ENC 4260: HTML / MOO Theory and Practice Informal Assignments Part 1

Assignment 1 Using Littalk, introduce yourself in a paragraph to the class. Be sure to include your major, your relationship with technical writing and technology, and your initial impressions of this class. Include suggestions and recommendations about what you would like to accomplish in this class. (250-word min.; due 8/31) Assignment 2 Although we will have done this a bit in-class, explore LitMUSE and become familiar with its architecture. After you have oriented yourself a bit, request a character. Once you have received notification of your new character via email, login, describe your character, and give it a gender. Make a room for your character, describe it, and set it as your character’s home. Make your character a programmer. Finally, find a place to attach your room to LitMUSE’s existing structure, and MOO-mail Jhary to request he construct the entrance. Make sure you MOO-mail Jhary last—then I’ll know your this assignment is complete. This character should be your technical writing persona—I recommend making your character a practioner or your discipline; i.e., if your major is biology, construct a character that is a biologist. This directive will make more sense in completing your projects and later assignments. Assignment 3 Begin working on a web page for your LitMUSE character; you might want to visit the players’ page for some ideas. Concentrate on aspects of visual rhetoric that we have discussed in class, especially audience. Practice the basics of HTML construction: images, links, and text layout. Make sure the page contains (at least) the following before you submit it: One external link A mailto link One graphic One header tag (H1, H2, etc.) One horizontal rule Textual descriptions Character Any objects the character owns Character’s room Any other pertinent information Assignment 4 Login to LitMUSE. Go west from the Entrance Hall and then North into the Main Conference Room. Type ‘exam TV’ to see how to use the television. Watch program one, and create the box of donuts along with Ken, if you’d like. Look then at The Unofficial MOO Programming Tutorial and go through Tutorial 1. Now, using the knowledge gleened from these two sources (and more if you want to look), make something original of your own with at least one verb on it. MOO-mail Jhary the object number when you have completed it. Assignment 5 Begin working on a style sheet of your own. . . Assignment 6 Write a progress report that address your work in the class so far. Concentrate on your successes, failures, and goals. Your report should include: Introduction: What will we gain from reading your report? Facts: How did you gain your knowledge? What knowledge is useful to us? How do you interpret this knowledge? Conclusion: How are these facts significant? Recommendations: What should we do? Stop doing? Start doing? This report should take the form of a properly written memo and submitted for evaluation in printed form. Assignment 7 Write two proposals: one for each of your projects. Your proposals should isolate the “problem(s)” and your “solution(s)” to both projects. These memos shold present, in detail, your objectives, methodology, schedule, and tools required for each project. Please submit these in printed, memo form. Assignment 8 Now that you have had experience both on the MOO and the Internet, take some time and analyze both interfaces, using Selber’s first discussion prompts: What kinds of writing and communication activities might these particular interfaces encourage? What kinds of activities might they discourage? What values are embedded in the programs? Examine these tools critically based on your discipline’s agenda and the agenda of the programs as you interpret them. How well do these programs serve your reading/writing needs? Which might be a “better” tool for your discipline? Can you think of any improvements that you might add/subtract from either? Assignments 9 - 15

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