Texts and Technology in History
ENC 6801-W61
Instructor: Dr. Saper, Professor of English
Fall 2008 (one semester course)
3 Credit Hours
Prereq.: enrolled students in T&T doctoral program (or permission of instructor)
Mediated Portions Online at both webcourses.ucf.edu and
http://historyoftextandtech.blogspot.com/
Office hours: online or by appointment
Professor Saper's direct email: csaper@mail.ucf.edu
Additional Office Hours: Additional office hours by appointment (I will do everything in my power to meet with you and also start conversations on email 24/7).
Please read the Protocols and Schedule sections of this syllabus too. This is a requirement of the course, and obviously the information in the Protocols and Schedule are essential to follow in order to get a passing grade. You should consider all the information in the protocols and schedule as part of the requirements for this course. Among the many protocols you must obey, please note the strict policy on plagiarism. If you plagiarize, then you will fail the assignment, the course, and have your name turned-in to the UCF Conduct Board for potential suspension from the University. The protocols also contain information about disabilities (if you need special accommodations, then you need to officially inform the Professor (or have an official inform).
Please read each module carefully. All the assignments are described, the criteria listed, and the grading rubric included. There are very specific quantifiable and qualitative requirements for each assignment. The modules are also part of the official syllabus for this course, and you must follow all of the grading requirements to receive a passing grade.
Course Overview, Description, and Objectives:
The course will mix historical discussions about texts and technology in history with practical considerations on the future of texts (using e-media technologies). We will read works by N. Katherine Hayles, Johanna Drucker, and Walter Ong as well as an anthology edited by Rothenberg and Clay.
Required Texts (available at the Campus Bookstore or elsewhere):
Johanna Drucker Graphic Design: A Critical History
Walter Ong Orality and Literacy
Rothenberg and Clay A Book About The Book
Hayles, N. Katherine Electronic Literature
Grades:
5% for the first assignment [Ong]
25% for the second major assignment [Drucker]
40% for the third major assignment [Hayles]
25% for the fourth major assignment [Rothenberg & Clay]
5% HELPING others in the class (you need to have one other student indicate that you discussed and helped with an assignment in some way). Obviously, each student will help with difficult issues or skills -- you simply have to have someone indicate that you did in fact help on each assignment. Don't forget -- you won't get credit unless the student you helped indicates that you did help somewhere on the assignment.
No Late Projects Accepted. No Exception.
No make-up assignments.
If you miss the deadline because of a personal, medical, or professional excuse, then you will not receive credit for the assignment, but can receive a medical Incomplete in the course. Medical Incompletes only with documented evidence.
Online Materials
Access to webcourse.ucf.edu and our blog required. You must have access to the internet, a computer that can read a CD-ROM, and some technical skills.
Attendance: Students must read/listen to the online lectures, readings, modules/assignments, and all other information, in any form.
Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction to Course Content and Assignments. Read Walter Ong on Orality and Literacy. Read module 1 and start the assignment.
Week 2: (Assignment 1 due) – please refer to the module on Ong. Share your charts, time-lines, and materials to express Ong’s argument in the electronic mode.
Week 3: Start Reading Drucker [look over Module 2]
Week 4: Continue to read Drucker and start the second assignment.
Week 5: Continue to read Drucker and start completing draft of assignment 2. Get help and comments from at least one other student.
Week 6: Assignment 2 due. Share with class. Share feedback.
Week 7: Start reading Hayles and start reading the hypertext works she examines. Read the module 3 for guidance on what pages to read each week.
Week 8: Continue to read Hayles and start assignment three.
Week 9: Continue to read Hayles and the texts she references
Week 10: Finish Hayles and the texts she references. Assignment three DUE.
Week 11: Start reading Rothenberg and Clay. Read the module for assignment four.
Week 12: Read the selections from the anthology.
Week 13: Thanksgiving Break
Week 14: Complete the readings.
Week 15: Assignment four Due.
Final Exam Week: We’ll meet online for a virtual party – perhaps in Second Life – where I have a nice old house [more of a shack].
Protocols
Classroom Expectations
Please review these expectations carefully.
You are a doctoral student. This course expects the highest level of professionalism from all the students. The minimum standards below explain the boundaries of those expectations.
Academic integrity will be appraised according to the student academic behavior standards outlined in The Golden Rule of the University of Central Florida's Student Handbook. See http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu for further details. Plagiarism not tolerated even if inadvertent.
No late papers accepted. No exceptions.
Please keep up with the reading. The other students depend on everyone participating. I like to give quizzes because it rewards what we expect each other to do.
Please do not miss a quiz. Missed quizzes may not be retaken. This is how I will take attendance; so missing three quizzes will result in a failing grade.
Work with others. You are required to make every effort to work effectively and promptly with others. Fair criticism of your failure to work effectively with others will significantly affect your grade.
Respect, compassion, and humor necessary even as you learn to intelligently criticize others’ arguments (arguments made by your peers, in the readings, or by the Professor).
You cannot make inappropriate attacks or plead helplessness. You must think through the arguments, ideas, and comments (no matter how obscure, difficult, or surprising).
E-mail and Online
E-mail and Online Access will be an integral part of this course.
Keep in mind these protocols about email:
Check your e-mail at least twice per week (more often is better).
Include "Subject" headings: use something that is descriptive and refer to a particular assignment or topic. For example, a good subject heading might look like this: Grad Seminar map assign.
Begin your letters with a greeting like Dear Professor or Dear T&T students. Courteous and considerate emails appreciated.
Make every effort to be clear. Online communication lacks the nonverbal cues that fill in much of the meaning in face-to-face communication.
Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation (you may want to compose in a word processor, then cut and paste the message into the discussion or e-mail).
Break up large blocks of text into paragraphs and use a space between paragraphs.
Sign your e-mail messages with your name.
Note: Review the Netiquette and Viruses section below
Netiquette
"Netiquette" has evolved to aid us in infusing our electronic communications with some of these missing behavioral pieces.
The important thing to remember is that all of the "cute" symbols in the world cannot replace your careful choice of words and "tone" in your communication.
Irony, satire, and parody appreciated as long as the Professor or students in this class are not the targets.
Excuses (all these have happened to me)
Back up your files: "My hard drive crashed." "My modem doesn't work." "My printer is out of ink." These are today's equivalents of "My dog ate my homework." And these events really do occur and they are really inconvenient when they do. However, these are not valid excuses for failing to get your work in on time. I can tell you horror stories – I often forget to back-up; so, I’ve had to rewrite.
Technical Resources
For specific problems in any of the areas below or for further information go to the corresponding link for assistance.
UCF Home Page will help find UCF resources - http://www.ucf.edu
Pegasus - http://helpdesk.ucf.edu/ - You can also call the helpdesk at 407-823-5117.
Learning Online - http://reach.ucf.edu/~coursdev/learning This URL also includes access to information on study skills for distance learners, the library and the writing center.
Buying a new computer or upgrading your current equipment - http://www.cstoreucf.edu/
Virus information - http://learn.ucf.edu/virus.html
If your equipment problems prevent you from using e-mail from home, there are many computer labs on campus and virtually every public library offers Internet access.
How Scholars Talk
There are many styles, genres, or formats for conversations. One peculiar form, intellectual conversation among professionals, has specific constraints. A conversation with the UPS delivery person has constraints too. Knowing the constraints can not only get your message (or package) to the intended audience, but also save you from embarrassment. If you asked the UPS delivery person a question like, how do you think electronic communication has changed the role of the humanities in Universities? She may answer, but she may likely avoid your door, and you may not get packages intended for you.
Class conversations may mix language borrowed from other forms, but constraints make this type of conversation distinct: on topic, aware of the frame of the arguments (including your’s), informed and allusive to work in the field (especially the readings), and to see yourself in constant conversation with a field not just your immediate peers.
Eventually, even your casual chats and gossip will have the defamilarizing inflection of scholarly conversations.
Ask the inappropriate question as long as you can show how it leads to a novel approach.
After reading a version of the Three Pigs and the Wolf, one student asked, Why three? Inappropriate, but brilliant.
Another example, I once taught a group of 4th and 5th graders about the Death of Socrates (who he was, what he did, who his students were, and why he was sentenced to death). After my introduction, one student asked What Did Plato’s Parents Think? Brilliant, I exclaimed, and then said, I’m going to go home and write a play about that right now, and the student pretended to get up, and said, Oh no, not before me, I’m going to go home and write that play!
