Final Web Project Guidelines
There are only two basic restrictions on the final web project. First,
it must deal substantively with issues of “diversity” and computer
culture. For course purposes, we will define diversity through the terms used
by WSU’s own mission statement: “race/ethnicity, color, creed,
religion, national origin, gender, sex orientation, age, mental, or physical
disability.”
Second, it should
demonstrate approximately the same amount of time, effort and intellectual
content that would go into an 8-10 page term paper. As in any class, it is
assumed that your work will show evidence of having learned from course readings
and discussions. Your goal should be to demonstrate your ability to synthesize
and apply ideas from the course readings, discussions, lectures and your own
experiences.
How you fulfill
these two required elements is restricted only by your imagination, but here
are some genres of project you might wish to use as guidelines.
A Hypertext
Term Paper: Essentially, this is the classic term paper offered in the
hypertext environment of the web. The main differences from the standard term
paper are the opportunities to use multimedia (rather than just words), and
the use of hypertext links to document, expand, or illustrate your points.
For example, if you were writing on the digital divide, you might link to
online articles, to online data, and to resource sites studying or directly
working on digital divide issues. Topic choice is open to anything in the
realm of digital diversity, things like: “Is the Digital Divide Widening
or Closing?” “Ethnic Online Portals: Diversity of Monopoly?”
“Surveying Community Technology Centers: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”;
“Race and ‘Default Norms’ in the Construction of Personal
Homepages,” and so on.
Web Site Analysis:
This would follow the general format used in your shorter paper, choosing
a (different) web site and analyzing it in terms of the relative presence
or absence of digital diversity in its design and content. Again, going beyond
the written word, you would want to include some illustrative multimedia material
(such as images taken from the web site you are analyzing) as well as relevant
hypertext links.
Resource/Informational
Sites: This would be a web site to be used by other students, scholars
and just plain folks interested in learning about one or another aspect of
digital diversity. It might be a site, for example, on “Diversity and
Computer Use in the K-6 Classroom: A Resource Guide,” that could include
an introduction describing keys issues or debates, an annotated list of online
article links, a bibliography of printed books and articles, links to other
online resource sites for teachers interested in diversity, and descriptions
with links to online school projects exploring this topic. Or it could be
a resource site about “Disability and Computer Use,” or “Women
Artists on the Web,” or “Cultural Imperialism and the World
Wide Web,” and so on. Such a site must be more than just a list of links,
but should show some thought in organizing, introducing, contextual zing and
annotating the materials.
Artistic Expression:
All of the projects listed above will benefit from creative design and
presentation, but this option will more directly use artistic means to offer
insight into questions of digital diversity. It might take the form of a series
of image collages showing diversity and/or its lack in cyberculture, or a
series of poems and/or creative fiction treating digital diversity issues,
or a multimedia digital imaging project addressing one or another issues,
or a series of stories told by diverse students you talk to about their positive
and negative experiences online. The artistic site section on the course syllabus
offers examples of the many ways this might be done.
Examples: While the examples of student web projects here don’t
usually deal with digital diversity, they represent good models for using
the web’s unique qualities, and for citing sources.
Documentation: As with any academic writing project, you are obliged
to cite sources you use for any ideas found on your site. You use the same
citation guidelines you would use in a term paper. You should cite course
readings, web pages, and any addition reading or web site visits
you make that have a significant and unique impact on your site. (You are
not required to do additional reading for the web project, but may find
it useful to do so.)
Technical Tools:
Building websites is not rocket science, but it can be a bit
daunting at first. The following websites offer good, basic technical information
on how to build web pages.
Getting
Started with HTML -- good, succinct place to start.
Web
Monkey – excellent site with info for both the beginners and more
advanced folks.
Technical Assistance on Campus: There are many places on campus where
you can access programs that help you design and build websites, and there
are many kinds of technical assistance available as you do so. First, there
is the course instructor who is happy to help. Second, there are many experienced
web page builders in the class (I will circulate a list of those willing to
help). Third, there are help centers in all of the computer labs on campus,
as well as in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), and
in the Information Technology center next to the stadium.
Team Work: Students may either work individually, or in pairs. If
you choose to work with another individual, each of you will be asked to self-report
on your contirubutions and to evaluate the contributions of your fellow student.