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The specific topic of this course may change from semester to semester. However, the general theme of WCP 142, Interdisciplinary Technology, is manifest in the following description approved by Miami's Liberal Education Committee as a foundation course in technology. This course develops conceptual tools for solving problems with technology and explores roles of technology in social contexts. Proficiency with evaluation of empirical data and application of scientific principles is emphasized by examining technologies that vary from household appliances and automobiles to computers and scientific apparatus, solar panels, electric motors and combustion engines. Technology is also considered as a cultural phenomenon and an agent of social change, and a product of human invention and creativity. Reasoning skills such as those required to diagnose mechanical failures on the basis of evidence, write and debug computer programs, or analyze empirical data with appropriate statistical techniques are practiced. These may include the logic of evidence and assertions and understanding how conclusions may be reasonably drawn from a body of evidence. Guidelines for making inferences are developed from conditional and syllogistic reasoning, probability theory and inferential diagnostic techniques.

The course includes exercises in quantitative intuition -- the subjective sense of ease in dealing with quantitative concepts. Pedagogy includes analyzing arguments about uses of technology, creating visual representations of technological concepts such as blueprints, flowcharts, and wiring diagrams, developing rudimentary inventions such as computer programs, and making public presentations and demonstrations based on collective technology projects, journals and term papers. Students interview engineers and technicians at electric and phone utilities, local radio stations, a sewage treatment plant, a power plant, and a computer center. Investigation of technological phenomena familiar in daily life is encouraged, and students are also asked to reflect on appropriate technologies for addressing global problems such as appropriate alternatives to dependency on fossil fuels. The course encourages ways of thinking that facilitate informed choices and appropriate actions. Visual Communication in a Digital World

COURSE SUMMARY:

This course is about how to communicate effectively in a world of rapidly changing information and communication technologies. A basic premise of this course is that, to a great extent, we are visual creatures living in a changing digital world. Thus communicating in this evolving technological environment requires an understanding of computer technologies and the social, psychological, and rhetorical dimensions of human interaction. Your task in this course is to integrate insights from the fields of media analysis, rhetoric, social theory, information architecture, psychology, and system usability and apply them to emerging new media technologies.

The format of this course combines lectures, media nights, seminar discussions, and laboratory experience. The course is composed of modules on Identity and the Internet, the Rhetoric of Digital Images, the Rhetoric of Digital Video, and the Usability of Web Pages. The first module on Identity and the Internet explores self-presentation on the Web and the ways in which the Internet is changing our concept of self. Here you will make a personal Web page, and consider the psychological impact of online interactions. The second module on digital images considers new "ways of seeing" and digital photography techniques. Digital video is the topic of the third module. Here the focus is on the analysis of "film" from a variety of perspectives, and techniques associated with making a persuasive digital video. The final module examines the ways we use Web pages as a means of exploring how to improve them. Here we will explore the relationship between how information is presented on the Web and how we actually use it.

Although developing specific technical skills is an important part of this course, it is equally important that you gain a fuller understanding of the rhetorical, social, and psychological ramifications of information technologies. Perhaps the most important goal of this course is that you arrive at informed and considered positions of your own. Course

Goals

By the end of this course you should:

•Be comfortable working in the Macintosh computing environment

• Be able to create your own World Wide Web page

• Have a better understanding of the impact of the Internet on social identity

• Be able to create and modify digital images

• Be able to create and edit a brief digital video

• Be able to analyze and criticize video using a variety of rhetorical approaches

• Know how to conduct a usability study

• Have a better understanding of how to use statistics to address research questions

• Have a better understanding of how the usability of technology impacts you

• Be able to use digital technologies to communicate effectively

• Have developed your own ideas about visual communication in a digital world

Divisional Commitments

The first year of Western's writing plan emphasizes developing proficiency in reading and writing and moving from narration and description toward analytic assignments. Although technically outside the scope of the Writing Plan, this course emphasizes rhetoric and the importance of written communication. The nine (9) writing assignments in this course systematically develop descriptive and analytic skills with a special emphasis on argumentation.

The usability assignment requires students to design and conduct an experiment on the ways people interact with a Web site. Two dimensions of Western's plan for Quantitative Reasoning are addressed with this assignment. Collecting and analyzing research data is necessary for Learning from Data, and Quantitative Expression is required to present the results in a laboratory report.

WCP 142 and the Miami Plan for Liberal Education

WCP 142 shares the goals and objectives of the Miami plan for liberal education, and satisfies Miami's technology requirement. The course promotes critical thinking by providing opportunities to critically apply theory in the process of evaluation, and to critique theory from the perspective of personal experience.

We will work at understanding contexts by explicitly examining the contextual web surrounding information technologies, and consider alternatives. Thus, in addition to creating and refining Web sites, students read about broader social and psychological issues associated with the Web.

Engaging with other learners is central to the success of this course. The course has a seminar format indicating the expectation that we will learn from each other. Sometimes we will work in groups and explicitly examine group process.

Reflecting and acting is encouraged, particularly through the first and last assignments. Students start by creating a personal home page as they reflect on larger issues. Then students gain skills and perspectives in the use of digital still and video images. Then they gain first hand experience working with issues of usability.

The final project for this course demands both reflecting and acting in revising those home pages using everything they learned in the course. This course introduces the methodology of technical professionals in the fields of usability analysis and Web design. These methods include applying theory in developing web sites, field testing it on real people, analyzing the data, and revising the product. The evaluation of empirical data, problem representation and solving, and the application of scientific principles are important components of this process. The relationship between technology and society is a key component of this course and the central focus of several readings.

Back it Up!

You are responsible for backing up all of your work. You may use networked hard drives, Zip drives, or CD-RWs for this important purpose.

Media Night

Monday nights are reserved as media nights for all Western first year students. This course makes use of four media nights on September 20, and October 11, October 18, and October 25 for screening films. Each film will be shown at 7:30 PM in Leonard Theater, Peabody Hall.

Academic Misconduct

Please the on-line Student Handbook at http://www.miami.muohio.edu/documents_and_policies/Handbook/academic_regulations/acadregspV.cfmhttp://www.miami.muohio.edu/documents_and_policies/Handbook/academic_regulations/acadregspV.cfm University policies on academic conduct apply to all aspects of this course.

Assignments

Grading for the course will be based on a 1,000 point scale, with letter grades assigned in the following fashion: 800 to 829 = B -, 830 to 869 =B, 870 to 899 = B+ etc. The number of points for each assignment is outlined below.

Assignments Points

Media Analysis and Argumentation (50 points x 4) 200

Home Page and Brief Essay 200

Digital Photography and Brief Essay 100

Digital Video and Brief Essay 200

Usability Proposal & Report 200

Revised Home Page and Brief Essay 100

Total 1000

Media Analysis and Argumentation: Write four brief argumentative essays associated with different approaches to analyzing film and video.

Home Page Identity Project: Create a personal Web page that tells the world who you are. Reflect on the process of creating a social identity.

Conduct a Usability Study: How does the way that information is presented on the Internet shape the way that people use that information? You will perform a study of how people actually use Web pages and develop recommendations on how to improve them.

Digital Photography: Create and modify still images to make a visual statement.

Digital Video: Create and edit a brief digital video. Your work will be shared with the rest of the class during our IT film festival on November 22.

Absence Policy

Because this is a seminar and laboratory experience, active participation in all aspects of this course is essential. Absences that have not been previously excused by the professor will result in a lower grade. Attendance is mandatory for course evaluations (completed during the last meeting of the semester) for all Western classes.

Course Schedule

(Note: All readings and assignments should be completed prior to the first class meeting of the week. Additional readings and exercises may be assigned.)

Key: Week Week of Mon. Special Events and Key Seminar Issues Laboratory Session Reading B=book R=reader (number of pages) Assignment Lecture

Module I Constructing Identities on the World Wide Web

1 8/23 Class Starts Tuesday 8/24 Introduction and rhetoric reading Overview; Universal Disk Space; WWW SetUp; Dreamweaver Tutorial (R) McPhail, (22) Home Page Given; (class starts Tuesday).

2 8/30 Identities on the WWW HTML Walk Through (R) Chandler (18) In Class Diagnostic Writing Assignment Mark & Chris Intro

3 9/6 No Mon, M/T Switch 9/2 The Self in (Post)modern Times Dreamweaver Walk Through Dreamweaver Home Page (R) Gergen Intro & CH 1 (14) Chris Modern Times Analogy

4 9/13 The Self on the Web in (Post)modern Times Dreamweaver Home Page (R) Gergen CH 3 (17) Chris Perception and Meta Perception on the Web

Module II The Rhetoric of Digital Images

5 9/20 Media Night Mon. 9/27 7:00 Leonard Theater Movie I with Semiotics Dreamweaver Home Page (B) Media Analysis Chapter 1 (pgs. 3-33) Media Analysis and Argumentation # 1 No Lecture Media Night: Media Analysis and Argumentation # 1 Semiotics

6 9/27 Ways of Seeing Digital Photography; Fun with Photoshop None (finish your home page and begin digital photography) Home Page Due; Digital Photography Given; Home Page Revision (Final) Given Mon. 9/27 Mark Ways of Seeing: The Rhetoric of Digital Images

7 10/4 Semiotics, Psychology, and the Funny Pages Digital Photography; Fun with Photoshop (R) Understanding Comics (36) Sean Duncan Guest Lecture the Psychology of Comics

Module III The Rhetoric of Digital Video

8 10/11 No Friday Class Media Night Mon. 10/11 7:30 Leonard Theater Movie II with Marxist Analysis Digital Video Final Cut Pro Tutorial (B) Media Analysis Chapter 2 pgs. 37-62) Digital Photography Due; Digital Video Given; Media Analysis and Argumentation # 2 No Lecture Media Night: Media Analysis and Argumentation # 2 Marxist Analysis

9 10/18 Media Night Mon. 10/18 7:30 Leonard Theater Movie III with Psychoanalytic Criticism Digital Video (B) Media Analysis Chapter 3 pgs. 65-91) Media Analysis and Argumentation # 3 No Lecture Media Night: Media Analysis and Argumentation # 3 Psycho-analytic Criticism

10 10/25 Media Night Mon. 10/25 7:30 Leonard Theater Movie IV with Sociological Analysis Digital Video (B) Media Analysis Chapter 4 pgs. 95-120) Media Analysis and Argumentation # 4 No Lecture Media Night: Media Analysis and Argumentation # 4 Socio-logical Analysis

Module IV Web Site Usability

11 11/1 Visual Approaches to Usability Digital Video (B) Information Architecture CH intro-5 (119 of 330 book pages total) Video Due Friday at 5:00 PM; Usability Given Chris QWERTY: Usability Issues

12 11/8 Usability Rules of Thumb and Organization Usability Proposal (B) Information Architecture CH 6-8 (126 of 330 book pages total) Proposal Due Friday at 5:00 PM Chris Methods of Usability Testing

13 11/15 Chris at SCiP, Psychonomics Wed 11/17- 11/21 Broader Usability Issues Collect Usability Data (R) Turn Signals (24) Bill Baker Guest Lecture Information and Knowledge

14 11/22 Thanksgiving Wed-Sun Navigation and the Interface none Nielsen & Tahir (32) IT Film Festival (Student Digital Videos)

15 11/29 Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Usability Collect Usability Data (B) Information Architecture CH 9-12 (85 of 330 book pages total); Smith & Newell (20) Bill Newell Interdisciplinary Studies (and Web Design)

16 12/6 Course Evaluation Collect Usability Data; Write Usability Report None Usability Assignment Due Friday at 5:00 PM Mark and Chris Wrap-up

Final Exam Week 12/13 Home Page Revision & Essay Due at the end of scheduled exam period Friday December 17, 9:45 AM.

Required Readings

Books

Berger, Arthur Asa (1998). Media Analysis Techniques (Second Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.

Wodtke, Christina (2003) Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

Wolfe, C. R. & McPhail, M. L. (Eds.) (2004). The Digital Digest. Oxford, Ohio: Oxford Copy Shop. (The course reader. Also read e-mail and selected readings from the Internet.)

The Digital Digest Table of Contents

1) McPhail, Mark (handout). Elements of Rhetoric.

2) Chandler, Daniel (1998): 'Personal Home Pages and the Construction of Identities on the Web' [WWW document http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/webident.html [May 7, 2003]

3) Gergen, Kenneth J. (2000). Introduction to the 2000 edition. In The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books.

4) Gergen, Kenneth J. (2000). Chapter One: The self under siege. In The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books.

5) Gergen, Kenneth J. (2000). Chapter Three: Social saturation and the populated self. In The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books.

6) McCloud, S. (1993). "The Vocabulary of Comics," and "Blood in the Gutter." In Understanding Comics. New York: Kitchen Sink Press.

7) Norman, D. (1992). Design follies. In Turn signals are the facial expressions of automobiles. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

8) Nielsen, J. and Tahir, M. (2002). Selections from Homepage usability: 50 websites deconstructed. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

9) Smith, J. & Newell, W. H. (in Preparation). An interdisciplinary approach to Web design.