PHIL 2080.02

PHI LOSO PHY for the W E B An introduction to HTML and to design of Web pages, presentations, and sites. Special attention to the demands of presenting academic content. Weekly exercises, final project. THIS course is taught by Bruce Umbaugh of the Philosophy Department. office: Pearson House basement phone: 961-2660 x7826 (office) or 968-7170 (PHIL office) e-mail office hours: Tu Th 11:30-12:00 and by appointment IF you are enrolled in the course, please fill out the Course Information Form. Thanks.

Philosophy for the Web: A Lab Fridays 2:00-4:00 p.m. in Sverdrup 202 Instructor Information Course Description and Aims Texts Grading and Other Policies attendance academic dishonesty Assignments There are a lot of Web pages. Most of them don't give anyone very much to THINK about. This is a lab course that aims at understanding what is needed to convey philosophical content via the Web generating Web pages that are contentful. It's a lab: an academic period for work or study, as well as a place for practice, observation, and testing. And it's a philosophy course: we want to generate philosophical content for the Web, and, having assumed that point of reference, we want to consider and evaluate theories of Web design. Our textbook will be Laura Lemay's Teach Yourself Web Publishing With HTML 4 in a Week, fourth edition. This book gives the best value for the dollar of any of the (many) HTML books on the market. A lot of the exercises are downloadable from the Web, and some are also available in Laura Lemay's Web Zone. B esides the Lemay text, we will read several essays available via the World Wide Web. Most of these are on the general topic "good Web design." Some are pretty straight. Some are rants. Some are badly mistaken, although most of what I've picked out I endorse. Very soon, please, read "How to Help Someone Use a Computer," by Phil Agre. As soon as convenient, please spend time with: the highly recommended Why the Web Sucks, by C.J. Silverio the always controversial Net Tips for Writers and Designers, by David Siegel the simpler Art and the Zen of Web Sites, by Tony Karp. We will also find it valuable to review Web sites, especially ones that try to convey C O N T E N T Each of the first few weeks, on the assignments page, I will suggest a few sites to survey. Students will be assigned to forward their reviews to me. We can learn from what is done poorly, and we can steal the ideas that work well, as appropriate. Grades will be determined according to the following qualities: 20% helpfulness 20% site reviews 20% weekly exercises 40% projects Attendance in class is required. It's a lab, for Pete's sake. You would be foolish to blow it off. Class meetings are an occasion for you to learn. All sorts of information will presented in class. Practice will be undertaken. Announcements will be made. Assignments, too. You are responsible for knowing all this and for having any additional materials distributed in class. Although I will make myself available to help students outside of class, students who do not attend class meetings should not expect to be rewarded with intensive assistance. Finally, note that I reserve the right to reward students who have attended class faithfully, displayed significant effort, and made important contributions to the class. You are adults, attending a university. I expect you to behave responsibly. Students in this class are expected to do their own work and not to rely on the work of others. Students are welcome to work with one another to understand the material, but any student plagiarizing, cheating on an exam, aiding another student to cheat, or committing any other act of academic dishonesty will be referred for appropriate disciplinary action. Please consult with me if you have questions in this regard, either about your own work or that of another person.