Marc C. Santos

New Media

Why New Media for Technical Communicators? The question is so simple it might seem banal. Yet I will try, in answering it three ways, to complicate it. Each answer intonates a different stress and thus engenders different concerns.

First, there is the question why new media for technical communicators? This intonation might be the most rhetorical, since it speaks directly to the audience sitting in front of me-a group of potential technical communicators. I choose to hear it a bit differently, based on my perspective. Were it up to me, the course title wouldn't contain that final prepositional phrase "for technical communicators." What does this mean for you, my eager (or not) audience? You should understand that my primary investment in this course isn't in exploring what new media offers technical communication. This does not mean, however, that the course will not implicitly (and even explicitly) contribute to your development as technical communicators.

Second, let's hear the question as I write it here: "why new media [for technical communicators]?" (I bracket the final clause because I have already dismissed it, yet I feel obligated to trace it out). When do technologies start becoming new-and when might a new technology begin to appear old? What marks a media as new? Is it a matter of date/time? Or is it a more essential quality shared by our "new" technologies? It is to this last question that we will dedicate attention early in the course, first by examining some clearly "old" technologies and attending to the ruckus they once caused. Particularly writing, since, as the title of Walter Ong's seminal essay tells us, "Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought."

Third, let the question resonate as: "why [learn] new media? First, there is the utilitarian response-because we live in an increasingly complex network of textuality and technology, and our techo-textual ecology is not going to get any simpler in coming decades; industry, politics, media, and society will require expert writers proficient in navigating our contemporary infoscape. But there is another way of hearing the question: is the primary obligation of new media instruction to help students gain employment? Or do new media technologies open a space within which education should return to less "useful," liberal arts fundamentals? And, if we choose the latter, then how does new media propose to change some of those fundamentals? Can these new fundamentals engendered by the technological-human-cybernetic matrix of new media relate themselves to the aspirations, goals, curricula, of technical communicators? Is the useless exploration of self and world actually useful?

Teaching Philosophy

Good teachers don't tell students what to do. Good teachers open a space for students to invent things, and then get the hell out of their way.

You can read more about my teaching philosohpy here.

Contacts

• Email: insignificantwrangler at gmail dot com
• Office: Cooper 301c
• Office Hours: Tuesday and Friday 2:00-3:00

I am also available at other times-email if you want to make an appointment (or shoot me a question).

Required Materials

Course Texts

• Kalman, Maira. And the Pursuit of Happiness. [Link: NYT Times]
• Miller, Paul D. Rhythm Science
• Stolley, Karl. How to Write and Design Web Pages Today
• Ulmer, Gregory. Electronic Monuments
• Articles and online readings distributed electronically

Course Technologies

• (x)html
• css
• Notepad++, TextWrangler, or BBedit (thanks to Karl Stolley)
• Photoshop
• Dreamweaver

New Media delicious Links

Things You Probably Know

But That I Have to Write Anyway

Students with a disability and thus requiring accommodations are encouraged to consult with the instructor during the first week of class to discuss accommodations. See Student Responsibilities: http://www.sds.usf.edu/Students.htm. Each student making this request must bring a current Memorandum of Accommodations from the office of student Disabilities Services.

You are excused from class for major observances of your religion. Inform the instructor at the beginning of the term when you expect to be absent for these events.

Plagiarism: See http://www.usg.usf.edu/catalogs/0405/adap.htm for USF Undergraduate Catalog's definitions and policy, and consult with the instructor if you are uncertain.

Attendance is mandatory. I will excuse three absences this semester. Any absences above three will result in a 10-point penalty per absence. If you have a family or medical emergency that will require you to miss class, then you need to contact me as early as possible.

Class starts at 11:00. I will close the door at 11:00. The door locks. This is a computer lab. There is a computer in front of you. There is also a professor in front of the class. Know when to pay attention to the computer and when to pay attention to the professor.

While not an art course, this is a course that deals with aesthetics. This course will involve public instructor and peer criticism. Please be respectful, but also please tell us what you think. People require feedback to grow-while I don't want anyone to be mean, I also don't want anyone to be silent out of fear of hurting someone's feelings.

This is a course on writing; writing is a technology. We will be working with a few web-based technologies this semester. That said, I don't expect anyone in this classroom to be familiar with the technologies we'll be using in class. I do expect, however, that students will not fall back into "technophobia." I will expect a willingness to engage contemporary technologies.

Projects

Project One: Ong Remediation

Our first theoretical reading this semester will be Walter Ong's essay "Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought." After all, how can we examine new media if we don't establish some foothold on old media? Your task will be to remediate Ong's essay into an (x)html format. This two week assignment aims at familiarizing you with basic conventions of standard-compliant (x)html and css.

Project Two: Electronic Monument

Working from Ulmer's text, you will construct an Electronic Monument (in complaint xhtml and css) to help mourn a tragedy of your choice. Your selection should speak to two central rhetorical concerns: kairos and audience. This project seeks to combine electronic research methods with the kind of digital poetics elaborated by Ulmer.

Project Three: New Media Wiki

Project three asks you to participate in a multi-semester project. I will ask all of you to post between 3 and 5 annotations to a wiki dedicated to New Media scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition (http://newmedia-research.wikispaces.com/). Future classes will revise the annotations you post. It is my hope that the research you contribute to the wiki project can fuel your final project.

Project Four: Portfolio

One of three final assignments, I will ask you to construct a standards-compliant (x)html portfolio that exhibits the work you have created this semester (all other major assignments along with a few in-class exercises), along with any other works from past and current classes that you want to include. This final project will be submitted on the last day of the semester on a CD-Rom.

Project Five: Resiliant Tampa Bay

In the spirit of Bravo's Project Runway, Assignment Five asks you to, in teams of four, construct a website for a deserving non-profit organization from our local community. Every group will design a site for the same client--the client will pick the "winning" design.

For spring 2011, our client will be the Resiliant Tampa Bay coalition. Resiliant Tampa Bay is a collection of academics, professionals, and community stateholders interested in increasing regonial sustainable practices. We will collect materials from their upcoming conference (Tuesday February 22nd), code those materials in W3C compliant (x)html, and design accessible css for the site. The client's specific desire is to transform their single page (advertising the upcoming conference) into a more dynamic web presence.

Project Six: Final Project

The final project asks you to remediate research already conducted (or a new project) using Maria Kalman's And the Pursuit of Happiness (or another digital exhibition) as a relay. The final project should be at least 10 xhtml pages that strike a balance between the prosaic and the poetic.

Evaluation

Instructor evaluation is based on non-quantifiable factors, such as initiative, attitude, class participation, office hours visits, and accountability.

Calendar