Introduction to Humanities Computing

HTML Short Paper

This assignment is aimed at giving you experience working in groups on hypertext works.

Instructions:

1. You should form groups of 4. Groups of less than three and more than five are not acceptable.
2. Your group should choose a subject related to computing and the humanities, preferably a subject you are familiar with from your disciplinary studies. There is a list of possible topics below.
3. You should contact your instructor about your subject so that they can direct you should it be too wide or too narrow. They can also provide suggestions.
4. Together you should build a web site that introduces the topic you chose to an audience of students like yourself. You are building a hypertext encyclopedia article on the subject for people interested in computing and the humanities.
5. Your assignment should be handed in on a floppy disk (without viruses) and in printed form. Make sure the hypertext links are relative so that they work off the floppy or on a server.
6. Keep a backup of the site in case the disk handed in gets corrupted.
7. Each member of the group should also individually fill out a self-evaluation form which should be handed in with the assignment. This self-evaluation is to identify situations where some people did not contribute to the assignment. See the questions for the self-evaluation below.

Marking:

When marking the assignment Instructors will be looking for the following:

1. Audience - Is there a clear sense of the audience of the site and how to best inform them about the subject?
2. Interesting content - Is the subject interesting and the content presented in a fashion that makes it interesting?
3. Accurate content - Is the content of the site accurate and clear?
4. Good design - Is the site well designed? Is it visually attractive and does the visual design complement the subject matter? Are the links appropriate? Are the division of pages and navigational aides provided well designed and appropriate to the content of the site?
5. References - Does the site properly reference other sites of value and other types of materials. Are borrowed graphics credited? Are the creators of the site properly credited?

Possible Subjects:

• Computers in Art
• E-texts
• Gender and Computing
• Privacy and Freedom of Speech
• Computer Ethics
• Computers and Education
• Distance Education and Computers
• Fuzzy Logic
• Automatic Translation
• Natural Language Parsing
• Artificial Intelligence
• The Turing Test
• Identity and the Internet

This not a complete list. It is intended to give you ideas. Some of the subjects listed are too wide - you would want to focus on a particular aspect of the issue.

Self-Evaluation

Each student in each group should hand in a self-evaluation form on a sheet of paper. This form should not be filled out by anyone but you! This form allows instructores to judge whether certain groups did not fuction properly and whether grades should be adapted to reflect that. On your self-evaluation form you should answer the following questions:

1. What is your name?
2. What is your student number?
3. What was your contribution to the team project?
4. Do you feel that you did your fair share of the project?
5. Did others do their fair share?
6. What would you do differently the next time you work on a team project?