Schedule

//Text abbreviations for weekly readings.// //Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web = IA// //WordPress 3 Complete = W3C//


 * Week 1 | Sept. 6th**
 * Content Management as Paradigm**
 * CMS history
 * CMS platforms
 * Introduction to Wordpress

Web Culture Reading: - Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 1-2 Lab exercise: WordPress Setup w/ CCIT Technologist


 * Week 2 | Sept. 13th**
 * Planning a Web Project**
 * Wireframes & outlines
 * User testing/input/consultation
 * Web design as foresight

Web Culture Reading: Dennis G. Gerz, [|"On the Trail of the Memex: Vannevar Bush, Weblogs and the Google Galaxy"]. (2003) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 3-4 [[|Ch. 3 PDF], [|Ch. 4 PDF]], W3C Ch. 1-2 Case study: TBA Lab exercise: Administrating a WordPress site, CSS Sleuthing


 * Week 3 | Sept. 20th**
 * Web Typography I**
 * History of web typography
 * CSS review - reverse engineering with firebug
 * Font stacks - best practice

Web Culture Reading: Michael Bierut, [|"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface"], Design Observer. (2007), Information Architects, [|"Web Design is 95% Typography"] (2006) Technical Reading(s): Jason Cranford Teague, "Fluid Web Typography" (excerpts - [|PDF]) Lab exercise: Web Type I


 * Week 4 | Sept. 27th.**
 * Web Typography II**
 * The importance of readability
 * How to select typefaces for a site
 * @Font-face - type hosting service overview

Web Culture Reading: Jon Downer [|"Call It What It Is"], Émigré." (2003) Technical Reading(s): Jason Cranford Teague, "Fluid Web Typography" (excerpts - [|PDF]) Case study: http://nytimes.com Lab exercise: 'Apple Tart' assignment work session

**Take Home Quiz #1 Due**
 * Week 5 | Oct. 4th**
 * Navigation, Taxonomy & Categories**
 * Keeping things organized - taxonomy & categories
 * Structural, associative and utility navigation
 * Global vs. local navigation
 * 404 pages

Web Culture Reading: Cory Doctorow, [|"Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia"]. (2001) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 6, 8, W3C Ch. 5-6 Case studies: http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk, http://reuters.com Lab exercise: Installing a WordPress theme, plugin, editing your sites stylesheet, Nav/Link Styling

**Apple Tart Assignment Due**
 * Week 6 | Oct. 11th**
 * Visual Design for the Web**
 * Classical grid layouts and the web
 * Integration of text, image and multimedia
 * Interactivity - Flash, HTML5 and jQuery (comparison)

Web Culture Reading: Tim O'Reilly, [|"What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software"] (2005) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 7, W3C Ch. 3-4 Case study: http://www.visualcomplexity.com, http://flickr.com Lab exercise: WordPress 102


 * Week 7 | Oct. 18th**
 * Architecting Social Spaces**
 * User generated content - a new paradigm
 * Social architecture: keeping a site under control
 * User permissions & security concerns

Web Culture Reading: Geert Lovink, Ned Rossiter & Ippolita, [|"The Digital Given: 10 Web 2.0 Theses"], Fibreculture 14. (2009) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 6, 9, W3C Ch. 9 Case study: http://wikipedia.org, http://huffingtonpost.com Lab exercise: 'Damage Control' work session.


 * Week 8 | Oct. 25th**
 * Putting the Parts Together**
 * Guest Speaker - **Jim Hickman from [|Manx Creative]
 * Developing a workflow to approach a complex project
 * Making sense of a client-brief, turning a list of job requirements and a mass of content into a site

Web Culture Reading: Clay Shirky, [|"Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable"], (2009) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 10, W3C Ch. 8 Lab exercise: TBA

**'Damage Control Theming Assignment Due – Final Assignment Issued**
 * Week 9 | Nov. 1st**
 * Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Site Organization**
 * Why designing for search is good design
 * Google PageRank unpacked
 * Web Analytics

Web Culture Reading: TBA Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 11, W3C Ch. 10 Lab exercise: TBA


 * Week 10 | Nov. 8th**
 * Final Project Work Session**

Web Culture Reading: Anne Helmond, [|"Lifetracing: The Tracing of a Networked Life"], in Networked. (2009) Technical Reading(s): IA Ch. 12, W3C Ch. 12

**Take Home Quiz #2 Due**
 * Week 11 | Nov. 15th**
 * Final Project Work Session**


 * Week 12 | Nov. 22nd**
 * Final Project Work Session**

**Final Project Due**
 * November 29th**