ENG 407: Writing for Electronic Media

English 407: Writing for Electronic Media

John Zuern
Spring 2001
W 1:30 - 4:00
Kuykendall 411

Office: Kuykendall 219
Office Phone: 956-3019
zuern@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: W 10:00 - 12:00
and by appointment

Materials
Assignments
Policy
Schedule
Service Projects
IS 219 Guidelines

Objectives

As education, government, business, and even literature and art make the transition from printed documents to materials developed and published in networked computer environments, writers in these fields need to combine traditional rhetorical skills with expertise in visual rhetoric, hypermedia authoring strategies, and information architecture. This course aims to give you experience with the practical and philosophical challenges you may encounter as writers in the Information Age, helping you

to write effectively for electronic publication;
to understand the principles of navigation, visual rhetoric, and information architecture as they relate to online writing;
to gain experience with planning, scheduling, and testing electronic document production; and
to gain experience with collaborative writing and development teams.

You will carry out both individual and collaborative writing projects that require you to analyze the various rhetorical situations that arise in the context of electronic publication. The course is organized primarily as a studio; discussion of its central themes will be tied to ongoing student projects. All assignments will represent complex, real-world writing situations, requiring you to produce project schedules, memoranda, progress reports, demonstration models, formal presentations, and assessments of your projects. All work will undergo a process of testing, evaluation, and revision. Class projects will encourage you to address timely issues in communication theory such as the dynamic nature of audiences, the impact of socio-economic factors on access, and the rhetoric of images and interactivity.

This course incorporates a substantial service-learning component. You will have the opportunity to participate in the Making a Civic Investment project sponsored by MCI/WorldCom, which aims at bringing information technology resources to underserved communities on O'ahu. You will have a range of options within the parameters of this project.

Objectives
Assignments
Policy
Schedule
Service Projects
IS 219 Guidelines

Syllabus in PDF

Materials

Required Text: Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, Indianapolis: New Riders, 2000 (available at UH bookstore) and a course packet (vailable at EMA Campus Copy in the Student Center). Required Materials: A package of ten 3.5" floppy disks and a sketchbook.

Online Resources

Assignments

Assignments are due on the day on which they appear in the schedule. All assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade.

Text Concentration Project (10%)
Individual Creative Brief for Team Project (5%)
Collaborative Creative Brief for Team Project (5%)
Individual Interim Report and Documentation (10%)
Press Release on Team Project (5%)
Individual Component of Team Project (30%)
Overall Team Project (10%)
Individual Project Report (25%)

Policy

You are expected to attend this seminar regularly and on time. This class operates primarily as a studio, so your presence at weekly working sessions and critiques is essential to your success.

If circumstances arise that make it difficult for you to come to class or to complete your assigned work, please inform me immediately. Don't wait until the end of the semester, when it will be harder to make accommodations.

I will give incompletes only in cases of medical or family emergencies, for which I will require written documentation.

I also expect you to adhere to the Interim Policy for Responsible Computing and Network Access and the Critique Lab Policies.

Late work will only be accepted without penalty if you provide written documentation of illness. All other late work will lose one letter grade for every day past the deadline. Delayed or missing projects due to lost or corrupted data will be assessed the same penalties--you are responsible for caring for the files you produce in this class. Always back up your work.

Objectives
Materials
Assignments
Policy
Service Projects
IS 219 Guidelines

Syllabus in PDF

Schedule

(subject to change)

January 10
Introduction to the course:

Foundations of Online Writing
Rhetoric and the Web Trivium
The Digital Divide
Service Learning Projects
Skills Survey

January 17
Web Grammars
Introduction to HTML
Schedule Service Project Site Visits

Reading
Nielsen 8 - 14; 99 - 126

Assignments
1.Find two examples of concentrated information and bring them to class. Be ready to comment on their design strategies and audience(s).

2. Bring a text file of your resume information.

January 24
Digital Divide
HTML Challenge

Reading
Nielsen 16 - 98

Castells, "The Informational City is a Dual City:
Can It Be Reversed?" (packet)

Hall, "Changing Geographies: Technology and Income" (packet)

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
"Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide"
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html

Digital Divide Network
"Content and the Digital Divide: What Do People Want?"
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/

The Benton Foundation: Communications in the Public Interest
http://www.benton.org/

Assignment
Write a response to the readings, chunking your text into at least three separate text files, and upload the files to your account or bring them to class on disk. If you use disks, be sure to make a backup.

January 31
Project Management
File Structures
Assemble Project Teams

Reading
Tolleson, Introduction to Soak Wash Rinse Spin (packet)

Shedroff, "The Interactive Development Process"
http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/process.html

Assignment
1. Hand-code your resume and launch it.

2. Prepare a 5-minute presentation on your potential contributions to the project team you have chosen to join. The class will conduct a mini-interview with each of you before we assemble the teams.

February 7
Web Rhetorics
Site Design

Reading
Nielsen 162 - 222

Assignment
1. Post your text concentration exercise to your maven account.

2. Choose 2-3 sites that you visit regularly and analyze the writing that appears on them. What are its functions? How is the text related to the other features of the site such as images and navigation structures? Be prepared to comment on your findings in class.

February 14
Hypertext Theory
Information Architecture
Schedule Photoshop/PageMaker Workshops

Reading
Bernstein, "Hypertext Gardens"
http://www.eastgate.com/garden/

Shedroff, "Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design"
http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/index.html

Assignment
Post your individual creative brief for your team project to your maven account.

February 21
Visual Elements
Spatial Rhetoric

Reading
Shipman and Marshall, "Spatial Hypertext: An Alternative to Navigational and Semantic Links"
http://www.cs.brown.edu/memex/ACMCSHT/37/37.html

Kress and Van Leeuwen, Chapter 3 of Reading Images: A Grammar of Visual Design
"Conceptual Representation: Designing Social Constructs" (packet)

Assignment
Post the collaborative creative brief for your team project to your team's maven account.

February 28
Accessibility
ADA Compliance

Reading
Nielsen 296 - 311

Stefik, "Strangers in the Net: Access, Diversity, and Borders" (packet)

The Children's Partnership
"Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans: The Digital Divide's New Frontier"
http://www.childrenspartnership.org/pub/low_income/index.html

March 7
Web Dialectics
Content Audits
Schedule Flash Workshops

Reading
Nielsen 312 - 344

1999 United Nations Report on Human Development
Chapter 2: "New Technologies and the Global Race for Knowledge"
http://www.undp.org/hdro/report.html
(Chapter 2 is available only in PDF format; you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print this file.)

Assignment
Analyze the United Nations website (http://www.un.org/)and be prepared to discuss the ways it accommodates (or fails to accommodate) a global audience.

March 14
Interactivity
Hypermedia Storytelling and Gaming

Reading
Murray, "The Cyberbard and the Multiform Plot" (packet)

Aarseth, "Intrigue and Discourse in the Adventure Game" (packet)

March 21
Interim Reports from Project Teams

This is a formal group critique of the team project. Along with your individual interim reports, your project team should be ready to present the work your group has accomplished so far, including a revised creative brief, site plans, wireframes, and HTML prototypes.

Assignment
Submit your individual interim report and documentation.

March 28
Spring Break

April 4
Writing in MOOs

Reading
Aarseth, "Ruling the Reader: The Politics of Interactivity" (packet)

April 11
Review of Principles
Alpha Testing of Team Projects

The basic architecture of your team project site should be in place by this time, and the majority of the text should be generated.

Reading
Nielsen, 346 - 390

April 18
Studio/Guest Lecturer

Assignment
Post the press release for your team project to your team's maven account.

April 25
Studio/Guest Lecturer
Beta Testing of Team Projects

This will be the last chance to get feedback from other classmates and the instructor on your team project before the Final Critique. All of the text should be in place, with the site architecture and interface features fully developed.

May 2
Final Critiques

This is a formal group critique. Your team projects should be ready to launch.

May 4
Last day to submit team projects

May 11
Last day to submit individual project report

Objectives
Materials
Assignments
Policy
Schedule
IS 219 Guidelines

Syllabus in PDF

Service Projects

Project teams will be assembled to undertake the following interrelated projects:

Kuhio Park Terrace Community Teen Program
The Community Teen Program at Kuhio Park Terrace in Kalihi offers a lively after-school learning envirnoment for young residents of KPT. The Community Teen Program is a partner in our WorldCom Making a Civic Investment grant project (http://maven.english.hawaii.edu/civic). Working with Community Technology Leader Audrey Lui-Sanay, team members will develop and document a project that helps young people learn about computers and electronic media. Five networked computers are available at the facility. The central aims of this project should be to equip youth to be producers of media and to develop a range of literacies--verbal, visual, and technological. The project will be showcased at a Summer Technology Fair at KPT.
Kuhio Park Terrace Learning Center
Community Technology Leader Moli Savelio keeps the Learning Center open on Tuesday and Thursday evenings so that residents can come and use the five networked computers. The Learning Center is also a partner in our WorldCom Making a Civic Investment grant project (http://maven.english.hawaii.edu/civic).Members of this team will work with Moli to develop programming and resources to help these adults make the best use of computer resources available to them for education, information, and employment. The project will be showcased at a Summer Technology Fair at KPT.
Hawai`i Digital Divide Data Project
This team will research the relationship between socioeconomic status and access to information technology resources in Hawai`i, with a particular emphasis on public housing. The team will produce an online resource that makes relevant information available to community organizations, researchers, and grantwriters.

Syllabus in PDF Format

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Download the ENG 407 syllabus as a PDF file.

Objectives
Materials
Assignments
Policy
Schedule

Syllabus in PDF

IS 291 Guidelines

Your contribution to the service-learning component of this course can be formally acknowledged on your transcript with one IS 291 credit. To earn this credit, you must commit a minimum of 16 hours during the semester to work with the organization(s) associated with your team project.

The work you do during these hours must directly benefit the community. In most cases, this means on-site, hands-on activities with community members, but it can also include site visits, telephone interviews, or other forms of research that engages you with community members and results in information and/or services for the community.

You will be responsible for recording the hours you spend and accounting for the work you do in that time. Your individual project report must also reflect on your activities in the community.

Your work for the IS291 will be evaluated on a credit/no credit basis.

The CRN number for our section of IS291 is 51331.

IS 291 Guidelines in PDF format

These guidelines are also available as a PDF file which can be easily printed from your computer. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print this file.

Download the IS 291 Guidelines as a PDF file.