The main point of the project is to give you an occasion to apply what we are discussing in class to a case of some interest to you. I will be using these cases as examples in our later chats.

I expect you to present a specific technology in terms of its enabling and disabling features on various aspects of human life, either personal or social. The parameters are intentionally vague to let your analytic imagination free to experiment with ways of presenting the information in the new and relatively uncodified technology that is "the Web."

This is to be a simple presentation which, in regular format, I would not expect to take more than 2500 words. The point is to experience the impact on academic authoring of the non-linear possibilities of the Web.

You may want to check the projects from earlier semesters to get a sense of what other students have done.

The project is important but I do understand the time constraints you are under and want to encourage experimentation. In particular, I am not expecting anything fancy as far as web authoring. What I will evaluate is your ability to think through the technology you picked from the cultural perspective we are exploring in this course.

Any one familiar with word processing should be able to build a few pages without knowing much about HTML or other technical matters. For the initial posting due by June 2st, all you need is write one page using a modern word processor that allows you to "save as HTML" and place the file on the server you will use (see below). You then need to edit your class information page to provide the link to your project.

Technical Instructions:

These pages can be placed on any server available to you. 

If you do not have a server, you can use the Columbia server.  To get space there, you must first activate your account, and then follow the directions on creating a directory and uploading the files. (to do all this you need a connection to the internet, and learn how to use TELNET and FTP.  Help for learning all this is available at the computer center at TC).  Those of you new to web publishing might find a course for teachers useful (Hopper)