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This is an approximate syllabus. It is intended only to provide a rough guide to order in which we will approach topics. I am both hoping and expecting that the participants in this workshop will direct the workshop in new and different ways.
It is my hope that we will use this workshop to develop perspectives (and perhaps even answers) on a number of questions about the roles of hypermedia and hypermedia studies in the curriculum in Grinnell. In particular, we should consider
Helen Scott has asked that each participant prepare a short report on how effective the workshop was and how it impacted your thinking about technology and teaching. I would appreciate copies of your reports, which I will collect and put on reserve (and on-line, if you send me electronic copies).
Participants will introduce themselves, mention their discipline, indicate why they have chosen to participate, and describe their backgrounds1 in hypertext. Each participant is also asked to finish the statement begun "The most surprising or valuable thing I learned from the readings was ...".
[Approximately thirty minutes.]
Who was Vannevar Bush? Why should we know who he was? Why should most scientists know who he was?
[Approximately five minutes.]
As a group, we will develop working definitions of hypertext, hypermedia, and hypermedia studies. I expect that we will draw on the chapters from Nielsen2 and on the first chapter of Landow 3.
[Approximately thirty minutes.]
Often, the best learning that happens in workshops (or at least at conferences) comes in the casual conversations we have during break periods.
[Approximately ten minutes.]
Part of our preparation4 for the workshop was to examine courses at other institutions (using Eastgate system's course list or our own investigations). What did we find? What did we think?
[Approximately thirty minutes.]
While most of us have used hypertext in the form of the World-Wide Web, I expect that few of us have read any "serious hypertext"5 fictions. I've brought a copy of Michael Joyce's afternoon: a story on a Powerbook. I thoought we might try a collaborative reading of the story.
[Approximately twenty minutes.]
Since we have a rather large group (approximately twenty people, at last count), I thought it would be useful to break up into small groups to discuss particular areas of interest. The groups will meet after break (giving us break time to consider which group best suits our interest) and, hopefully, in the afternoon. We will begin tomorrow's sessions with short reports from the individual groups. I hope that we'll form between four and six groups.
I would like the group as a whole to suggest subgroups, but I will suggest a few possible subgroups: writing and hypermedia; the art of hypermedia; social and societal implications.
[Approximately ten minutes.]
[Approximately ten minutes.]
[Approximately thirty minutes.]
We'll conclude the first day with some planning for the second day (and perhaps with some assignments). What are topics that we'd like to cover?
Each group will give a short report (and, hopefully, lead a larger group discussion) on their selected topic.
[Approximately forty minutes.]
Given what we've learned from the discussions, what is hypermedia studies (or what could it be)? We may borrow Mr. Crowley's strategy of having each participant write down a definition and then discuss those definitions first in small groups and then in a larger group.
[Approximately twenty minutes.]
[Approximately ten minutes.]
Individual participants will propose courses they (or colleagues) might modify (or offer newly?) that could include a hypermedia studies component. The group as a whole will contribute ideas for the courses.
[Approximately forty minutes.]
[Approximately ten minutes.]
Hopefully, we will now be ready to consider the more global questions posed on the first day: Should Grinnell develop a hypermedia studies program? If so, why, how, and in what form? If not, why not?.
[Approximately forty minutes.]
We will conclude the workshop with a discussion of where we should go from here (other than writing our individual reports). Among other things, we might ask ourselves:
[Approximately twenty minutes.]
1 Participants are not required to have any background in hypertext or hypermedia. However, I know that some of you have some background, and I expect that many of you know more about some subject areas than I do.
2 J. Nielsen (1995). Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond. Chapter 1: Defining Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Multimedia; Chapter 3: The History of Hypertext.
3 G. Landow (1997). Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Chapter 1: Hypertext: An introduction.
4 I expect that we will have the same experience that we often have for the first assignment: few of us will have done the work. I will admit that I did not do enough of my own homework, although I did begin a short set of notes.
5 "Serious hypertext" is probably some sort of trademark of Eastgate Systems.
6 Sam Rebelsky is scheduled to be on paternity leave this Fall, and would prefer not to take on too many more responsibilities.
[Front Door] [Syllabus] [Links]
These are rough notes prepared quickly for this workshop. They are not guaranteed to be accurate, useful, or even proofread.
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