schedule

Much of this schedule after week four is tentative. The first quarter of the class will lay the groundwork for the remaining three quarters, but the precise schedule, exact texts, and nature of the assignments are subject to change.

Unit one: text and image

Week

Date

Readings and Activities

1

Tue, 20 Aug

Thu, 22 Aug

Introduction to the class: Texts and technology

Kay, "User Interface: A Personal View" (Multimedia 121-131)
Manovitch, The Language of New Media, Introduction (2-12)
Quick introduction to Dreamweaver
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lessons 1 and 6

2

Tue, 27 Aug

 
Thu, 29 Aug
 
 

Fri, 30 Aug

Review Dreamweaver tutorial lessons 1 and 6
Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapter 1 (7-34)

Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapters 2 & 3 (35-64)
Group work one
Discuss Project one assignment

Dreamweaver workshop, JAC 305, 2 pm (optional)

3

Tue, 3 Sep
 

Thu, 5 Sep

Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapters 6 & 7 (113-155)
Web standards and multimedia design conventions

Wiener, "Cybernetics in History" (Multimedia 47-54)
Introduction to manipulating graphics
Project one draft due; peer review
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lesson 2

4

Tue, 10 Sep
 

Thu, 12 Sep

Review Dreamweaver tutorial lesson 2
Review web standards, design conventions, and graphics

Project one due
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lesson 3

Unit two: interfaces

Week

Date

Readings and Activities

5

Tue, 17 Sep
 

Thu, 19 Sep

Review Dreamweaver tutorial lesson 3
McCloud, Understanding Comics

McCloud, Understanding Comics

6

Tue, 24 Sep

Thu, 26 Sep

McCloud, Understanding Comics

McCloud, Understanding Comics
Discuss Project two assignment
Group work two
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lesson 4

7

Tue, 1 Oct

Thu, 3 Oct

Review Dreamweaver tutorial lesson 4

FALL BREAK — NO CLASS

8

Tue, 8 Oct
 

Thu, 10 Oct

Manovitch, The Language of New Media 62-87
Project two draft due; peer review

Project two due
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lesson 5 (in class)

Unit three: narrativity

Week

Date

Readings and Activities

9

Tue, 15 Oct
 

Thu, 17 Oct

Burroughs, "The Future of the Novel" (Multimedia 275-278)
Wallace, Infinite Jest 3-17

Wallace, Infinite Jest

10

Tue, 22 Oct


Thu, 24 Oct

Wallace, Infinite Jest
Assignment: Dreamweaver tutorial, Lesson 8

Review Dreamweaver tutorial lesson 8
Wallace, Infinite Jest
Discuss Project three assignment

11

Tue, 29 Oct
 

Thu, 31 Oct

Group work three
Wallace, Infinite Jest

Wallace, Infinite Jest

12

Tue, 5 Nov

Thu, 7 Nov

Project three draft due; peer review

Wallace, Infinite Jest

13

Tue, 12 Nov

Thu, 14 Nov

Wallace, Infinite Jest

Project three due

Unit four

Week

Date

Readings and Activities

14

Tue, 19 Nov

Thu, 21 Nov

 

Reading TBD

Reading TBD

 

Tue, 26 Nov

Thu, 28 Nov

THANKSGIVING BREAK—NO CLASSES

15

Tue, 3 Dec

Thu, 5 Dec

 

Review for Final Exam

Review for Final Exam

Final Exam date and time TBA