Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Courses/History of Design and Digital Media (Michael Mandiberg)/Course description

Course description
An exploration of the work of major designers and the movements they started, from its origins in the printing press as well as the interrelationship of design and fine art. We will focus on mainstream uses of graphic design as well as countercultural/activist appropriation of design techniques.

Course Requirements
Complete projects on time Participate in class discussions, and class critique Come to class prepared: do all reading before hand Maintain an email account, and browse the web Attend field trips

Materials and Texts
Text: Meggs' History of Graphic Design, 4th Edition, Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis, Wiley, ISBN: 978-0-471-69902-6. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471699020.html

Suggested Text: Ellen Lupton, Thinking With Type, Princeton Archetectural Press, 978-1568989693. http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/

Disabilities
If you have a disability that will affect your coursework, please work with the Office of Disability Services in 1P-101; (718) 982.2510, ODS@csi.cuny.edu, and notify the instructor within the first two weeks of class to ensure suitable arrangements and a comfortable working environment.

Classroom Policies
Turn your phone off. Each and every use of phone or non-class related electronic communication during class will result in a 1 point grade reduction. No food allowed in class at any time.

Please be aware that technological failures such as printer errors, erased drives, email issues, computer crashes, network failure, viruses, etc. are not emergencies, they are facts of life. You must structure your workflow in anticipation of such scenarios. Backup, backup, backup! You have been warned.

A NOTE ON COMMUNICATION
In my ten years of teaching, I've noticed that increased reliance upon email has severely compromised the crucial student/professor relationship, and is very often entirely unproductive. As a result, I follow this policy regarding email:


 * 1) Please consult the syllabus and/or the related assignment before posing questions that may already be addressed there (i.e. due dates, length, etc)
 * 2) RTFM - everything Wikipedia related is heavily documented.
 * 3) If your question will take more than five minutes or five sentences to answer, it's not a question, it's a discussion topic. Please post it on a suitable forum on Wikipedia, in a discussion forum on Blackboard, bring the topic up in class, or come see me in my office hours.

Please be aware that the demands on Professors' time are great and emails will not be answered immediately or in the depth that they would in-person. Consequently, they are not the most productive way to communicate with me for matters that require more than a sentence or two to resolve.

Read http://designeducator.info/?p=193 for more on writing a good email

Introduction to our use of Wikipedia
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, is an encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. It has many millions (!) of editors (Wikipedians), many of whom are students like you. The vast majority of them are volunteers who find editing this site to be an enjoyable experience, even a hobby. Therefore I hope you will enjoy this exercise and the course! After all, there are not many exercises that tell you to do something that over a million people think is 'fun', nor are there many assignments that will help build a tool that is used by 1.5 Billion people.

Tutorial is the best place to start your adventure with this wiki. Please familiarize yourself with instructions for students and if you have any questions, check the FAQ/Editing or Help:Contents and if you cannot find what you are looking for, ask the friendly people at Help desk - or just contact me.

Before making any major edits, it is recommended that you create an account. You definitely need to have an account before attempting to do any wiki-related coursework (otherwise we will be unable to confirm if you have completed the exercise). After you create an account, if you know your group already, add your name to the relevant section of this page.

Remember that Wikipedia is not a project limited only to our university. We are guests here and we should all behave accordingly. Please make sure you read Wikiquette. Please try to think what impression you want other Wikipedians to have of our department, and of CSI — and of yourselves.

You should expect that the professor, other students, your friends, and even (or especially) other Wikipedia editors (not affiliated with our course) will leave you various messages on your talk pages. When working on the exercises below, you should log in to Wikipedia and check your messages as often as you check your email (I strongly recommend you read 'as often' as 'at least daily'). Whenever you have a new message and are logged to Wikipedia, you will see a large orange message, 'You have new messages', on every Wikipedia page you access. To make this message disappear, you should click on it and read the message. Note that it is customary to leave new messages at the bottom of the talk/discussion pages, and to reply to somebody's messages on their talk pages. If you want to leave somebody a message, make sure you are editing their talk page, not their user page. Remember to sign your talk and discussion messages.

Some other useful tips: whenever you are done with an edit and want to save a page, fill out the edit summary box and view a preview of the page after your edit to make sure it looks as you actually want it to look. Only then click the "Save Page" button. You may find the page history tool and watchlist tools to be very useful when you want to check what changes by other editors have been made to the article(s) you are working on.

Please direct any questions to my talk page. You are welcome to send emails, or drop by to see me during our office hours, and ask about Wikipedia how-to; but please try to find the answer first on the Help:Contents.

Project overview
Your assignment is to choose an underdeveloped Design and Digital Media related subject to research and write about on Wikipedia. You will perform a literature search on that subject, and work with an assigned group to create a new article or expand an existing one, following any and all Wikipedia standards first and foremost. During the active project phase, you will monitor and respond to feedback on your article, and assist other groups by reading and commenting on their work.

Project details
This assignment is worth 50 points.

In the first few sessions, you will be assigned to a group and given a group number. This is your Wikipedia assignment group, and it is composed of the people you work with for the duration of the semester. You will be given time during lecture to meet with your group and discuss options and schedules. You and your group will choose a Design and Digital Media related article to work on. Once you have chosen your article, you will write up a one page proposal, outlining important information about it, what points you will cover in your article, and a short list of resources. You will make an appointment to meet with me during class and discuss your proposal as a group. The deadlines for this assignment are listed below.

Once you have gotten my approval, work together to create an interesting, in depth article about your chosen subject. Make sure you familiarize yourself with encyclopedia-type writing before you begin. Writing for Wikipedia is very different from writing an essay, although not that far from writing a descriptive scientific paper, and you need to fit in with the proper format. Please read the following guidelines to get a handle on how you should write your article BEFORE you start writing:
 * 1) What Wikipedia is not, which summarizes what Wikipedia is, and what it is not;
 * 2) Neutral point of view, which describes Wikipedia's core approach to neutral, unbiased article-writing;
 * 3) No original research, which explains what is, and is not, valid encyclopedic information;
 * 4) Verifiability, which explains what counts as a verifiable source and how a source can be verified;
 * 5) Citing sources, which describes what kinds of sources should be cited and the manner of doing so; and
 * 6) Manual of Style, which offers a style guide.

Wikipedia maintains a high standard of writing, and has taken great pains to improve these standards. You need to follow their directions to the letter, since deviating from these standards will invite article deletion.

Regarding the length of the article, quality of sources used, and such, see the articles other students have written during Wikipedia focused courses: here, here or here.

Feel free to include photos, but remember that not all pictures on the web are free for the taking. Familiarize yourself with Wikipedia's Copyright Policy to ensure you are not doing anything wrong (copyright violation, in the real, world, means what plagiarism in academia). Remember that any violation will be caught and dealt with by the plethora of editors on the site (and you do not want your group article to suddenly sprout a copyvio template like [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Food_power&oldid=327364463 this 2009 group did...).

Your article must include at least one academic book or journal source per group member. However, keep in mind that this is a minimum requirement. You should also include a list of external links giving the reader more information on your subject, and link to your page from other Wikipedia pages, so your page is not an orphan. To answer that question in your head: yes, you can go on someone else's article and link to your own. That's the beauty of Wiki!

I encourage you to use Peer Review and related tools (see tips section below) and seek creative comments on your article. In other words, if you can get other Wikipedia editors to help you, more power to you!

Once you begin writing your article, you are required to respond to any comments on your paper and act accordingly (make proper changes, defend your choices, etc). These comments will give you substantial feedback on your work, and allow you to make your final product better. (Besides, I'm going to spend the semester reading your work and commenting on it--if you listen to my feedback, you'll end up with a much better grade. It's like I'm pre-grading it for you!)

Finally, you will read and evaluate/comment on your classmates' articles. Please make your comments constructive and useful. You will not get credit for such comments as "good article!" or "I liked it!" Suggest something that can be realistically improved, compare their article to yours and see if your group has learned any tricks that can help them. Also refrain from any abusive or inappropriate language. Remember, you are part of the public face of CSI for the semester--make us proud.

At the end of the semester, you will turn into me the following items in a print-out version:


 * 1) A print out of constructive comments you made when reviewing the work of another group, so I can give you the points for reviewing other articles. Please highlight your user name for clarity. Label that page(s) as: Review of other group work.
 * 2) A print out of constructive comments you made on your own group article's talk page, and on the talk pages of other editors (if relevant). Label that page(s) as: Communication during our group work. Note that only on-wiki communication is accepted, off-wiki communication like emails and such will not be graded.
 * 3) Each member of the groups should fill out the group percentages form to grade the other members of the group. Fill out the form (anonymously) and either place it in the folder, or hand it to me personally. Make sure you have your group's number on the form!

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