English 290 (S0401):
Computer-Mediated Communication
January - April 2004
Meeting:
F 9:00-Noon, Room 200/107
 

R.G. Siemens
Office: Bldg. 335, Rm. 120
Office Hours: TBA

Course WWW page:
http://web.mala.bc.ca/siemensr/teaching/Engl290-04.htm

Description

This course provides a theoretical and practical understanding of computer-mediated communication in several contexts. Students will be introduced to the applied skills and technologies of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) and learn how to integrate these skills into the requirements of the contemporary workplace. The study of the theory and practice of CMC will be supplemented by a number of focussed assignments that will enhance literacy and communication skills, apply online research techniques, and implement hypertext mark-up language (HTML) toward the development of a fully-operational website.
     The course encourages students to think critically about the practices and technologies of CMC, and how emerging digital technologies are influencing our society from private life to education, business, politics, and culture. Students are encouraged to develop collaborative strategies for research, document design, and production. Finally, students will examine various communities of discourse, and the appropriate use of rhetorical strategies (both written and visual) for addressing these audiences effectively.

Note: This offering draws heavily -- with permission and with my deepest gratitude -- on materials developed by Marshall Soules (English and Media Studies, Malaspina U-C) and Willard McCarty (Humanities Computing, King's College, London).

Course Materials

Course Requirements

  1. Participation and Discussion Group Assignments (Ongoing).  10%
    • Posting #1 (Week 1): To introduce yourself to the other course participants, go to our CMC community on EZBoard (at http://pub177.ezboard.com/bcmc290). You'll have to create an account and log in the first time. Once you are logged in, select Computer-Mediated Communication, then select Welcome. Select Add Reply to continue the topic thread and continue with your own welcome message. Tell us something about you, your interests and plans, &c.
    • Posting #2 (Week 2): Post a proposal for your online community project to EZBoard (Proposals).
    • Posting #3 and #4 (Weeks 4-6): Remember those storytelling games people used to play by passing the narrative (ball) from person to person around the room? A newsgroup narrative is a group collaborative composition that works just like this. You add your posting to the narrative thread begun and advanced by others. You can add to the "end" of the story by threading from the last posting, or you can interject a story element by replying to any previous threads. The medium allows the story to branch off at any point: some threads may proliferate, and others atrophy.
           To begin, a participant describes an incident to initiate the story, purposely leaving the ending of the segment open to allow the next posting to continue and develop the narrative and characters. Subsequent postings can advance the story, establish a parallel narrative thread ("Meanwhile..."), or interject a flashback ("Looking back on what started all this off..."). Some postings might be descriptive interludes or character development that fill in details rather than advancing the plot. Characters, of course, can always travel to new places.
           It’s possible that this collective narrative could turn into a kind of free-for-all, so I want to recommend a few general guidelines (similar to protocols of improvisation):  All participants should take some responsibility for the coherence, and the tone and style of the narrative. To effect a change of style, ease into it, or project the narrative through the consciousness of another character. Try to provide the characters with some options or choices. Please don’t kill off the main character! Avoid blocking the initiatives or leads of other participants; if you don’t want to go in that direction, develop a parallel thread. To maintain the challenge of developing a story, let's avoid dream sequences as being too easy. If you are offended by someone’s writing or content, don’t judge it; move off in another direction, or devise a way for the offended character to experience some justice. If you are so inclined, use humour, irony, and sarcasm to keep the mood of the story playful.
           We’ll run the story long enough to give it some time to develop. During that time, to receive a maximum mark, you need to post a minimum of 300 words (total) in at least two postings not on the same day. You will be evaluated on the quality of your writing, and your ability to advance the narrative in engaging, interesting ways.
           Keep in mind that this is a collaborative creative endeavour, similar to a group musical improvisation: everyone in the ensemble must know how to make music with the other members -- that’s a given -- and everyone has an equal opportunity to solo by adding to the composition with a distinctive instrumental voice. Timing is important. Listen to the other players.
  2. Online Community, Report (Week 3) and Homepage Design (Week 7).  25%.
  3. Illustrated Feature Article (Week 9).  20%.
    • Write an online feature and illustrate it. The content of this assignment should be news, something original that can't be found elsewhere. It should be topical if possible and of interest to our audience--the Malaspina U-C community, or those who might like to visit us here. Local culture, trends, personalities, events, or things to do make appropriate subjects. Another approach would be to research a contemporary issue and write a commentary piece based on that research. When thinking about ideas, apply the journalist's test by asking, "So what?" Why would this story be of interest to a wider audience?
           These pieces should be intended for a forum such as the online journal Image & Text. The articles should attempt to strike a balance between strong visuals and powerful, crisp writing (as you'd expect in a magazine or newspaper format). The images you use should be properly prepared for web delivery and must have copyright assigned to you -- you've created them -- or be free of other copyright restrictions. If the images are not your own, you must provide an acknowledgement of your sources. Carefully consider the relationship of images to text and their interplay on the screen.
           The HTML code for the articles does not have to be overly complicated: use embedded style sheets, tables for layout, appropriate image tagging. The emphasis here, unlike the last assignment, is on writing, and the combination of image and text. Your feature can have multiple pages. You should be proud to include this piece in your portfolio as an example of both writing and graphic skill.
           Your article should be roughly 1000 words, written in HTML, and functioning on the web. (Send the URL to me, at siemensr@mala.bc.ca.)  Layout, page design, use of html, image performance and quality, writing quality and expressiveness, newsworthiness, and the relationship between image and text all should be considered equally and will be factors in your grade for this assignment.
  4. Website (Week 12).  30%.
    • Your final project is to design and construct a web-site for an organization or service that is currently without a website. Try to avoid a commercial business unless you specifically want to give yourself that challenge. This website should be fully functioning on a server and available to the course participants (and the world!) for your demonstration at our week 12 meeting. If you have a Malaspina web account, you can install your website there until your account expires. Most ISPs provide a web-site service for their clients, or you can use a free web-hosting service on the net. Your site must be online and working -- not submitted on disk.
           Your website does not have to be huge. It will be evaluated with the following criteria in mind:
      • clarity of purpose and integration of elements; navigation; interactivity; design aesthetics and coherence; performance (page size, graphics); HTML code (from simple to complex); graphics and multimedia features; quality of content and writing; creativity.
    • Online Reading Quiz (Week 13). 15%.
      • At our week 13 meeting, you will answer ten (10) of a group of 14-15 questions with short paragraphs in your best prose (not point form). You're free to access the course readings or other internet sources as long as the writing you submit is your own. Each question will be assigned a grade out of 5, so you should try to include 5 distinct points or arguments in each of your answers. If you are concise, that means you can answer each question with a minimum of 5 sentences.
             To receive credit for this assignment, you must include a statement at the end to the effect that you alone have written the material you are submitting (unless otherwise identified by references).
              When you've finished, please email your responses to the instructor (siemensr@mala.bc.ca); responses will be accepted up until the end of class, at noon. [Note: Many commercial webmail services (Hotmail, Yahoo) clip the end of long paragraphs when sent in the body of an email message so (1) make a copy of your answers in case you need to resend in another way; or (2) send your answers as an attachment I can read in MSWord (Rich Text Format (RTF) works well).] When I receive your quiz, I'll email you a confirmation so you'll know it arrived in good form.

Syllabus

Assigned readings and assignments are to be completed for the beginning of the first class in which they are to be considered. 

Significant portions © Marshall Soules, 2003-, and used here with permission.  Fair dealing applies.
© R.G. Siemens, 2004-.