Writing for Electronic Media

English 532

Spring Semester 2004

Professor: Michael Day, RH 215b, 753-6603, mday@niu.edu

Meeting time and place: T 6:00-8:40 in RH 308 (NWR)

Office hours: W 3:30-5, Th 3-5 and by appointment

URL: http://www.engl.niu.edu/mday/532/


Required Texts:

• Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Designing Effective Web Sites: A Concise Guide.  Houghton Mifflin, 2002. (DWS)

• Lynch, Patrick & Sarah Horton. Web Style Guide : Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2001. (WSG)

• Rosenfeld, Louis & Peter Morville. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Second Edition. O’Reilly, 2002. (IA)

• Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Nick Montfort. The New Media Reader. MIT Press, 2003. (NMR)

Numerous webbed readings, TBA (check the class web page frequently)

Suggested Text:

• Lemay, Laura & Rafe Colburn. Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and XHTML in 21 Days. 4th Ed. Sams Publishing 2003. (Lemay)


Course Description:

Lecture, demonstration, discussion, and hands-on workshop examining the theory and practical applications of professional writing for Internet-based media, primarily the World Wide Web.

Special emphasis will be placed on the theory and practical rhetorical conventions for online writing and the design of online textual information, and on developing strategies for using these conventions in a professional setting. Students will explore an area of interest and develop a final project in that area, with opportunities for collaborative work.  Course topics include strategies for effective electronic mail, hypertext theory and applications, copyright issues, visual literacy and the computer screen, concise writing for the screen reader, information architecture, effective navigation and design principles for the web, evaluation criteria for web sites, and collaborative online environments.


Rationale:

As more and more technical and professional communication moves from print to electronic media, businesses and other organizations need staff members who are competent in designing, writing, and publishing documents online.  Currently, there is a great demand for writers and editors who are also familiar with hypertext markup language (HTML) and some of the web publishing software packages.  This course will introduce students to some basic design principles for online publishing, discuss theoretical approaches, and give students practical experience through the final course project.  It will provide background history, theory, and experience for both those who wish to be (or are) practicing professionals in the workplace and those who with to study or teach technical communication.


Requirements

• Attend class and participate in class discussion

• Submit on paper and present to class a short (1-2 page) survey (literature review or response)

• Submit on paper and present to class a case study/critical analysis paper

• Keep a blog or WebBoard reading and project progress journal

• Lead class discussion of one reading assignment from our required texts

• Check WebBoard and email frequently (especially Mondays, for class updates)

• Complete a major final web design project, including project proposal, progress report, and final report.

• Oral Presentation of final project


Course Overview:

Part One: Introduction –Survey of online writing and information design, including online information genres.  Relevance to professional and technical communications.  Readings in the history and philosophy of electronic media.

Part Two: Major theories and methodologies of online writing and information design, including theories of online reading and methods for ascertaining readers’ needs.  Includes information architecture and usability.

Part Three: Collaboration and interactivity in online writing and publication.

Part Four: Evaluation of effectiveness of online texts: application of research to examples. Case studies and guest presenters.

Part Five: Planning and drafting in individual or group web design projects.

Part Six: Presentations of individual or group web design projects.


Grading

Survey (literature review or response) paper: 10%

Case study or critical analysis paper: 10%

Reading and project progress journal: 10%

Leading class discussion of assigned reading: 10%

Class participation, online and off: 10%

Final project: 50%
 Project proposal: 10%
 Progress report: 5%
 Webbed project: 20%
 Final report: 10%
 Oral report: 5 %


Disabilities

If you have a disability or any other special circumstance that may have some impact on your work in this class, and for which you may require some type of accommodation, please contact me early in the semester so that appropriate arrangements can be made. The NIU Center for Access-Ability Resources (CAAR), located on the 4th floor of the University Health Service (753-1303), is the designated office on campus to provide services and accommodations to students with diagnosed disabilities. You need to provide documentation of your disability to that office.


Last updated January 26, 2004
By Michael Day