Composing for the Web

This week we started talking about participatory culture. Monday we tried to define Web 2.0 with Tim O'Reilly and on Wednesday Lisa Nakamura helped us see through the rhetoric to see how race is articulated online. For this coming Monday we will continue thinking about participatory culture as we look to dana boyd on blogging, cory doctorow on copyfighting, and Lawrence Lessig on remix culture. Together, these pieces will help us think about the value of our participation in online culture.

Also, don't forget that text-to-hypertext projects are due before class on Monday. Be sure to double check the assignment prompt to make sure you are eligible for full credit.

Last class we talked about improving our meta-cognitive writing, tooks some time to work on the Companion project, and discussed the relationship between form and content in My Body. We'll continue discussing the Jackson on Monday, in particular how links become significant sites of interpretation in the work. Our main focus Monday, however, will be on Web2.0. In preparation:

• read Reilly's definitions, "What Is Web 2.0?"
• watch this quick video by Michael Wesch. I think it helps understand in a basic way how web2.0 is possible from a CSS standpoint.

Yesterday we had a pretty good discussion of Aarseth, isolating what he was trying to accomplish and who he was trying to convince. We didn't get very far into discussing how thinking ergodics can help us better conceive of our web-composition tasks; hopefully that will come out later. We also began dividing up tasks for the course Web Companion site. There was some initial confusion with regard to how to put the sections together, which I think is to be expected. We have several weeks still to figure it out and get the content up so not to worry.

Next time we are going to look at Shelley Jackson's My Body. Please spend some time exploring that text before class. As you do, try to stay aware of what you are doing, how you are approaching it, how the format of the text structures your reading and invites your interaction. We'll be talking about how that format and interaction are themselves part of the work, are themselves meaningful.

I also mentioned an essay by Katherine Hayles on Talan Memmott's Lexia to Perplexia. On second, or perhaps now third, thought, we can keep these readings as optional. Hayles, like I said, is a very present-tense voice in digital media and hypertext studies, which has turned away from the text-centric approach you saw in Aarseth to consideration of embodiment and the relation between bodies and media. So, read the Hayles if you are interested. Following her trajectory would make a great final project. Otherwise, I may reference her in class, but you won't be responsible for her essay.

We also decided that our Text-to-Hypertext project will be due on March 9th as opposed to the second as originally stated. Some people asked if they need to scan or transcribe a print document for the project. Avoid this if at all possible; it will take too much time. Instead, find some full-text online. What I meant in the prompt by "print-format" is a text that reads top to bottom, left to right like a regular print version. Something like the full-text of the Borges we looked at. Find a text that isn't already rendered as hypertext and make it into one. If you are unsure if your text will work, just ask me by email.

When reading the Aarseth for tomorrow's class, you can focus your efforts and cut down on time. Of course, you are welcome to read the entire article; it is extremely important to its field; however, I know everyone is busy. The main concept of "cybertext" will be explained in the first chapter. Attend to that phrase and what Aarseth is doing there. You can skip the section titled "The Aim of this Study." Chapter four will be off some use as well, as it will discuss the aesthetics and poetics of hypertext. You won't have read the text he is talking about, Joyce's afternoon, so you can probably skim that material as well. As for chapters two and three, they are pretty dry and propose categorization schemes we won't talk about, i don't think, so they are definitely skipable.

Ok. that's all for now. Email if you have questions.

Today we caught up on our hypertext reading. Coover showed us the optimism of early theories of what hypertext could be, Borges gave us a fantastic image of books as labryntine forking narratives of all time, and Burbules reminded us that links have meaning too.

For next time:

• Read: Aarseth and Jackson
• Optional reading: Landow and Coover's second
• GoPost as usual. If you find examples of Burbules meaningful links, tell us about them in the special discussion area.
• Start thinking looking for a website you want to "hyperread"
• Start thinking about what themes or topics you want to explore in depth for your final.

Also, if you would like to recieve comments and grades on your redesign project before Monday, please email to let me know you don't mind having your grade emailed to you. Otherwise, you will receive a printout on Monday.

Last class we finished our parallel designs and decided on a layout for our Writing for the Web Companion. Next week, we'll start filling out and polishing it up and talk about adding content.

We didn't get a chance to talk about Coover or Borges, which is fine. We'll pick them up on Wednesday, so please look over them before class.

I'm in the process of responding to your Website ReWrite projects. Some of you will be pleased; others won't be.

New reading for Wed. is the Burbules. He is going to talk about the rhetorical effect of links and categorize different kinds of links and what they mean. I've set up a discussion area on the GoPost for you to put up examples of what he is talking about. Love to see some up there before class.

Speaking of which, don't forget to GoPost over the long weekend!

I'd like to remind you all again to refer to the Google Calendar for updated schedule and assignment information. Next week we are talking about Navigation and Site Organization on Monday and then Writing for the Web on Tuesday. So here's the reading schedule: Mon.

• Read "Site Design" and "Interface Design" at the Web style Guide
• Browse through Web Pages That Suck.
• Checkout "Information Architecture" on Usability.gov

Tues.

• Read "Lazy Eyes"
• Read "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
• Read "Editorial Style" section at the Web Style Guide
• Read "Writing for the Web" at Usability.gov

The Website Re-design assignment prompt is up on the assignments page.

If you haven't looked around the course website in a while, there have been some significant changes. The resources page now has a bunch of links to the reading, recommended programs, tutorials, utilities, and other useful links. I'll keep adding to this list as we go. The agenda page links to a Google Calendar that has our class schedule along with assignments and due dates. Plus, the Google Calendar is RSS-enabled! If you want to see what your classmates are making, check out the student page. Lost of new stuff to see.

We covered a lot of ground on Wednesday as well. Thanks for your attention and your contributions.
For Monday we have a slate of things as well. Here's what's coming up:

1. 1. Transition to GoPost: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/board/twelsh/9677/ We are switching from Furl to GoPost in order to promote interaction between classmates while still developing an archive of resources. I will post a new assignmentt prompt as soon as I can. The short version is that you are asked to post at least one link with description and one significant contribution to discussion per week. I'll also put on the GoPost list of recommendations for bulletin board newbies so the GoPost can be another site of analysis. This week, since we are transitioning, don't worry about finding new links; go ahead and pick a couple from furl.net and repost them on GoPost.
2. 2. Checkin Response: In class, you received feedback on your site from your classmates. Post that feedback in your dev. log. Then, describe in that log the specific goal of your website, the intended audience, characteristics of a site that meets theses goals with examples if possible, and a list of next steps to meet your objectives.
3. 3. Reading: We start design next week and to that end, some resources discussing styles. We will start by talking about visual layout and then get into site design and navigation, probably the following week. So for now:
   
   Look over, if you can, especially if you're new to coding: CSS pages from the Castro
   
   Definitely read: Web Style Guide on Page Design and Typography. WebStylesGuide will give you a basic introduction to designing for the web.
   
   If you want more info, the sites below will get into principles of graphic design and apply them to website building:
   • McClurg-Genevesse's series on design principles
   • Lovett on elements and principles
   • about.com - Principles of Design & Gestalt Principles of Perception
   • Color, Contrast & Dimension in New Design - An interactive tutorial on color theory.

Another great resource for usability design is the government's Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines. Most of the same info is covered on the WebStyleGuide, however, this site reinforces and emphasizes the usability of certain style choices. Their recommendations are also pretty easy to browser, once the .pdfs load, that is.

As always, I'm giving you a smattering of readings. There are countless sites about webdesign and design principles. Take what you will, either from the sites I provided or your own searches. You are the best judge of what you need, whether its studing CSS or, if you know that, studying principles of graphic design, or even color theory, etc. In class we will do a CSS tutorial, I'll introduce the website redesign project, and we will look for sites that demonstrate strong page design principles.

A prompt for the GoPost project is up on the assignments page. I've emailed it to you as well.

The library has finally posted our e-reserves. For Wednesday, read Galloway, his introduction [minus the perodization part, unless you're into that stuff] and chapter one. Leave off on chapter 2, "Form," until after we talk about web design basics.

Also, I am in the process of filling out the Resources page where you will be able to find links, .pdfs, and videos of class texts, as well as links to helpful programs, utilities, and tutorials. Let me know if there is something that you find or that comes up on furl that should go here.

For the most part, you all are doing a bang up job so far. It is a difficult class considering the range of familiarity with coding and computing. I will say that this is by far the most advanced group I have taught this course to. You all know the code, know the internet, and know the arguments. I expect we will have some pretty awesome discussions as we start getting into design, hypertext, and critique. If you feel like you are falling behind at this point. Keep digging! I promise it gets easier. The best thing you can do is practice HTML and CSS on your own using the Castro tutorials or some of the great webpages your classmates have posted on furl. Also, be sure to ask questions in class. Its the only way I'll know how doing, for now.

Speaking of furl, its been a mixed bag so far. Folks are certainly NOT consistent in filling in the topics or comments boxes. When they are filled in, it is in many cases a sentence or less, usually taken from the title. I've noted as well some folks's frustration with the furl utility amd we can discuss that tomorrow, if you like. In the end, this project will be what you make of it. As any technology, it only does what it was programmed to do and its up to you to make it meaningful. That's not going to happen if you aren't using the comment or topics boxes; the "project" becomes just "busy work" at that point. Tomorrow, I am going to ask you about the project in class. I'm going to project some poor entries and some strong entries so people get a better idea what to do. For you part, I would like some feedback on the project, how its going, and how to make the most of it.

Monday we will be returning to and expanding our discussion on the origin of the concept of the internet and web. Look over the Bush and Sterling, if you get a chance. Our focus will be on the values at the heart of the development of this technology. What was it that people valued and desired that brought about this set of inventions? What was it they hoped to produce? What did they hope it would accomplish? What were the guiding principles, the central values? In short, what was all this supposed to be for and why is it supposedly important?

DEFINITELY read this: John Perry Barlow’s Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. Again, a great place to look to see how people conceive of the internet, a location of the MIND independent and free of government intervention, etc.

To continue exploring these questions from a historical perspective, check out these articles:

• Information Management - Tim Berners-Lee’s initial proposal for what would become the world-wide web.
• The Curse of Xanadu - Wired article by Gary Wolf on Ted Nelson’s Xanadu project, an alternative to the world-wide web that never came to fruition. The story, I think, is fascinating and illustrates the anarchic nature of software development at the beginning of the era. It’s kind of long, so skim.
• Embedded Markup Considered Harmful - Nelson explaining why he felt HTML, and the SGML structure its built on, won’t work in the long run. I couldn’t follow all of this, but I thought some of you might be interested in his alternative position.
• Also, the Wikipedia entries on all these topics, [html, internet, www, hypertext, Nelson, Berners-Lee, packet-switching, internet protocol suite, etc.] are very informative.

All right, again, lots of links, but remember the concept for reading in this class: like with the internet, follow where your interest takes you. Our topic will be the founding values for the internet, what it is supposed to be, why it is supposed to be important. Though we probably won’t talk about all of them, and there are certainly more/other websites out there addressing this topic, these articles should help you answer these questions and contribute to class discussion.

You also have a couple other assignments to complete before Monday's class: 1.

• Post an index.html page for you course website which includes a link to your survey.
• Post a link to your website to our furl group.
• Post 2 other websites related to course topics to furl.

Ok. I think that is it. I’m reposting the course website today so hopefully it will be more usable. Let me know if you have other questions or concerns. Otherwise, see you Monday.

While I finish putting together the course website, I am posting the index page in order to distribute some links. I am developing the site for the rest of the day, so check back later to see what's been added.

Syllabus

I'm coding the syllabus right now, so we have a quick online reference. Until I'm done, you can download it here [.pdf | .doc].

Readings

We are looking at the Bush, Sterling, and,if you want a more detailed history, the ISOC, for Wednesday. If you have time or are interested, check out Gauntlett's introduction to his book, Web.Studies. We'll be talking about some of his claims over the next couple periods.

The library had some delays making the electronic reserves, so the readings for next week are running behind. I'll get them to rush it, but they might not be online until Friday. I'll keep you informed.

furl.net

All the course readings can be found here: http://furl.net/group/UW_ENGL_282wi09. Right now the link is closed to the public as we get everyone set up so you'll have to start a furl account, which we will be doing tomorrow anyway, to see the group.

UW Computing

The UWICK software, including the SSH File Transfer program we will use in class to publish websites, is available at the UW computing site. If you didn't get a chance to turn on web publishing on your dante/homer account, you'll can do that here as well by going through the "Manage UWNetID Resources" Link, then "Turn services on or off." Once there, you'll want to check that both your Dante/homer account is turned on as is the option of Web publishing. If either is not, turn them on by checking the box and following the prompts until you see the animation of the guy typing.

Let me know if there were other links I promised that I forgot to include in this email. Happy reading. I look forward to hearing what you think about the origins of the internet and the way initial intentions have shaped what it has become.