DWRL Lesson Plans - Web Design

Full Assignment Description:

In this assignment, students practice their close reading skills in small groups of three or four students. Each group is given a different poem or a short story by the same author. While discussing the text together, they must identify and analyze important passages or lines. After their discussion, they will annotate a copy of their text—a copy which has previously been posted by the teacher on the Rap Genius website—using the analysis they produced in their small group.

When each group has completed their annotation of their text, the class will reconvene as a whole to share their close readings. Each group shares their analysis of the text using their annotated copy on the Rap Genius website. After each group’s presentation, there should be an opportunity for anyone in the class to add an annotation to the poem or short story. Because the same author wrote each text analyzed by the small groups, the students should better be able to use their knowledge of the author’s style, biography or evolution as a writer to expand on the original analysis of the poem or short story.

This assignment provides the students with multiple audiences—the individual members of their small group, the class at large, and the Rap Genius online community. It also encourages the students to learn from each other. The exercise offers multiple points where class participation shapes the analysis of the text, and the diverse readings of different texts by the same author are able to inform each group’s close analysis as well as the larger appreciation of the author’s body of work.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

This assignment works best after the fundamentals of close reading have been established in the class. Ideally, the teacher will have first modeled the close reading of a passage from a poem or short story, as then lead a collaborative close reading with the class of another text. Once the teacher is confidant the class can lead their own close readings, he or she can use this assignment as a platform for allowing the students to execute a close reading without the direct guidance of a teacher.

Please note that this assignment requires the instructor to upload each text that the students will analyze to Rap Genius prior to the closer reading exercise. It is easy to post a text; there are detailed instructions on the website and it requires you to paste a copy of the text onto the website. (And if there are any questions, do not hesitate in asking Jeremy Dean, the head of “Education Genius Department” for Rap Genius and a University of Texas alum! His contact info is Jeremy@rapgenius.com)

Instructions For Students:

1. Each group of students (3-4) will be handed a different text, either a poem or short story, written by the same author. (Note: This can either be done at the beginning of class if it is a short text, or before the beginning of class if it is a longer text.)

2. Each group will discuss the text and identify important passages (Usually 6 – 8).

3. Each group will then analyze these passages, providing insight on the style, historical context or thematic value of the passage. Each analysis should be 1 – 4 sentences long. This analysis can either be done on paper or on a computer, but if it is done on a computer it will be easier for the students to copy the analysis and paste it in their annotation.

4. Each student will make an account on Rap Genius (rapgenius.com), which will allow them to annotate texts on the website. An email, a username and a password are all that are needed for an account.

5. Each group will then find their text on the Rap Genius database.

6. Once the text is found, they should add their analysis of each passage as online annotations to the text

a. To add an annotation:

i. Highlight the passage you wish to annotate

ii. An option “Annotate” will appear. Click this button.

iii. Add analysis to the text box.

7. When the group's annotations are complete, all of the small groups should reconvene as a whole class.

8. Each group can now present their analysis of their text, going through each annotation and explaining the importance of each passage.

a. For example:

i. How does each of their annotations analyze the author’s use of rhetorical style?

ii. What are the central symbols or themes present in the selected passage?

iii. What historical context did the group add in their annotation to help the reader better understand the passage?

iv. What biographical details from the Author’s life or career might help deepen our understanding of the passage?

9. After each group finishes the presentation of their analysis, allows other students in the class the opportunity to amend or add to any of the annotations.

Evaluation Suggestions:

This exercise is perhaps best assessed as component of the student’s participation grade. A specific number of annotations should be required form each group (6-8 usually works well). Their presentations should also be clear.

However, the Rap Genius annotation platform could be used in a version of this assignment that is completed by each individual student, and not as a small group exercise. Or the teacher could add an annotation component to a student’s essay on the close reading of a passage; the student could have to submit both a short essay and export a certain number of annotations from his essay onto the Rap Genius website.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Students generally reacted well to this assignment, especially to the fact that their final analysis was posted on Rap Genius, available to anyone on the Internet. It was also a good way to incorporate the computer classroom into a English literature class. Furthermore, some students continued to annotate other texts on the Rap Genius website after the exercise was completed, as Rap Genius is continuing to expand their inclusion of literary texts. A few students were especially interested in annotating texts from the extensive list of Rap, Indie Rock and Pop songs on the website.

Course Type:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Course Description:

This assignment is designed for an English Literature course with access to a computer lab. It has been used effectively in Ethnic American literature classes, where it is important to consider both literary style and historical context when close reading passages. The assignment is also good for analyzing poems that are influenced by historical events, where the students can identify in selected passages how authors directly engage political and cultural touchstones from their respective eras. The exercise is also designed for class with 25 or less students.

Tags:

Composing Short Writing Assignments for the Internet: Confronting the Digital Native Myth

Steel — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:13:32 +0000

Author:

Connie M. Steel

Image Credit:

Digital native image found at http://www.mondaynote.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/144-digital_native2...

Brief Assignment Overview:

This peer learning assignment and lesson plan series gives students the opportunity to explore digital composition. It allows students to research container designs for themselves; set up a website or blog; peer-train each other to use the site; develop writing standards for content; and write peer-editing and publishing content. This plan can be adapted equally well to short rhetoric or short literary criticism assignments.

Type of Assignment:

Class Discussion

In-class Exercise

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Multiple Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Literary Criticism

Textual Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

1) To develop ideas of critical reception in digital formats by asking students to analyze and benchmark websites and blogs

2) To develop standards for on-line writing by having the students generate the writing prompt

3) To access on-line composition technologies by choosing a product capable of meeting their aesthetic goals within their resource limits (i.e. free and within time constraints)

4) To develop research skills by selecting books for review appropriate to the blog theme

5) To develop collaboration and oral argumentation skills through an in-class debate and final selection of aesthetics, technology and writing standards

6) To formulate ideas for logos and arrangement of multiple textual pieces

7) To write a short review essay. (The short reviews become the final product and content for the website).

8) Peer review and copyediting of short essays

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

A computer classroom; or enough laptops that every two students could share

Internet access

Students

An idea for a short writing assignment relevant to course content that would be interesting to potential audiences outside of the class room, such as book reviews on a particular theme, or research summaries on a coherent topic of current interest

Timeline for Optimal Use:

http://womenofsteel.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/34/

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

I designed this series in response to the 'Digital Native' myth. The 'Digital Native' myth goes something like this: today's students grow up surrounded by technology, and therefore, magically know how to use it. But when I surveyed actual students at the beginning of a course "Literature and Artificial Intelligence," I found that the number of students who knew how to compose on the internet was very small. When I showed the aggregated results to the students they noticed immediately a large gender bias in our class--only one of the young women had ever started their own blog. This raised a sort of accessibility issue that we decided to address as a class. Further discussion revealed that instructors tend to set up courseblogs or course websites for students, and then just ask the students to create a login and add the content. Many did not understand the data input side of things well enough to explain it to a peer. The majority of students did not know how or why those containers had been chosen or how to set up a blog of their own, thus indicating a significant barrier to entry for digital composition in spite of access to the relevant hardware. In response to the students' survey results and comments, I expanded the original blog post assignment to include the full range of steps required to get from Step A to Step B in digital composition for the internet. This series was designed for a computer lab classroom (I have done similar things with a series of reservations for a computer lab).

This is a series of in class workshops and take home assignments. The entire class functions together as a collective to produce a single website with a common theme composed of multiple short essays. These are the skeletons of the prompts I used to guide the students through the process of selecting a container, developing standards, writing, editing and publishing content.

TAKE HOME ASSIGNMENT #1—Selecting Texts Prompt

As a take home assignment, I asked students to post three suggestions (each) for texts to review on the website we would build. The idea here was that the texts selected might influence the overall aesthetic choices. The stories needed to fit the course theme of science fiction involving artificial intelligence with the added dimension of a female author as we found a shortage of information about female science fiction writers on the internet. Here’s the discussion board prompt:

“List three stories by giving MLA citations for the copies you find (on Amazon, at the PCL, your local bookstore, etc). If someone else checked them out of the library, recall them now! If we don’t own the book/story, use Inter-Library Loan to request a copy from another university.”

Then we whittled down

WORKSHOP #1—Brainstorming and Benchmarking Writing Standards and Technologies

In order to accomplish the next goal the class was divided into four teams representing different types of decision making steps. Each team is giving a specific task building towards decisions that will effect the writing of the whole class. The instructor should leave some time at the beginning and end of class for discussion and should check in with each team to make sure they understand their job and how their job fits in with the other jobs.

Technology Selection Team: This team consists of students with prior web/blog/wiki experience. It is this teams job to compare notes on the usability of programs they have used and come up with their top recommendations for the class. (Tumbler and Word Press are favorites).

Aesthetics Team: This team's job is to identify sites that do similar types of work and look appealing. What might be the technical challenges of making something similar? They come up with a list of sites and narrow it down to their favorite four to show the class.

Writing Standards Team: This team is given the task of developing standards for content. In this case the students benchmarked the genre elements in a graduate level E3W Review of Books and adapted them to a shorter on-line format. Students should think about word limits (discourage anything longer than 500 words) and types of questions they want answered in the review, and think about things like pictures.

Managing Editor Team: This small team (two students is fine) compiles, polishes, organizes and removes the duplicates from the lists of books in the discussion forum. At the end of class, final decisions are made as to who will read and review which texts. Everybody commits.

HOMEWORK #2—Find and begin reading your story

Prompt: “This past week you were supposed to find and start reading the text you will review for our blog/wiki on Women and Science Fiction. BRING YOUR STORY TO CLASS on X Date! If it is something you are accessing through EEBO or other on-line source PRINT the cover/title page and the way to access it (website/database) onto a sheet or two of paper and bring that to use. Come to class ON-TIME and ready to do some creative workshopping.”

GAP CLASS—Schedule a day for something else while you give students the time to find/buy/read their books.

WORKSHOP #2—Caucusing and Decision Making

First half of class:

1) At the beginning of class students turn their books and book covers over to the General Editing Team. The Gen-Ed Team gets a delegate each from the Tech and Aesthetics teams to come up with two creative ways to organize texts in the on-line exhibit. (Total of four people). They will present these to the rest of the class.

2) The Tech and Aesthetics Teams caucus to figure out which of their favorite aesthetics are ones that are technologically feasible. They will come up with their best two options to show the class.

3) The Writing Standards Team meets with the professor to publish a handout with their content requirements. This will be distributed at the end of class.

Second half of class:

1) Managing Editor Team presents the final list of books.

2) Tech and Aesthetics teams present their recommendations.

3) Voting on container choices.

4) The Writing Standards team explains the content requirements prompt.

5) Final Decisions are posted as a plan on the discussion board (by the professor) for students to refer to at home and in the next workshop.

HOMEWORK #3—Short Content Writing Assignment

Students write their content using the standards developed as their prompt. They are asked to bring their work to class in electronic format (we used Word).

WORKSHOP #3—Peer Review and Content Building

1) Students read and peer review each other’s content. (This could also be a homework assignment).

2) Students copyedit and correct their work.

3) The tech team peer trains everybody to upload their content. People who "get it" first become peer trainers for the person next to them.

4) Uploading and final proof reading.

5) Troubleshooting. More troubleshooting.

FINAL SHOWCASE

Some students may need to take their time with the content upload. Give them the chance to finish their upload and editing during office hours or for homework. The instructor can review the site for typos or you can leave the remaining mistakes. Extra credit opportunities can be offered for students to add bells and whistles to the site, or for submitting an extra writing assignment.

At the beginning of the next class show off the final product and give the students a chance to discuss what they learned. A fun follow-up is to ask everyone to publicize the site by posting it on their social networking accounts (like Facebook, Twitter or their own blogs). Follow up in a later class by reporting the number of hits.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

This assignment/lesson plan requires clear communication with the students, and a certain amount of patience with utter chaos. By that I mean, the students did all the things I would normally do for them, like picking the website technology and designing the prompt, and I had to stand back and let them take control. Basically, my main job was to keep the teams communicating, to keep them aware of how their jobs fit into the bigger picture, and to help them figure out how to do things without micromanaging. This meant letting them make and learn from minor productive mistakes. There were a couple of challenges, which are described below.

Instructions For Students:

The series of steps are listed above in the Assignments section. Assignments and content can be flexibly adapted to course themes. The in-class workshops were designed for a 1 hour 15 minute class format. When lesson planning, it is important to include time for explaining tasks clearly to students and for getting their feedback at the end of class sessions. This time could vary quite a bit depending on the size of the class, the experience level of the students, and how well they have bonded as a group. I save this type of series for the end of the semester when students already have experience with writing, editing and conducting peer review. This assignment builds off those skills and teaches them new ones.

Evaluation Suggestions:

GRADING

This is a multi-piece project, so I split the grading into smaller chunks, which could be adapted to a variety of syllabi. This also encouraged class attendance.

1) Homework grade for the discussion post listing book choices (credit/no credit--went into the homework grade built into my syllabus)

2) Quiz grade for bringing books to class so that the general editors for workshop number 2. (Pass/Fail--went into the reading quizzes part of my syllabus)

3) Writing assignment for content, and upload completion—Students were given a letter grade. The writing assignment was worth 10% of the syllabus total.

4) Peer review quiz credit for editing during the third workshop. (Pass/fail quiz grade).

5) A small extra credit bonus was given for the “best peer editing team.” This was awarded to the peer editing pair that had the fewest number of copyediting mistakes in their final blog entries.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

The students chose to make a wordpress site. The following is a representative entry of the work they produced.

Their target audience was potential high school and lower division college instructors looking for science fiction texts for their courses. They decided each entry should include an image; a quote reflecting the author's writing style; a brief gloss of plot, genre, and themes; and an indication of the relative reading difficulty, along with pricing information. Two of the students were radio/television/film majors and the class decided it was OK if they reviewed science fiction films by women directors. Tagging and navigationals levels were added to reflect time periods, genres, theme and popular media. One challenge occurred when it was discoverd that the blog's default is to list entries by the date of upload. This wasn't a useful navigational feature but the students discovered it after they had already committed to their container theme. Another challenge appeared with the image uploads. Some of the book cover images load exactly as they are supposed to and others don't (in spite of a uniform training session). Overall, they did a nice job with the content and peer editing. The feedback from the students was that their overall confidence in trying to build a website or blog on their own had increased with knowing the types of decisionmaking steps to make, and their overall ability to explain what they were doing to a peer increased.

The site has since become the target for trolls. As a consequence there are some random unauthorized entries dating after May in the blog. A blog's flexibility for multiple users is an advantage, but sometimes older static website designs have better security. So, that's something to think about.

Additional Resources:

They needed to read books to complete this assignment.

Course Type:

Introductory Writing Course

Literary Studies Course

Course Description:

This lesson plan was developed for a writing intensive sophomore level course designated as "introduction to the major/introduction to literary methods." The course variant was titled "Literature and Artificial Intelligence." Course content bridged the canons of English and Artificial Intelligence with a selection of science fiction, philosophy, literary criticism and scienctific essays. In the second half of the semester, students were asked to build a website featuring book reviews for relevent science fiction stories by women authors. Their potential audience was instructors in high school and lower division college courses.

Tags:

Student Digital Activism as Rhetorical Advocacy/Analysis

Hoag — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 21:05:39 +0000

Author:

Trevor L. Hoag

Image Credit:

Graphic posted on xomariee.wordpress.com

Brief Assignment Overview:

This assignment challenges students to become digital activists/advocates for a cause of their choosing, and aids them in developing a portfolio of work in the service of that cause.

Type of Assignment:

Semester-long Project

Assignment Length:

Semester-long Project

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Close Reading

Textual Analysis

Word Choice

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Timeline for Optimal Use:

First Day/Week

Full Assignment Description:

This ambitious assignment challenges students to become digital activists/advocates for a cause of their choosing, and aids them in developing a portfolio in the service of that cause. Students begin the class by researching a cause to advocate for such as vegetarianism, marriage equality, or gun rights. Students then produce a series of compelling “media artifacts” for that cause such as social media websites, blog sites or websites, an image or infographic/meme, an “anti-artifact” in the form of information deletion/lockdown, a digital map or timeline, and finally, a collaborative project. Instructors can also ask students to “justify” their artifacts by theoretically analyzing them and by comparing them to other analogous artifacts.

Note: Many other options for artifacts exist such as games, videos, and more.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Not for the faint of heart, instructors who wish to employ this assignment arc must familiarize themselves with a number of different technologies including, for example: Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, tumblr., Wix, easel.ly, Wordle, quickmeme, Storify, and many other applications. However, instructors should not fear discovering and learning new technologies alongside their students as it encourages a more “horizontal” classroom structure. An instructor who attempts such an assignment will learn much!

Instructions For Students:

In this course on digital writing/humanities, you will become a digital activist in the service of a cause. You will develop a portfolio of work in the service of this cause that you will present at the end of the semester. You are also responsible for theoretically analyzing the “media artifacts” that you create by applying course readings as well as comparing the rhetorical strategies you have employed with other similar (or different) media artifacts.

Step #1: Research a cause to advocate for across the arc of the semester. You have a lot of options, so make sure you care deeply about the cause for which you are advocating. Students in past courses have become digital activists regarding, for instance: body image, disability, cheating in sports, net neutrality, vegetarianism, cyber-bullying, women’s health services, marriage equality, and much more!

Step #2: Once you have an exciting/fulfilling cause to advocate for, you will now begin producing and analyzing “media artifacts” in the service of that cause. In this particular course, you will produce six different types of digital media/humanities writing: a social media website (or sites), a blog site or website, an image or infographic (which can include a series of memes), an “anti-artifact” in which you will delete or lock down information online, a digital map or timeline, and finally, a collaborative project with others in the class. You do not have to have any prior knowledge of the technologies that you employ to develop your artifacts—a big part the assignment is just exploring! So take a look at the following examples, create accounts on whatever sites you think will work best, and go to town!

P.S., It’s a big help to find others in the class who are using similar sites/technologies or advocating for similar causes at any given time. Start collaborating as soon as you can, and you’ll find it eases your classroom tasks immensely!

REMINDER: Every artifact is accompanied by a 1-page theoretical analysis. For example, one might discuss one’s Twitter feed in reference to, say, Denis Campbell’s Egypt Unshackled: Using Social Media to @#:) the System. Likewise, all deletions should engage Viktor Mayer-Schonberger’s Delete: The Virtues of Forgetting in a Digital Age. Analyses are also encouraged to include comparisons/contrastings of rhetorical strategies with other similar artifacts, whether those of student colleagues or “outsiders.”

Artifact A (Social Media—Facebook, Pintrest, Twitter, etc.)

https://www.facebook.com/veggiedc?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/NoSpecialTreatmentofReligiousOrganization?ref=hl

http://pinterest.com/pin2891/rhe312/

http://pinterest.com/gendernorms/genders-created-by-society/

https://twitter.com/kidsaresponges

https://twitter.com/ChurchesTax

Artifact B (Blog or Website—tumblr., Wordpress, Blogspot, Jux, Wix, etc.)

http://loverealyou.tumblr.com/

http://lgbtmarriagenow.tumblr.com/

http://fucknoqueerfetishization.wordpress.com/

http://healthstartfoundation.wordpress.com/

https://aforactivism.jux.com/

http://copywritecopy.wix.com/copyrightorwrong

http://getyourkidsoffline.blogspot.com/

Artifact C (Image—easel.ly, quickmeme, Photoshop, Paint, etc.)

http://i.imgur.com/1vX9GVx.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/92675/Drugusage/image.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/94299/Queerfetishization/image.jpg

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3t8ws8/

http://www.wordle.net/

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/

Artifact D (Deletion)

Note: The deletion is in some ways the hardest artifact to produce. Essentially, your goal is to “become-imperceptible” by removing yourself from the Web, or by blocking access to content that’s related to you and/or your cause. You can also find a website or application to analyze that “deletes” something for you. Be creative and try your best! (See also: http://lessonplans.dwrl.utexas.edu/content/becoming-imperceptible-or-how-disappear-completely)

https://duckduckgo.com/

http://suicidemachine.org/

Artifact E (Map or Timeline—Google Maps, Text2MindMap, Storify, Zeega, Tiki-toki, ManyEyes, Wordle, etc.)

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210792301150685076515.0004d98cf1fb8dcdd07a1&msa=0

http://www.text2mindmap.com/vBL47F

http://storify.com/Dopeandsports/drug-enhancement-in-professional-sports

http://storify.com/ryleegonzalez/queer-fetishization-and-gay-marriage

http://storify.com/dawn1/women-s-sports-uniforms-across-time

http://zeega.com/103969

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/115265/Idiot-Nerd-Girl-Meme/#vars!date=2012-01-04_21:28:09!

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/

Artifact F (Collaboration)

Note: The collaborative artifact can be approached in a couple different ways. One is to use a familiar technology but in tandem with others. Another is to find a wholly new technology and try it out. It’s up to your group—what matters is that you’re writing and advocating/analyzing with others!

http://i.imgur.com/kCTt3xF.jpg

https://twitter.com/kidsaresponges

Other (Video, Reddit, etc.)

http://vimeo.com/63134670

http://www.reddit.com/r/occupyaustin/

Step #3: Now that you have produced a series of sophisticated media artifacts (that is, various forms of digital media/humanities writing), it’s time to show off your work to your classmates in the form of a presentation. Keep in mind that this presentation isn’t merely show-and-tell, but yet another opportunity to rhetorically advocate for your cause. Aim to persuade!

Note: Your instructor will be extra impressed if you use a presentation platform other than Powerpoint!

Presentation Examples:

http://prezi.com/2w58dqz1nlm0/untitled-prezi/

http://prezi.com/wwjfvklxd8wx/untitled-prezi/

http://prezi.com/uz0fbnnbqb_l/genders-game/

Evaluation Suggestions:

There are many ways to approach evaluating the above assignment(s). The simplest is via “completion” grades, but what “completing” the assignment means may vary widely from instructor to instructor. I would recommend developing a rubric for evaluating each artifact. For instance, one might have a ten-point scale where the following criteria are considered (I use the following rubric myself):

Does the artifact make a clear argument (or series of arguments)?

Does the artifact provide evidence for any claims it makes (e.g., by citing any and all sources)?

Does the artifact respectfully engage an opposition and an audience?

Is any written text on/in the artifact clearly and carefully composed?

Is the artifact accompanied by a theoretical analysis/comparison that is sophisticated (that is, considers/cites either the readings for the course or similar artifacts)?

How well does any analysis grasp the theoretical texts it employs?

Does the artifact employ good design (for instance, color, arrangement, etc.)?

How persuasive is the artifact in terms of rhetorical appeals? Does it contain any fallacies?

Has an “appropriate” amount of effort been exemplified by the student (e.g., number of posts on a social media site, number of pages on a website, and so on)?

Has the artifact been peer-reviewed twice?

Have peer and instructor comments been integrated following peer review?

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

This assignment arc has been employed to great success at the University of Texas in a “Writing in Digital Environments” course. The students seemed to really enjoy the work, though were sometimes frustrated by how surprisingly hard it is to get outsiders interested in what they are/were producing. However, whether a particular student project is getting feedback from outsiders is often an opportune moment to discuss kairos. If I would recommend anything, it would be: get students to really think about and research their topics, make sure to show students lots of examples, don’t be afraid to let a student use a technology no one is familiar with, encourage theoretical analysis of artifacts, assign whatever media types you like and don’t be confined by what I’ve listed above, stick closely to a rubric and encourage students to pay close attention to whatever rubric is provided. This will better the life of all involved!

Course Type:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Course Description:

Writing in Digital Environments/Writing for the Digital Humanities

Tags:

Screen Readers and Visual Accessibility

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:58:46 +0000

Author:

Will Martin

Image Credit:

"Day 009 - Fear of a Blank Planet" via marcandrelariviere's Flikr stream

Brief Assignment Overview:

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the students to screen reader software, so that they will be aware of the challenges that blind people face in using web sites, and so that they can adjust their own sites to accomodate access for the visually challenged.

Type of Assignment:

Class Discussion

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Arrangement

Audience

Delivery

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

To teach students about accessibility issues when building and designing web sites.

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

This lesson requires the following equipment:

A classroom equipped with computers for each student, including Internet connections.
Headphones for each student.
A screen reader program.
A screen blocker card (optional)

A more limited version of the lesson, demonstration only, can be done in any classroom equipped with a computer for the instructor.

Headphones are necessary because when you have a classroom full of 15-25 students the din of the computers all speaking at once makes it considerably harder for the students to distinguish their own computer from the others. While the lesson can be done without headphones, it’s substantially more difficult.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Useful Anytime

Full Assignment Description:

Many people who build web sites are unaware of or have no direct experience with screen readers, the software that blind and visually disabled people use to access web sites (and indeed all the software on their computers). The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the participants to that software, so that they will be aware of the challenges that blind people face in using web sites, and so that they can adjust their own sites to accomodate access for the visually challenged.

The most common screen reader programs, JAWS and WindowEyes, are commercial software, and not cheap. Typical JAWS licenses may run up to $1200 USD per seat. There is a 40-minute demonstration version available, but its licensing terms make it unclear whether it’s legal to use the demonstration version for these purposes. So I prefer the free and open source screen readers FireVox or NVDA. Because they are open source projects, there are no licensing fees to worry about, and the students may have copies of their own if they wish.

The two have some significant differences. NVDA, short for “Non-Visual Desktop Access,” is a fully-featured screen reader. It can read not just web pages, but any application the operating system might run. Because it must deal with a much wider selection of software, NVDA has fairly complex controls. It is only available for Microsoft Windows.

FireVox, by contrast, is an extension for the Firefox web browser. It turns Firefox into a “self-voicing” browser which can read web pages aloud. But it cannot access other desktop applications. Because it works with only one program, FireVox’s controls are fairly simple. It works with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X (though it’s buggy on Mac). Because of its comparative simplicity and its broader availability, I prefer using FireVox for this lesson.

There are other screen readers out there — for example Orca on Linux. I will assume from here on in that you are using FireVox. Regardless of wich screen reader you use, I recommend that you become comfortable with its controls before teaching the lesson, so that you’ll be able to aid students who get stuck.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

You'll need to install a screen reading software on the computer system. For detailed instructions on configuring FireVox, see the "additional resources" section below.

The lesson breaks down into three phases:

Introduction
Demonstration
Experimentation

Introduction

At the beginning of class, I talk briefly about the challenges that disabled persons face in using the Internet. I tell the students specifically about the importance of alt text, skip links, and structural headings in web design. Typically I write the HTML code for these on the board, describing each one and fielding any questions as necessary. I mostly limit my technical discussion to visual impairments, because that’s the focus of the lesson. However, I usually mention other accessibility problems as well, such as the general lack of captions for the deaf on Internet videos, the difficulty that paralyzed people face in typing, and so on.

In a class period lasting 1 hour and 15 minutes, this portion of the exercise should take approximately 20-25 minutes.

Demonstration

During the demonstration phase, I start FireVox on the instructor computer and attempt to locate a specified piece of information on the web, reciting aloud for the students each command I give. For example, I might try to find out how much a copy of the course text book costs through Amazon. First I press CONTROL+L to highlight the location bar. Then I type in Amazon’s address. Once the page is loaded I press CONTROL+SHIFT+L to bring up a list of elements in the page, use the arrow keys to navigate through that list, and then select a search box from the form elements. I type in the title and press ENTER. Once the new page has loaded, I press TAB repeatedly to move through the links in the document until I find one that sounds right, then I press SPACE to trigger the link. Once the page has loaded, I slowly walk through the document using a combination of TAB, CONTROL+SHIFT+F (for Forward) and CONTROL+SHIFT+D (for Back). I do this using a remote keyboard, with my back to the screen. However, I leave the projector in the classroom running. FireVox highlights the particular section of the screen it’s reading at any given moment, and it’s useful for the students to see those visual cues as I am in the process of using the audio to determine where I am and what I’m doing.

Inevitably, I run across an image which does not have alt text, nested tables, or some other impediment to my understanding of the text. At this point I might stop and show them the code, or I might simply point to my hand-written version. Often I fail in whatever objective I’ve set for myself, but this generally doesn’t matter too much, since the point of this section is just to show them what the process is like before they try for themselves.

In a class period lasting 1 hour and 15 minutes, this portion of the exercise should take approximately 5-10 minutes. Those with a flair for the dramatic might make a show of putting on a blindfold.

Experimentation

Lastly, I give the students a task to complete without being able to see the screen. (see "Instructions For Students" below)

Instructions For Students:

Here are the steps the students need to perform in order to activate FireVox, assuming that you have pre-installed it using the Profile Switcher extension as described above:

Collect a pair of headphones
Plug them into their computer
Log In
Start Firefox
Click File → Launch Another Profile → FireVox
They can close the existing window or not, as they choose.

Once FireVox is up and running, they need to blank out their screens, either by turning them off or by putting a blocker card in front of them. Typically, I ask them to find their own contact information in the UT directory. If they have removed themselves from the directory, I tell them to find me, or a neighbor. Some students accomplish this task quickly, in which case I ask them to just go and browse around on the web.

Evaluation Suggestions:

this assignment was not evaluated

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I have had excellent luck with this lesson. The students are invariably fascinated by the process. Frequently they had assumed that the blind simply could not use the web at all, so not only observing someone surfing the web blind but doing it themselves is — if you’ll forgive the phrase — an eye-opener. As a consciousness raising effort, it works fairly well.

At the very end of the class I try to contextualize their experience. The brevity of the exercise — a single class period — means that they experience the initial feelings that come with trying to learn a deeply unfamiliar interface. The two most common reactions are excitement and frustration. What they do not get is the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with mastering that interface, because they don’t work at it long enough. Typical comments run along the line of “I’ve never been so glad to have my sight,” which highlights the frustration and unease of the experience. So, at the very end of the lesson, I try to compensate for that a bit by pointing out that blind people, who cannot independently access the Internet in any other way, soon become highly proficient at using the screen reader. They often remain frustrated, but that frustration tends to spring from encounters with badly designed web sites more than frustration with the screen reader interface.

On balance, I think using a screen reader is a valuable experience for anyone with any kind of responsibility for a web site. It takes accessibility problems out of the realm of the abstract and makes them concrete, tangible. Making future web designers palpably aware of the issue helps ensure that they will stop to consider access for the blind in their future work.

Additional Resources:

Installing and Configuring FireVox

The web site for FireVox can be found at the Firevox website. The installation process is straightforward, but there are considerations to take into account:

Do your computers automatically undo changes made during a session when you log out?
Do you have other Firefox extensions installed?

If your computers automatically undo changes made during a session whenever someone logs out, then you may wish to walk the students through the process of installing FireVox themselves. it’s a useful exercise for them. However, if the computers do not undo this change, then subsequent classes in the same room may be troubled by web browsers which inexplicably speak to them. In that case it’s best to install FireVox beforehand.

If you have other Firefox extensions installed, it’s possible that some of their shortcut keys may conflict with one another. For example, both FireVox and the Web Developer Toolbar use the keyboard shortcutCONTROL+SHIFT+F. In FireVox, that shortcut instructs the browser to move on to the next element in the document and read it aloud. But in the Web Developer Toolbar, the same shortcut enables the Element Information dialog. If you have both extensions installed and pressCONTROL+SHIFT+F, then both actions will be triggered.

You probably don’t want Firefox to speak all the time. And key conflicts are annoying. The best way to resolve both of these is to install Firevox in a fresh profile, which allows one copy of Firefox to be used by many individual users with separate sets of configuration info (including extensions). You can either do this manually (using the -p option on the command line) or you can use the Profile Switcher extension (I prefer the latter approach). Here are precise step-by-step instructions for installing FireVox in its own profile:

Download the Profile Switcher extension:
1. Click the link above;
2. Right-click the link that says “Download (for Firefox)” and save the XPI file to your desktop;
3. Once the download is complete, click “File → Open” in Firefox and open the file;
4. There will be a brief countdown; when it is done click “Install Now”;
5. Quit Firefox and restart it.
Create a new profile for FireVox to live in:
1. Click File → Open Profile Manager;
2. It doesn’t matter whether you close the current profile or not, pick “Yes” or “No” as you please;
3. Click Create Profile;
4. Click Next;
5. Enter a name for the profile — this can be anything you like, I generally use “FireVox”;
6. Click Finish;
7. Click your new profile in the list of profiles;
8. Click Start Firefox;
Download and install the FireVox extension:
1. Go to the FireVox download page;
2. Right-click the “CLC-4-TTS Suite with Fire Vox - Bundle Pack” link and save the XPI file to your desktop;
3. Once the download is complete, click “File → Open” in Firefox and open the file;
4. There will be a brief countdown; when it is done click “Install Now”
5. Quit Firefox and restart it;
6. If you are on Mac, click Tools → FireVox TTS Selection → Mac TTS
At this point, you should hear FireVox talking to you every time a page loads. If you don’t hear it, then:
1. Make sure your speakers/headphones are turned on;
2. Make sure the system volume isn’t muted;
3. If you’re on Mac, make sure you selected the “Mac TTS” option correctly (see previous step);
4. If it’s still not working ... uh, keep poking at it till it does. You do have sound drivers installed, right? Can other programs make noise?
PressCONTROL+SHIFT+H. This should bring up a list of headings in the document. If instead you see a new window called “Library,” then you’re using Firefox 3.x. There’s a conflict between FireVox and Firefox — the command is triggering two effects at once. You can correct this in one of two ways:
1. Method A — Remap the Key:
  1. Click Tools → FireVox Options;
  2. Scroll down till you find “List of Headings” in the list of assigned keys;
  3. Assign it a new key — the letter T will work;
  4. Click OK;
  5. The list of headings may now be brought up usingCONTROL+SHIFT+T. You may need to restart Firefox for this to take effect.
2. Method B — Unbind the H key from the History window:
  1. Install the Keyconfig extension;
  2. Restart Firefox;
  3. Click Tools → Keyconfig;
  4. In the list of defined shortcuts, find the “Show All History” entry, mapped toCONTROL+SHIFT+Hand click it to select it;
  5. Click the Disable button;
  6. Close Firefox completely and restart it;
  7. The list of headings may now be brought up usingCONTROL+SHIFT+H.

FireVox is now installed and configured correctly on this machine. I usually install a copy of the Profile Switcher extension in the FireVox profile too. It doesn’t conflict with FireVox at all, and it makes it easier to switch back and forth between FireVox and your regular Firefox profile.

Take some time and familiarize yourself with the Firefox controls. You can see all of the available keyboard shortcuts by clicking Tools → FireVox Options. FireVox does not use the mouse, because blind people cannot see the mouse pointer to use it.

I’m going to assume from here on out that you’re using Profile Switcher and a separate FireVox profile.

Screen Blocker Card

For best effect, the students should not be able to see the monitor of their computer while performing this exercise. If the computers in your classroom have a power button for the monitor, then you can just turn off the monitors. However, some computers (such as recent iMacs) do not offer a switch for turning off the monitor power. In this case you will need to create blocker cards before class.

These are very simple — just get some cardstock large enough to cover the screen and thick enough to block it out, and have the students prop them up in front of their monitors. If you wish, you can tape a keyboard shortcut cheat sheet to one side so that students can see a list of commands in front of them.

Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet

Here is the cheat sheet which I attach to my blocker cards:

Firefox Shortcut Keys

Key	Function
Ctrl + L	Select the address bar (so you can type in a new location).
Alt + Left Arrow	Go back one page.
Alt + Right Arrow	Go forward one page.
Ctrl + T	New tab.
Ctrl + N	New window.
Ctrl + W	Close tab/window.
Ctrl + Tab	Next tab.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Previous tab.
Ctrl + F	Find in this page.
F3	Find next in page.
Shift + F3	Find previous in page.
F5	Reload page.
Ctrl + F5	Reload and ignore cached page.
Ctrl + C	Copy text.
Ctrl + X	Cut text.
Ctrl + V	Paste text.
Spacebar	Activate current link (or form element).
F6	Next frame.
Shift F6	Previous frame.

FireVoxShortcut Keys

Key	Function
Ctrl + Shift + D	Read previous.
Ctrl + Shift + F	Read next.
Ctrl + Shift + E	Repeat.
Ctrl	Stop speaking.
Ctrl + Shift + O	Speak selected text.
Ctrl + Shift + Q	Query current element for more info.
Ctrl + Shift + U	Speak parent element text.
Ctrl + Shift + P	Read current position.
Ctrl + Shift + A	Auto-read from current point on.
Ctrl + Shift + H	List Headings.
Ctrl + Shift + L	List all elements.
Ctrl + Shift + S	Spell out a word.
Ctrl + Shift + M	FireVox Options
Ctrl + Shift + Y	Toggle Live Region announcements.
Pause/Break	Toggle Sticky Keys
F16	Toggle Sticky Keys (Mac keyboard)

Using FireVox Sticky Keys

When sticky keys are turned on, you don’t need to press Ctrl + Shift for each FireVox command; just the letter itself. This is convenient, but causes problems any time you have to type information into a form. Always turn sticky keys off when typing information in a form.

Course Type:

Course Description:

This exercise is useful for any course in which students are asked to compose online or construct web sites.

Tags:

Creating Individual "Infospheres" on the Web

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:11:03 +0000

Author:

Jasmine Mulliken

Image Credit:

An example of an infosphere from Jasmine Mulliken

Brief Assignment Overview:

The infosphere assignment calls on students to identify online sources of information they regularly take in and to create a representative structure for this information. Students must build their own unique infospheres and organize them as they see fit.

Type of Assignment:

Major Course Project

Assignment Length:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotated Bibliography

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Rhetorical analysis, citation, research, invention, digital literacy.

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Mind mapping software (Novamind, Freemind, etc.)

Aggregator website (Netvibes, iGoogle, etc.)

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

Michael Vlahos defined "infosphere" in 1996 as "the fusion of all the world's communications networks, databases and sources of information into a vast, intertwined and heterogeneous tapestry of electronic interchange" (498). The thirteen years since his article was published has seen, among ather things, a shift in use of internet from the impersonal to the personal. Individuals now have their own infospheres, personal tapestries of information that they choose to absorb on a day-to-day basis. The infosphere assignment calls on students to identify online sources of information they regularly take in and to create a representative structure for this information. One way to do this is through an aggregator site such as Netvibes. Students must build their own unique infospheres and organize them. The bases for this organization becomes apparent not only in the way the student displays his or her infosphere on the webiste, but also in the secondary and explanatory requirement--the mind map.

This 6-7 week assignment requires students to construct both a visual and a verbal representation of their infospheres. During the process, it is important to discuss theoretical ideas about the web, sociology, and argument so that students understand what makes up their infospheres, but also why and how these sources play a role in their formations of identity.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Begin the unit with a discussion of infospheres. This discussion can be up to a class in length and may include whole class discussion, group discussion, and/or lecture.

The next class period should focus on the idea of aggrogator sites and should include a demonstration of how one works. I used Netvibes. After explanation and demonstrations, let the students work on their own for 15-20 minutes, addressing any questions that come up during that time.

The next class period might deal with structuring information. (This could be done before the aggregator discussion, but I found it useful to have the material already so there was something to fill up the structure with.) Talk with students about how we structure our lives based on role or time or any other framework. This discussion could be half a class, and the next half could be an explanation/demonstration of NovaMind or another mind mapping software. Again, allow some time for students to play with the software in class.

The next few class periods, allow time at the beginning or end of class to work on project. In the meantime you might have them do readings over information structures or identity and its modern influences and discuss these readings and the ideas they evoke. Tie these ideas in to the infosphere so that the theory behind the assignment is always relevant.

It might be a good idea to have one full class dedicated to working on the project toward the end of the unit. You may not need this, though, if you've been allowing a block of time throughout the unit for work.

Instructions For Students:

This assignment has two parts: a mindmap reflecting the structure and reasoning for your website; and a website reflecting your infosphere as discussed in class.

Create, in an online environment, a space that represents your infosphere. You should use an aggregator site such as netvibes.com or igoogle.com to bring together the various information you take in on a daily basis. This may include any news sites you visit, radio stations you listen to, shows you watch, social sites you visit, email accounts you check, lectures or podcasts you listen to (like church sermons or class feeds), and the like. You may want to create different tabs that effectively categorize the information by role. Perhaps you read different magazines or journals for your job or classes than you do for entertainment. Maybe you want to separate your personal email account from your school email account. Keep in mind how you organize the information you take in and try to represent that through the interface.

As a precursor to building your website, map out the various components of your infosphere in a mind map. This map can serve as a brainstorming space and help you think through the different uses of the various information you take in on a daily basis.

Be as thorough as you can. Include everything you receive information from or take into consideration when constructing your reality. Remember, though, that you are trying to represent mainly the information you take in and not the information you put out. Sometimes these lines intersect, but try to contain this assignment as best you can to information you receive and process.

Requirements

Upload as a jpeg your infosphere mindmap by the due date. The map should have at the center your name. The first level of nodes should represent the tabs that will be at the top of your netvibes site (or the first level of organization on any other site you're using). The next level of nodes should be the titles of the blocks you will be putting under each tab. The nodes under the block titles should explain how and how often you use the information in the block, when and why you started using it, and a brief description of the site represented in the block.

Post a link to the finished site to the submission area for the assignment by the due date.(Check the calendar on the course website.) Additionally you may post a link in the class forum if you're willing to share your infosphere with the class. Be as thorough as possible. If you find along the way any sites that aren't part of your current infosphere but that you want to make part of it, definitely add those in! This assignment is meant to be both reflective and generative.

Evaluation Suggestions:

The grade on this assignment is based on the thoroughness of the site and the mindmap. In cases where students may have fewer objects in their infospheres, the amount of information and description in the mind map should show a thorough understanding of the role of those objects. The page should be well organized according to a specific structure defined by the student. The mindmap and website should show structures consistent with each other. Many objects on the website does not guarantee a good grade. Grade is based on evidence of the student's understanding of the purposes of those objects.

Course Type:

Course Description:

This project was implemented in an intermediate rhetoric course, RHE 309K The Rhetoric of Web Identity.

Tags:

Infosphere

Citation

Visual Representation

Invention

Website Design

Novamind

Designing an Online Commenting System

Wall — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:41:21 +0000

Author:

Amanda Wall

Image Credit:

Screen shot of student project

Brief Assignment Overview:

In this group project, students design a commenting system or other forum/method for conversation within a website, matching the system to the particular rhetorical goals of the site. Groups present their systems in a presentation and are required to turn in two documents: a visual representation of the conversational interface and a 3-5 page design rationale.

Type of Assignment:

Homework Assignment

Major Course Project

Assignment Length:

Multiple Class Periods

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Semester-long Project

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

In the Rhetoric of Flame Wars*, I teach that online comment posts, discussion boards, blogs, and other discourses constitute important sites of public discourse. These discourses are influenced not only by the traditional rhetorical components--audience, ethos, logos, and even then, in interesting and problematic ways--but by the technological and social systems that make possible and shape discourse online: interfaces, proferred levels of pseudonymity, moderation, and other processes.

The point of this assignment is to force students to step into the position of web designers, or, as we might also call them, dialogue designers. The design and governance procedures of websites help to shape the conversations and discourses that happen there in substantial ways, and what I hope to see reflected in students' work is an awareness of rhetoricity of interfaces and governing procedures.

*"Flame war" is a slang term for a vicious internet fight, usually between anonymous or pseudonymous writers; some critics of online communication argue that it is the inevitable result of every online discussion. I disagree.

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

Ideally, students would have access to the internet and to image-editing software within the classroom so that they can begin work there. However, I believe this assignment is adaptable for classrooms without technology: students are quite capable of brainstorming internet concepts on paper, and I have specified that the images they produce can be produced through physical means (hand-drawn, in other words) if the digital means are not available to them. The point of this assignment is to force students to step into the position of web designers, or, as I would argue they could be called, dialogue designers. The design and governance procedures of websites help to shape the conversations and discourses that happen there in substantial ways, and what I hope to see reflected in students' work is an awareness of rhetoricity of interfaces and governing procedures.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Useful Anytime

Dibbell, Julian. "A Rape in Cyberspace."

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

These are the instructions for the students; I think they give a good description of the assignment.

For this project, you will form groups of 3-4 people. Choose either a specific website or a particular type of website to design for. (So you could choose the New York Times, or Cracked, or BagNewsNotes, or UT's website, Obama's campaign website, or a more general type like a political blog, a gossip website, or a gaming forum. If you choose a "type," it's a good idea to find examples of that type of site.)

You will brainstorm the needs and problems of people who converse with each other on your website or type of website (need-finding). Based on those needs and problems, you will brainstorm many possible solutions in the form of different commenting systems. A "commenting system" includes all of the technologies, interfaces, policies, rules, guidelines, and moderation procedures that govern, support, shape, and otherwise make discussion possible. So you might need to talk about technologies separately from procedures/rules in the beginning of your brainstorming process. After you've come up with many options, you'll decide together which option (or combination of options) you want to pursue.

Something to keep in mind: by calling it a "commenting system," I'm already narrowing down the field. Commenting, after all, traditionally means comments by public audience members responding directly to single pieces of media that are posted on the site. But it doesn't have to look like that. Feel free to break the boundaries of the genre, to cross over into discussion forum or mailing list or wiki territory. There are many different ways of having a conversation. The only requirements are that a public audience must be able to converse with each other. That's it. Depending on the goals of your website and the kind of conversation you want to inspire, there are many different ways to accomplish this.

Creativity is greatly encouraged. Don't feel like you have to stick to "tried and true" methods. Experimentation is where all the great ideas come from.

This project has two required components:

1. One visual representation of the website with the commenting system clearly shown. If there would be more than one interface involved in the commenting system (for instance, if users had their own profiles), you are encouraged to mock-up that webpage as well for extra credit. Digital representations are preferred (because it's a digital environment), but physical art is also accepted. Examples of programs you could use include Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, MS Paint, MS Word, Frontpage, Publisher, GoogleSites, iLife (Mac), Gomockingbird.com, Ning, etc.

(If you are familiar with programs for creating illustrations, mock-ups, or actual websites and would like to give a short overview of the basics of that program for creating a visual representation of a website, you are welcome to do so! This is one way you could work on going beyond the course requirements.)

(If you want to put in some extra work and build a live website, that is also acceptable.)

2. A 3-5 page write-up describing the system.

- What is the purpose of the website, and what kind of conversation are you trying to generate on the website? You might go so far as to explain what the purpose of conversation on this website as you see it.

- How does does your system work? How do you imagine people will use it?

- How does it address specific problems people have or might have with the current system or with other systems?

- How might your system go wrong or be misused? Is there any way to ameliorate these problems? Do keep in mind that some negative side effects are expected and inevitable in any design.

- You are encouraged to use the rhetorical tools we have discussed in order to explain your system. Things like audience and ethos will probably be particularly important. You may also cite or discuss writers that we have read in class in order to back up your decisions.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

This project comprises the entire third unit of my course. We spend about three weeks on it, giving the students time to brainstorm their projects in class and reading articles about debates in online spaces, moderation procedures, deliberative democracy, and social software design. We had already covered debates about anonymity and pseudonymity in the first unit, but some of those readings might be useful to other instructors. (For instance: the move of some websites to require commenters to sign in to Facebook in order to comment.) Some of the readings I've used are:

This article from the early 90s is great for a lot of reasons, but I've used it in this unit for its sustained description of a debate within an online community. It deals with such questions as: Who should resolve an online debate? The community at large via democratic vote or consensus? A moderator or other official? Or is an online community an inappropriate place for deliberation? These are questions that the students will have to decide about the websites that they design.

Shirky, Clay. “Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software.” The Best Software

Writing I. Ed. Joel Spolsky. Berkeley, CA: Apress, 2005. Print.

Aside from a useful metaphor for the social web (the computer is a door to the social world, not a device-box for the individual, Shirky tells us), this article argues that designing for a social group is different from designing for individuals. I relate this to rhetorical ideas of audience. How might an audience evaluate a system differently if it perceives itself as a group instead of as individuals? This article also attributes designers' reluctance to design for groups to a "horror of censorship," which relates to the political issues raised in the Dibbell article.

Instructions For Students:

Creativity is greatly encouraged. Don't feel like you have to stick to "tried and true" methods. Experimentation is where all the great ideas come from.

This project has two required components:

(If you want to put in some extra work and build a live website, that is also acceptable.)

2. A 3-5 page write-up describing the system.

- How does does your system work? How do you imagine people will use it?

- How does it address specific problems people have or might have with the current system or with other systems?

- How might your system go wrong or be misused? Is there any way to ameliorate these problems? Do keep in mind that some negative side effects are expected and inevitable in any design.

Evaluation Suggestions:

In my course, I use the evidence-based portfolio system called the Learning Record. Using this system, it's easy for students to present their own contribution to the project and to get credit for going above and beyond expectations. Because mine is a rhetoric course, I focus on the extent to which students connect their design decisions to rhetorical rationales: does their design fit the purposes of the space as they conceived it? This rhetorical focus makes it possible to equally reward those students who are using MS Paint to create rudimentary images as well as those students who show off their pre-existing coding skills by building actual working websites. The Learning Record requires students to go "significantly beyond" the course requirements in order to earn an A, so students who spend time building such a website, or those who put in the time to learn Photoshop for the first time, or those who do extra research on the rhetorical reasoning of actual web designers to augment their design rationale, can all have their efforts pay off.

For those using more traditional assessment systems, I might recommend having students do a quick write-up at the end of the project describing their own contribution and creating a pie-chart estimating the distribution of work among the group. This gives the instructor a chance to compensate for an especially hard-working or recalcitrant group member.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I was astounded by my students' projects this past semester. I only required three pages of collaborative writing and a single image, but every one of my students' groups, without exception, produced multiple images and incredibly thorough design rationales. Although I give students the option to redesign the commenting system of an existing website, every group chose to design an original website with specific rhetorical goals.

Let me give you a sense of the projects my students produced. One group produced a wide-ranging, utopian website that strove to stimulate public discourse by organizing discussions into "galaxies" of common topics (individual stories were "planets" and "stars"). It featured both synchronous and asynchronous communication and had robust moderation procedures. Another group went in the opposite direction: their website, "Belligerency," rewarded flaming, trolling, and other bad behavior with a complicated point system. I had to admire the rhetorical savviness of this profit-driven project, for the students clearly understood how particular kinds of conversation can feed back into website profits via ad sales. A third group had users communicating mainly through images, drawing on trends seen in websites like tumblr, Pinterest, and Canvas. A fourth group organized debates into columns of "for" and "against"; this strategy stimulated an interesting discussion amongst their peers about the relative merits of an unlimited but messy debate versus a constrained but organized one.

My last group contained a student with some coding expertise, and they produced an actual working website, with full log-in and comment functionality. They also created a static image in Photoshop to represent the front page of their website (see the attached image): on this gossip website, called The Grapevine, stories with many "likes" are featured in green grapes and those with many "dislikes" are featured in red grapes.

For some ridiculous reason, I only allotted one 90 minutes class for these five groups to present their projects, which left almost no time for discussion. Next time, we'll spread them out over two days.

Course Type: