Big A logo MAR 203 Concepts in New Media

SSII 1997

Instructor: Jeremy Butler
Office: 228 Harvill
Phone: 621-5525
Office Hours: following class and by appt.
E-mail: jeremy@tcf.ua.edu
Personal Web Page: http://www.tcf.ua.edu/jeremy 		Teaching Assistant: Rick Emrich
E-mail: emrich@u.arizona.edu

Course Description and Overview

MAR203 will introduce you to critical concepts and hands-on skills related to so-called "new media"--which, as we shall see, are mostly a reconfiguration and recontextualization of older media such as film, television, and graphic design for print publications. However, in some very important ways new media phenomena such as the World Wide Web and multimedia CD-ROMs (and the just-released DVDs) do modify the user's experience of text, image, and sound. MAR203 will consider these significant shifts in the reading/viewing/listening experience while remaining mindful of new media's connections with the old.

Our specific focus in this course will be Internet-related new media:  the World Wide Web and computer-mediated communication (CMC) media such as e-mail, Usenet, and Internet Relay Chat. You will engage in actual Web production and CMC exercises, and read critical essays about Internet culture. Our objectives are (1) to make you a more alert, perhaps critical, consumer of new media products, (2) to provide the basic steps toward your own work in new media, and (3) to offer approaches for scholarly research in new media.

Assignments

(Further details will be distributed in class and posted on the MAR203 Web site.)

  1. A review of an Internet discussion group or newsgroup. Each student will regularly read one discussion group/newsgroup and write a 300-word review of its messages. This review should be e-mailed to emrich@u.arizona.edu . 5 points. Due August 8th, 5:00 p.m.
  2. Short reviews of Web sites. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (starting July 16th and ending August 8th--11 total), each student will post a short blurb (one paragraph) on a Web site they've recently discovered--evaluating (1) the usefulness of its content, (2) the quality of its design, and (3) its level of hipness (is it too cool, or what?). Each review will be posted to the class newsgroup. One point each for a total of 11.
  3. A personal Web page. Each student will create his/her own Web page. 15 points. Due Friday, July 25nd, 5:00 p.m. Your page must include the following components:
    1. Links to all the Web sites you've reviewed for the class.
      • One of these links must also include an "anchor" inside a page.
    2. A paragraph about yourself--interests, major, hobbies, etc.
      • But do not include your phone number or local address (or student ID number or VISA card number or anything else you wouldn't give to a stranger in a bus station).
    3. One HTML table.
    4. One HTML list.
    5. An image you've found on the Web.
    6. A photograph of yourself (probably your UA ID photo).
    7. A background color or image.
    8. Different sized fonts.
    9. "Last revised" and contact information (with a MAILTO tag).
    10. A few horizontal rules.
  4. MAR203's Exquisite Corpse. In an old surrealist game, participants drew parts of a creature without seeing the entire thing. We're going to put an Internet spin on this by creating a narrative in individual components without knowing its overall structure. We are not the first to try this.

    Each student will prepare a small narrative chunk (images and 200 words) for the MAR203 Web site. These chunks will be chained together to form an "exquisite corpse." 15 points. Due July 30th, 11:00 a.m.

    How will this work?

    1. Each student will prepare a Corpse page and store it on his/her preferred Web server (www.arts.arizona.edu, www.u.arizona.edu, etc.).
    2. These pages will be strung together in random order, but the first one will begin with "One hot day as I was walking down Speedway..." and all of them will end with "And then I turned the corner..." So, yours should begin with that ending in mind.
    3. Each page must contain a minimum of:
      1. A 200 word narrative chunk.
      2. Three images created by you and not appropriated from some other source.
        • Typically, these images should be photographic in nature, but drawings are also acceptable.
        • To create these images you might
          • Borrow a digital camera from the MVL or Triestman, or
          • Use a regular camera to shoot photographs and then scan them into the computer
          • Remember: There are scanners in Triestman, the MVL, and the Connectivity Lab (Art bldg.)
    4. Once your page is finished, e-mail its URL to Jeremy Butler, Rick Emrich, and the student whose Corpse page comes before yours. (You can find his/her e-mail address on the MAR203 Student Page.) This URL must be submitted by 11:00 Wednesday, 7/30.
    5. After you have received the URL for the Corpse page that comes after you, then you'll be able to create a hypertext link to it using the phrase "And then I turned the corner..." We'll spend some time in class Wednesday knitting this all together.
  5. A final Web project. Each student (or you may choose to work in a group of two) will create a final Web project that will be either:

    This project must incorporate all of the course's lessons in Web design. 25 points. Due Tuesday, August 12th, 11:00 a.m. Your site must include the following components. (Grading: If your site exemplifies the course's lessons in Web design and contains a satisfactory example of each component, you will earn a C; if it implements these components in a better-than-average fashion, you will earn a B; if your site presents this material in an excellent manner, you will earn an A. Sites with unsatisfactory or missing components will earn D's or F's.)

    1. An opening homepage that loads quickly and pulls the user into your site.
    2. At least four other pages to which the user may navigate.
    3. A navigation scheme so that the user may move around your site effectively.
      • E.g., a navigation bar or index or hypertext links to the site's components.
    4. An HTML table used for layout.
    5. An HTML list.
    6. An HTML form using Wsendmail.
    7. <META> tags for search engines to use.
    8. A minimum of four images you have created yourself. These may not be images scanned from books, magazines or other sources, or appropriated from the Web.
    9. An animated GIF (from the Web or created by yourself).
    10. A transparent GIF (from the Web or created by yourself). Interlaced GIFs would be useful, too.
    11. An image map.
    12. Low bandwidth (that is, small) graphics--especially on your opening page. The total size (graphics and HTML files together) for most pages should be under 100k. Less is better.
    13. A color scheme (using background colors or images) that is consistent throughout the site.
    14. Different sized fonts. (Try using the <H1> through <H6> tags.)
    15. "Last revised" and contact information (with a MAILTO tag) on most pages (unless there's a stylistic reason not to).
  6. Exams. Midterm and final exams will be given on July 24th and August 13th, respectively. They will cover the readings and all in-class material (lectures, discussions, tutorials). Make-up exams will be given at the discretion of the instructor. 12 points each.
  7. In-class exercises. There will be numerous Web and CMC exercises in class. Your participation in them is worth 5 points. (See attendance policy.)

Grading

Points

05 Newsgroup Review
11 Website Reviews (1 each)
15 Personal Web Page
15 MAR203's Exquisite Corpse
25 Final Web Project
12 Midterm Exam
12 Final Exam
05 Attendance/Participation
----
100 points total

Scale

100-90 A
89-80 B
79-70 C
69-60 D
below 60 F

Attendance

MAR203 relies heavily on student participation and summer term goes by quickly (only 23 class periods in 4 1/2 weeks!). Consistent attendance is essential for successful completion of the course. Roll will be taken. Each student is permitted two absences. After these two, one point will be deducted for each absence.

If a job, jury duty, elective surgery, or etc. is going to occupy your time 11-12:45 M-F, we suggest enrolling in an alternative course.

Readings

Neuromancer coverIT&S coverVirtual Community cover

Subject to changes announced in class and posted on the MAR203 Web Site. Specific readings are indicated in the Course Schedule below.

Required Texts and Where to Find Them

(Most of the books may be ordered online through www.Amazon.com.)

Special Required Materials and Resources

Course Schedule

IT&S = Information Technology and Society

VC = The Virtual Community
Week One Topic Readings
14 Orientation, Web Scavenger Hunt, Survey, Survey Results   
15 'Net Structure/Culture Gibson, ch. 1
16 Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) IT&S, ch. 6
17 Usenet & IRC Culture VC, chs. 4, 6
18 Hypertext & HTML Basics IT&S, ch. 5; tutorial
Week Two
21 HTML Layout & Tables; FTP Basics IT&S, ch. 2; tutorial
22 MVL Orientation IT&S, ch. 7
23 Web Graphics I: Photoshop & Scanning IT&S, ch. 10
24Storm A-brewin' Midterm Exam IT&S, chs. 3, 4
25Storm A-brewin' Web Graphics II: Optimizing Graphics
Personal Web Page Due @ 5:00 		IT&S, ch. 11
Week Three
28 Web Graphics III: Animation, Transparent GIFs IT&S, ch. 14
29 Web "Ethics" IT&S, ch. 15
30Storm A-brewin' Interactivity I: Web Searching
Exquisite Corpse Due @ 11:00 a.m. 		  
31 Searching, cont.  
Aug 1 Disinfomocracy & Its Discontents VC, ch 10; Lyon; Ross
Week Four
4 Interactivity III: HTML Forms & CGI Scripts Tutorial; IT&S, ch. 9
5 Gender Issues
Intro to Critical Theory 		Dibbell, Dery
6 Interactivity IV: "Authoring" Multimedia; Image Maps Tutorial  
7 Hypertext & Critical Theory Landow
8 Working the 'Net: Weekly Wire CEO, Wil Gerken www.WeeklyWire.com
Week Five
11 Work day .
12Storm A-brewin' Final Web Project Due @ 11:00 a.m.
Course Evaluations, Online Exit Survey 		  
13Storm A-brewin' Final Exam   

Last revised: August 13, 1997
Number of accesses since July 21, 1997:
Comments: Jeremy Butler, jeremy@tcf.ua.edu