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English 2 Week 2

Overall objectives:
Discussion of hypertext poetics and document design issues
Presentation of personal web sites, peer response
Dreamweaver tutorial continued
Visit weblogs: introduce idea of weblog genres: confessional, political, compiler, multi-author, etc.

CLASS DAY PLAN

1. Check for food and drinks!
2. Everyone request an angel account at http://angel.scu.edu/frameIndex.htm
3. Presentation of completed or near-completed personal websites. Discuss design decisions and advanced training by Teri Escobar.
4. If Teri Escobar feels prepared, brief discussion of intellectual property issues: a) creative commons or other choices regarding your own work and b) the use of an image credit and link to the source page for borrowed noncopyrighted images on all of your pages using such material for educational and noncommercial purposes. (Otherwise, postpone til next week)
5. Until 8 pm, assisted lab time for revising personal web sites. (See criteria below.)
6. Go over three-part homework and make sure homework is understood--go to weblogs and introduce reading of them, and model the process of participating in an Angel discussion board. To fullfill the homework properly, ie, posting on three different days (VERY IMPORTANT), each student must make their first post no later than Sunday.
7. Class can go early at 8:20.

Homework (3 parts)
1. Complete a version of your personal website.
2. Read blogs and blog articles.
3. Report on your blog-reading.

1. Completing your personal website.

Attend one of the open lab help sessions in the Orradre Library Information Commons this week. This is the best time to get help finishing and publishing your personal web site.

Site criteria: It should have at least four pages linked together, and should have images, coherent and compelling design, together with a statement about design decisions and sites that influenced those design decisions, textual information, and links to external pages (not created or maintained by you).

The site should have an image credit and link to the orginal source for all non-copyrighted images borrowed for educational and informational purposes. (Eg: "this noncopyrighted image was originally found at www.photosource.com (link), and is presented here for educational purposes only.") (This requirement can be postponed a week until further discussion of the relevant issues.)

The purpose of the site and individual pages should be clear.

You do NOT have to provide images of yourself or personal information to be successful in this project.

You can make your personal website about an issue, activity, or interest, and—if you prefer—provide only a mailto link to yourself as site author. Or the site can be primarily aimed at displaying your “professional” persona.

The website does not have to be “finished”—most websites are always work in progress—but it should have a sense of wholeness and meaningful readiness for publication. If there are compelling reasons to do so, you may create a website that is linked together on disk and submit it without actually publishing it to the web. Likewise, if you feel you have good reason to do so, you may create your website in a way that protects your identity.

2. Reading blogs and blog articles.

Begin by reading the articles and a couple of the blogs from the list below, and using some of the blog search engines or major blog hosts (technorati, blogger, blogspot, bloglist, weblogreview etc) to search for blogs related to your own interests (women’s soccer, cars, dancing, social justice, eg).

As you read, take notes and compile a list of links to interesting blogs and blog entries. Share your notes, thoughts, and links by using the Google Groups discussion board for the class (see below).

Short articles:
Rebecca Blood, “weblogs: a history and perspective” found at:
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Simon Garfield, “New kids on the blog.” Found at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1185061,00.html
Jane Perrone, “Random Reality Bites”
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1254467,00.html
Tony Pierce, “How To Blog” at:
http://www.tonypierce.com/blog/2004/06/how-to-blog-by-tony-pierce-110-1.htm
Mena Trott, Blogs, Bandwidth and Banjos: Tightly knit bonds in weblogging.
http://www.sixapart.com/about/corner/2004/07/blogs_bandwidth.html

slightly more advanced article:
Anita Blanchard, Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community in the Julie/Julia Project found at:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html

personal weblogs:

greek tragedy found at
http://stephanieklein.blogs.com/
my boyfriend is a found at
http://www.myboyfriendisatwat.com/
dooce found at:
http://www.dooce.com/
piehole found at:
http://liscious.net/piehole/index.php
bellow at
http://kathrynjane.blogspot.com/

anonymous workplace weblogs

http://www.waiterrant.net
http://anonworkblogs.blogspot.com/
“borderline teacher” at
http://purplepiranha.blogspot.com/
ambulance girl at:
http://ambulancegirl17-151.blogspot.com/

unique weblogs and blogs that become books:

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/
post secret at
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
Julia/Julie Project at:
http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/

political
http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

photo blogs:
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/

3. Report on your blogreading. Visit the class site on angel at http://angel.scu.edu/frameIndex.htm

Log in to your angel account.
Enroll in my class, "Writing with New Media." (No PIN required; use my last name as a keyword to find it.)
Once enrolled, log in to the class and click on "Lessons."
The only lesson available will be "discussion of weblogs." Once there:

Share thoughts on the articles and blogs you’ve read. You must write three (3) original posts and make three (3) replies, totaling about 1000 words, over the course of the week. You must post on at least three (3) different days: do NOT do all your posting on one day. Some questions to get you started: In what sense do these blogs and their readerships seem like a “community” to you? Are they “real” communities? Can anyone join?
Send at least one post that finishes these sentences: “If I were to maintain a weblog, I’d like to make it like __________” and “The blog I just couldn’t stop reading was ____________” and “The blog I really think other people should read is _________”.