Required Texts

• Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing Machines. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002.

• Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books, 1984.

• Rice, Jeff. Writing about Cool: Hypertext and Cultural Studies in the Computer Classroom. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004.

• McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore. (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 1996.

• Miller, Paul. Rhythm Science. Cambridge, MA: Mediawork/MIT, 2004.

Recommended Technology Texts

• Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the WWW. 5th ed. Peachpit Press, 2003.

  (The 5th edition you can find on Amazon used for 10 bucks, the 4th edition, which is all you really need for now, you can find for 2 bucks used.)

• Towers, J. Tarin. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press, 2004.
  

  (There is also a version for MX, which is also inexpensive used from Amazon.)

• Weinmann, Elaine and Peter Lourekas. Photoshop 7 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press, 2002.
  

  (This one you can find used on Amazon for about 10 bucks.)

Course Goals:

The goal of the course is to provide a foundation for each student's future creative and critical efforts in digital writing. This foundation will be different for each student, who will enter the course with widely divergent experiences with technology. Consequently, the workload in this class will vary with prior knowledge. In a workshop environment, students with more skills will be asked to help advance the foundation for students with less experience. No one will come out of the class an expert, but it is important that each person leaves with a higher level of knowledge and skill. Much of this will depend on individual student effort. Students should expect to:

• Understand the issues, culture, and problems of writing in the digital age.
• Learn to identify the changing nature of genre and experiment with electronic texts.
• Learn basic technological skills for facilitating digital compositions.

Workshops:

Since this course is a 3 hour course, only a limited amount of time can be spent in class on technical skills. Depending on your level of technical knowledge entering the class, you may need to spend as much as 5-10 hours per week outside of class learning technologies in addition to reading and writing assignments. In order to develop new skills or enhance the ones you have, you should take advantage of the workshops and labs available on campus. You are required to attend at least two workshops and/or visit a lab for additional help in order to extend whatever knowledge level you already posses. Topics, dates, and times for these sessions can be found from the workshop schedules below. Some programs/skills have classes scheduled already, some do not. Check now because some are only offered early in the semester. Registration is required to attend most of these workshops. Most workshops are scheduled during daytime hours. If this is a problem due to work, just visit the labs for further assistance. The Star Labs have many of the software programs you'll want to work with but also have walk-in peer tutoring. Bring in your materials and they can help you with your projects, questions, or problems.

Text and Community

Attendance

Each week we will discuss the readings, give presentations, do short assignments, and have lab time to work on projects or technologies. Consequently, attendance is extremely important and will count towards participation grades. It is also vital that lab time in class be utilized. Others around you can help with your efforts. If you stop coming to class, it will be your responsibility to drop. Failure to do so will result in an 'F'.

Office Hours

I will have office hours in RobA 405D from 4:30 to 7:10 on Wednesdays. If you need to speak to me and cannot make this time, then ask me to schedule a time that is convenient for both of us. I often spend time in the JC reading or grading. If desperate, check the bay windows on the second floor. I check my e-mail several times daily, so this will be the best way to contact me in a hurry if you have a question or problem, especially about what is due that week. The only other option is to call and leave a phone message, but I will not receive it immediately.

Grades

Rewrite and Late Policy

There are no formal papers in this class so technically rewrites don't apply. Responses to readings need to be posted to your blog before each class. I will give you participation credit for them the next day. Each small assignment will be given in class and you will be able to revise and finish it outside of class. Revisions should be made to the blog posts you turn in for your final blog grade. The final project should be developed over the last few weeks of class, so there should be plenty of time for feedback and revision. Overall, the class will be pretty fluid, but don't put things off until the end of the semester. You won't be able to get it all done at the last minute.