MC 441 Multimedia Use in Mass Media
TEXTS: Being Digital (Nicholas Negroponte), HTML 3 (Larry Aronson), Every Student's Guide to the World Wide Web (Pitter & Minato)

This course is designed to provide the student with a fundamental overview of the new communications technologies. The first part of the course will trace the evolution of the new technologies of the communications industry. This part of the course will also help you to understand how some of the different aspects of the new technologies work.

The first assignment in the class will involve building a web page for yourself. This will be due one month from tonight. The second assignment will be building a web page with audio & links for a faculty member, an organization, or another person (e.g., a staff person). This assignment is due two months from tonight. The third assignment will involve a project of your choosing which will be pre-approved by the instructor and due in finals week. In addition you will be expected to use the internet to do research and use e-mail to get weekly information and assignments. Your final assignment will have an accompanying report of 8-10 pages describing the project, its relevance to the course and the industry, and its importance in future communications technology.

There will be two take-home tests. These must be done on word processors and turned in on the due dates, or earlier if there is a scheduling conflict.

Most of the course work will be done out of class; the class times will be used to discuss problems you may be having, and to talk about other issues pertaining to communications technology. Each student will be assigned to research one topic on the internet, prepare a brief summary or copies of the article for everyone, and be prepared to lead the class discussions. A copy of each of these will be compiled and used as a reference source for this class and future classes. If all assignments and tests are completed on time, we will devote the final two weeks to either guest lecturers or field trips.
The assignments will be graded as follows: