Department of English and Journalism

English 480:
Computers and Writing
Spring 1999

Class Entry Sites

WebCT

Snow Crash site

Class Projects




Syllaweb

The course will be an introduction to the field of computers and composition. We will consider:

• the (approximately) twelve-year history of the discipline,
• the changes that computers and networks bring to writing theory, practice, and pedagogy,
• the social and political issues raised by computer-mediated communication and the internet, and
• the possible future applications.

We will focus primarily on networked communication, hypertext, and the internet. Along the way we will nod both at familiar computer applications, such as word processing, and at specialized applications, such as MOOs and multipurpose communications programs. Our study will be accomplished through the reading of both print texts and electronic texts, through f2f discussion in class, through asyncronous electronic discussion, and through writing, using both paper and electronic publication. (This course fulfills the department's upper-level writing requirement for undergraduates, and we will devote considerable attention to your writing.)

Texts:

• Groves, Writers Guide to the Internet
• Waters, Web Concept and Design
• Holeton, Composing Cyberspace
• Stephenson, Snow Crash
• Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual
• Assigned readings from web
• Assigned readings from print sources (available in SI 217)
• Web publications of class members
• Extra print and Web resources (may be useful for research projects)

Requirements:

1. Faithful attendance. Serious illness or family emergency are the only reasons for absence.
2. Equally faithful completion of reading and writing assignments on time.
3. A home page to be posted on the World Wide Web and linked to this syllabus. (See my Technology Page for HTML guidelines.)
4. Three or four exploratory writings on paper. The purpose of these assignments will be to contribute to our developing group knowledge. All should be written, then, to be shared with the class
5. Two "papers" written in hypertext and published on the WWW. Both will be based on web-based research. The first will be a whole-class collaboration building a Snow Crash web site. The second will be a fully-developed hypertext on a technology/computer/internet topic.
6. Postings to the class Bulletin Board at least four times a week. Postings can include responses to readings, to points raised in class, to one another's ideas and questions. All posts should observe standard netiquette conventions.
7. Participation. We will be acting as a discourse community, writing and talking in order to discover meaning. Your participation in the class discussion is essential.
8. Exploratory reading. I expect everyone to read whatever you can get your hands on relating to the Internet, email, hypertext, World Wide Web, etc, and to share what you discover on the bulletin board.
9. Net exploring. We will collectively explore internet resources: liservs and newsgroups, gopher, World Wide Web. You will share your discoveries with the class and include them in your home page.

Tentative schedule of assignments

Grades:

Paper papers: 25%
Home page: 10%
Snow Crash Project: 15%
Hypertext project: 25%
Email: 15%
Participation and exercises: 10%

A little amusement

Cyberpunk Bookshelf

How to Find me:

Escape clause: This syllabus is subject to revision as circumstances dictate. You can expect additional links to be added with some regularity--check it often!.

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