English 4885: Digital Writing (WI) focuses on the theory, analysis, and production of digital texts. This means that students in English 4885 can expect to read extensively about how writing in digital spaces happens and what changes in digital composition may mean (theory); to examine specific examples of digital texts in action (analysis); and to construct digital texts with specific audiences and purposes in mind (production). This class also provides opportunities for exploring, testing tools and ideas, and thinking creatively.
| TED Talks
If you're not familiar with TED, check it out. These talks are relevant to the course topics. Clay Shirky: How social media can make history Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users (creator of Twitter) Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia Charles Leadbeater: The era of open innovation Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the Internet Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender Paul Conneally: Digital humanitarianism Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media (Reddit creator) Ze Frank's web playroom Luis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration Chris Anderson: How web video powers global innovation Lucien Engelen: Crowdsource your health Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government Jon Nguyen: Tour the solar system from home Kirby Ferguson: Embrace the remix |
Course Objectives
Students will build on knowledge gained from previous writing classes and experiences to develop projects related to the course theme/content and participate in activities aimed at developing skills that complement writing in digital spaces. Writers who exit English 4885 with a grade of C or better will be able to:
- Plan and develop ambitious, mature, insightful projects about and using digital writing spaces that move beyond “school writing”;
- Locate, evaluate, and synthesize print and electronic sources that contribute significantly to those projects and that demonstrate the writer’s ability to use research in different ways and for different purposes;
- Convey the results of writing and research to a particular audience that will learn from and potentially act on those findings;
- Use experiences as writers and readers to assist class members with improving their projects by consistently offering high quality responses to those projects and participating in class discussions of those projects;
- Explore and critique written and visual texts (both academic arguments/articles and popular-press writings) in advanced ways, seeing through the “obvious” to understand both the primary issues the writers/designers address and the tertiary/tangential arguments that develop beyond the writer’s immediate purposes.
- Integrate text, images, sounds, and video effectively for various audiences and purposes.
- Explain the origins, purposes, and possibilities of various types of digital writing spaces to others
Contact Information
Donna Kain |
Office Hours: Mon: Wed: And by appointment |