Alan Liu, English 236 (Hyperliterature) Technology

Course E-Mail Alias
Transcriptions Computing Studio
UWeb
Technical Help

General philosophy regarding technology in this course: Because much of the information technology used in the Transcriptions project is new to the humanities (and 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 context of 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 the 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? "Reflecting" on technical problems is perhaps in the last analysis more a matter of attitude than of deliberate thought. 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).

Course E-Mail Alias

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. Since a graduate seminar is an intimate affair, collective e-mail can be handled through the simple means of an "alias" (as opposed to full-fledged "listserv" or "majordomo"). Once the instructor has your e-mail addresses, he will enter you in the alias so that correspondence to the alias will reach all class members (including the instructor). The alias address for this course is engl236@humanitas.ucsb.edu

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/

Graduate-Student Access to Transcriptions Computing Studio

Graduate students enrolled in Transcriptions courses have access to the project's computing studio during the duration of the course (English Dept. graduate students may later ask for continuing access if they have future projects that require high-end equipment and software or wish to become Associates of the Transcriptions project).

The studio is outfitted with a full complement of development tools for Web authoring, including:

HTML Editors The main Transcriptions production tool for designing and maintaining Web pages is Macromedia Dreamweaver. The program includes a site-manager with integrated FTP (for uploading files to a server)
Graphics Programs There are several copies of Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks on the studio machines. There is also a selection of such add-on "filters" (special-effects generators) for Photoshop and Fireworks, including Kai's Power Tools 5 and 6 and the Eyecandy suite. In addition, machine 6 has such standalone special-effects generators as the Anfy program.
Scanner There is a legal-size flatbed scanner (with optional slide-transparency capability) that can be used to scan images into Photoshop or text into the Omnipage Pro program for OCR conversion.
Office Suite and Printers. The studio machines also include the Microsoft Office suite and a combination of laser and color-inkjet printers. These products are intended to supplement Web work; they are not for heavy-duty word-processing and printing.
Hypertext Literature Library. The studio includes a nearly complete library of the hypertext literature works published by the Eastgate Systems company. These may be used by one student at a time by logging on as "transuser" on a studio machine (which will make available the pre-installed works). There will also be several installed copies of Riven (which is taught in the course). For an annotated guide of some of the works in the studio hypertext library, see the Hypertext Literature catalogue

Access to the computing studio entails taking responsibility for a key, and comes with the following restrictions:

Developers and Associates of the Transcriptions project have priority over students in courses when there are no free machines
Users who need to do graphical work with Photoshop or video work with Premiere have priority on machines #4 and #6 when there are no free machines.
Developers of the Digital Cultures MRG project have priority on their project's machine (the Windows 2000 machine nearest the seminar table on the wall away from the windows)

UWeb

One assignment in the course is to build a hypertext project. To do so, students will need a UWeb account on the university's student server where they will have space to publish their project on the Web. Please go to the UWeb site for instructions and help. UWeb also offers technical support limited to assistance with publishing your pages (they do not assist in HTML editing or page design).

For help with Web authoring, HTML, and page design, see the following resource guides developed by Transcriptions:

Web-Authoring Basics (basic outline of the process required to download, revise, and upload web pages associated with Transcriptions courses)
Resources for Web-Authoring (design and how-to advice for both beginning and advanced Web authors; includes links to HTML and design style guides, help with images, and examples of good and bad design)

Technical Help

Students will be introduced to the Transcriptions studio and its tools at technical workshop during this course (TBA). There will also be individual help available from Transcriptions research assistants. See also the Transcriptions online guides to Web authoring and the help pages at UWeb.