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Courses in the Transcriptions project are designed not just to
teach students majoring in the humanities skills in information
technology but to integrate those skills with the themes of the
curriculum (see Project Rationale).
Students without their own computers and Internet access can make
use of university resources (see below).
English 165CI uses the following information technologies:
You will be able to do all the course assignments if you are
familiar with e-mail and can cut-and-paste text into forms on
a Web page. Additionally, there are opportunities for those interested
in Web-authoring, graphic design, or other more advanced technical
work to try their hand.
General philosophy regarding technology in this course:
Because much of the information technology used in the Transcriptions
project is new to the humanities (much of it is being personally
configured, coded, or designed by Transcriptions instructors and
research assistants), there are sure to be glitches, gotchas,
and bugs. This is not a problem but an opportunity. Transcriptions
-- and this course on "The Culture of Information" in
particular -- encourages a philosophical approach to the experience
of information technology. Problems should be reflected upon in
the process of evaluating the overall life of contemporary information.
(For instance, if you are having trouble accessing a site or are
experiencing delays, how might those practical problems be related
to larger issues of access or time in contemporary culture? Why
is a delay of a minute now so frustrating compared to the delays
of days, weeks, or months that societies in the past accepted
as part of the normal rhythm of human communication?) In his Zen
Computer, Philip Toshio Sudo suggests that as you sit down
to boot up your computer you should first acknowledge it
and what it means: "Before you start and after you finish
working, make this one simple gesture toward your computer: Give
it a nod" (fuller
quote).
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Course E-Mail List
(with Threaded Web Archive)
Most basically, the course will use e-mail to allow students
and the instructor to engage with each other outside class.
E-mail can be both individual and collective. To share in
the class's collective e-mail discussion (required), please
subscribe as soon as possible to the course mail list in
one of these two ways. You are asked to choose a password
that will allow you to view the archives of the list and
also to make future changes in your subscription options.:
- Visit the following Web page and use the subscription
form to enter your e-mail address and a password you pick:
http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/english165ci
After you submit the form, you will receive an e-mail
requesting that you "reply" (without doing anything
else) to confirm that it is indeed you who initiated the
subscription request. When your subscription has been
confirmed, you will receive by e-mail a welcome message
with information about using the list.
- Alternatively, send an e-mail message to english165ci-request@humanitas.ucsb.edu
and include in the body of the message the word "subscribe
password" (where you enter a password of your choice;
do not use the word "password" itself) Do not
include anything else in the body of your message (delete
your e-mail signature text, for example, if you have any).
Once you are subscribed, then you can post messages to
the class as a whole (including the instructor) at the following
address: english165ci@humanitas.ucsb.edu
All messages are archived on a Web page at http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/mailman/private.cgi/english165ci
The page is private to the members of the list.
For help with e-mail in general or to set up a university
e-mail account, contact U-Mail at Instructional Computing
in Phelps Hall or see the U-Mail web page at http://www.umail.ucsb.edu/
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Exchange Server Messaging
Environment (with Web Interface)
The course will have access to the
English Department's NT server computer. Among other functions,
the server runs the Microsoft Exchange program--a "messaging"
environment that allows course participants to read and
post messages to discussion forums called "public folders."
Such forums have the following advantages over normal e-mail
discussion lists or aliases:
- Access can be controlled. Permission to read
and/or post in an Exchange public folder can be granted
variously to an individual course, group of courses, or
the world.
- Discussion is cumulative and organized ('threaded").
In ordinary e-mail discussions, participants must catch
the "wave" of current discussion if they wish to respond
to a topic. Such waves move quickly and thereafter disappear--leaving
behind those who do not have the time or computing resources
to participate daily (or sometimes even hourly). By contrast,
Exchange Server public folders accumulate a standing record
of all posted messages organized by topic or "thread."
Any message or thread can be responded to at any time.
- Messages can contain many kinds of files--including
not just straight text but also word-processor files,
spreadsheets, Web pages, and images. This allows students
to collaborate on research tasks, post drafts of project
material for critique, share notes, etc. Once a student
is given an account and password, all of the above features
of the Exchange Server messaging environment are available
through a standard Web browser interface, allowing the
student to participate from any location and with any
computer/operating system (PC or Mac).
Click
here for a step-by-step guide to using Exchange in this
course.
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Filemaker Pro Database
(with Web Interface)
The English Dept. NT server also runs a database program
called Filemaker Pro that allows students with passwords
to add and edit records through a Web browser from any location.
The Transcriptions project has created two related databases
for the use of courses and the project as a whole. One holds
chronologies of events, and the the other holds links to
online resources. Students build projects by adding material
to the databases over the Web; and the results are displayed
in searchable form over the Web to all users. (See Assignments;
for an example of a Transcriptions timeline and links resource
built by a course in Spring 1999 using the Filemaker system,
see Postmodernism
Timeline.)
Click
here for a step-by-step guide to adding/editing content
in the Timeline or Linkbase Databases
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Adobe Acrobat Reader
(or Plug-In for Web Browser)
The instructor will mark and return
the short paper
for the course in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file format for those
students who have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program
or Web plug-in on their computers. This program is very
common on computers, since it often comes installed on new
machines or bundled with other software. The advantage of
this system is that it allows the instructor to be more
fluent and articulate in annotating papers (using the authoring
version of the program, the intructor can insert notes,
highlight text, strikeout text, etc.)
If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader and would like
to be included in this experiment in paperless grading,
you can download the product for free from the Adobe Acrobat
site.
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Students without their own computer
and Internet access, or those desiring faster or supplementary computing
resources, may use the PC or Mac labs at Instructional Computing
(Phelps Hall 1521). Members of English 165CI can pick up priority-access
stickers from 9 am to 4 pm on Oct. 7-8 in the Phelps Courtyard.
These stickers permit use of the labs during hours not reserved
by other courses for in-lab lectures. For lab schedules, see http://www.ic.ucsb.edu
or call 893-8414. Instructional Computing also offers orientation
workshops during the first week of the quarter and software workshops
throughout the quarter. For information about the software (including
Web editors) available at the labs, see http://shg.ic.ucsb.edu/ |
