Last updated: 1/17/2000 (added assignments in Office 95 text)
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Assignments
AGS 3360 - Computers, the Internet, and Society

Naming your homework files

In this course, you will turn your homework in as word-processing files. If two people use the same file name, then the file that is turned in second will replace the file that is turned in first, and the work of the first person will be lost. Losing another person's work in this way will lose you credit. Also, as the Instructor, I want the file name to tell me about the person and the assignment. Therefore, make up the names for your homework files with the following parts, in order:

• Your three initials. (If you do not have a middle initial, use the understroke character -- _ or Shift-dash -- instead).
• One-letter assignment code as follows:
  • "a" for Essay A
  • "b" for Essay B
  • "1" for Quiz 1 computer work
  • "2" for Quiz 2 computer work
  • "w" for personal web page
• "cw0" to indicate Computers, the Internet and Society, Winter 2000
• Normal extension for your word processor.
  • Extension for personal web page must be either "htm" or "html"
  • Macs do not use file extensions, so Mac files would not have extensions

So for example, since I use Microsoft Word, the file name for my Essay A would be drbacw0.doc and for my personal web page would be drbwcw0.htm

When I grade the assignments, I will add a "g" to the end of the filename and return it.

Also, as backup file ID, include the following lines at the beginning of each file (except for your personal web page):

1. Your full name
2. Course (AGS 3360) and course name (Computers, the Internet, and Society)
3. Semester (Winter 2000)
4. Assignment (not just the code, write it out, e.g. "Essay A")
5. Word processor and version number (this is in case I have trouble reading it).
   (In Windows, to find the name and version number of any program, including a word processor, open the program, click on its "Help" menu item, and then on the "About" item on the drop-down menu list.)

For example, for my Essay A I would include the following lines at the beginning of the file:

David R. Bowen
AGS 3360, Computers, the Internet, and Society
Winter 2000
Essay A
Microsoft Word 7.0

The essay title and text would start after this header.

Overview of Assignments

• Readings. Readings from the textbooks are scheduled in the table below. Two additional reading assignments are:
  • Keeping up with the course web site
  • Keeping up with the course computer conference.
• Essay A on an Internet Issue listed on the course web page of the same name. Five pages. Must refer to and make use of the course readings and discussions.
• Essay B on a topic from either Release 2.1 or The Lexus and The Olive Tree. Topics wll be posted on the course web site. Five pages. Must refer to and make use of the course readings and discussions.
• Personal web page. Can be produced with Netscape Composer. As with any web page, do not put anything in the page that you do not want to be public.
• Quiz 1 and Quiz 2. Written in class using MS Word and other applications once they are covered. Specific questions will be posted on the course web site. Not cumulative, aside from use of MS Word.
• Email. During the semester, send the following types of messages:
  • Direct, simple email to the Instructor (d.r.bowen@wayne.edu)
  • Email to the Instructor, with an attached file
  • Email to someone else with a cc to the Instructor
  • Reply to another message with a cc to the Instructor
  • Email to a list, which includes the Instructor
• Final Exam. Similar to Quiz 1 and Quiz 2, except cumulative.
• Conference postings. Aside from the course sessions, the course conference is the place for public discussion about assignments, readings, questions and anything else relating to the course. You should make a minimum of twenty substantive conference postings during the semester. Substantive means:
  • Minimum of five lines on the screen.
  • Relevant to course or to course assignments, including technical issues about Internet connection and use of software.
  • Under an appropriate topic.
• Fill in the course information sheet on the course web site by the date given in the table.
• Attendance at class sessions as evidenced by completion of attendance form on course web site.
• Weekly course progress reports using method on course web site.
• You also check the computer conference and the course web site at least weekly.

Please note: being out of town is a valid reason for missing a class. It is not a valid reason for missing a weekly course progress report, conference postings, updating your personal web site, turning in a report or checking the course web site. All of these can be done using the Internet, and Internet access is widely available at public libraries, work sites and other public institutions. If you are out of town for work reasons, and your employer does not provide Internet access, then I expect you to find the local library or other site where you can carry out these class assignments.

More details on each assignment will be posted on the course web site, before the assignment is due.

Assignment Schedule

Texts are identified in the table below by the author's name, as follows:

• Shelly et al, Microsoft Office 95 Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Course Technology, Cambridge MA. 1997. Referred to as MO5 in the table below.
• Preston Gralla, How the Internet Works, Que, Indianapolis IN. 1998.
  Referred to as HIW in the table below. References are to Chapter numbers.
• Esther Dyson, Release 2.1, Broadway Books, New York NY. 1998.
  Referred to as R21 in the table below. References are to Chapter numbers.
• Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY, 1999.
  Referred to as LOT in the table below. References are to Chapter numbers.

NOTE: I will allow you to redo assignments and turn in missing work after the course is over. Such work will not appear in your regular grade, but it will be taken into account in a Change of Grade, and it will eventually appear on your official transcript. The University will allow me to file a Change of Grade up to one calendar year after the end of the semester in which you took the course. For this course, that is through the end of the Winterl 2001 semester. I will not accept major assignments during the last month of this period. If you are redoing an assignment, the original assignment with my comments and grades must be turned in along with the redone assignment. If you plan to make up work after the course is over, course reports are still required, every week.

Computer Conference assignments

• During the semester make twenty contributions to the course conference (postings or replies with a minimum of five lines). These contributions must be substantive, concerning the readings or other points from the conference. For example, "Gee, I thought that was right on" is not substantive -- it does not make a contribution. As an alternative, you can agree with another comment, and then explain it further, extend or go beyond it, or apply it in a new way. To get everybody started, a separate requirement is for four contributions by the date shown in the table above.
• Periodically, the Instructor will post reading questionsin the course computer conference, and on the course web site. You must post a response to each of these questions.  These postings must be under the appropriate topic.

NOTE 1: This does NOT mean that you have to log on to the computer conference more than once a week. You can make multiple postings during a single session.

NOTE 2: "Under the appropriate topic" means that you must be able to find an existing message on the left-hand (yellow) side, pull up the message, and respond to it, either as "Reply" or "Reply/Quote"

NOTE 3: Postings for this class will not be counted if they are under another conference such as "The General Conference" or "Nissani 2030 Chat Room".

NOTE 4: Postings should make use of the following techniques for helping your readers establish a context:

• If you are responding to an earlier posting, editing the title to indicate that this is a response and not the original positing
• If you are responding to an earlier posting, using "Reply/Quote" but editing out parts of the original posting that you are not responding to

Essays

The AGS 3360 essay assignments are to write five-page double-spaced essays on assigned topics. The essays should be written for a general reader, say a magazine reader or a newspaper reader. Specifically, the essay should not be written "to" the Instructor. A general reader will not be interested in whether or not the essay was written for a particular course, or to fill a particular assignment, so these aspects of the assignment should not be mentioned in the essay.

The essay should have the following parts, in this order:

• Header as described near the top of this page.
• A descriptive Title; that is, a title that describes the specific contents of the essay. "Creativity Essay" is not descriptive in this sense, because it is general and does not describe the specific content.
• An Introduction that describes what the reader should expect in the essay; a road map for the essay.
• A Body that contains the information in the essay and addresses the specific points above. The Body should contain detail to support the general points. References to readings can be made "in line", for example "as Howard Gardner states on Pg 37 of Creating Minds". Titles of books should be underlined; other sources, including conference postings, should be in quotation marks.
• A Conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay as a whole. New material should not be introduced in the conclusion; the conclusion should be a summary of material presented earlier.
• A Bibliography (not counted within the five pages). I do not particularly care about the specific form of the bibliographic listings. Each entry should include author name, title, date of publication and pages referenced.

A cover page is not necessary, but the header is necessary.

Essays will be graded on the following basis:

• Content. 40%. Content includes the ideas, arguments, concepts, and references to the readings and the computer conference discussion.
• Form 40%. Form includes the presence of the parts Header, Title, Introduction, Body, Conclusion and Bibliography, and the organization of the essay in a logical and progressive manner. The essay should flow well or naturally from one topic and part to the next. The essay should have a consistent voice (first person, second person, etc.) and tense (past, present, future) throughout.
• Mechanics 20%. This includes grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical aspects of writing. It also includes having the header described above, and the correct file name.

NOTE: The essay form counts for a major part of the essay grade. You should read the description of the form carefully, and clear up any questions or doubts you may have about it, before starting to write an essay. The requirements for the Introduction and Conclusion mean that you should have written a draft or an outline or at least thought through your content before you begin to write the final version.

Common Mechanical Problems

Here is a list of common mechanical problems with writing.

• Sentences and punctuation.
  • A complete sentence is any sentence with a noun and a verb.
    • The verb is easiest to spot, so start with that. The verb is the action.
    • The noun is the thing that carries out the action.
    • Most sentences have other parts, but as long as a sentence has these two, it is a complete sentence.
    • Example 1: John drives the car. "Drive" is the action (verb = drive) and John does the action (noun = John)
    • Example 2: Sam reads the map to the auto parts store. Reads is the action (verb = reads) and Sam does it (noun = Sam).
  • Keep sentences short, or at least most of them short. They are more interesting, and there are fewer opportunities to get into trouble.
  • A complete sentence, standing by itself, starts with a capital letter and ends with a period (or a question mark or exclamation point if appropriate).
  • Two sentences can be joined into one with a semicolon (not with a comma) or a conjunction.
    • Example 1: John drives the car; Sam reads the map to the auto parts store.
    • Example 2: John drives the car while Sam reads the map to the auto parts store
  • The apostrophe has two main jobs: indicating possession (A belongs to B) and conjunction (combining two words and dropping one or more letters, as in is + not = isn't). The apostrophe does not indicate the plural. That is, John Smith and Jane Smith are the Smiths, not the Smith's. the Smith's indicates something that belongs to one of the Smiths.
    • For possession, 's indicates something that belongs to one person or thing, as in, "That is John Smith's car," which means the same thing as, "That car belongs to John Smith."
    • s' indicates something that belongs to more than one person or thing, as in, "Those are John and Jane Smiths' hats."
    • The use of the apostrophe with "it" is slightly different. It's means only contraction; it is. Its means possession - belonging to it.
• Words that are commonly confused. Buy a dictionary, keep it close, and use it.
  • To, two, too
    • To = towards
    • too = excessively
    • two = the number
  • By and buy
    • By = close to
    • Buy = purchase

Essay A Assignment

The assignment for Essay A is to write an essay on one of the social issues described in the "Social Issues for Essay A" link (the page title is "Computers and Society"). You should also use The Lexus and the Olive Tree and the course computer conference for material.