Tuesday
Hi all. Welcome to New Media. This post will help us walk through what I hope to accomplish in class today.
First, we will review the syllabus. HEY SANTOS: Remember to take attendance.
Second, we will set up accounts with SquareSpace. You can register for a 14 day free trial. For homework, you will need to activate the account ($10 per month, $8 per month if you pay for a year in advance). I want you to think of a name for your space, select a template, and craft an “about” page.
Third, we will talk about Twitter. We will set up Twitter accounts on Thursday.
Fourth, I will say a few things about the reading homework, Walter Ong’s essay “Writing is a Technology That Restructures Thought.”
Thursday
Today’s class will focus on Walter Ong’s essay, “Writing is a Technology That Restructures Thought.”
First, we’ll share some of the PowerPoints from the last class in an effort to start a conversation.
Second, I’ll talk about about how Gregory Ulmer’s concept of electracy corresponds to Ong’s project.
Third, we’ll set up Twitter accounts for class communication.
For homework, you are reading Gregory Ulmer’s Electronic Monuments, the preface, introduction, and first 33 pages. Remember that you are reading Ulmer as if it were a very long assignment sheet–your job is to tease out from this material a project to complete.
That said, realize that this will be difficult reading. Three pieces of advice when reading theory:
- First, set aside ample time. Think about how much time you would normally need to read about 60 pages of material. Now triple it.
- Second, just keep reading. Don’t stop and wonder about getting every detail–especially with an author like Ulmer who loves to invent new terms and likes to reference a wide variety of material. Rather, just try to plow through and get a sense of for what he is aiming.
- Third, write–don’t highlight. Highlighting is useless. Instead, use a pen to underline key lines or mark the margin. Then write a sentence at the top of every page that has an underline. This will go much farther than highlighting for helping you digest and recall what you have read.
Additionally, I use Evernote for all my reading notes–every time I read something, I start an Evernote file for it with key quotes and thoughts. Evernote is amazing because it is both 1) free, 2) multi-platform (computer / smartphone / tablet), 3) a bookmarking platform (meaning you can “save” webpages and “tag” them), and 4) social (so if you are working on a group project, you can create an Evernote notebook for everyone to share). All nerds should try it.
