WCW Syllabus
sidebar at end of course
Personas are useful in considering the goals, desires, and limitations of brand buyers and users in order to help to guide decisions about a service, product or interaction space such as features, interactions, and visual design of a website. Personas are also used as part of a user-centered design process for designing software and are also considered a part of interaction design (IxD), have been used in industrial design and more recently for online marketing purposes. WikipediaPages
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Tue 17 Jan
- Start a new page on your wikiname page, titled AutoBiographies - followed by your initials. On that page, draft three 250 word autobiographies for your online writing, following advice from Price about persona, stance, and attitude, pp. 31 - 34. Include an image if possible (link to image on Facebook or elsewhere.) One or more of these, or a variation of one or more, revised, will eventually be published on TIO.
- Revised: If you don't have Price yet, get started on the autobiographies on your own. I'll present some notes on Price, and you'll have time to work on these in class.
- Terse note: You should have a start on the assignment for today by class time, on the wiki. Deadline.
- SettingUpAWikiNamePage
- GettingStarted
In class
- Price, chaps 1 - 2: Niche audiences, personas, relationships with readers.
- Visit to http://www.bemidjistate.edu/its/
- Some time to work in class.
Thu 19 Jan
- Review drafts of autobiographies. Some choices
- Lists, heads, fast pass at editing.
- for Tues 24 Jan. Edit autobio to 250 words. Select one for positing to TIO.
- http://www.stpaulmedia.com/
- Read, Price, chaps 3 - 4.
- Possible work time. Re-read the writing brief!
Tue 24 Jan
- Posting draft to TIO.
- Moving images to TIO. If you can please find a photo for your autobiography page please post it to your wiki page so I can get them saved into http://thisisonline.org before class, please make sure you label it so I know which photo you would like to use. Thanks Beth
Thu 26 Jan
- Review autobios, and edit through stance (p 32), and chaps 3 and 4 (p 80)
- Add an email at the end of the article? You might want to open a gmail account for this.
- Group brainstorm for categories, and article and story ideas for TIO. ArticleIdeasForTIO
for Tues, 31 Jan
- Edit your autobio in light of our discussion on Thursday.
- Post at least 2 - 3 or 4 would be better - proposals for articles. 250 word idea of
- what it will cover: what it will be about
- stance, p 32, and again on p 82
- where it might fit in TIO: section and category, either existing or one that will collect others
- how it will make contact with readers - chap 3, and chap 4, p 80 - 81
- research and practices the writer needs to engage in order to write it
- what it might link to - both literally and figuratively
- article length. Think 500 - 750 words for now. (That means writing 1500 words or more on the way to those 500.) (That is, think in terms of completed length rather than amount of time and attention to put into the article.)
- You're not committing to writing this article - and you don't have to submit ideas that you expect to write.
- You may write this on the wiki - start a wiki page for yourself - or in a text editor. When ready, copy and paste it into TIO: Publishing > Proposals to be approved. Post it to TIO only when you consider it ready for my review.
Tues 31 Jan
- review of publishing workflow
- If you're working on it: Publishing > Submissions to be Edited
- When it's ready for the editors' review Publishing > Submissions to be Published
- Read the note under Publishing Workspace.
- For proposals, use Publishing > Proposals to be Approved
- Writers: Add email address to your submissions. Set up gmail account if you wish Xisonline.gmail.com is a good one.
- Notes on check in - check out: finishing an editing session with Save.
- work time for all
- review and assign proposals
- review and publish bios. edit to 250 words.
- Add to ArticleIdeasForTIO
Thu 2 Feb
- notes on MS Word and formatting
- MS formatting junk: http://thisisonline.org/index.php/proposals-approved/103-dump-the-book.html
- cleaned up: http://thisisonline.org/index.php/proposals-approved/99-depressed-in-mn.html
- flexible layout
- review first drafts of article proposals
- writers take notes, ok? Proposals need revision.
- samples
- Article Proposals - revisions and final 250 word versions ready by Tuesday, am.
Thu 2 Feb
- Article Proposals - revisions and final 250 word versions ready by Tuesday, am.
Update: Sun 5 Feb: Class cancelled for Tues 7 Feb
Article Proposals revisions and final 250 word versions are due.- Reading assignment in Hot Text tba for Thursday.
Tue 7 Feb
- Class cancelled
- Reading assignment TBA
Tue 14 Feb
- We are back to work - with a vengeance enthusiasm.
- Assign / choose a proposal: Have a look at http://thisisonline.org/index.php/jobs-to-be-assigned.html.
- Quick review of Hot Text advice to get oriented.
- Draft deadline: Tues 21 Feb. At that point, we'll discuss deadlines on individual pieces.
- Procedure: Keep drafts in txt format until they are ready to start formatting, adding images, creating links. When ready to start getting feedback, post the draft to Publishing > Drafts in Progress. You can use the wiki space for drafts.
notes
- stance, p 32, and again on p 82
- make and keep contact with readers - chap 3, and chap 4, p 80 - 81
- contact: visually, textually,
- what it might link to - both literally and figuratively
- article length. 500 - 750 words. Go long for a first draft. (That means writing 1500 words or more on the way to those 500.)
- Please don't use MS Word, or if you must, always save in txt
Thu 16 Feb
- work day - have material to work on or draft to review.
- for Tues, Price, chap 5. Exercise coming on Tuesday.
Tue 21 Feb
- Draft deadline: Tues 21 Feb. Post to Submissions to be Edited. Editing conferences.
- Hot Text, chap 5, and RecastingWebTextExerciseOne. Due Thu 23 Feb class time. Post it to the wiki.
- Review the Before / After examples to see how far a recasting can or might have to go.
- Consider the state of the original: contact, attention, audience fit, usefulness.
announcement
Jonathan Hatch, at St Paul Media, is looking for an intern or soon-to-graduate students who are adept with PHP and content management systems. If you're interested, visit the site, and send him an email, or find him on FB.Thu 23 Feb
- RecastingWebTextExerciseOne due. Discuss .
- Work time and editing conferences.
While waiting for a conference, you have things to work on.
- Second submission assigned or chosen.
- Request: Write another proposal. Use the ProposalTemplate as a starting point.
First articles up by 28 Feb!
Tues 28 Feb
First wave of articles ready to publish during class time- Pair up: Final review of the draft
- checklist on the board
- add email byline
- save in section and category
- applause
- choose your next job, or draft one to start on Thursday.
- Beth and Morgan - draft a TIOPublicationAnnouncement28Feb2012. Wednesday night or Thurs morning - I'll announce the work on Verb_L and the English Dept FB page. Beth > Twitter. Everyone else - where ever.
Thur 1 Mar
- Morgan and Beth to publish and announce the articles
update: 10:35 am
First issue is out. The design is still a little rough around the edges, I'm still making some menu decisions, but the articles are up and visible. We'll watch the hits to see what happens over the break, and reconnoiter then.Good work all.
Break
Tue 13 Mar
- Review current issue: suggestions - hits - use of Read More - findability - images - etc.
- Second deadline: Mar 29.
- If you haven't already, select a new article to work on. If you chose one with a long reach - beyond the Mar 29 deadline - select a another one as well.
- If you wish, draft an article proposal. Proposal due by Sunday, 18 Mar. so I can review it for Monday.
- Update the assignment board
- Work time
Notes on Procedures
- Copy and paste from the wiki: Do it in edit mode rather than reading mode.
- Resist posting drafts to TIO itself until ready for first draft review. (Just good practice.)
for Tues 13 Mar Thurs 15 Mar
- Read and mark up chap 6. Take note of the advice statements: We'll be looking at how those play out in practice, and how they signify.
Thurs 15 Mar
- Exercise and discussion in class
- How chaps 5 and 6 appear in practice
- http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/colleges/
- http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/departments/english/undergraduate/ba/
- http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/departments/english/news/index.cfm
- http://mitadmissions.org/discover/life
- side bar as hierarchy
- visual hierarchy
- cf http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/i_really_just_cannot_write_any
- and the horror that is Camp Kesem
- headings, sub-heads: showing structure
- use titles everywhere
- integrating bullet lists
- ...
- Work time
- Choose a new project and get approval, or draft a new proposal.
- Second deadline: Mar 29.
Tues 20 Mar
- Work time
- Draft conferences coming up on Thursday.
- Second deadline: Mar 29.
Thurs 22 Mar
- Draft conferences
- for Tues, Price, chap 9: Lighten Cognitive Load
Tues 27 Mar
- Chap 9 exercise
- AllbuttOnTechWritingSample
- ThomasOnMiddleTechStyleSample
- OrwellOnWritingSample
- SteinOnForensicsSample
- EmersonOnGoodUseSample
Assignment for Tues 3 Apr
- Recast ThomasOnMiddleTechStyleSample for students to learn and act.
- Recast EmersonOnGoodUseSample to get close to people - as an extract from an essay.
- Special bonus challenge: SteinOnForensicsSample - resolve ambiguous phrases readers must puzzle over
Thur 29 Mar
- Deadline
- Final conferences
- Images
Tues 3 Apr
We're late! But no body knows because we haven't been around long. Let's get the issue out for Student Achievement Day, Weds.- Recasts due
- TIO articles: final edits - name at top, Read More... positioning, email contact in itals at end of article, ...
- TIO Number 2 intro text - in progress
Thurs 5 Apr
- Look at recasts
- Recast ThomasOnMiddleTechStyleSample for students to learn and act.
- Recast EmersonOnGoodUseSample to get close to people - as an extract from an essay.
- Special bonus challenge: SteinOnForensicsSample - resolve ambiguous phrases readers must puzzle over
- Moving on to next (last) article.
Tues 10 Apr
- claiming your last article
- Read Chap 15, pp 406 - 411 - attitude
- Read Chap 7: links, pp 132 - 155
- All articles for issue #3 should use links in some way: in the article itself, as an additional part of the work ... as the work in total?
Thur 12 Apr
- work day
Tues 17 Apr
- work day
- Kairos hypertext
- Assign exercise for Chap 17, pp 449 ff: Web editor wanna be
- Thursday, we'll look at a set of articles from web-published magazines for their web-editing techniques. To prepare, make some notes on these. You're lookling for techniques that the editors and writers have used to adapt the text and its presentation to the web. Make a list. Consider where and how the articles - and entire page - are handled for reading on the web.
- http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/05/wolcott-television-better-than-movies
- http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/04/tv-credits-mad-men-six-feet-under
- http://swampland.time.com/2012/04/17/secret-service-scandal-when-bureaucrats-behave-badly-politicians-sense-an-opportunity/
- http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2012/04/the-house-that-polly-adler-built/
- http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-the-Homestead-Act-Transformed-America.html
- Time Mag- World
- Time article - technology
- Time article - Technology
- http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2012/04/april-17-1790-america-loses-one-of-its-most-inventive-minds/
- http://paper.li/KepaJRodriguez/1311227978?utm_source=subscription&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=paper_sub
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Thur 19 Apr
- Exercise from above
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