Eng 323 Literature & Computers

Spring 2004 3:30-4:50 T-Th, JGM 106

Dr. Cynthia Jenéy

Office: SS/C 222K

Email: jeney@missouriwestern.edu Phone: 271-4447

Hours: Mon: 12:30-3:30; Wed: 12:30-2:30

Texts:

1. Browner, Pulsford, Sears. Literature and the Internet: A Guide for Students, Teachers, and Scholars.

NY: Garland.

2. Lee, Tanith. Biting the Sun. NY: Bantam.

3. Nims, Frederick. Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry. NY: McGraw-Hill.

4. Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. NY: New Folger Library, Pocket Books.

5. Various handouts (supplied by instructor)

Required Materials

1. A working, steady campus email account to which you know the exact address.

2. 3.5” PC-formatted floppy diskettes (4 or 5 at least, labeled with your name & Eng. 323)

3. Zip disk for projects too big to store on floppy diskettes (labeled with your name & Eng. 323)

Recommended:

o A good college dictionary.

o MLA style handbook or writing handbook that includes MLA guidelines for research papers.

Course Description and Assignments:

This course will examine the relationship between computers and literary studies. The course covers topics such as digital media, hypertext/hypermedia as genre, technology theory, cyber literature, computerized research, programs and programming, and virtual reality. Prerequisite: ENG 108 or 112, and ENG 210 or 220

(LAS Computer Literacy).

Assignment due dates are firm. This will avoid lag, confusion, and delays in evaluation of student progress.

Assignments are based upon research and scholarship in contemporary literary studies. Some of this work involves

• using computers to perform analyses of literature;
• employing the internet as a networking space for scholars to collaborate and engage in dialectic;
• exploring hypertext as an alternative medium for creating analytical and critical texts.
• combining images, sound, and even video to enhance primary and secondary texts.
• critical reading of belletristic texts that address issues concerning the role of computer technologies in human societies and cultures.
• creating and experiencing virtual/textual worlds; defining and redefining “cyberspace.”
• creating and experiencing hypertext (“ergodic”) literature, textual gaming spaces, digital multimedia, and “cyberpunk” texts.
• building interactive online resources for literary scholars.
• new things that are probably being invented and developed while I am writing this syllabus.

Grading Plan:

10% Summary-web: HTML

20% Hyper-linked Explication

10% PowerPoint Presentation

20% Linguistic Analysis (short corpus analysis, using search/concordance applications)

20% Literary Paper (Issues / themes technology in literature 5-7pp. + bibliography)

10% Web Board Participation

10% In-Class Participation

100% Total Course Grade

Needless to say, we will not have time to fully explore every intersection of literature and computers, but our aim is to become fluent in the language, purposes, and implementation of computer and internet technologies in the field of Language and Literature Studies.

Attendance:

A total of 5 absences or more (T-Th scheduled classes – equivalent to 2 weeks) will result in a failing grade for the course. It is your responsibility to keep track of your attendance. Since a great deal of the work for this class is done during class time, and cannot be “made up” later, it is a very good idea to attend all class meetings.

Contact a classmate to get notes and assignments if you miss a class meeting, and make sure you consult the class schedule (attached, below).

Email:

Email is a wonderful thing. It does not, however, replace class attendance. Emails asking “What did I miss?” are rude and disrespectful. Email your instructor when

• you don’t understand the assignment, or want to clarify some point from class reading or discussion;
• you want to make an appointment to meet out of class;
• you have drafted something that you aren’t sure about, and would like some feedback early in the process;
• your Mom has been kidnapped by rogue KGB spies, and you must leave the country to rescue her.

Another note about email: Electronic communications among students and instructors shall remain mature, polite, and appropriate to the context of the class and the college setting. “Flaming” or harassing instructors or classmates in electronic mail or other forums will not be tolerated.

Phone:

The telephone is a wonderful thing. It does not, however, replace class attendance. Phone messages asking “What did I miss?” are rude and disrespectful. Call your instructor when

• you don’t understand the assignment, or want to clarify some point from class reading or discussion;
• you want to make an appointment to meet out of class;
• you have drafted something that you aren’t sure about, and would like some feedback early in the process;
• your Mom has been kidnapped by rogue KGB spies, and you must leave the country to rescue her.

Disabilities: Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact the MWSC Special Needs Office as soon as possible so that we can discuss alternative ways to satisfy class requirements: Coordinator:

Lois E. Fox

Location: SS/C Building, Room 202

Office Hours: 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday

Phone: (816) 271-4330

Electronic Forum: Each student will be required to post various written assignments to the class electronic forum. Posts to the forum will be full-length drafts, peer critiques, summaries, analytical questions, and commentaries, based upon the reading and writing assignments in the class. All members of the class will have posting and reading access to the forum on the web, but may also choose the additional option of receiving posts via email (posts will always remain on the web site). Although the forum works technically like an email listserv and web-board, it is not to be used for “Yeah, man. I agree” type messages.

You must have a stable email account established in order to satisfy this writing requirement for the course. I strongly urge you to use your MWSC email account for this forum. Do not shift around with Yahoo and Hotmail account subscriptions, as this will confuse the moderator, and possibly cause her to delete your membership. As moderator, I will do my best to insure that you do not receive advertising or other unwanted messages in your account. Expect the usual glitches and snafu’s when first getting subscribed to the electronic discussion group. I tend to use different technologies as time goes by, and as internet services evolve. I will try to make it as painless and easy as possible for you, but there is a certain amount of meticulous attention required at the outset, in order to get the forum up and running efficiently for us all.

Tentative Class Schedule: Eng 323 Literature & Computers

Subject to change as needed to meet the needs of the course

January

20 Introduction; syllabus; WebBoard; handout(s).

22 LAI Ch. 1 & 2; Handout; assign summary web.

27 LAI Ch. 1 & 2; Handout; assign summary web.

29 LAI Ch. 3; HTML Primer; Summary workshop;

February

3 LAI Ch. 8; summary drafts due (WebBoard)

5 Summary web due; Western Wind Ch.. 1; Assign Hyperlinked Explication. Workshop WebBoard

10 Western Wind Ch. 2 – Explication. Workshop WebBoard

12 Western Wind Ch. 3 – Explication Workshop Frames in FrontPage.

17 Western Wind Ch. 4 – Workshop Frames in FrontPage.

19 Western Wind Ch. 1-4 – Workshop Frames in FrontPage.

24 Western Wind Ch. 1-4 – Workshop Frames in FrontPage.

26 Hyperlinked Explication due; Intro WW 7, 8, 11 Structure & Sound; Intro using PowerPoint; Assign

PowerPoint presentation.

March

2 Western Wind Ch. 8: Sound, video, images (using PowerPoint); Intro sentence types; Handouts

D’Angelo, Weathers.

4 Western Wind Ch. 11; Rhetorical and Grammatical Sentence types. Sentence types. Grammar “B”

9 PowerPoint presentation due.

11 PowerPoint presentation due.

16 SPRING BREAK – No class meeting.

18 SPRING BREAK – No class meeting.

23 PowerPoint presentation due.

25 LAI Ch. 9; Theory & Politics; Handouts (Burke, Nunes, Ryan, Johnson).

30 Burke; Nunes; Ryan – Web Board.

April

1 Lee, Don’t Bite the Sun; Issues in mainstream and genre (science) fiction. Possible handouts: Postman,

Birkerts, Bolter, Turkle, Rheingold; Assign Literary (Final) Paper.

6 Lee; issues.

8 Lee; issues – WebBoard.

13 Lee; issues.

15 Lee; issues.

20 Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing; Drama analysis. Assign short paper (linguistic analysis).

22 Shakespeare; Workshop LAI Ch. 6; linguistic (corpus) analysis

27 Shakespeare—linguistic analysis.

29 Shakespeare—linguistic analysis (short paper) due.

May

5 Open

11 2:00 -3:50 p.m. FINAL EXAM