You will sign up for your interface for Project 2, and then we will return to the analysis we were working on Friday.

Important Dates

• October 1: Sign up for a presentation time slot
• October 8: Draft of P2 due for Peer Review
• October 13, 15, or 17: Presentation Days
• October 17: P2 web essay due
• October 24: P2 deadline (end of grace period)

Choosing Your Interface

Once everyone appears to have settled in, I will ask you to log into your VT Gmail account. Doing so will mean you’re signed into Google Docs too and can comment on the sign up sheet. Once everyone is logged in, I will open up the Project 2 Sign-Up, and you will add your names. Remember you are governed by the Honor Code.

Analyzing WordPress.com

We will go back to the Writer/Designer Analysis Questions on WordPress.com from Friday, and work through the details. My goal is to model the process of gathering information that you can follow as you work on Project 2.

Today’s Blog Post

Write a post for today that talks about the tool you will focus on for Project 2. Explain what tool you will work on, and why you chose it.

Please focus on why it was one of your choices, what drew you to it, and why you want to explore it. Please do NOT spend this post whining about how it wasn’t your first choice or similiar misfortunes.

Homework

For Wednesday, the 24th, read all of the example web essays included in the Project 2 assignment. Be ready to talk about how they work, what they do well, and lessons you can take away as you work on your own project.

For Friday, the 26th, read the Introduction to Memes and explore some of the links on the page. We’ll discuss memes and make some in class.

It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day. Get started by brainstorming some thoughts about WordPress.Com on Padlet. Once everyone has had a chance to have a say, we will move to a more structured analysis of WordPress.com. At the end, I shall have some pirate booty for ye!

Analysis of WordPress.com

You all have experience with WordPress.com. For our purposes today, you need to think of WordPress.com’s interface and how the site works (and not at your particular blog). As you think about WordPress.com, try to separate what the overall site does and what the particular theme you chose does. They are different things.

We will consider these ideas:

1. Think through the rhetorical situation for WordPress.com: Audience, Purpose, Context, Author, and Genre.

2. Analyze the design choices for the tool: Emphasis, Contrast, Organization, Alignment, and Proximity.

3. Identify the modes of communication that WordPress.com uses as part of its interface: Linguistic, Visual, Spatial, Aural, and Gestural. You can also identify modes that WordPress.com enables you to use.

4. Determine the affordances and constraints of WordPress.com.

To make things a bit simpler, I have created a form based on the Writer/Designer Analysis Questions that you can use to gather ideas and make sure you cover everything. We will try to collaborate in one document today. I’ll have a blank copy of the form for you to copy and use next week as you begin analyzing your tools.

Homework

For Monday, the 22nd, go through the options for Project 2 and have at least three choices ready for the beginning of the session on Monday. The selection is first come, and only one person per tool. If you would like to choose a tool that is not on the list, email me the name of the tool by noon on Sunday, September 21 (to give me a chance to make sure it will work for the project).

For Wednesday, the 24th, read all of the example web essays included in the Project 2 assignment. Be ready to talk about how they work, what they do well, and lessons you can take away as you work on your own project.

For Friday, the 26th, I hope to talk about memes and meme generators. More information next week!

Project 2 Overview

Today we’ll begin work on Project 2. You will be looking at an web-based tool as an example of a digital, multimodal text in a web essay that analyzes how the tool works.

Affordances and Constraints

We will get started with a discussion of autocorrect, autocomplete, and one of the recent articles about Grandmaster Flash and Grandmas. We’ll use these questions and gather our ideas on Padlet.

1. What are the affordances of autocorrect and autocomplete? 
   In other words, what do autocorrect and autocomplete allow or encourage you to do? What do they make easy for you?
2. What are the constraints of autocorrect and autocomplete? 
   In other words, how do autocorrect and autocomplete limit your ability to do things you want to do? What do they make difficult for you? Think about which features of autocorrect and autocomplete are intuitive and which features are “hidden” or only available to advanced users. What shortcomings are there to autocorrect and autocomplete?

Overview of Project 2

We’ll read through Project 2. You’ll use information from chapters 1 and 2 of Writer/Designer to help you write your analysis.

Homework

For Friday, the 19th, read Chapter 2 of Writer/Designer, and think about how you would analyze WordPress.com if you were writing about it for Project 2. I will ask you to apply the information from Chapter 2 to WordPress.com and to talk about the affordances and constraints of the site in class.