ENGL 348: The Internet for Humanists

Schedule of Assignments - Spring 2000

TEXTS:

Composing Cyberspace: Identity, Community, and Knowledge in the Electronic Age: Richard Holeton, ed. (McGraw Hill, 1998) [abbreviated below as CC]
Working the Web: A Student's Research Guide: Carol Lea Clark (Harcourt Brace, 1999) [abbreviated below as WW]
He, She and It: Marge Piercy (Fawcett, 1991)

See also the list of Reserve Readings and the Internet News page.

The following is a tentative schedule of assignments; any changes will be announced in class. You should complete all the readings in time for class on the dates listed. Last updated: March 19, 2000

M, Jan 31 - Introduction

W, Feb. 2 - More Intro: The Internet and the World Wide Web

WW, ch. 1 - "An Introduction to the World Wide Web"
S. Miller, "Where is Cyberspace?" (on reserve)

F, Feb. 4 - Using Netscape

WW, ch. 2 - "Browsing the Web"
Netscape Essentials: Tips on Using Netscape
Understanding and decoding URLs
Country Codes

M, Feb. 7 - E-mail

WW, ch. 6 - "E-mail, Listservs, and Usenet Newsgroups," pp. 95-98.
Charles Moran and Gail E. Hawisher, "The Rhetorics and Languages of Electronic Mail" (on reserve)
Setting Up Netscape to Read Email (UCS)
Read Email in Netscape (UCS)
Create Email in Netscape Communicator (UCS)
Netscape 4.5 Setup Instructions for UMBC IMAP server (UCS)

W, Feb 9 - More about E-mail

The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette, especially:
1. "Electronic Mail and Files - User Responsibility"
2. "Discussion Groups"
Dark Mountain's Netiquette Guide, especially:
1. "E-mail Netiquette"
2. "Netiquette Acronyms"
3. "Group Netiquette"
E-mail filters
- Are New Yahoo, Hotmail Spam Filters Better than Past Efforts? (optional reading)
- Hotmail Criticized Over Spam Filter Woes (optional reading)

F, Feb. 11 - E-mail Discussion Lists

M, Feb. 14 - Still More about E-mail: Viruses, Hoaxes, Urban Legends, etc.

Hoaxes and Urban Legends
Sherry Turkle - "Identity in the Age of the Internet" in CC, pp. 5-11.

W, Feb. 16 - Online Communities

Howard Rheingold - "The Heart of the WELL," in CC, pp. 151-163.
John Perry Barlow - "Is There a There in Cyberspace?" in CC, pp. 164-169.
Amy Bruckman - "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace," in CC, pp. 171-178.

F, Feb.18 - Usenet Newsgroups

M, Feb. 21 - MUDs and MOOs

Dale Spender - "Gender-Bending," in CC, pp. 69-75
Barbara Ehrenreich - "Put Your Pants On, Demonboy," in CC, pp. 80-82.
Julian Dibbell - "A Rape in Cyberspace," in CC, pp. 83-98.

W, Feb. 23 - MUDs and MOOs: Hands On

Look over one or more of the following before class:

F, Feb. 25 - Computer Lab

M, Feb. 28 - Finding Information Online

WW, Ch. 4 - "Finding Information on the World Wide Web"
Pandia Goalgetter Search Engine Tutorial

W, Mar. 1 - Finding Information Online

Finding People's E-mail Addresses

F, Mar. 3 - Finding Still More Information Online E-mail List Paper due today!

Amazon.com
Babelfish
Kuhn Library
1. VictorWeb
2. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
New York Times
Washington Post
Librarians' Index to the Internet

M, Mar. 6 - Evaluating Online Information

Susan Beck, Evaluation Criteria
Hope Tillman, Evaluating Quality on the Net
Walden Univ. Library Liaison, Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites

W, Mar 8 - Evaluating Online Information

Janet E. Alexander and Marsha Ann Tate, Web Wisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Information Quality on the Web, chapters 2 and 4 (on reserve). .
Advertising and Sponsorship on the Web (esp. "Checklist of Questions" and "Examples")
Recognizing Technical Trickery

F, Mar. 10 - FTP, Zip files, and Telnet

M, Mar. 13 - Making a Web Site
(NOTE: Be sure to explore the Web Creation resources on the Useful Links page)

WW, ch. 8 - "The Basics of Creating Web Pages"

W, Mar. 15 - Making a Web Site

WW, ch. 9 - "Web Page Design"
Netiquette Suggestions for Web Pages

F, Mar. 17 - Making a Web Site

WW, ch. 10 - "Web Page Authoring Techniques" (skip pp. 163-166)
Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
'Top Ten Mistakes' Revisited Three Years Later

SPRING BREAK, March 20-24

M, Mar. 27 - Citing Online Sources

Janice Walker, Citing Your Sources (MLA and APA)
Xia Li and Nancy Crane, Electronic Sources: MLA Style of Citation
Eric Crump and Nick Carbone, "Plagiarism, Copyright, and the Internet" (on reserve)
Janice Walker, Intellectual Property in the Information Age: A Classroom Guide to Copyright

W, Mar. 29 - Reading the Web

Nicholas Burbules, Rhetorics of the Web: Hyperreading and Critical Literacy

Th, Mar. 30 - Lecture: "Who're You Calling a 'Have-Not'?: Technology, Access, and Training for Women" - Ana Sisnett, Executive Director, Austin Free-Net, 4 p.m., Kuhn Library Gallery

F, Mar. 31 - Computer Lab

M, Apr. 3 - Books in an Electronic Age Search Engine Evaluation due today!

Cynthia L. Selfe, "Redefining Literacy: The Multilayered Grammars of Computers" (on reserve)
Sven Birkerts, "Into the Electronic Millennium," in CC, pp. 311-322
Shyamala Reddy, "The Once and Future Book," in CC, pp. 323-327.

W, Apr. 5 - Books in an Electronic Age

Raymond Kurzweil, The Future of Libraries, Part 1: The Technology of the Book
Raymond Kurzweil, The Future of Libraries, Part 2: The End of Books
Raymond Kurzweil, The Future of Libraries, Part 3: The Virtual Library

F, Apr. 7 - Computer Lab

Digital Age Will be No Utopia: An Interview with Thomas Valovic

M, Apr. 10 - Hypertext

Ilana Snyder, "Beyond the Hype: Reassessing Hypertext" (on reserve)
Robert Coover, "The End of Books," New York Times Book Review, June 21, 1992 (on reserve)
Victory Garden, sample of a hypertext novel by Stuart Moulthrop.

W, Apr. 12 - Hypertext: The Future of Fiction

Howard S. Becker, "A New Art Form: Hypertext Fiction"
Roland Barthes, "From Work to Text" (on reserve)

F, Apr. 14 - The Cyborg

Chris Hables Gray et al., "Cyborgology" [Introduction to The Cyborg Handbook] (on reserve)
Not required, but in case you're curious: Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto

M, Apr. 17 - He, She and It Simpleminded Quiz today!

W, Apr. 19 - He, She and It

F, Apr. 21 - He, She and It

M, Apr. 24 - Literary Anticipations of Cyberspace

E. M. Forster, "The Machine Stops" (on reserve)
Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" in CC, pp. 293-298

W, Apr. 26 - Literary Representations of Cyberspace: William Gibson

Johnny Mnemonic, in CC, pp. 48-61.
Burning Chrome, in CC, pp. 369-383.

F, Apr. 28 - Computer Lab: Work on Web Page

M, May 1 - More Literary Representations of Cyberspace

John Shirley, "Wolves of the Plateau," in CC, pp. 132-142.
Orson Scott Card, "The Giant's Drink," in CC, pp. 427-429.
or

M, May 1 - Student Reports

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W, May 3 - Student Reports

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F, May 5 - Student Reports

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M, May 8 - Student Reports

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W, May 10 - Student Reports

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F, May 12 - Computer Lab: Work on Web Page

M, May 15 - Web Page/Resources Assignment due today!

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