ACINDP 150 Section 1

The readings listed in the schedule should be read before coming to class on Monday. The weekly quiz can be administered on either of the 2 class days and will include the readings due for that week. Note that I may add more readings to this course throughout the semester when I find relevant articles, so make sure to check it closely each week to make sure you're reading everything!

Jump to week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Here is a links page with lots of hard-to-find documents. I will put things there that otherwise get buried in the web structure.

Week 1 January 21	Introduction to the course and to each other. Discussion: analog/digital, What happens when we become cyborg? How is our increasing adoption of digital technology changing our lives? Reading: This article on the founding of the Internet and "I am a cyborg and I love it." Also, check out this guy. Explanation of how assignments and papers are turned in. Assignment of days for student presentations.

Week 2 January 26/28 Class notes	Individual index pages due (2 pts.) Digital text editing for HTML, XML and CSS. Discussion: online chat, IM, FTP. Read: The Three Mirrors of Interaction and this interview with Andy Clark and pages 2-10 of the QuickProject book.

Week 3 February 2/4 Class notes	Self publishing, self-editing, junk or not? The blogosphere, Wikipedia, live journals, Match.com and other forms of self-invention. Discussion: what is a digital self? Here is an explanation of how the Internet is different from 'real' life. We'll also continue to work on HTML and Photoshop. Read: This article on the implications of blogging, this one on political blogging. And this section of the history of Avatars by Bruce Damer. Here is your readings guide.

Week 4 February 9/11 Class notes	Self portrait due (3 pts.) Digital image editing, formats and compression. Discusson: 2D, 3D, effects of modeling the world, simulations and other dreams. What happens to the concept of authenticity? What is real? Read: All the subsections of this page (you can just click on the full text button to get the text, but it's nicer with the images), this article on disclosure of digitally edited images, and this on coaches for online dating. Feel free to come to class with examples from print magazines, or links to web examples. Here is the readings guide for this week.

Week 5 February 16/18	Paper I outline due: outline with 3 citations due to turnitin.com by Monday, Feb 16 at 11 PM. HTML tutorials ftp'd to your individual website by Wednesday, Feb 18, at 11PM No class meetings - Individual work on papers on Monday, Feb 16. Individual HTML tutorials on Wednesday, Feb 18.

Week 6 Feb 23/25 Class notes	Digital sound editing. Formats, ease of distribution, is sharing theft? AIFF, MPEG, etc. Discussion: the importance of sound to interactive content. We will also spend some time looking at writing papers. Here is a page about writing to help you with your paper. Read: Read all four pages of this site:Digital Audio Formats. Also take a look at A Nation of Copiers and an explanation of adaptive audio (reading is optional, you must create a login for this site). Here is a readings guide for these articles.

Week 7 March 2/4 Class notes	Your paper must be posted to your website and submitted to turnitin.com by classtime on Monday, March 2. A hard copy of the paper must be turned in at the same time. Contract phase of multimedia design, designer/client relationships. Brainstorming, Storyboarding and the importance of paper design. READ THESE BY WEDNESDAY, March 4: Indezine page on storyboarding and description of paper prototyping.. Here is a readings guide for these articles.

Week 8 March 9/11 Class notes	Discussion/presentation of papers. Student will present papers and share conclusions, ramifications (see schedule of presenters below). Flash-what it is and how it changed the web. Pixel vs. vector animation. Implementation phase of multimedia design. Read: by Monday - This entry on Flash animation and This Entry on Flash itself. Here is your readings guide for the week. By Wednesday, read at least two papers written by other students in the class. (papers can be found on the classmates section of the site). Presenters: Monday - Acosta, Lahiff; Wednesday - Miller, Klokow

Week 9 March 16/18 Class notes	Storyboards for website due (first draft) on Wednesday, March 18 Study day March 16 (no class meeting). March 16-17 are the Communication Department Advising days. Malwebolence - a crazy article about digital identity, trolling, and other internet subculture. Here is your reading guide for the week. Presenters: Wednesday - Petri, Vang, Cipra, Carlson

Week 10 March 30/April 1 Class notes	3 favorite Flash sites due. Usability phase of multimedia design. How do you construct good usability tests? When should they be administered? Discussion: practical usability, including in-class usability testing. Read: Usability Basics, also Multiscreen Mad Men, which talks about advertising in a post-TV world. Here is your reading guide. Presenters: Monday - Wychesit, Witmer

Week 11 April 6/8 Class notes	Digital play, games and gaming. Size of industry, media effects. Discussion: How does designing games differ from designing other media? Work on implementing web storyboards. We will also spend some more time with Usability. Read: Play and Learn about games and this article on the importance of good websites. Here is your reading guide. Presenters: Monday - Brown, Bartels; Wednesday - Wierichs, Motsinger

Week 12 April 13/15	Exam Monday, April 13 Usability Assignment due, April 15 Class Wednesday will include HTML work for your websites. Read: The Screening of America, which talks about how we experience media and the size of the image. Here is your reading guide. Presenters: Wednesday - Nelson, Schindler, Crenshaw

Week 13 April 20/22	Final draft of Website storyboards due Wednesday How do search engines work? What can designers do to optimize results in search engines? Discussion: Is there a way to catalog the web? Is it ethical to make a Google bomb? Read: Wikipedia on Google Bombs and also this article about the state of the publishing industry (unrelated topic to google bombs, but interesting). here is your readings guide for the week. Presenters: Monday - Stolpa, Struck; Wednesday - Shea, Nwakalo

Week 14 April 27/29	Additional work with Website analysis, HTML, writing, and usability. Read: This article about blogging and sex discrimination. Also, read this article about the nature of blogs. Here is your readings guide. Presenters: Monday - Lopez, Hornsey; Wednesday - Miller, Prebil

Week 15 May 4/6	Websites due by classtime and presented in class, Wednesday, May 6. Post links to your class webpage so that they can be viewed by the rest of the class at their leisure. Paper II outline due: outline with 3 citations due to me by Monday (upload to turnitin.com). We will look at each student's website. You must be present in class or your site will not be considered to be turned in. Read: Nothing Presenters:

Week 16 exam week	Paper II due - Your paper must be posted to your website and submitted to turnitin.com by our final exam period. A hard copy of the paper must be turned in at the same time.

[Schedule] [Assignments] [Classmates][Course Info]

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Week 16