"Writing for New Media" combines theory and practice by teaching students how to understand and critically engage with new technologies and online resources and by giving students the skills to begin to create their own content as they learn how to write for new media. Today the Internet serves as a platform for every sector in the wired world; students not only need to know how to communicate effectively on paper but must also understand the various aspects of writing and publishing content online. While the ability to write is central to online communications, attention needs to be paid to the additional skills that are required to convey ideas and make arguments through new technologies, including chunking content, hyperlinking, visual structure and information design, and interactive content. Assignments involve writing content and adapting it for new media contexts. The course explores wikis, video compositions, social media formats (Facebook, Twitter), blogs, and op-eds. Ultimately, students create a blog site through which they can practise and refine skills and prepare a portfolio of online writing. This course requires no prior knowledge of web design.
Prerequisites: none. |
