Important Dates

• October 16: Fall Break (no class meeting)
• October 21: Project 3 Peer Review
• October 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM

Moving from How to Why

We have done several activities where you determined how a text works (using the Writer/Designer Analysis Questions). Today we will practice identifying why it works the way it does.

Why is a harder question to answer, because it depends upon the complex interplay of all the ways the text works. You can guess certain things easily about the choices someone has made, but some details will be more nuanced.

Remember too that the text may fail. They author or publisher may have made certain choices to reach a particular audience. You may be able to determine why they made the choices, but it’s legitimate to note when those choices do not achieve the intended goal.

Board Book Example

We’ll take a look at Web Design for Babies (Codebabies Books, 2012), and talk about why it was made the way it has been and whether it’s successful.

Group Analysis Activity

We’ll arrange into groups of two or three. Each group will take a different text from the list and analyze it. You will report back to the whole class. Be ready to tell us why the text has been made the way it has been.

1. Halloween entry in Wikipedia
2. History of Halloween (History.com)
3. The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows
4. Where Does Halloween Come From?
5. History of Halloween (5-Minute English)
6. What the hell is Halloween? (Over 9 mins—don’t watch all of it!)
7. Halloween
8. Halloween Report
9. Where Did Halloween Come From?
10. Halloween History
11. Halloween Traditions
12. 13 Strange Facts On Why We Celebrate Halloween

Warning: I did not review every detail on every site. If you run into something problematic (like cultural misappropriation costumes), you can either just skip that detail OR you can make it part of your analysis by thinking about why it’s there and what it communicates.

Reward

If we have time, you will see something you may not do for Project 3 & 4.

Homework

For Friday’s session (10/9), do the following before class:

• Read Chapter 4 of Writer/Designer. We’ll talk about sources and assets in class.
• Be ready to tell me the story you have chosen in the in-class writing. You need the story only, not the way you plan to remix it.
• If you are considering a project that you need feedback on, ask me on Wednesday (or email me before then).

For Monday’s session (10/12), do the following before class:

• Read pp. 40–45 of Writer/Designer (in Chapter 3). We’ll review the techniques for analyzing the what, how, and why of your texts.
• You will have time to work on you projects in class on Monday. Bring whatever you need with you to work (e.g., the source you are analyzing)

For Wednesday’s session (10/12), do the following before class:

• I’ll address any questions that come up as you worked on Monday.
• You will have time to work on you projects in class on Wednesday. Bring whatever you need with you to work (e.g., the source you are analyzing)

For Friday, have a nice day off. Enjoy your break weekend.

Important Dates

• October 16: Fall Break (no class meeting)
• October 21: Project 3 Peer Review
• October 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM

Analysis Feedback

I’m still working through your quizzes from Friday. You will use the same form as you work on Project 3, so I need to look through them carefully.

Project Assignments

Today we will go over:

• Project 3 Overview
  Your analysis of a source for Project 3, which you will work on from now until October 26.
• Project 4 Overview
  Your remix project, which you will work on from October 28 until the end of the term.
  • Examples from the first day of class
  • Remix Possibilities
  • Pinterest Ideas

Homework

For Wednesday’s session (10/7), do the following before class:

• Review all the options for Project 3 and 4, and begin thinking about the story that you want to explore for these assignments. I will ask you to tell me the story you have chosen on Friday.
• Be ready to analyze some example story sources in class.
• If you are considering a project that you need feedback on, ask me on Wednesday (or email me before then).

Important Dates

• Oct 21: Project 3 Peer Review
• Oct 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM
• Nov 2: End of grace period for Project 3. No work is accepted after 11:59 PM.

Goals

write and design web content, use digital images (and if appropriate, video and audio), and recognize basic HTML and CSS syntax.

explore how linguistic text (words), images, and layout combine to communicate with an audience.

begin researching the topic that you will explore in your story remix (project 4).

The Project Assignment

You will choose a story that you want to remix for Project 4 and, then, choose one source of that story that you will analyze in a multi-page web essay. Your analysis should go beyond merely describing what happens in the story to investigating how the author controls or influences the reader’s interaction with the story through the ways that the story is created, published, and distributed. Your web essay should include a rhetorical analysis and discussion of design choices as well as of the affordances and constraints of the methods of creation, publication, and distribution.

Step-by-Step Details

Step 1: Choose a focus story for Projects 3 and 4.
Choose a story (fiction or nonfiction) that you like or are interested in exploring. Do choose a story that is classroom-friendly. Nothing X-rated or otherwise inappropriate please.

Be sure you focus your story specifically. Let’s say you were going to try working on a historical event. The U.S. Civil War is too broad for this project. You would need to focus that topic to a particular skirmish, a specific decision that a soldier or military leader made, or a particular document (like a speech, a proclamation, or even a photo). Lincoln would be too broad. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” could work. Focusing on the story behind one or more of these Gettysburg Photos or a draft of the Address would be great.

Step 2: Set your goals for the project.
You have the opportunity to aim for the grade you want to earn for the projects in this class. The options below outline what you need to do for the grade you want to receive. No one aims for a D or an F, so I have not included any details for below-average work. If you really want a D, just put in minimal effort and do sloppy work.

Complete the B-level project and then use unique strategies and details that increase the effectiveness and impact of the analysis, such as including well-integrated graphics and examples that support your analysis, and exemplary design choices that strengthen the web essay. Your site should have no errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, or formatting.

Complete the C-level project and then use design elements to make your web essay visually appealing, easy to read, and easy to navigate. Your site should have no more than two or three minor errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, and/or formatting.

Create a multi-page web essay on your portfolio site that investigates how the story source works and why it works the way it does. Include reflection comments when you submit your project. Your essay should be complete, well-written, and include no more than five errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, and/or formatting.

 
Step 3: Conduct your analysis
Once you have chosen your story and source, you will analyze how that source works by examining the modes of communication it uses, analyzing its rhetorical situation, and identifying the design choices it exhibits. Additionally, discuss the affordances and constraints of how the source works to explain why it works the way it does.

Your analysis should not merely describe how the story source works; it should investigate why it works the way it does. Think about how the particular version of the story that you are exploring controls or influences your interaction with it. You can use the Writer/Designer Analysis Questions form to gather the information for your story source.

Step 4: Write your web essay
Your web essay should consider all the following areas of analysis:

• Rhetorical situation: Audience, Purpose, Context, Author, and Genre.
• Design choices: Emphasis, Contrast, Organization, Alignment, and Proximity.
• Modes of communication: Linguistic, Visual, Spatial, Aural, and Gestural.
• Affordances and constraints

Keep these guidelines in mind as you compose:

• Analyze and evaluate the story source. Go beyond simply describing or summarizing it. You’re the analyst, not the play-by-play announcer.
• Use first-person (“I”) if it’s appropriate for your tone and approach, but make sure you support your ideas. This is not a personal opinion piece.
• Publish your multi-page web essay on your WordPress site. You can decide where it fits best on the site.
• Integrate graphics that enhance or reinforce your analysis. You may also include video recordings.
• Make clear connections between embedded images (and any videos or other media) and the linguistic text of the web essay.

Step 5: Submit your project.
When you are finished with the project, you will submit the URL to the first page of your web essay in the Assignment tool on Canvas. Details on how to submit your work will be included in the post for the due date (October 26).

You will use the Comment section for reflection on your project. In this section you will tell me the following:

• your intended audience and purpose.
• the grade that you have aimed for.
• how well you reached your goals.
• any other information I need to know to understand the work you did on your project.

Be sure that you follow the instructions, include the relevant information, and proofread your web essay. If you skip adding the Comment, you lower your grade on the project. Remember that there are no rewrites or revisions after work is graded.