ENC 6938.01:  Topics in Texts and Technology: Hypertext

 

Professor         J.D. Applen                                         Telephone       823-2533

 

Class Period    Th   7:30-10:20.                                  Classroom       Colbourn 203

 

Office              Colbourn 303D                                    Office Hours   T 1:30-2:50,

             Th  5:45-7:30

 

* If you cannot make these hours, please feel free to make an appointment with me.  Please believe me when I tell you that I like it when you come to my office with some specific concerns about the class.  When you have questions or offer ideas to me in my office, you help me understand how we are all connecting in class.  

 

E-mail             japplen@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

 

 

ENC 6938.01 ST: TOPICS IN TEXTS AND TECHNOLOGY

 

In Hypertext, we will read the following books so we can acquire a critical sensibility regarding this communication medium:  J. David Bolter’s Writing Space, Mark Buchanan’s Nexus, Steven Johnson’s Interface Culture, Lawrence Lessig’s The Future of Ideas, and Tim Berners-Lee’s Weaving the Web.   We will also work our way through Laura Castro’s HTML for the World Wide Web (6th Edition) so we can become familiar with the practical matter of web site construction.  There will be a major paper for this course that focuses on one of the many issues associated with hypertext such as First Amendment rights, copyright law, personal identity, the nature of written vs. online texts, and the application of the World Wide Web in business, politics, and education.  Any paper that you write will be supported by theory. After you have finished your written project, you will reformat your ideas in HTML and produce a web page so you can better understand the advantages and disadvantages of both mediums. 

 

Course Assignments

 

Personal Web Site                                                                                                        10%

 

Annotated Bibliography                                                                                                15%

 

Final Paper                                                                                                                   50%

 

Web site project                                                                                                           15%

 

Class Participation, Group work                                                                                   10%

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY OF POLICIES

 

Plagiarism   Plagiarism is stealing.  Plagiarism is a serious offense in all courses at UCF and, like other forms of cheating, it may endanger a student's whole career.  Students who may plagiarize receive severe penalties, including immediate failure for the assignment, probable failure in the course, disciplinary referral to the appropriate dean, and possible expulsion from the university.

     Students are guilty of plagiarism if they do the following:

 

·        copy or repeat without acknowledging the source someone else's words, phrases, or ideas

·        summarize or expand someone else's work or ideas without properly acknowledging the person or source

·        copy papers by other students or allow other students to copy their papers

·        allow anyone else to revise or edit their work without their instructor's explicit permission.

              

Course Assignments and Grades  The format and the length of written assignments will be discussed well in advance of the due date. Please ask any questions about the assignments that you might have. Hopefully, you will do this in class before your classmates who might have the same question.

     I base all written assignments on four general criteria: content, organization, expression, and mechanics.  I will explain how you have met these criteria in written comments and/or in conference.

 

Attendance  Attendance is mandatory.  There will be something offered in every class meeting that can substantially improve your ability as a writer and a thinker and, therefore, it is important that you come to class. Please note the following absence rules:

 

·        You can miss one class a semester without affecting your grade.

·        Every absence after your first absences reduces your grade by one-half of a grade per class missed.

·        I will also count three late appearances to any class as one absence.  Please be on time.

·        If you miss a conference, this counts as one absence.

·        I will drop you if you miss more than three sessions of this class. An administrative drop results in a grade of F.

 

If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get the assignment for the next class period from a classmate or me.

 

Late Papers  Papers turned in late will be marked down one full letter grade per class meeting.  For example, a "B" paper that is due on a Tuesday and turned in on Thursday will be marked as a "C."  Papers are late if  you do not have them at the beginning of class. There is little reason for turning in a paper late since all assignments are given to you, in writing, well in advance of the due date.

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

Week 1:

January 11

Introduction.  Outline of course and rudimentary HTML.  Note: in the weeks to follow, I will either be asking you to do some writing or taking a quiz on the reading that is required and HTML that needs to be learned.

Online quiz on Thursday.

Week 2:

January 18

Chapters 1 thru 4 in Bolter’s Writing Space. Chapters 1 (only pages 27 to 37) and 2 in Castro.

 

Week 3:

January 25

Chapters 5 and 6 in Bolter.  Chapters 3 and 4 in Castro.

 

Week 4:

February 1

 

Chapters 7 and 8 in Bolter.  Chapter 6 in Castro (Links).  By this week it is up to you to have figured out how to use the scanner in the ETWL.  You also need to be able to take and store an image found on the WWW. I will ask that you work with partners in this endeavor.  If you already know how to do this, make sure that you work with someone who has not yet acquired these skills.  Begin personal web site.

 

Week 5:

February 8

Finish Bolter.  Also, read “The Epic Saga of the Well” by Katie Hafner.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_well_pr.html.

Week 6

15

Pages 105 in Johnson’s Interface Culture.  Begin thinking about a topic for final paper that you will do some annotations for and then produce a written paper.  The information in this final paper will serve as the basis for your final project web site.  (This is not to be confused with your personal web site.)   Chapters 7 and 8 in Castro. Begin annotations.

Finish personal web site.  Also, begin, in pairs, a section on how to use CSS files. Be prepared to present group presentations on this.

 

Week 7:

22

Finish Johnson.  Set up your own Pegasus account. If you already know how to do this, make sure that you work with someone who has not yet acquired these skills.

Week 8:

March 1

 

Read parts 1 and 2 in Lessig.  Turn in your own web site on a disk on Tuesday the 27th.  You should learn WS FTP on your own (with your partners) this week and be able to access your own web Pegasus account.  Go to http://tutorial.ftpplanet.com/LE/ to do this. 

 

Week 9:

March 8

Finish Lessig. Chapters 9, 10, and 11 in Castro.

 

 

Week 10:

March 15

Spring Break.

Week 11:

March  22

Start Buchanan’s Nexus.

Week 12:

March  29

Turn in annotations on Tuesday.  Conferences on Tuesday.

 

Week 13:

April 5

Finish Nexus. Final web site project. Begin planning your own web site based on material in final paper.

 

 

Week 14:

April 12

Discussion of Berners-Lee’s Weaving the Web. Work on your own final web site.  Turn in final paper on Tuesday.

 

Week 15:

April 19

Work on your own web site.  Presentation of final papers. Evaluations of instructor.

 

 

Week 16:

April 26

Turn in your final project and present it to the class during our finals period, April 26, 7:30-10:20.