information.

Comment: Genre

Exercise: Audacity for Recording and Editing Sound

I will give you a copy of the handout "Audacity for Sound Recording and Editing"

Save the .wav file that you export from Audacity into a new folder called "assets" inside of the "here_now" folder from a recent exercise (that is, the folder "www/4250/exercises/here_now").

Exercise: Embedding Sound Files in a Web Page

I will give you the handout "Embedding Sound Files in a Web Page"

Embed the .wav file from the exercise above into the page "index.html" inside of the folder "here_now".

Upload the entire "here/now" folder to the web and test the sound player in your browser.

moodle Send the URL as a clickable link as a reply to the Moodle forum, "Audacity and Embedded Sound File."

Resources

Return of Exams

Please remind me to return your exams at the end of class.

 

W 4/10

Homework

Come in with a prospectus of your WAS project which answers the following quesitons.

Please write your responses in a digital format which you save locally, and then copy and paste into this Prospectus Form:

1. a title

2. a brief description of the place as well as a list of any possible locations, views, or gazes within that place.

3. a brief explanation of why this place might be significant or representative.

4. a list of "not here/now" topics: flashbacks, ideas, facts, images, etc. that might compose elements of the augmented-space layer

5. a description of the old-media genre that you're emulating: poem, memoir, fiction, feature article, argumentative analysis (as in Kunstler's analytical argument for "New Urbanism" via a Paris Street View Tour). If you have a particular example in mind, describe it as weil: a specific Stephen King short story, a particular New York Times article, a specific Daily Show segment, etc.

6. a sentence speculating on the project's primary meaning or effect as best you understand it now.

7. What was your inspiration for this project idea?

8.
a sample paragraph of script which uses "juggling" to interweave the here/now and not here/now

Coming to Terms with Genre

Comment

Form of the WAS Project

Genre as Scaffolding: Writing and Groups

  • Do some quick searches online to find a couple of examples of (or commentaries on) the genre you're intending to work in.

What do people say about the genre?

How is it defined?

What are the genre's characteristic purposes, effects, meanings, forms, tone, points of view, pleasures, etc.?

What is it NOT?

(Examples: John Price on memoir, Jon Steward on satirical news)

  • In a five-minute writing (on a piece of paper) try to sum up the most useful and insightful of what you learned (and already know from your own experience reading, writing, or studying the genre).
  • Find your genre group in the room and gather with them. Take your writing.
  • Compare notes about your understandings of the genre that you have in common (or of the differences among your similar-but-different genres).
  • Each person in your group should compose one take-away from this process, expressed in a sentence about the genre: a realization, a rule, a definition, a distinction, a choice to be made, etc. Write this sentence at the bottom of your piece of paper.

Resources

Sample home page of a WAS Project

Sample inner page of a WAS Project

Return of Exams

Please remind me to return your exams at the end of class

F 4/12 Homework for today will be postponed till next meeting.

Snow Day 2013

 

WEEK 12
M 4/15

Homework

Investigating your Genre Further

Find two examples of the genre of writing which is the model for your WAS Project. Bring these texts to class either in

  • physical form, in a
  • digital file, or as
  • a URL.

 

The more similarity of subject matter between these examples and your WAS Project idea, the better.

moodle Before 9 a.m. today, answer the following quesitons about the most relevant one of your examples in the Moodle forum "Investigating Your Genre Further":

  • What is the autor and title of tne work
  • What is the genre?
  • What is the "take-away" sentence you wrote from last class meeting about this genre? ?
  • How and why is that piece of writing meaningful to an audience (rather than just to the writer)? To what extent is the public meaning a reflection of the genre chosen?
  • Who is the audience? What are their expectations for this genre of writing?
  • What is this piece of writing "about." (That is, what is it ultimately concerned with--what does it lead us to think more about or feel more deeply?)
  • In what ways does the meaning and effect of the work come from how its written, rather than what it's about?
  • Find a helpful online review or commentary (more if they're short) on that work and include in the URL as a clickable link. Write a short paragraph on what reading this review or commentary makes you realize about the particular work and the genre that you're translating for augmented space.

 

Writing in Augmented Space: Genres; Image Maps

Getting Ready

  • Open Dreamweaver and import your "www" site
  • Open Photoshop
  • In your web browser, take a screen shot (command+control+shift+4, then drag to select) of a map or other image you'd like to make into an image map (an image with several clickable areas that serve as links, see yellow link areas on Rental Property's home page as an example)

Show and Tell

Your Take-Away Idea and your Example

Your Moodle Posts

Exercises: Image Maps

  • I will give you a copy of the tutorial Image Maps
  • We will complete this exercise on the page "index.html" from the exercise saved in "www/4250/exercises/here_now":
  • A clickable URL to this exercise should be sent to the forum "Image Maps."
  • Download Cell Phone Image

Resources

Invisible Layout Tables
Smart Phone Image
Hope is a Thing with Feathers
Space

W 4/17

Homework

Write

Write portions of your script for two locations, views, or gazes within your place (see again what these terms denote from the WAS assignment page).

Rememmber your purpose using the Juggling technique to juxtapose the "Here Now / Not Here Now" material. Remember that you are writing to someone walking or driving in the actual place, not someone looking at a computer screen.

Revise and Resubmit Prospectus

After writing the above, revise and resend your prospectus for today in light of your realizations about genre and your work on the script (note this is a different form from the first time you submitted).

Revised Prospectus; Image Maps; Layout of the "Online Description"

Exercise: Image Map

  • I will give you a copy of the tutorial Image Maps
  • We will complete this exercise on the page "index.html" from the exercise saved in "www/4250/exercises/here_now":
  • A clickable URL to this exercise should be sent to the forum "Image Maps."
  • Download Cell Phone Image

Required Elements for the "Online Description" of the Project

See the "Required Elements" section of the assignment.

The "On-Ground Experience" vs. the "Online Description"

We'll look at the layouts of some of the sample web sites for the WAS Project. Which ones make clearest that the project is not just an online slideshow or video, but is an on-ground experience out there , which the web site is merely describing.

How can we convey a strong sense of this distinction in the ways we introduce and layout the web pages?

Resources

 

F 4/19

Homework

A. Work on your WAS Project.

B. Download the MP3 and listen to at least 20 minutes of Passing Stranger: The East Village Poetry Walk (MP3 available via a link in the first paragraph). Note that the download may take a minute or two to start.

moodle In a reply to the Moodle forum, "Passing Stranger,"

1. Note the time ranges (minutes and seconds) of the portions you listened to. It would be helpful if some of you didn't start at the beginning. You can also try skipping around among two or three portions.

2. type in the time increment/range for three instances where you notice a technique or effect that could be useful in our own projects.

3. For each of those instances, try to give the technique or effect a name. If you can use a term from class (e.g., "juggling," "voice"), do so, but you can also make up your own name for the technique or effect.

If you simply like something, try to figure out what you're responding to and boil it down to a generalizable, replicable technique or effect

4. For one of those instances, write a paragraph of commentary on that technique or effect, explaining what we could learn from it and how we might imitate it with different material.

How does this technique help make the physical "here/now" of the place into a medium for explanation, expressive identity, persuasion, thought, beauty, or some other writerly effect?

5. Using a location, view, or gaze from your WAS project, try using the technique to achieve the meaning and effect you intend for this project (presumably a different meaning and effect from that of Passing Stranger).

Do not simply repeat the same wording, but apply the technique to new materials for new purposes.

[Snow Day 2013]

Passing Stranger: WAS Techniques and Effects; Layout of an "Online Description" Page

Getting Ready

  • moodle Read over your post from last Friday in the Moodle forum, "Passing Stranger,"
  • Open Dreamweaver and import your "www" site
  • Open Photoshop
  • Download the smart phone image into your "new media writing" folder (not "www"!) and open the image in Photoshop.

Discussion

Techniques and Effects from "Passing Stranger"

Exercises:

1. Smart Phone Image Editing;
2. Audio Player into Smart Phone Screen

Editing and resizing a smart phone image.

Resources:

WEEK 13
M 4/22

Homework

A. Work on your WAS Project.

B. Download the MP3 and listen to at least 20 minutes of Passing Stranger: The East Village Poetry Walk (MP3 available via a link in the first paragraph). Note that the download may take a minute or two to start.

moodle In a reply to the Moodle forum, "Passing Stranger,"

1. Note the time ranges (minutes and seconds) of the portions you listened to. It would be helpful if some of you didn't start at the beginning. You can also try skipping around among two or three portions.

2. type in the time increment/range for three instances where you notice a technique or effect that could be useful in our own projects.

3. For each of those instances, try to give the technique or effect a name. If you can use a term from class (e.g., "juggling," "voice"), do so, but you can also make up your own name for the technique or effect.

If you simply like something, try to figure out what you're responding to and boil it down to a generalizable, replicable technique or effect

4. For one of those instances, write a paragraph of commentary on that technique or effect, explaining what we could learn from it and how we might imitate it with different material.

How does this technique help make the physical "here/now" of the place into a medium for explanation, expressive identity, persuasion, thought, beauty, or some other writerly effect?

5. Using a location, view, or gaze from your WAS project, try using the technique to achieve the meaning and effect you intend for this project (presumably a different meaning and effect from that of Passing Stranger).

Do not simply repeat the same wording, but apply the technique to new materials for new purposes.

Passing Stranger: WAS Techniques and Effects; Layout of an "Online Description" Page

Getting Ready

  • moodle Read over your post from last Friday in the Moodle forum, "Passing Stranger,"
  • Open Dreamweaver and import your "www" site
  • Open Photoshop
  • Download the smart phone image into your "new media writing" folder (not "www"!) and open the image in Photoshop.

Discussion

Techniques and Effects from "Passing Stranger"

Key Challenge:

Using Design and Writing to make the online audience distinguish the "On-Ground Experience" from the "Online Description."

Exercises:

As a way of anwering the key challenge above, we will resize and edit a smart phone image, and then insert it into a web page with an audio player inserted into the smart phone's screen.

1. Smart Phone Image Editing;

  1. Download image
  2. Copy-paste image into new PS doc (for unlocked image, background)
  3. Use Marquee to select screen
  4. Delete current screen part of image
  5. Place another image on a layer below to show through
  6. Transform that layer as desired
  7. Show how more screen images can be layered underneath and then hidden or shown
  8. Include one layer that includews light colored bar across the bottom of the screen for audio player (which is black)
  9. Save PS document
  10. Resize the image to an appropriate size for the intended page design (choose Image > Image Size).
  11. Choose File > Save for Web and Devices and save the new file as a ".png" into the folder "here_now" (that is, "www/4250/exercises/here_now").

 

2. Audio Player into Smart Phone Screen

moodle For this exercise, we will use the page your created in the exercise "Google Street View Here Now/Not Here Now."

  1. Insert the image from the Smart Phone Image Exercise onto the page "index.html" inside the folder "here_now" OR choose existing image on page,
  2. Click on the image and look in the Properties Panel to see the image's height and width (note down numbers of pixels each dimension_
  3. Choose Insert > Layout Objects > Div Tag, and Insert a div (wrapped around the selected image, making CSS rule called "smartphone"
  4. Open properties of .cellphone rule and make div same height and width as image
  5. Set image as background of the div.smartphone
  6. Delete image itself from div
  7. Copy/paste audio player plugin from existing location on the page
  8. In the "CSS" panel, create a new ID called "audioplayer"
  9. Apply the "#audioplayer" rule to the audio player you just pasted into the div (through the Tag Inspector)
  10. Open the rule "audioplayer" and set the margin rules (choose "Box" on the left) to nudge the audio player plugin into place (from top, from left)
  11. as needed, change the size of the player (click on player on the page, change dimensions in the Properties Panel).

 

W 4/24

Homework

Post

moodle Post three questions or problems having to do with your Writing in Augmented Space Project in the Moodle forum, "Writing in Augmented Space: Questions and Problems."

We will work with these in class today.

Work on Your Project

Your project will be due on Monday, 4/29

Writing in Augmented Space: Questions and Problems

Getting Ready

  1. Open Dreamweaver and import your "www" site information
  2. Open the page "index.html" in the "here_now" folder
  3. Open Photoshop and the iPhone image we were working with last time.

Page Format for Online Representation of the Project (Web Site)

See the Sample Layout Page, which we will create together today.

Review of Dreamweaver's Page Layout and DIVs

I will give you a copy of the handout "Dreamweaver: Side-by-Side DIV Layout"

Exercise: Audio Player into Smart Phone Screen

moodle For this exercise, we will use the page your created in the previous exercise above.

I will give you a copy of the handout, "Dreamweaver: Content on Top of Image (Audio Player into Smartphone Screen Exercise"

 

F 4/26

Homework

Come in with work aready done on your WAS web site so you can get help in class with the issues you don't know how to solve.

Bring all materials to work on the project in class.

Studio Session: Writing in Augmented Space Projects (Online Portions)

Checklist

Please see the WAS Criteria Checklist

The online portions of the WAS Project will be due by Monday at 9:00 a.m. The scripts and completed audio will be due Wednesday.

Resources

 

WEEK 14
M 4/29

Homework

WAS Web Site Due by 9 a.m.

moodle Complete the visual, online portions of your WAS Project (minus final scripts and final audio) and upload it to the web by 9:00.

Post the URL of the homepage to the Moodle forum, "Writing in Augmented Space URLs."

 

Note: Script and Selected Audio Clips will be due Wednesday

Note that the script will be due on Wednesday, as well as audio clips for three of the locations, gazes, views (in other words, 3 pages of the web site).

Introduce the "Essay+" Assignment; Visiting Day Workshop (WAS)

Final Project Introduction

Please see the Essay+ Project Page.

This project will be due on the scheduled day and time of the final exam:

Visiting Day Workshop

I will give you a copy of the WAS Criteria Checklist.

The purpose of this workshop is to

  1. troubleshoot the online aspects of the project (including the basic structuring of the place into locations, views, and gazes), and
  2. look at and discuss issues of writing, voice, point of view, sound effects, etc. in the script

 


May

Homework Topics
W 5/1

Homework

Complete the WAS Project

1. Complete the script and bring a printed copy to turn in at the beginning of class. Be sure the script clearly indicates what parts of the script go with what locations, views, or gazes in the project.

2. Before 9 a.m. today, record and insert into the online pages audio tracks for at least three of the locations, gazes, views (3 of the web pages). You are welcomed to complete audio for all the pages (locations, views, gazes) if you wish.

Be sure to paste in the text of the script for each location, view, gaze, etc. into the approrpiate page on the web site.

 

WAS Complete; Essay+ in Detail; Non-Fiction Trailers

Collect

I will collect the printed scripts for the Writing in Augmented Space Project.

Comment

Let's look at the directions for the WAS Commentary

Questions on the Essay+ Project?

  • See the Essay+ Assignment Page in detail
  • What if you don't own or even know anything about the video game version of a movie or book?

Comment and Examples for the Homework

Define and Discuss

"New-Media Version, Old-Media Version." How do we tell the difference between a "new-media version" and an "old-media remake"? (Would a DVD version of Season 1 of 30 Rock be "new media"?)

 

F 5/3

Homework

Write and Print Your Commentary

The Commentary on the WAS project is due at the beginning of class.

Read

Read the first five pages of "Solving the Crime of Modernity: Nancy Drew in 1930"

Post to Moodle

In a reply to the to the Moodle forum, "Non-FIction Trailers," post the following three items, each of them numbered

1. moodle A URL and commentary posted in a reply See details below:

From YouTube or some other online source, find a trailer or promo for a non-fiction TV show, a documentary movie, book etc. Post the URL as a clickable link in a reply to this forum.

Beneath the URL, write a short paragraph analyzing:

a. What claim the trailer makes about its subject matter or the way the promoted text explores it

b. the trailer's basic argument about why we should watch or read the text being promoted.

c. how the trailer elaborates, breaks down, or dramatizes this argument into sequences, scenes, shots, slides, etc.

d. techniques of coordinating visual and verbal languages (whether the verbal is spoken or written).

 

2. Three questions about the "Essay+" Assignment:

  • one about the topic
  • one about the purpose
  • one about the writing, form, or technique (essay or video)

 

3. Come up with three possible topics:

  • two to share in this Moodle Forum, and
  • one to keep to yourself (though I will ask you later to share it with me privately).

 

New Media Translations; Critical Ideas: The Case of Nancy Drew

How WAS is Now

Collect

WAS Project Commentaries

Discuss the Work of Non-Fiction Trailers

moodle See the Moodle forum "Non-Fiction Trailers."

Our working thesis: Only Trouble is Interesting (a problem, qustion, conflict, or mystery). Consider Helvetica.

Critical Ideas Lead to Critical Quesions ("Only Trouble is Interesting")

Critical Ideas in an Essay+ Analysis (Nancy Drew). See page 189.8 of the Boesky article "Solving the Crime of Modernity: Nancy Drew in 1930" (Intuition, Inherent Sense of Right and Wrong).

We'll watch a portion of the episode "The Mystery of Pirate's Cove (Part 4/5)" of the unwatchable '70s TV series Nancy Drew Mysteries.

Then compare the theme of intuition/right/wrong to the experience of the Nancy Drew Game: Ransom of the Seven Ships.

Resources

 

 

WEEK 15
M 5/6

Homework

A. Bring in for your Essay+ Project:

Come in with:

  1. an old- and new-media version of the same text chosen (example: Nancy Drew mystery)
  2. Links to online content that represents both of these, or content on paper.
  3. one or two possible critical problems, questions, conflicts that you might use as a topic for this essay.

B. Bring Music

Bring a song to use as background music for a slideshow (as an .mp3 file or other common sound-file format. The music does not necessarily need to work with your current Essay+ idea.

As a fall-back, you can use the music file "Among the Falls" that we downloaded as part of the in-class Audacity exercise.

iPhoto Slideshows with Audio; Non-Fiction Trailer

Exercise: iPhoto Slideshow

I will give you a copy of the handout for this exercise.

Download these images to a new folder called "iphoto" in your "nmw" folder (or use screen shots from previous in-class activity).

When you are finished, copy the final .mov file into a new folder "www/4250/exercises/slideshow".

moodle Post that folder to the web, and send a clickable URL to the forum "Slideshows."

Resources

 

W 5/8

Homework

Work on your Essay+, and bring related materials to class.

Essay + Interviews, Headlines, and Leads

Complete Slideshow Exercise

Because of the new UMD server settings, we'll need to save an "index.html" page into the folder "slideshow," and upload the entire folder to the web.

For convenience's sake, I would place a link on the page to the .mov file.

Interview (And Be Interviewed By) a Neighbor

Interview a neighbor about his or her project, and then write a headline and first paragraph of a news story.

Try to lead with the aspect of the project's topic that emphasizes "trouble": a problem, qustion, conflict, or mystery that your neighbor's project examines.

You can get help from your interviewee in writing the headline and lead paragraph.

moodle Post your headline and paragraph to the Moodle forum "Interviews about Essay +." Be sure to use your neighbor's name in the paragraph.

Resources

F 5/10 Bring all materials to work on your Essay+ Project in class Last Day of Class
Studio Day: Essay+

1. Course Evaluations

2. Permission to Display your Projects in Future Classes
Please complete the brief Permission Form.

Students who agree to permit display of their projects in future classes become collaborative partners in the development of the course, the program, and UMD generally.

Consider providing permission--with any restrictions you'd like to include--for future students to benefit from your work this semester.

I will be emailing you a response to the Writing in Augmented Space Project

FINALS WEEK

T 5/14

 

"Essay+" Assignment due by 4 p.m on Tuesday, May 14

1. hard copyof the essay turned in to my mailbox in Humanities 420

2. clickable URL to your promo (movie) file posted in a message to the forum "Essay+ Movies." (Be certain that the .mov or .mp4 file plays).