Brainstorming Visual/Virtual Projects

October 18, 2002

Here are some suggestions and considerations for your virtual projects. As with any assignment in English 1001, let me know if you have any questions.

What makes a good web-delivered project?

What materials/resources are available in Atlanta that could be turned into a web-delivered project?

• King Center
• Carter Center
• Tech, Emory, and GSU libraries (Note the GSU library is accessible by MARTA train, and the Emory library is accessible by the #6 Bus, which you can catch at Lindergh station on the North/South Line)
• High Museum

 

Some ideas:

• Guide to "cybertheory"

• Research organizations such as EFF
• Discuss key figures such as Howard Rheingold, Sherry Turkle, Jaron Lanier, and John Perry Barlow
• Find other websites, create links to them

• Pick a movement, period, or historical event and create a web resource

• Harlem Renaissance
• Surrealism
• Free Speech Movement/the 1960s
• Early cinema
• Invention/development of computers/internet
• What to include:
  1. Who the main figures were
  2. A timeline of events
  3. Major primary works
  4. Bibliography of secondary works
  5. Images where available and appropriate

• Historically significant material your family may have

• Letters
• Photographs
• Family Film or video
• Something that would add to our understanding of an event through the lens of personal experience

• Pick a work of literature or film and create an online resource

• If possible, the text itself
• Publication history
• Info on adaptations
• Annotations
• Dictionary or glossary
• Bibliography of secondary work
• Historical context

• Things to consider when planning

• This should be a scholarly resource
• Who is your audience?
• The problems/benefits of working with others
• Is your material still under copyright?
• Is your project original? Don’t repeat what is already out there.
• Is your project "relevant?"
• Depth/amount of primary material should be substantial
• Remember, one aspect of the project is that all group members must contribute a 1200-1500 word essay

• Things to consider when designing

• Design should be sophisticated without being too slick
• Site should be navigable and usable
• Should include appropriate explanations/annotations (where this tex/image came from, etc)
• In the general introduction to your site, you should include a rationale of the editorial principles (how you selected materials, how they were made into a web resource)
• Credits and acknowledgements
• Keep download time in mind (most viewers will be looking at your site overphone lines, not network connections—plus I may not be able to get a lot of bandwidth)

• If you focus on other media:

• If you produce a photgraphic archive, you will need to organize the photographs in some fashion
• You will also need to articulate an organizing principle (why have we included these photographs? why are we presenting them in this particular order?)
• One possibility to consider is taking the photos, and your written material, to a printing service (there is probably one on campus) to give your material a more professional quality
• No matter what, your projects should emphasize schoalrship and should be an attempt to assimilate a larger set of material, whether written or visual.
• You should not forget the principles of analysis that we have been emphasizing throughout the semester.

 

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Note: Many thanks to Dr. George Williams for his assistance and advice on this project.