Course and Instructor Information
Course: ENG 342 || MW 4:10-5:30 p.m. || VINI 115
Instructor: Dr. Erin Karper || E-mail: ekarper@niagara.edu || AIM: ProfKarper || Office: Dunleavy 350 || Office Phone: 286-8631 || Office Hours: MWF 12:30-2:00 p.m.; by appointment
Printer-Friendly VersionCollaborative Web Resource: Individual Memo Guidelines
After you’ve completed the collaborative Web resource project, you will write a short reflection about what this experience taught you about collaborative writing on the Web.
Specifics
You will write a short reflection of one or two double-spaced pages where you:
- Describe your role in the project and the work you completed.
- Describe and reflect on what you learned about collaboration, community, and writing for the Web from this project and from the course in general.
The memo is due as an e-mailed attachment to the instructor by December 11.
Grading Criteria
The instructor will grade the memo based on the quality of your descriptions, the quality of your reflections, and your use of English. You can earn a total of 50 points for this.
Printer-Friendly VersionAgenda for the Rest of The Course
For the rest of the semester, we’ll be working on developing the collaborative web resource site. While you may not finish the entire site, the site should have:
- Navigation on all pages
- A clear overarching structure
- Stubs/placeholders for all pages
- Categories and tags
- Content on at least eight pages.
You will also write the instructor a memo during the last week of classes where you explain your contributions to the site and reflect on the process of site creation.
Assignments Due By The End of the Semester
- Final version of site (December 8 )
- Individual memo reflecting on contributions and process, as an e-mailed attachment(December 11)
- Final comments on all discussion posts (December 11)
Notes and Activities for November 20
Today, we’ll:
1) Work to finish the proposal for the collaborative Web site.
The proposal is due by the end of class.
2) Begin working on creating, editing, and formatting content for the site.
Assignments for This Week
Read: Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense, Web 2.0 isn’t dead, but Web 3.0 is bubbling up, and web 2.0 vs bubble 2.0
Post a comment on the discussion post (last reading-related discussion post for the semester!)
Printer-Friendly VersionNotes and Activities for November 15
Today, we’ll:
1) Discuss the tasks that need to be accomplished for the CWP and how you will work individually and collaboratively to complete them.
Tasks:
- Writing proposal for the site
- Creating master list of content
- Generating an organizational scheme for arranging content (table of contents, categories, site map, tags)
- Choosing and implementing a template for the site
- Designing and implementing navigation (sidebar content, tag displays)
- Creating content and adding it to the wiki
- Editing content for correctness of information and prose
- Tagging content/making sure content is organized
Who will do what? What do you all need to do together? How will you claim roles, post updates, and otherwise work this out?
2) Continue working on the proposal for the Collaborative Web Project.
Assignments for Next Class
- Write (as a class) Collaborative Web Resource proposal (by end of class next Monday).
- Read: Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters, Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!, and Home Page Goals.
- Post a comment on the discussion post.
Collaborative Web Resource: Proposal Guidelines
Specifics
Your proposal should:
- Describe the purpose of the site.
- Describe sites that are similar to yours (in purpose or in content) and how your site will be distinct from them.
- Describe the primary and secondary audiences for the site: include demographic details, their reasons for visiting the site, why they would be repeat visitors to the site and how you will keep their interest.
- Describe the possible content that your site will contain: include the categories that you will use for organization/navigation and a list of topics that the site will cover.
- Describe how people will collaborate to create the site, how the site will foster community (online or offline), and how some of the possible problems which arise with collaborative and community writing will be dealt with.
- Describe your timeline for creating the site, and your plan for site maintenance.
Formatting
Your proposal should:
- Be between two and four pages (single-spaced) using a 10 or 12 point font.
- At the top of the first page, list everyone’s names and the title Proposal for Site Title.
- Use headings to make distinctions between sections.
- Attribute any words, ideas, or information that you get from other sources by using in-text references.
- Be clear, concise, precise, and use conventions for standard written English.
- Be e-mailed to the instructor as an attached Microsoft Word Document.
Grading Criteria
The proposal will be graded on:
- The quality of your descriptions of purpose and similar sites. (15 points)
- The audience description and analysis. (15 points)
- The description of content and your timeline for creating the site. (15 points)
- The clarity and precision of your language use. (5 points)
Your group can earn a total of 50 points for this project.
Due Date
Final version due at the end of class on November 20th.
Printer-Friendly VersionWeekly Agenda for November 13-17
Monday, November 13
Today you’ll finish — for real this time — your collaborative/community analyses. Then we’ll start working on planning for and writing a proposal for the Collaborative Web Resource project.
Wednesday, November 15
Today you’ll work on the planning and proposal writing for the Collaborative Web Resource project.
Assignments for This Week
- Finish Collaborative/Community Analyses by end of class on Monday.
- Write (as a class) Collaborative Web Resource proposal (by end of class next Monday).
- Read: Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters, Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!, and Home Page Goals.
- Post a comment on the discussion post.
Weekly Agenda for November 6-10
Monday, November 6
Today we’ll work on creating templates for your collaborative/community analyses. Then we’ll work on adding content to your templates.
Wednesday, November 8
Today you’ll work on creating the Web sites for your collaborative/community analyses. The goal for today’s class is to get the projects finished by the end of class.
Assignments for This Week
Finish your collaborative/community analyses.
Read:
Post a comment on the discussion post.
Printer-Friendly VersionNotes and Activities for October 30
Today, we’ll:
1) Finish up the drafts of your Collaborative/Community analysis texts if necessary.
2) Read and give feedback on the drafts of your classmates.
Please use the comments and track changes features in Word to give feedback on the drafts. Please give feedback on:
- Focus/thesis
- Use of examples and descriptive detail
- Organization
- Attribution of sources
- Additional points the writer might consider
3) Work on sketching site maps and wireframes for your Web sites.
Assignments for Next Class
NO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY.
Read:
- The New Wisdom of the Web
- How the Internet is Changing Consumer Behavior and Expectations
- Software Should Be Social Because No One Works Alone
Post a comment on the discussion post (when available). You might also want to catch up on posting comments on last week’s if you haven’t already.
Printer-Friendly VersionNotes and Activities for October 25
Today, we’ll:
1) Articulate thesis statements for your analyses.
Turn your research question into a claim or a sentence.
Categorize and classify the information that you want to present about your question.
Download claim/reasons structure.
2) Outline/map the possible organization of your analyses.
3) Discuss how those ideas could be translated into a Web site and build a possible site map.
A site map should:
- Show the number of pages on the site and label their contents.
- Show how pages on the site are connected to each other.
4) Work on drafting the text of your analyses.
Assignments for Next Class
Read:
- “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace“
- “Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of Weblogs“
- “An Argumentation Analysis of Weblog Conversations“
Post a comment on the discussion post.
Write a draft of the text for your Collaborative/Community Analysis (in Word or any other word processing program); bring it to class on Monday.
Printer-Friendly VersionWeekly Agenda for October 23-27
Monday, October 23
Today we’ll discuss ways that people analyze and evaluate Web writing, including audience analysis and rhetorical analysis. You’ll practice some of these strategies on the communities that you’ve chosen for your analysis projects.
Assignment for Next Class
Read:
- “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace“
- “Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of Weblogs“
- “An Argumentation Analysis of Weblog Conversations“
Post a comment on the discussion post.
Wednesday, October 25
Today you’ll work on researching and drafting the text (as well as collecting other types of media) for your analysis projects.
Assignment for Next Class
Do the readings and post a comment on the discussion post.
Write a draft of the text for your Collaborative/Community Analysis; bring it to class on Monday.
Notes and Activities for October 23
Today, we’ll:
1) Go over the weekly agenda.
2) Discuss what you’ve learned so far about your collaborative/community analysis topics.
3) Discuss ways of analyzing and evaluating Web writing.
Web writing samples: LiveJournal search
Audience analysis
- Who visits this site? Is it a specific group or more than one group of people?
- What are their demographic details? (age, gender, social class, locations, religions, languages, etc.)
- How familiar are they with the Internet? How long have they had Internet access? Where are they in the digital divide? Are they digital natives or digital immigrants?
- What do they want from the site?
- With whom do they identify?
- How does who they are impact how they use the site and what they do with it?
- How often do certain types of people post (or not post)? Why?
Rhetorical analysis
- How do people make arguments?
- What do they use (words, images, media) and how do they shape it to be convincing?
- How do they convince other people?
- How do they persuade, inform, advocate, argue, explain, or educate? How does the construction of their discourse (tone, language, choices) shape what they create and how people perceive it?
Context:
- Purpose
- Genres
- Stance/Tone
- Media/Design
How do these impact how people use the Web or a specific Web site?
Appeals:
- Logos (logical/fact-based)
- Ethos (character/credibility based)
- Pathos: emotion-based
5) Work on your analysis projects.
Assignments for Next Class
Read:
- “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace“
- “Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of Weblogs“
- “An Argumentation Analysis of Weblog Conversations“
Post a comment on the discussion post.
Printer-Friendly VersionNotes and Activities for October 18
Today, we’ll:
1) Make sure that everyone has a PBwiki account and can make edits to the CWR wiki.
2) Discuss issues related to credibility and authority in community and collaborative settings.
Today’s questions:
- How do people in communities establish credibility and authority?
- How does the nature of online communities (and the pluses and minuses we were discussing on Wednesday) complicate credibility and authority?
- How does the nature of Web media (like wikis) complicate credibility and authority?
- How do the people online communities or collaborative settings you’re studying establish credibility and authority?
- How will you establish it in the collaborative web resource that we’re building?
3) Learn how to take screen captures.
- Hit the print screen key on your keyboard. Hold the Alt key and hit the Print Screen key to take a picture of just the active window.
- Launch Photoshop or Paint.
- Open a new file.
- Use the paste command to paste the image into a file.
- Save the file as a .jpg or a .gif.
Practice taking a screen capture of something in your Web browsers.
You can also use the “Save” command to save an entire Web page to a computer. This is useful for preserving things that change frequently.
4) Spend some time doing library or field research and taking notes for your analysis projects.
For the project, you need to:
- Conduct academic research in the library and on the Web to help you learn more about your topic. You should collect at least THREE library sources about your topic, and as many Web-based sources as you wnat.
- Conduct “field research” where you collect specific examples of content which relate to your topic and analyze them. This might include archiving posts, taking screen shots, or other types of research. You will need to provide specific examples in your analysis.
Questions your analysis should be able to answer (other than your central research question):
- How do people communicate and collaborate in this community?
- Who uses this place? Why? What for?
- Has there been research or writing about this type of writing, this type of community, this type of collaboration, or the phenomenon I’m studying? If so, what have other people said or thought about it?
- What are the norms for behavior in this community? (The written ones and the unwritten ones.)
- What happens when people violate these norms?
- How does this community or collaborative effort intersect with the “real world” and the issues there?
- What changes have happened?
- What needs to change? Why?
Now is a good time to get help with locating sources, checking sources for appropriateness, and thinking about how sources might fit into your research.
Assignments for Next Class
- Read any three articles from “Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
- Read “Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
- “Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
- Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
- Post a response to the discussion post.
Notes and Activities for October 16
Today, we’ll:
1) Go over the weekly agenda.
2) Do an exercise to help generate and focus research questions for your collaborative/community analysis topics.
- Open a blank Word document and maximize it.
- At the top, type a description of the topic you’ve chosen.
- Get up from the computer, and move to the next one over (going clockwise).
- Read that person’s topic, and type in a question or two that you have about the topic, and any useful comments you might have for them.
- Move on to the next one when you’re done.
- Review people’s questions and comments about your topic, and add any ideas that have occurred to you after reviewing them.
- Save the document for later use.
3) Discuss some terms for talking about online communities and collaborative settings.
- moderator
- administrator
- registration
- avatar/icon
- participant/member
- locking/protecting
- ranking
- rating systems
- sockpuppet
- multi, mult
- troll
- flame, flaming, flame war
- terms of service/guidelines
- IP address
- spoofing
- screencaps, screencaptures
- private messages, PMs
- forums
- comments
4) Discuss the good and bad points of online communities and collaborative settings and consider how they apply to the ones you are researching.
Please make a list of what you see as the good and bad (or strong and weak) points of collaborative and community settings online. If you can think of specific examples for each point, make a note of those too. You’ll be asked to share some with the class.
5) Vote on the name for the collaborative Web resource and brainstorm ideas for a title for the entire site.
First choices:
- NUtodo (3 votes)
- Nu4You
- NUwoohoo
- NUfun
6) Set up a wiki for the Collaborative Web Resource and create accounts.
Choose a host:
7) Practice creating Wiki pages and using the site software.
Assignments for Next Class
- Read any three articles from “Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
- Read “Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
- “Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
- Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
- Post a response to the discussion post.
Weekly Agenda for October 16-18
Monday, October 16
Today we’ll continue to discuss the software we’ll use for the collaborative Web resource as well as decide on the name and title of the site. Then we’ll discuss some of the terms and concepts necessary for thinking about online communities, especially in terms of how they do and don’t work to facilitate collaboration and community. Finally, we’ll talk some more about research questions and a focus for your individual analyses, and work to generate library sources and “field research” sources that might be good for your projects.
Assignments for Next Class
- Read any three articles from “Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
- Read “Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
- “Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
- Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
- Post a response to the discussion post.
Wednesday, October 18
Today we’ll discuss issues related to credibility, authority, and ethics in collaboration and community online. Then we’ll continue to work on analysis projects and on the collaborative Web resource.
Assignments for Next Class
- Read any three articles from “Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
- Read “Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
- “Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
- Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
- Post a response to the discussion post.
Notes and Activities for October 11
Today, we’ll:
1) Review the guidelines for the Collaborative/Community Analysis project.
2) Brainstorm ideas for topics and possible research questions.
3) Examine possible sources of information and conduct some preliminary research.
Places to start:
- Find Articles (NU Library)
- JSTOR (through NU Library)
- Communication Studies Full-Text Search (NU Library)
- Google Scholar
- First Monday (Journal)
- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
- Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization
- Pew Internet & American Life Project
- Jupiter Research
4) Discuss possible ways for hosting the Collaborative Web Project.
- Wikis (like Wikipedia)
- Content management software/blogging software (like WordPress, Movable Type, or Drupal)
Assignments for Next Class
- Read any three articles from “Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
- Read “Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
- “Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
- Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
Discussion post on these articles will be next week — no discussion for this week.
Printer-Friendly VersionWeekly Agenda for October 2-6
Monday, October 2
Today you’ll work on your Web literacy autobiographies, especially on Web page production.
Wednesday, October 4
If necessary, you’ll finish up with your Web literacy autobiographies. Then we’ll go over the guidelines for the Collaborative/Community analysis, and we’ll also talk about some possible software applications that we could use to build the Collaborative Web Resource.
Assignments for Next Class
- Finish your Web literacy autobiographies.
- Complete this week’s readings (which include an online video)
- Respond to the discussion post on the course community.
Collaborative/Community Analysis Guidelines
Description
What interests you about collaborative or community writing on or for the Web? This assignment asks you to explore, analyze, and explain a topic in which you’re interested. You could investigate an online community or collaborative writing situation, or you could write about practical, technological, editorial, social, or ethical issues related to online communities or collaborative writing on the Web.
Requirements
- Select a topic related either to collaborative writing or community writing on the Web, such as the impact of technological changes, a case study of a specific collaborative or community writing site, or the stylistic features of collaborative or community writing. For example, you might choose to write about how the recent changes at Facebook have affected users. Or, you could observe how people on aa LiveJournal community discuss controversial topics. Or you could write about how scientists are shifting away from traditional peer review to online collaborative models for academic publishing.
- Come up with questions to help focus for your analysis. For example: “Why did Facebook users react so vehemently to the changes in feeds? How come the Facebook management didn’t see that coming? What does that say about how people see audience on the Web??”
- Conduct academic research in the library and on the Web to help you learn more about your topic. You should collect at least THREE library sources about your topic, and as many Web-based sources as you wnat.
- Conduct “field research” where you collect specific examples of content which relate to your topic and analyze them. This might include archiving posts, taking screen shots, or other types of research. You will need to provide specific examples in your analysis.
- Create a hypertext (series of at least four Web pages) that presents your research question and answers it by presenting your evidence. To create the hypertext, you will need to:
- As you collect information and come to conclusions, make a plan for how you will organize and present your information to the reader (an outline, a cluster map, or a set of index cards). Use this plan to generate a list of pages you will create for your site and a list of content that you will need to create or locate to present as evidence.
- Write paragraphs and sections of text which present information to the reader. You should use a more academic style and tone than the one you used for your autobiographies.
- Collect links, images, and any other media related to your topic.
- Create a template for your pages which specifies font, color scheme, positioning of page elements, and navigation using HTML and CSS. All pages (except for the index) should use this template.
- Build an index and Web pages (at least four) which present your analysis to the reader.
- Create a credits or works cited page where you cite all of the sources you used in your research and that you used to make the Web pages.
- Publish the site on your Niagara Web space and send the instructor a link.
Grading Criteria
The assignment will be graded on:
- How well you thoroughly explore, discuss, and analyze your topic.
- How well you incorporate academic and field research into your hypertext.
- How well you create a hypertext which is usable and accessible to your readers.
- How creative you are in presenting your material in ways which take advantage of the Web as a medium.
- How well you pay attention to conventions for Web writing and standard English usage.
You can earn a maximum of 200 points for this assignment.
Due Date
The final version of the project is due on November 8.
Printer-Friendly VersionNotes and Activities for October 4
Today, we’ll:
1) Finish up your Web Literacy Autobiographies.
2) Go over the guidelines for the Collaborative/Community Analysis project.
3) Discuss possible ways for hosting the Collaborative Web Project.
- Wikis (like Wikipedia)
- Content management software/blogging software (like WordPress, Movable Type, or Drupal)
Notes and Activities for October 2
Today, we’ll:
1) Go over the weekly agenda.
2) Work on your Web literacy autobiographies.
If possible, see if you can finish them today. When you finish, e-mail the link to the instructor.
Assignments for Next Class/Next Week
- Finish your Web literacy autobiographies.
- Complete this week’s readings (which include an online video)
- Respond to the discussion post on the course community.
Weekly Agenda for September 25-27
Monday, September 25
Today you’ll continue to work on your Web literacy autobiographies.
Wednesday, September 27
Class is canceled for the 150th anniversary celebration.
Assignments for this Week
- Read:
- Comment on the discussion post in the course community.
- Continue to work on your Web literacy autobiographies.
Weekly Agenda for September 18-20
Monday, September 18
Today we’ll briefly discuss this week’s themes: identity and privacy in collaborative/community Web writing. Then we’ll discuss conventions for writing narratives and you’ll work on your Web literacy narratives. Finally, you’ll set up your Niagara Web space and publish a sample page.
Assignment for Next Class
- Read “When Public and Private Collide“, “Privacy Fears Shock Facebook“, “Scenes from the MySpace Backlash” by next Monday.
- Comment on the discussion post in the course community by next Monday.
- Draft your Web literacy narrative and continue working on the project.
Wednesday, September 20
Today we’ll review Web design and Web page creation basics, and then you’ll work on creating Web pages for your projects.
Assignment for Next Class
- Continue to work on Web Literacy project
- Make sure you’ve completed the reading and discussion.
Notes and Activities for September 20
Today, we’ll:
1) Review some basics about how Web pages work.
Download the sample Web pages.
2) Work on creating your Web literacy narratives.
Helpful links:
- Creating a Table-Based Layout in Dreamweaver
- Dreamweaver 8 Basic Features
- Designing with CSS
- Cascading Style Cheat Sheet
- Free CSS/HTML Template Roundup
- Web Developer’s Handbook
Notes and Activities for September 20
Today, we’ll:
1) Review some basics about how Web pages work.
Download the sample Web pages.
2) Work on creating your Web literacy narratives.
Helpful links:
- Creating a Table-Based Layout in Dreamweaver
- Dreamweaver 8 Basic Features
- Designing with CSS
- Cascading Style Cheat Sheet
- Free CSS/HTML Template Roundup
- Web Developer’s Handbook
Assignment for Next Class
- Continue to work on Web Literacy project
- Make sure you’ve completed the reading and discussion.
Weekly Agenda for September 11-13
Monday, September 11
Today we’ll discuss topics for the collaborative Web resource assignment and go over general guidelines for the project. Next, we’ll discuss the guidelines for the Web Literacy Autobiography, and discuss the types of Web writing which happen in personal contexts. Finally, you’ll start thinking about the narratives which you might want to create for your projects.
Assignment for Next Class
- Read “Logged Off: Increased Use of Internet in Life Leads to Digital Memories With Death,” “The Next Step in Digital Evolution,” and “The Future of Literacy” (given out in class).
- Make a comment on the discussion post in the course community or make a separate post about your ideas.
- E-mail the instructor with the date for the week that you want to be the discussion leader for the readings.
Wednesday, September 13
Today we’ll discuss how people categorize and shape information on the Web using various principles of information design and information architecture. Then you’ll engage in some site mapping and create asset lists to keep track of the information you’ll need for your web literacy autobiography. Finally, you’ll start collecting information for your projects.
Assignment for Next Class
- Make sure that you’ve done the reading and commented on the discussion post.
- Continue to collect information (links, pictures, sound, video, writing, resources) for your web literacy autobiography.