multimedia authoring: exploring the new rhetorics
engl 355 spring 2006
instructor: dr. patricia freitag ericsson
ericsson@wsu.edu
spring 2005
phone: 335-4820
office: avery 223
office hours: 1:15-2:00 tth and by appointment
CP - Course Pack;
DWMX - DreamWeaver MX
GTP- Getting the Picture by Muth and Kitalong;
ix/ve - visual exercises by Ball and Arola
AML - meet in the Avery Microcomputer LabThis schedule is a work in progress. Assignments will be added and linked as the schedule grows throughout the semester. Plan to check the online version of this schedule at least once a week for updates. The online version is available at http://www.wsu.edu/~ericsson/355_sched_S06.html
Week 1 Jan. 10 Introduction to class; review of syllabus and schedule; academic honesty policy; skills/interests survey; discussion question "What is rhetoric?" Jan. 12 CP: Foss, Foss, and Trapp. "Perspectives on the study of rhetoric;" Search for at least two definitions of rhetoric and bring them to class; be ready to explain what you think they mean and how they differ from the definition presented in the reading for today. Week 2 Jan. 17 CP: Catherine Hobbs, "Learning from the past;" Write a one-two sentence summary of Hobbs argument. If you can find a summary in her own words, you can use a quote. Then in one page or so, explain how she supports this argument--include page number references to #icular points in the article. Jan. 19 AML; DWMX Lesson 1 and 2 completed; DreamWeaver quiz
Week 3 Jan. 24 Birdsell and Groarke, "Toward a theory of visual argument;" Do Birdsell and Groarke believe that we can argue with images? Explain your answer in a paragraph or two using at least two direct quotes from the article (include the page numbers for these quotes so you can refer back to them). Jan. 26 AML: Jessica Helfand "Electonic typography: the new visual language;" DWMX Lesson 3 completed; DreamWeaver quiz Week 4 Jan. 31 CP: Manovich, Prologue: Vertov's dataset;" Movie: "The man with a camera;" Read the linked handout before coming to class in addition to the Manovich reading. Feb. 2 CP: Martin Solomon: "The power of punctuation;"
Writing Assignment
Throughout the Manovich article, the author is stating principles of new media. Each page states a principle, sometimes more than one. Thurs. writing assignment deals with those principles and involved two #s:
(1) Choose four principles from the article and explain how the movie Man With A Movie Camera illustrates each principle.
(2) Then take the principle into multimedia. How do you understand that principle being carried into today’s multimedia? Give examples from gaming, webpages, or other multimedia texts.
Week 5 Feb. 7 AML: discussion/demonstration of Helfand and Solomon
Assignment # 1: Helfand claims that "We need to look at screen-based typography as a new language, with its own grammar, its own syntax, and its own rules. What we need are new and better models, models that go beyond language or typography per se, and that reinforce rather than restrict our understanding of what it is to design with electronic media." What models does she suggest?
Assignment # 2: write a one paragraph overview of Solomon's argument about the importance of punctuation.
Be ready to "show" what you have learned in these articles.
Feb. 9 AML: DWMX Lesson 4 completed; : DreamWeaver quiz; Technology Autobiography assignment
Week 6 Feb. 14 CP: Nicholas Burbles, "Rhetorics of the Web: Hyperreading and Critical Literacy" Feb. 16 AML; DWMX Lesson 5 completed; DreamWeaver quiz; GTP: # 1 discussion Week 7 Feb. 21 AML; GTP discussion # 2; workshop on TA and peer groups set up; process for completing ix/ve discussed Note assignment changes below Feb. 23 Meet in regular classroom; overview of all articles read so far; bring course pack other copies of articles to class; TA Peer Feedback Due Week 8 Feb. 28 ix/ve 4, 5, 6; discussion of visual rhetoric; CP: Scott McCloud, "The vocabulary of comics;" and "The infinite canvas: digital comics;" Mar. 2 TA due; Begin Hypertext Multimedia Argument assignment; discuss McCloud
Week 9 Mar. 7 AML; Workshop on HMA #1; ix/ve 7, 8, 9 Mar. 9 AML workshop Spring Break Week 10 Mar. 21 Draft HMA # 1 due and in-class presentation of HMA # 1; Discuss HMA #2 assignment; set rubric for HMA #2 Mar. 23 AML: Workshop on HMA # 2 Storyboard; HMA # 1 due Week 11 Mar. 28 AML; Storyboard due; in-class critique of Storyboard Mar. 30 AML; Workshop on HMA # 2; Professional Site assignment (PSA) Week 12 April 4 Presentations of PSA ideas; teams composed;
Web-based Research and Webfolio AssignmentsApril 6 In-class presentations of HMA # 2; Week 13 April 11 In-class presentations of HMA # 2
April 13 In-class presentations of HMA # 2 Week 14 April 18 PSA Workshop; PSA Storyboard and Proposals due at end of class; HMA # 2 due April 20 AML: PSA WorkshopAML; course evaluations Week 15 April 25 Presentations of PSA (PSA due the day your group presents) April 27 Presentations of PSA Finals Week May 3 Webfolio and Web-based Research due by midnight