WiredPen

Undergraduate Courses

COM300

Basic Concepts of New Media — Winter and/or Spring.

This is an introduction to new media as well as the role new media technologies play in society. The course also has a WordPress blog.

Throughout the course, we explore the evolution of new media technologies as well as their impact on economics, politics, communication and community. We also examine key moments in computing and media history to gain a perspective on the nature of technological innovation and change. Because new media do not inhabit one specific discipline, this is an interdisciplinary course that includes communication, computer science, law, political science, history and economics.

Students in COM300 create blogs for their weekly readings; we’re currently using WordPress (a migration from Blogger). Students are also required to create a “course page” that has information about their class project and the article that they bring to class when it’s their turn to lead discussion. How to create a link to your PPT !

Here’s what your Creative Commons license might look like:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

COM 460

Blogging Media and Politics — Spring 2007 and 2008.

Course Description

The old adage — “Never get into a public argument with anyone who buys ink by the barrel, or paper by the trainload!” — is turned on its head when the cost of a “digital printing press” is nominally zero. This course examines the structures, technologies and impacts of digital social media, like blogs and wikis, on the institutions of American media and politics. Due in no small part to these technologies, the media environment for politics and policy is in flux.

We will trace these communication technologies as they have evolved, spurred on by terrorism, war and political campaigns. We will explore this, the Web 2.0 space, by examining how these technologies empower audiences and impact traditional “top-down” institutions like mainstream media and national political parties.

The class will involve active, hands-on learning, including student-led discussion.

This is a “practice what we preach” course, and as such, students will create and maintain a blog, contribute to our class blog, and edit stories in the wiki-space. This is not a “how to write HTML” course, but students will learn how to edit CSS files to customize blog templates and to do so in a manner that contributes to - rather than

detracts from - site usability.

Books - UW Link

Graduate Courses

COM546

Evolution of Digital Media Technologies, Fall.

The course focuses on the past, present, and future of digital media, in contrast to traditional media outlets studied in most communication programs. We explore what may be truly new and revolutionary about digital media and what may be a continuation of traditional technology, content, and/or audience. We also examine information and telecommunications technologies that play a significant role shaping the modern society. These include the Internet, broadband communications systems, cellular telephony, wireless networking, and digital, cable, and satellite TV.

COM585

Message Design & Content Creation , Winter.

This course is the first of two linked courses that focus on digital content planning, creation, management and deployment. Introduces the terminology, history and evolution of web design and the use of hypertext. Provides an overview of effective web page design and efficient site architecture. Introduces project management techniques needed to organize digital assets, allocate resources, and meet deadlines. Covers the identification, creation and evaluation of message design to meet needs of the target customers.

COM586

Writing and Presentation for Digital Media, Spring.

This course is the second of two linked courses that focus on digital content planning, creation, management and deployment. The focus is on creating original content, although we will examine issues involved in repurposing existing content.

COM597

Net-Centric Economics, a special projects course, Summer 2007.

This course explores the impact of the Internet and digital technologies on the economy — from facilitating product variety to pricing, from switching costs to social network impacts on content creation and marketing. The objective of the course is not to produce a trained economist or a computer scientist; instead, the objective is to expose students to current practices in the digital market place and the market impacts of emerging technologies. In addition, students will take an economic approach to media analysis and consumer behaviors.

Proseminar: Web Technologies, Fall 2007

COM597: Podcasting In Business, special projects course, Spring 2008

Journalism Workshops: April 2008

Three digital media creation half-day workshops for UW journalism students.