Web Content Writing

ENGL 4169/5169: Web Content Writing
Spring 2018

Morgan's Wiki | WCWStatement | WCWSyllabus | AboutThisWiki

Week of 9 Jan

The first course meeting is R, 11 Jan, 12:30 - 1:45, HS 229. New materials will come online each Thursday or Friday. We'll be using both a local wiki and perhaps other spaces.

Introductions
WCWStatement
Intro to wiki
"A class in New Media Writing ... is a class largely concerned with how to talk about reading and creating digital texts." Craig Stroup, "The Rhetoric of Irritation."

in class

Questions on WCWStatement
Deadlines are firm.
Late and slapdash work. 0 and negative points.
Intro to the wiki. Set up to make notes in the wiki for week of 23 Jan.
GettingStarted.
SettingUpAWikiNamePage. Done in class on 18 Jan 2018

Miss class? Email me for the invitation code to register for the wiki.

Use the tutorial Getting Started on the Wiki
SettingUpAWikiNamePage. Done in class on 19 Jan 2017
GettingStarted is a reference page for markup.

Week of 9 Jan

The first course meeting is R, 11 Jan, 12:30 - 1:45, HS 248B. New materials will come online each Thursday or Friday. We'll be using both a local wiki and perhaps other spaces.

Introductions
WCWStatement
"A class in New Media Writing ... is a class largely concerned with how to talk about reading and creating digital texts." Craig Stroup, "The Rhetoric of Irritation." That means a class in critical discussion.
Notes and note-taking: And by notes I mean...
Intro to the wiki. I'll walk through this on-screen. You can use SettingUpAWikiNamePage and GettingStarted to set up your page.
Online students: Email me (mmorgan@bemidjistate.edu) for the Invitation code for the wiki. Download or print the PDF tutorial Getting Started on the Wiki. Use the tutorial to register on the wiki, create your wiki name page, and practice editing on the wiki.
Bring a laptop. Be ready to talk and write.

for week of 18 Jan

GettingStarted: A reference page for wiki markup.
SettingUpAWikiNamePage.
Read and take notes on Krug, chaps 1 - 5
And by notes I mean...

Week of 25 Jan

Exercise: MakeThisScannable
Krug, chap 6. Designing Navigation
Read, take notes. For this chapter, choose a university or shopping site and use it as a target example to critique Krug's guidelines and illustrate your notes. For each element Krug mentions, locate and comment on how it works - or doesn't.

In class -

Discuss chap 5: omit needless words and review work wth MakeThisScannable
Review chap 6: Nav, with your examples
What Krug does't mention: ontology and labels

When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight o' clock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather excruciatingly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father's. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury.

What changes? In the text? In a reader's understanding?
Is this already scannable? Are the changes any more clear?
What's gained? Time? What will you do with that?
Is a polished surface too slippery to gain purchase?

Week of 18 Jan

In class -

Questions on WCWStatement
Review of notes on Krug, chaps 1 - 5
Link to sites. Embedding images?
And by notes I mean...
Discussion on these chapters as Guiding Principles.
Discussion aimed at investigating examples, questioning assumptions, querying his recommendations.
Exercise: MakeThisScannable