Schedule

**Course Schedule: Spring 1999**
Class meeting	Reading due	Assignment due
Week 2 Th Feb 10	Shriver, Chapter 1 Johnson, "Text" (handout) "Nerds 2.0.1" (PBS video). In class.	Weekly assignment #1: Write a 2-3 page narrative reflecting on your own history as a user of documents and technology. Draw on the ideas and stories in the Schriver and Johnson articles: do the stories in these articles remind you of your own struggles with, or triumphs over, technology? How has technology changed the way that you write--at work, in school, at home?
Week 3 Th Feb 17	Shriver, "Evolution of the Field," pp. 13-52 and "A Timeline of Document Design," pp. 104-149 Excerpt from Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine. (handout) Life on the Internet: Net Timeline http://www.pbs.org/internet/timeline/	Weekly assignment #2: Using a two-column format, prepare a timeline that juxtaposes the history of development of computers and/or the Internet with your own personal and/or professional history as a technology user.
Week 4 Th Feb 24	Schriver, Chapter 3 Dobrin, "Do Not Grind Armadillo Armor in this Mill"(handout)	Weekly assignment #3: Choose a document (such as a brochure, instruction manual, or flyer) intended for a specific public or professional audience. What kind of relationship does this document seem to create between audience and reader? (You may want to ask a member of the intended audience for feedback on the document, using the questions like the ones on pp. 170-171.)
Week 5 Th Mar 2	Schriver, Chapter 4 Don Norman's Web Page on Human-Centered Design (online at www.jnd.org) FrontPage Express Interface Analysis (online at www.rpi.edu/~wiggin/fpe/intro.html)	Weekly assignment #4: Submit e-mail proposal for web-based course project (may be submitted individually or collaboratively). Based on the chapter, Don Norman's site, and Jeff Wiggin's analysis of FrontPage Express, compile a list of important characteristics of good user interface design. In-class workshop: Constructing web evaluation criteria
Week 6 Th Mar 9	Sullivan and Dautermann, Introduction and Chapters 1-4 ("Workplace Cultures as Contexts for Technology and Writing") FrontPage Workshop: Theresa's One-Hour Tutorial By the end of class tonight, you should be able to create and save a web with at least one internal and one external link. The home page should include graphics, text, shared borders, and a background.	Weekly assignment #5: Choose one article, and prepare a 1-2 pp. paper that answers the following questions: What, according to this author, is the relationship between technology and workplace culture? Do these observations hold true in your own workplace?
Week 7 Th Mar 16	Sullivan and Dautermann, Chapters 5-8 ("Electronic Challenges to Traditional Notions of Writers and Writing.") Class visit: Tom Lombardo, Virtual Resources, Inc.	Weekly assignment #6: Choose one article, and prepare a 1-2 pp. paper that responds to the following questions: In what ways, and to what extent, does this author suggest that technology change our notions of writing, and of ourselves as writers? Do these changes hold true in your own professional experience?
Week 8 Th Mar 23	Spring Break--class does not meet
Week 9 Th Mar 30	In-class workshop: Convert one of the pieces you've written for this course or from another course in the graduate program from a traditional linear text to a hypertext (HTML) file using Microsoft FrontPage. Bring the current version of the file to class on a disk. Jacob Nielsen's How Users Read on the Web.	Weekly assignment #7: Adapt and complete a Project Profile for your web-based project.
Week 10 Th Apr 6	Workshop on graphics for the Web Lynn Hill, Asst. Professor, EC Art Department Schriver, Chapter 5 I am Curious Yellow--Guidelines for managing color on the Web Imagine Background and Image Archive	Weekly assignment #8: Construct an evaluation form for your web site project, and use the criteria you develop to evaluate one or two similar or competing web sites. You may use the evaluative criteria generated through our collaborative analysis of sample Web sites and your understanding of your client's goals and expectations. (See lesson on constructing Web evaluation criteria.) Be prepared to present your critique to the class. Where applicable, apply guidelines for revising the design or content of the site.
Week 11 Th, Apr 13	Independent work on course project--class does not meet.	Continue work on web-based course project
Week 12 Th Apr 20	Schriver, Chapter 6 and Appendix C, "Guidelines for Designing Online Displays"	Continue work on web-based course project
Week 13 Th Apr 27	Multimedia - Usability In-class workshop: Uploading your web page	Continue work on web-based course project. Plan usability test of current version of site. Who will you ask to test the site? Are these users similar to the target audience? What methods will you use to test/observe the site's usability?
Week 14 Th May 4		Weekly assignment #9: Report on usability testing of web site. Revise web site, based on user feedback
Week 15 Th May 11	Copyright on the Web Tharon Howard, "Who 'Owns' Electronic Texts?" Electronic Literacies in the Workplace, Ch. 9. For further e-reading: Intellectual Property in Cyberspace Course Evaluation	Web portfolio due. Weekly assignment #10: Reflective e-mail memo, due via e-mail by 6:00 p.m., Thursday, May 18.