Class-by-Class Schedule

Assignments are listed (as HW) on the day they are assigned, and are due at 9pm the night before^[1] the following class meeting, unless otherwise specified. You should in general also have access to all your work in class, so we can discuss and/or revise. Possible methods include GitHub (recommended), Box (next best thing), Dropbox, or flash drive.

Contents:

Unit I: What Makes Digital Media New?

Lesson 1, Tuesday 1/19 – Introductions

HW for next time:

• Surveys and sharing:
  • Complete two short modules on Canvas, about self- and community-care and the grading contract. This includes a short “quiz” (should take just a minute or two) and a chance to propose changes or adopt the contract.
  • Read the rest of the syllabus.
  • Respond to the Tech Comfort Survey if you haven’t yet done so.
• Written introduction to the people in the class:
  • Join GitHub if you haven’t yet (you can use your Pitt email to get free private repositories!),
  • and post an introduction to yourself on the issue queue.
• Prep for next class:
  • Read / play through Tyler Su’s “Playing Lev Manovich”. Be ready to talk about what you noticed, and what you wondered.
  • If you don’t already have one, download / install a plain text editor. I recommend Atom.

Lesson 2, Thursday 1/21 – What Can We Do With Digital?

HW for next time:

• Watch Git and GitHub for Poets, starting at least with the Introduction and going as far as your interest and time allow. (I especially recommend parts 1.5 and 1.6.)
• Practice following the steps in the video
• Download any software you’ll need to use Git on your own computer – most likely the GitHub Desktop application.

Lesson 3, Tuesday 1/26 – Building a Repository

For next time:

• Listen to example sound narratives (see lesson plan for links)
• Write a short blog post: what do you notice? what do you wonder? Post this on the Issues page.
• Watch my Audacity demo from last semester the recommended selections from the LinkedIn Learning tutorial on Audacity
• Download the Audacity audio editor if you haven’t yet, or update to the latest version if you already have it.
• Optionally also download the separate FFmpeg import/export library

Unit II: Soundscapes and Soundwriting

Lesson 4, Thursday 1/28 – Audacity; Sound On, Sound Off

For next time:

• Read and listen to the audio recording advice (Fowkes and MacAdam) if you haven’t yet
• Read the excerpt from Writer/Designer on assets and fair use, plus (optionally) a webcomic on Creative Commons.
• Write a proposal for your sound narrative, including a prospective asset list (as per W/D); post to the Issues page.
• Begin sourcing the sounds you’ll need
• Bring headphones so you can work in class

Lesson 5, Tuesday 2/2 – Recording, Ethics, Studio

For next time:

• Skim the audio resources on the site, and read more deeply in anything that seems like it would help you.
  • In particular, I recommend the LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) series of videos on Audacity. It’s about 2 hours total, but I’ve marked my highlights.
• Push a soundscape preview, including
  • the layered Audacity file (.aup)
  • one screenshot of your work in progress (.png)
  • one exported playable sound file (.mp3)
  • a brief description of what you’ve included (.txt or .md)

Lesson 6, Thursday 2/4 –  Sound criteria and stretch goals

For next time:

• Work to bring in a full draft of your soundscape narrative
• Continue taking screenshots and posting meaningful commits to GH
• Push a full draft, with the same four parts as the preview plus a SOURCES.md file crediting your sources and permissions/license to use them
• Bring headphones

Lesson 7, Tuesday 2/9 – Sound Workshop

For next time:

• Keep working toward your soundscape narrative, incorporating feedback from partners.
• If you haven’t finished giving feedback, please do so asap, and ideally by Thursday morning.
• Optionally, write a blog post of possible integrative projects for the end of term. What more might you want to explore?
• Bring headphones so you can work in class

Lesson 8, Thursday 2/11 – Sound Studio

For next time:

• By 11:59pm on Sunday, aim to complete – at least for now – your soundscape narrative.
• By Tuesday’s classtime, write a prose reflection that incorporates images from your feedback and screenshots of your Audacity project.

Unit III: Visual Rhetorics and Argument

In this unit, you will make a claim through the juxtaposition of images and text. As with the sound project, the context for your argument is open: you could be making a social commentary, calling for action, constructing a parody, riffing on a pun, explaining a concept, and so on. Whatever you choose, you should consider your audience and what they would find persuasive or interesting, and how you therefore wish to attract and direct their attention.

Lesson 9, Tuesday 2/16 – Can You Picture It? Visual Rhetorics and Argument

For next time:

• Read a quick introduction to graphic design principles
• Find an example of a rhetorical visual design
• Write a blog post about your example, using the analytical language from the reading

Lesson 10, Thursday 2/18 – Generating Visual Ideas

For next time, which is not until a week from now:

• Skim the visual media resources on the course site, and read/watch more deeply in anything that seems like it would help you.
• In particular, I highly recommend the LinkedIn Learning series of videos on “GIMP Essential Training.” It’s about 5 hours of material, but as before, I’ve marked some highlights and starting points. I’ve been using GIMP for years, and I confess I learned some things even from the basic tool options videos. Note that there are exercise files, should you want to follow along and make sure it works in practice.
  • If you’ve been having trouble with LinkedIn Learning, try this LIL link, which routes through MyPitt. I also am happy to troubleshoot with you during office hours!
• Write a visual rhetoric proposal, including a prospective asset list; post to the issue queue

Lesson 11, Thursday 2/25 – Visual Unit Studio

For next time:

• Read about fonts, optionally playing a font-matching game
• Compose and push a visual rhetoric preview; workshop-ready draft due in one week.

Lesson 12, Tuesday 3/2 – Visual Unit Criteria and Stretch Goals

For next time:

• Compose and push a visual rhetoric draft

Lesson 13, Thursday 3/4 – Visual Unit Workshop

For next time:

• Write a blog post with more ideas toward the final / integrative project unit. What further possibilities might you want to explore?
• Bring headphones for sonic isolation, if you’d like

Lesson 14, Tuesday 3/9 – Studio

For next time:

• To get ready for our upcoming web design unit, download and install the Atom text editor. (If you already have a syntax-highlighting text editor, that’s also fine. A word processor like Microsoft Word is not.)
• By 11:59pm on Sunday, complete – at least for now – your visual argument, along with a prose reflection that incorporates images from your feedback and screenshots of your GIMP project.

Lesson 15, Thursday 3/11 – Midterm Reflections

For next time:

• By 11:59pm on Sunday, complete – at least for now – your visual argument, along with a prose reflection that incorporates images from your feedback and screenshots of your GIMP project.
• EXT: If you haven’t yet, spend some time getting to know your plain-text editor.
  • Can it show two or more files side by side? Can it preview how an html file will render? Does it allow plugins or extensions to enable either of those things?
  • If you’re using Atom, you may want to check out the intro tutorials on the course Resources page.

Unit IV: Webslinging (HTML + CSS markup)

In this unit, you will build a multi-page website from scratch, beginning with html and css files.

Lesson 16, Tuesday 3/16 – Intro to Markup and Web Design

For next time:

• Do as much of the Interneting is Hard (but it doesn’t have to be) tutorial as you can – but at least parts 1-4 (from “Introduction” through “Hello, CSS”).
  • Heads up to fast workers: Float layouts used to be a big deal, but aren’t as widely recommended any more. You can probably skip that chapter, at least for now.
• Show your work by pushing your tutorial code to a repository.
  • If it’s not working the same as in the tutorial, please do check with me! I’ll set aside some breakout group time on Thursday, but feel free to email or use the issue queue in the meantime: see if your question’s been answered, and if not, post a new issue, because you’re probably not alone.

Lesson 17, Thursday 3/18 – Generative Studio, troubleshooting

• Do more of the HTML and CSS tutorial, including at least The Box Model (5) and CSS Selectors (6), if you haven’t yet.
• Read more about how CSS selectors work OR if you prefer game-based learning to straight-up reading, try loading and clearing plates at the CSS Diner. (There’s still reading, in the sidebar, which tells you how to win the round.)
• Write a website proposal, including at least one hand-drawn design sketch, types of pages, a prospective asset list, and a link to your repo. Post to the issue queue.

Lesson 18, Tuesday 3/23 – Studio / Navigation

Lesson 19, Thursday 3/25 – Studio / Deployment

For next time:

• Do more of the tutorial, including at least Flexbox (8) and Responsive Design (10), if you haven’t yet.
  • As a reminder, you should write out the exercises in the tutorials and push them to your repository – probably in the tutorials subfolder. Once you have them working as presented, feel free to update them to test out ideas for your own site! But do try to confirm you can get them working first. HTML, like all code, is fiddly: punctuation (including spaces) matters for things like close-tags and CSS selectors.
• Separately, also read about Grid Layout (and optionally the followup post on responsive grid).
  • EXT: Want more CSS Grid templates and examples, including CodePens to play with? Try Grid By Example, which also has video tutorials.
• Compose and push a first website preview: a beginning, focused on content and navigation.

Lesson 20, Tuesday 3/30 – Web Unit Studio / Layout Q & A

For next time:

• Continue the HTML & CSS tutorial, adding at least Semantic HTML (12) and Web Typography (14). If you’re encountering weird layout intransigence, you may also want to try Advanced Positioning (9).
  • Remember that the main tools for layout now in use are Grid and Flex; you can probably skip the chapter on Float except for particular use-cases (e.g. text that wraps around an image).
  • Email me with any questions, noting that I can help fastest if you include screenshots and links to your site/repo. Better yet, create a New Issue! Then my answer to you can help others, too.
• Compose and push a second website preview, now adding or updating layout. A full draft of your website project is due in one week.

Lesson 21, Thursday 4/1 – Web Unit Criteria and Stretch Goals

For next time:

• Compose and push a full draft of your website project no later than Tuesday morning (let’s say 10am Eastern).
• When it’s ready, to test that it’s fully on GitHub for your workshop partners to download, clone it again to a new location on your computer: if you can successfully open your pages in a local browser from that second location, you should be good to get feedback even from an asynchronous workshop.
  • (And you should then also be good to delete that extra copy, before you get confused as to where you’re pushing from.)
• If you’re doing something advanced (Jekyll, React, etc) that will require a server and not just a browser, be sure to explain in your repo’s README.md file how to load your files.

Lesson 22, Tuesday 4/6 – Web Unit Workshop

For next time:

• Optionally, write one more blog post about what you’d like to do in our final / integrative unit. If you’re interested in finding people to collaborate with, this is a good time to make a pitch.
  • Post this to the issue queue, as usual
• Continue to save and push toward your final-for-now website.

Planning ahead:

• The website project and prose reflection will be due by 11:59pm next Tuesday (4/13), incorporating (as usual) images from your feedback and screenshots of your work in progress.

Lesson 23, Thursday 4/8 – Studio

For next time:

• Continue to save and push toward your final-for-now website.
• The website project and prose reflection will be due by 11:59pm next Tuesday (4/13), incorporating (as usual) images from your feedback and screenshots of your work in progress.

Unit V: Putting it Together (Bit by Bit)**

In this final unit I’ll ask you to build on what you’ve already made: a revision, an extension, or a combination, of the modes and media you used in earlier units. If you have a team that can collaborate effectively via online formats (via Zoom, Discord, Slack, what-have-you), that’s up to you! Please do let me know if you want to be in a break-out group together during class.

Lesson 24, Tuesday 4/13 – Intro to Consolidation / Integration Unit: Charting a Course Forward

For next time:

• Preparing for the final portfolio:
  • Read Paul Ford’s short “Letter of Recommendation: Bug Fixes” from The New York Times Magazine (June 11, 2019). (Pitt Library link)
  • Ford writes, “I read the change logs, and I think: Humans can do things.” Read back through your own change logs, i.e. the commit histories of your projects; skim through the lesson plans. What things have you done this semester?
  • Choose something from the course that you want to remember beyond this semester: a thing you or someone else made, or said, that struck a chord with you.
• Preparing one final project or revision:
  • Make a new repository^[2] (GH, Box, or Drive) containing a task list for your project – along with proposed roles for your team members, if you have a team of more than one.
    • Post a link to this repository on the Issue Queue.
    • Decide (together, if applicable) what would constitute a minimum deliverable project, and what series of stretch goals you’ll try for beyond that minimum. Push these updated goals to the repo.

Lesson 25, Thursday 4/15 – Consolidation Unit Studio and maybe sortof criteria

For next time:

• Push a project preview (i.e. get something started) to your repository.
• Continue updating and following your work plan.
• Document your progress as you go! Screenshot, save, commit (or otherwise log changes), push.

Lesson 26, Tuesday 4/20 – Consolidation Unit Studio / Preparing the Final Reflective Letter

For next time:

• Set yourself some deadlines: what are you trying to finish by the last class (in two days!)? Will you continue beyond that for Sunday, knowing the final portfolio is due soon?
• Push a full-as-possible draft of consolidation project

Lesson 27, Thursday 4/22 – Last day of class! Looking back and looking forward

For next time:

• Finish consolidation project by Sunday, if you haven’t yet
• Work to complete your final portfolio (due in our final exam slot, which we now know is Tuesday, April 27 at noon)