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Section 0101
Heavilon 227
T-Th, 10:30 -11:45 a.m.
Dr. David Blakesley
Office: Heavilon 302c
Hours: T-Th, 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. and by appt.
Ph: 765.494.3772
Fax: 765.494.3780
blakesle@purdue.edu

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English 309, Computer-Aided Publishing, will teach you to use the digital tools of the 21st-Century to publish professional documents for multiple purposes and audiences. The course will have a productive, practical component that will help you learn essential software, design principles, and document cycling processes of professional publishing. We will also spend time discussing and writing about the professional contexts and changing circumstances of digital publishing. You will have the opportunity to learn firsthand about Purdue's new Center for Digital Publishing, about the journals we publish here at Purdue, and about a new scholarly press in West Lafayette.

One of the goals of the course is to teach you the distribution methods that shape so much of the publishing world. For that reason, you will have to do some legwork and clicking to obtain your copies of these books.

• The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing Edited by William E. Kasdorf. New York: Columbia UP, 2003. Available direct from the publisher and through online and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

• Digital Publishing F5 | Refreshed (ed. by Blakesley et al.) available for free download in Night Kitchen (TK3) format from Parlor Press. 2003.

• Looking Good in Print, 5th edition, by Roger C. Parker. Berkeley: Paraglyph Press, 2003. Available at Vons.

• Scrolling Forward: The Life of Documents in the Digital Age by David M. Levy. 2001. Available at Follet's and University Book Store.

• Learn strategies for planning, writing, and revising the content and design of documents that you can flexibly apply to future writing and publishing challenges

• Improve your management of the digital tools that are often used in the workplace and publishing industry

• Learn the principles of effective design and how to use them in creative and liberating ways, as well as when to be conservative

• Suit content and design to the rhetorical situation, including audiences’ needs and expectations documents

• Develop a critical eye for design

• Learn what computers can do design- and publishing-wise and how to make them do it

• Consider the usefulness of emergent technologies and new venues and opportunities for digital publishing and archiving

1. Reading Responses and Document Cyclying

An ongoing aspect of our publishing activities will involve reading course texts and responding to them electronically in our 309 Publishing Blog. You'll be required to engage in regular discussion of the course readings (with multiple posts per week). You'll also learn to respond to the work of your peers and to cycle documents using a portal made available through Purdue's e-Enterprise Center (more on this later). Because these processes are critical to the design and publishing work, you'll have to work hard to keep up. (10% of course grade.)

2. Professional and Personal Business Documents

In this project, we'll learn how to design and print "first-impression" and informative documents, including business cards, letterhead, envelopes, labels, a PowerPoint template, and both a print- and Web-based resume. You will have the option of producing everything but the resume for a real client. The software we'll use includes Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat and Pagemaker, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Fireworks, and web-based design solutions. We'll also discuss printing issues, with a goal of finding low-cost, high quality solutions. (Individual; 20% of course grade.)

3. Sales and Marketing Documents

In this project, you'll work with a partner to create two kinds of documents, one short and one more involved, for a real client at Purdue or in the community.

Short document = Flyer, Poster or Banner, Ad, CD Label/Stamp
Long document = Brochure, CD Booklet/Insert, Newsletter, Company Guide

Each of the documents will be for the same client and the process will involve (again) finding tangible solutions for reproduction and dissemination of the documents. As part of your work, I'd also like you and your partner to prepare a short overview of one software or Web-based solution that can help others when designing and publishing these kinds of documents. Possible clients include the PW Program, the Center for Digital Publishing, WPA: Writing Program Administration, The Writing Instructor, and the PW Club. Software used will include Pagemaker (or InDesign), Photoshop, Acrobat, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Microsoft Word, and Web-based solutions. (Collaborative; 20% of course grade.)

4. Portfolio Interface

For Project 3, you'll work individually to design the interface, including navigational structure for a Web portfolio. The focus will be just on designing the "front door" to your portfolio without worrying at this stage about the content of the site. We'll learn a lot more about using Dreamweaver and Flash as design media, and one resource will be the online (free) version of Web Style Guide, 2nd edition. You will be asked to show your completed portfolio interface to the class. (Individual; 20% of course grade.)

5. Book, Multimedia CD, eBook, Magazine, eZine

This will be the most involved project of the semester, taking you through the entire process of designing and publishing a substantial document, using pre-existing content (such as a digital archive) and software solutions that help you meet the goals of the project and that are well-suited to the purpose of the document. You may work with a real client to set-up this project (PW Program, Center for Digital Publishing, WPA, TWI, Open Source Documentation Project, etc.) Depending on the form of the document (book, ebook, CD, eZine, etc.), you'll learn how to produce it using one or more of the software technologies studied in class, including Acrobat, Pagemaker, InDesign, Word, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, Fireworks, and TK3 Author. (Collaborative; 30% of course grade.)

Each of the five major projects in the course will be comprised of several components and will be worth a percentage of your final grade. For the two collaborative projects (3 and 5), you'll be asked to to complete the required Collaborative Evaluation Form.

All major assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale: A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or below. You will be given specific instructions about how to submit your work both electronically and in print. Responses to your work will typically be shared in Acrobat (PDF) format.

In order to participate fully in the course, you should already be able to use the technology platform and applications listed below.

• Mac OS System
• Microsoft Office (Word and PowerPoint)
• Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer
• Acrobat Reader
• Photoshop or Fireworks (basic knowledge)
• Email program (including attachments)

Because the iMacs in Heavilon 227 do not have disk drives and you'll be transferring large files to multiple computers, I would strongly recommend purchasing a USB pen drive. To find one, search on "USB Drive" at any major online retailer of computer equipment or buy one at any computer store in town. They run $10 and up, depending upon the size. I recommendg getting 128 MB of storage space.

Because the exchange of information and materials in this class will be almost entirely electronic, familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask. During the semester, you'll need frequent access to the Internet (including email, ftp, and WWW). If you have a computer at home, you'll be responsible for configuring your system to access course materials, to read course email and participate in online discussions, and to complete other work. If you do not have a system at home or cannot get your system configured, you will be able to use any of the standard ITaP labs, as well as the machines in Heavilon 402.One of your first course assignments will be completing a technology checklist and solving any technology access problems that you may encounter. You are also required to subscribe to and participate on 309 Publishing Blog.

Very early in the semester, you will be asked to demonstrate that you can meet these responsibilities:

• Have access to your Career Account.
• Set up your @purdue.edu email address and regularly check your email. Alternative email addresses (@yahoo, @hotmail, etc. are not appropriate for professional communication, so you need to use your @purdue account).
• Become proficient sending and receiving email attachments, resolving file compatibility issues, and following email decorum.
• Send an email message to the class list
• Post a response or questions to the 309 Publishing Blog
• Check the course calendar before each class meeting.
• Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications, such as html editors and web-page design, document cycling processes, desktop publishing applications, and graphics programs.
• Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via your home directory, disks, USB drives, or CDs.

Collaborative work is a required component of the course and a common mode of interaction in professional and publishing life. You and your project team members will be responsible for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress. In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work, including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of assignments. When I assign a collaborative project, I will provide you with explicit guidelines for successful collaboration. I will also ask individual group members to complete Collaborative Evaluation Forms. The principles of collaboration I encourage students to follow are contained in the brochure, Group Work and Collaborative Writing <http://www-honors.ucdavis.edu/vohs/index.html>.

Attendance is required at all scheduled electronic and face-to-face (F2F) meetings. Since you will be working in project teams much of the semester, you also will be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team to complete course assignments. Three absences may result in your final grade being lowered by as much as a letter grade. More than three absences can result in a failing grade for the course. Excused absences may be granted for religious holidays or university-sponsored events, provided you make a written request to me no less than one week in advance and that you complete any required work before the due date. Being excessively or regularly late for class or team meetings, both electronic and F2F, can also be counted as an absence.

The majority of missed class assignments cannot be made up. If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me in writing prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted.

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