Syllabus

Schedule

The agenda for each meeting is available from the menu to the right. In order to see the readings and the class plan for each meeting, you must be logged in. The schedule may change as the semester progresses. Please check back frequently.

Coursework

Students will be expected to keep up with the readings and have them completed in advance of the meeting for which they are assigned. In addition, students will complete a number of blogging and text encoding assignments, as well as a final group project. Grading will be based on the plus or minus system. The basic grade breakdown is as follows:

Blog Assignments: 45%
Text Encoding Exercises: 25%
Final Project: 30%

Blog Assignments

Throughout the semester we will operate a group blog called the Forum. You are welcome to post your thoughts to this blog at any time, but there will also be a number of required blog assignments, generally responses to the readings. These will be worth 25% of your blog assignment grade. The remaining 20% will be based on your participation in commenting on the other blog posts. For both blog posts and comments, I reserve a portion of your grade for quality of thought, mechanics (proper spelling and grammar), and internet civility and etiquette. The last criterion is important, especially since the Digital Humanities as a field emphasises collegiality. Any posts I deem inappropriate or hostile to the learning community of the class will be deleted (and therefore receive a failing grade). There will be further criteria for grading blog assignments. Because the Digital Humanities community emphasises collaboration, we will “group think” other criteria about halfway through the semester. Further posts will be graded according to those criteria.

Text Encoding Exercises

In this class you will learn how to produce digital texts by writing their code in a number of markup languages: (X)HTML, CSS, and XML. As you learn these languages, you will demonstrate your knowledge by completing a number of exercises in creating web pages and digitally-edited texts. There will be about five of these exercises.

Final Project

The final project will be a group project. Half of your grade for the final project will be a group grade, and the other half will be based on your individual effort. The exact form of the final project will depend on time as we near the end of the semester, the tools we have available, and the direction your interests have gone in as the class develops. A number of classes will be devoted to planning and brainstorming your final projects. The University-scheduled final exam for this class is December 14, 2011 from 5:30 pm -7:30 pm. Since there is no final exam in this class, your final projects will be due on that date.

Class Policies

Grading

To receive a grade other than a WU, you must have completed more than half the coursework (no exceptions).

Although I may award extra credit for some non-required activities (such as attendance at guest lectures), I regret that I am unable to grade assignments beyond those required for class in order to award extra credit.

Participation

Enrolling in this class requires a commitment to participate in a community of learners in which you agree to contribute to and not to detract from the learning environment. In order to receive full credit for participation, you must do the readings in advance, bring assigned textbooks to each class, be prepared to discuss the materials, and complete all assignments. You must also arrive to class on time and remain in the classroom for the duration of the class period. For disruptive behaviour, I reserve the right to increase the proportion of your final grade allotted to participation, as I feel appropriate. There is no automatic credit for attendance, and frequent absences will be noted and may be reflected in your final grade.

Inappropriate Use of Technology in Class

The two policies below are designed to encourage responsibility and philanthropy, two important emphases in the Digital Humanities.

Cell Phones

Ringing and/or vibrating cell phones in class disrupt my concentration and that of your fellow students, inevitably lowering the quality of the learning environment. If your cell phone goes off in class, I reserve the right to impose penalties to your grade, as I deem appropriate. However, I have never found this policy effective in preventing cell phones form going off in class, I would like for some good to come from these disruptions when they happen. I therefore ask that you take responsibility for the disruption of your cell phone by helping to enhance the learning experience of future students in the Digital Humanities. If your cell phone goes off in class, I request that you make a voluntary donation of the amount of your choosing to the Jane Minogue Fund for the Digital Humanities in the English Department. Just click Support the CDH. Of course, if you are impressed by what we are trying to do in this class, and you would like to see the Digital Humanities grow at CSUN, you are welcome to donate at any time.

E-Mail, Facebook, and Web Surfing

Since the class meets in a lab it will be very tempting to check your e-mail, read Facebook, or generally surf the web for purposes unrelated to classroom discussion. Resist. If I catch you engaged in these activities, I reserve the right to impose penalties to your grade, as I deem appropriate. If you give in to temptation, I request that you take responsibility for your mental departure from class discussion by helping to enhance the learning experience of future students in the Digital Humanities through avoluntary donation to the Jane Minogue Fund as described under my policy on cell phones.

Academic Honesty

It is extremely important that all aspects of your work are come by honourably. Efforts to gain an advantage not given to all students are dishonest and regarded as an extremely serious matter by the academic community. Consequences range from probation to expulsion. University policy stipulates that plagiarism, the submission of another person’s work as your own, is a violation of academic honesty, even if it arises out of ignorance or oversight, rather than deliberate cheating. Enrolling in this class means that you agree to abide by my decision regarding the appropriate action to take in cases of academic dishonesty. If you have any questions about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, or collaboration, please consult me.

Add/Drop Policy

Students should make sure that they follow the university’s add/drop deadlines, outlined in the Schedule of Classes. According to university policy, drops are only allowed after the set date when “a) there is a serious and compelling reason–specifically the student’s emotional or physical health or financial condition is clearly in jeopardy, and b) there is no viable alternative–including repeating the class”. Students will need to provide documentation on official letterhead–a letter, on official stationery, from a doctor or an employer–to support their reasons. No adds will be allowed unless a student can provide documented proof–e.g., a clerical error–for the reason for the tardiness. Please make sure to meet the deadline!