Dr. Lisa Gerrard Mailbox:
271 Kinsey
Office: 252 Kinsey Phone:
(310) 825-2286
Office Hrs.: TR 12:30-1:30 & by app't. E-mail:
gerrard@humnet.ucla.edu
Web address: http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/people/gerrard/
ENGLISH 132D
The Discourses of Cyberspace
Cyberspace . . . "a dizzying array
of small towns" (Allison Fraiberg)
"a consensual hallucination" (William Gibson)
Texts/Equipment
Gerrard, English 132D:
The Discourses of Cyberspace (APS)
Carbone, Writing Online:
A Student's Guide to the Internet and World Wide Web (Houghton Mifflin)
Holmevik and Haynes, MOOniversity (Allyn and Bacon)
1 high density, super, or zip disk
Bruin Online account
Class Web site:
http://ecampus.humnet.ucla.edu/classes/engcomp132d-lec1-03f/
Description
In this course, you will participate in, analyze, and write
about forms of electronic discourse: chat rooms, web sites, discussion lists,
and MOOs (a form of virtual reality), considering questions such as these:
* How does each medium shape its
content?
* How does the medium influence
perception?
* How does it affect
self-representation?
* What kinds of cultures do online
media establish?
* What languages do they create?
* What is possible in one medium that
cannot be achieved in another?
* How do users of these media change
the nature and uses of discourse?
You will be working together as a community of rhetoricians and
will be co-authoring several projects with a small group of your classmates.
Please be prepared to meet with your group and to spend time working in the
computer lab outside of class.
Prerequisites
* English 3.
* Basic word processing and
web navigating skills.
* Access to a computer and
the Internet outside of class. The computer labs in Powell and Kinsey are
available for your use.
* Ability to work
collaboratively with other writers. Teamwork is essential to this course.
* Ability to attend all
class meetings and arrive on time. You cannot make up a missed class.
The essay assignments will ask you both to create electronic
discourse—e.g., participate in an online discussion list, contribute to a
web log, develop a web site, create a MOO room— and to analyze its
rhetoric, the communities that use it, and its potential social effect. As
writers, you will practice both electronic forms of communication and the
traditional academic essay.
This is a hands-on course, a series of workshops rather than
lectures so always bring your books, disks, MOO ID and password, and
writing-in-progress with you.
Requirements
• 3 essays, at least 2 drafts of
each
• short writing assignments
• oral reports
• participation in planning and
editing groups
• participation in discussions on
class chat room and bulletin board
• contribution to online
discussion lists or weblogs
• creation of a personal web page
• creation of a MOO room and
objects
Grading
Paper #1: 25%
Paper #2: 25%
Paper #3: 25%
Work grade: 25% (attending all classes, on
time and prepared; timely completion of all assignments, including oral
reports, peer editing, e-mail discussion, and short written work; full contribution to all co-authored
projects)
A Note on
Paper Format
You may submit first drafts of your essays either in hardcopy or by email, as a Word attachment. Please submit second drafts in hardcopy only. Hardcopy must
be typed and double-spaced. Use whichever margin size, font style, and color
you like, as long as I can read the paper easily and have room to write
comments. The indicated length for each paper assumes a 12-point typeface, an
average sized font (e.g., Palatino), and 1-inch margins all around; if your
format is noticeably different from that (e.g., a 14-point typeface or a tiny
font), your paper will be correspondingly longer or shorter. If you email your
paper, please write English 132D on the subject line.
SCHEDULE
Th 9/25 Class: Introduction to
course, listservs, browsers, and class web site; subscribe to online discussion
list
Home: Writing Online, Ch. 6; Vitanza, Woolley, McLuhan,
Berger, Bolter, , Cowan, Pursell; start reading discussion list mail; Paper 1,
preparation 1: technology and perception
Week 1
T 9/30 Class: Approaches to
Paper 1; discuss readings/Paper 1 preparation 1
Home: APS:
"Situating Communication," Writing Online, Ch. 1 and pp. 18-20, 28-30, 101-105,
and Ch. 5; APS: Hayes, Sosnowski, Gozzi; Writing Online, p. 151; Paper 1, preparation 2
Th
10/2 Class: Discuss
readings/Paper 1, preparation2: The Rhetoric of Electronic Text; strategies of
rhetorical analysis; analyze web sites
Home: Paper 1, draft 1;
Gerrard, 5 (thesis) and 13-14 (organization); Writing Online, Ch. 2
Week 2
T
10/7 Class: Paper 1, draft
1 due; discuss Paper
1, revising techniques
Home: Gerrard, 6-12
(development), 52-53 (collaboration); bring 3 hardcopies of Paper 1 and a
copy on disk to class Th 10/9
Th 10/9 Class: Class meets in CLICC Classroom B,
Powell Library;
discuss Paper 1, revising techniques; edit groups; approaches to Paper 2
Home: APS 21-27
(revising for conciseness)
Week 3
T
10/14 Class: Stylistic
revision (conciseness); explore and discuss web logs
Home: APS: Gerrard,
Turkle, Rheingold (“How to Recognize the Future…”); Class web
site: Turkle, and Rheingold links
Th 10/16 Class: Paper
1, draft 2 due; discuss readings; analyze personal web
sites; Paper 2, Preparation 1
Home: Writing Online, 9.3-9.5, 10.2-10.3, and 11.1-11.4;
class web site: Introduction to HTML; APS 120-133 (build your own web site, et
al); assemble materials for personal web site
Week 4
T
10/21 Class: Introduction to
HTML and web site design; begin web page
Home: Work on web page
Th 10/23 Class: Work
on web page
Home: Finish web page
Week 5
T
10/28 Class: Web page due; analyze personal web pages
Home: APS 30-31
(voice), 34-35 (style); 43-46 (noun/verb style)
Th 10/30 Class: Revising
techniques; voice and style
Home: APS, 32-33
(punctuation and style); bring 3 copies of Paper 2 to class T 11/4
Week 6
T 11/4 Class: Paper 2, draft
1 due; stylistic
revision: punctuation and style; edit groups
Home: APS 43-44
(imitation; parallel structure), Kolko, Angell/Heslop, Lewis, Weinberger,
Hiler; Writing Online,
Ch. 8; MOOniversity,
Ch. 1 and 3; Class web site: browse Connections link; bring MOO character
and password and MOO instructions (APS book) to class T 11/12
Th 11/6 Class: Revision; parallel structure; discuss
readings; introduction to MOO
Home: MOOniversity, Ch. 4 and Appendix B (MOO terms); Writing
Online; glossary; APS: Millard, Elmer-Dewitt,
Spooner/Yancy, Barry; explore Connections MOO; Paper 2, draft 2
Week 7
T 11/11 Veterans
Day holiday
Th 11/13 Class: Discuss
readings; explore Connections MOO
Home: APS: Rheingold
(“A Slice of My Life…”), Cherny, Dibbell, Lewis, Weinberger,
Hiler; explore Connections MOO
T 11/18 Class: Paper 2, draft
2 due; discuss
readings; work in MOO
Home: Work on MOO rooms
Th 11/20 Class: Work
in MOO
Home: Paper 3, draft 1;
bring 3 copies of Paper 3 to class, T 11/25
Week 9
T 11/25 Class: Paper 3, draft
1 due; revision; edit
groups
Home: APS 44
(cumulative sentence)
Th 11/27 Thanksgiving Day holiday
Week 10
T
12/2 Class: Stylistic
revision; cumulative sentence
Home: APS 45 (periodic
sentence)
Th 12/4 Class: Stylistic
revision; periodic sentence
Home: Paper 3, draft 2
Finals Week
M 12/8 Paper 3, draft 2 due in my mailbox,
271 Kinsey, noon