COMM 2P91: Hypertext:
Course Outline January 2003
Instructor: Prof. Barry W. K. Joe
Office: MC A324 (German Office)
Telephone: 688-5550 ext. 3314
E-mail: bjoe@spartan.ac.brocku.ca
RL Office Hours: MW
Virtual Office Hours: Wednesday
General Desciption:
- Non-linear reading and writing.
- Multi-linear reading and writing.
- A way to display and explore the spatiality of text and meaning.
- Visual realisation of polysemy.
· A way of reading and writing that approximates the way the human mind thinks.
While the name was coined in the '60's by Ted Nelson, hypertext was a dream already expressed in 1945 by Vannevar Bush in his seminal article, "As We May Think". Exploring the interconnectivity of signs and the signified is not the innovation of the Digital Age; Laurence Sterne had already made tentative attempts at a type of hypertext in the 18th century with parts of his picaresque novel Tristram Shandy.
With the accelerating growth and social penetration of the Internet and the WWW, hypertext has acquired a central place in our society. This course intends to examine the implications of the new electronic reading and writing, specifically hypertext, as the Digital Society collides with the Literate Society.
Learning Goals:
- You will be exposed to an overview of scribal technology from a historical perspective and will examine the cultural ramifications of changes in that technology
- You will be exposed to hypertext as a form of electronic writing and as a medium of on-line reading.
- You will examine hypertext as it relates to the critical theories of Barthes, Derrida, and Foucault, among others.
- As a contrastive norm, you will be required to examine traditional reading and writing in close detail through analysis of assigned readings and through short writing assignments.
- You will examine hypertext as an art form by reading two pieces of hypertext fiction by two acclaimed authors of this genre:
Afternoon by Michael Joyce
Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson
- You will compare hypertext with traditional modalities of reading and writing by "translating" a piece of text into hypertext.
- All of the above will be performed in a comparative modality against the background of scribal reading, writing, and literary convention and history.
WebCT: Virtual Learning Environment for Comm2P91:
It is appropriate that a course in hypertext theory and practice use an electronic environment as one of its learning tools. To that end, Comm 2P91 will take place not only in the physical classroom, but also in the virtual learning environment of WebCT.
Attendance and Participation:
Because much of our findings will be generated through class discussion, attendance is a component that will be included in the participation grade. It is important that you be in class to take part in the discussion and to hear the arguments being made as views are expressed and defended. However, not all learning takes place within the walls of the classroom. Learning styles differ and some students may be more comfortable expressing themselves in a mediated environment. Therefore, the participation component may be satisfied by regular contributions to the asynchronous WebCT Discussion Forum or by regular participation in the VIrtual Office Hours on WebCT Chat.
Evaluation Scheme:
|
Class Assignments |
30% |
3 written assignments |
|
Class Minutes |
10% |
2 sets of class minutes |
|
Participation |
25% |
Attendance, virtual office hours, WebCT discussion |
|
Hypertext Project |
35% |
Final major project |
More details about the assignments, project, and take-home exam, as well as due dates, are to be found on the WebCT page.
Course Text:
Landow, George. Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Literary
Theory and Technology. Johns
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Comm 2P91 Homepage
URL of this page: http://spartan.ac.brocku.CA/~bjoe/comm291/291outline03.htm
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Last updated January 5, 2003 by Prof. Barry W. K. Joe