Aphra Behn, historical context

By way of offering some additional information on Behn's historical/cultural moment, I defer to Carolyn's useful wiki notes for last class. Go take a look! The links she posts give background on a number of things: Behn's biography, the transatlantic slave trade, women and publication, the Glorious Revolution, politics, etc.

Assignment Dates

To avoid any confusion, I've posted the sign-up sheets that you used to select dates for the Oral Presentation and the Wiki Assignment (in which you post notes from class twice a semester). You can access both sheets on the Assignments page of our wiki. The link for the wiki notes sign-up sheet is under "Participation," and the link for the oral presentation sign-up sheet is under the heading of the same name. Please confirm the dates you signed up for and put them in your calendars.

Othello Film Night - 9/17

Based on everyone's schedules, it seems our best bet will be to stick with the 6-8 p.m. time slot on Wednesday, Sept. 17 because the movie runs over two hours (it's Shakespeare, what can we do) and some people have a commitment at nine. We'll be meeting in Madeleva 233. Please let me know if you have any dietary restrictions.

Also, by way of preparation, you might want to take a look at this brief introduction to reading/analyzing film put together by the organization Film Education. Much like a work of art or a text, there are structural and stylistic elements in films that combine with overall narratives to produce a sense of meaning for audiences. If you were interested in writing about film, Dartmouth has a great overview of the challenges of the process and strategies for success.

Finally, don't forget to comment on one another's blogs! This is a huge feature of blogging and will help facilitate class discussion each week.

Wetpaint How-to Video

Since we'll be using Wetpaint as our wiki web application or webware (software that runs on a browser), the following video is especially helpful because it elaborates on the specific kind of wiki you'll create in class. Some wikis look more like those you'll find on Wikipedia. Others, including our course wiki, resemble stylized websites. For more on the former, don't forget to check out the blog post on defining wikis.

What is a wiki anyway?

A wiki is a collaborative website. It allows multiple users to edit, alter, and create content - all with relative ease and without knowledge of HTML or other programming languages. Given their collaborative nature, wikis are much like the writing process - never done! One of the most popular examples of a wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia in which users create and edit the entries (raising questions about accuracy, objectivity, and a writer's credentials). Interestingly, the New York Times published an article last summer, "Seeing Corporate Fingerprints in Wikipedia," about the downsides to using/trusting Wikipedia. Not all wikis look like Wikipedia, though. Our course wiki, for example, is designed to resemble more of a traditional web page with its visual interest and structure.

For a great demonstration of how to use wikis, check out the video "Wikis in Plain English" by Common Craft, a company created by two people in Seattle who found their niche online: explaining complex social networking and web applications in simple, "plain" terms.



As you can see from the video, wikis are great for any group or community of users: classes, student groups, etc. Any ideas about how we could use one in a productive way for our course?