HU 330 Daily Schedule
HU 330 Description	Class Overview & Grades	Schedule of Readings
Group Project	Individual Projects	Professional Resources

Department of Humanities

Michigan Technological University

Fall, 1999

HU 330 Publications Management

(9:00-10 MWF. in WAHC 134 or CCLI)

Class web page: <http://www.HU.mtu.edu/~rselfe/330.99>

Instructor: Dickie Selfe

E-mail: rselfe@mtu.edu

Office: 138 WAHC

Phone: 487-3225,

Office Hours: 10-11 MWF or by appointment

Texts & Other Useful Information:

• Conover, T. E., Graphic Communication Today, NY: West Pub. 1995.
• (Optional) Type Gauge (E-Scale) - available at the counter at the Bookstore.
• CCLI Lab Fee ($65-billed automatically)
• If you have any disabilities under the ADA, please let me know about them by the end of the first week of class.
• I may modify the syllabus and policy statement for this class in light of changing student needs and the changing circumstances of this class.

This document will stand as your primary source of information about assignments in this course. I will, however, elaborate on assignment procedures during class discussions. You are responsible for both.

Professionalism: If you are going to miss class or appointments, please inform any affected person (including me) before the appointment is missed. All classes are considered appointments. If there is an emergency, of course you should inform affected people as soon as reasonably possible. Contact the Dean of Students if an emergency makes attending class or meetings difficult for an extended period of time. When you return to class after missing a session, get the recorder's class notes. If those notes have been posted on the class web site, look them over and talk to one trusted class member about what happened that day. Then come by and get my version of what was important. Follow the same r

Course Definition & Expectations-HU 330, Publications Management, is a course that will introduce you to the process of planning, writing, and designing small publications such as booklets and newsletters. These assignments also involve issues of purpose and audience which are central to all technical writing, but not necessarily to mass circulation publications such as magazines or newspapers. We will spend most of the quarter working on pieces of communication that you can showcase at future job interviews. Through these projects I hope to emulate some of the aspects of an actual job setting as much as possible. One of these aspects, the one most important to a successful publication manager/designer is the ability to keep multiple projects going at the same time while meeting deadlines and producing quality materials. You will have first-hand experience with this over the next ten weeks.

One of the primary objectives of this class will be to increase your sensitivity to how the content, organization, design, and physical shape of a publication can affect the way information is communicated to specific audiences. I emphasize content (primarily written content) because in this class we will be concentrating on the appropriateness of content and its arrangement for specific audiences. In other words, the quality of the writing and the appropriateness of the information presented will be of primary importance to me as I grade and respond to your projects.

We'll be primarily concerned with the technology of printing and with different methods of preparing printed material: you'll complete all the written and graphic copy within a mockup, but not necessarily the final document ready to take to a printer. That may sound contradictory, but typically HU330 final projects are what most professionals consider a first draft. That draft should be accurate enough and professional enough to present to a review board or client, who would then decide if it is acceptable. Some students go above and beyond this stage and produce documents that are camera-ready ("mechanicals"). That is, their projects are ready to hand to a printer for final production work. The final feedback (written or oral) that you receive from me will indicate how close your project is to "camera ready."

Course Goals and Outcomes:

• You should be able to identify and describe, in great detail, the audiences of a particular publication.
• You should be able to read through and understand a substantial collection of "technical" information, select from that collection the essential material, and organize that material into a useful publication appropriate for your primary audience(s).
• You should be better able to use much more of the terminology of the print and electronic publishing industries.
• You should be able to produce practical, well-conceived, and aesthetically pleasing publications.
• You should be better able to coordinate your work efforts with colleagues on large-scale, long term publishing projects.
• You should be better able to look at the world around you and come up with solutions to the publishing problems you see in local organizations.
• You should know your classmates strengths and weaknesses and be able to provide them with an honest and useful evaluation of their efforts.
• You should become technologically more sophisticated or at least more practiced.

HU 330, "Publications Management," is part of a three-term publication sequence: HU 245, "Graphic Design," focuses on fundamental design issues that will be useful in all aspects of technical communication. HU 337, "Information Management" is offered only in the spring and introduces you to actual offset printing techniques and explores new methods of digital publishing via the WWW.

WARNING: HU 330 is computer-intensive in every sense of the word. We'll use all the desktop publishing systems in the CCLI, basic photo-manipulation software, real-time conferencing software, Adobe Acrobat, e-mail, the WWW, and some basic HTML coding. Don't let this intimidate you. If you are already familiar with our desktop publishing system in the CCLI the rest will be easy to pick up. HOWEVER, if you have not completed HU 244 or its equivalent, you may not be prepared for the technological pace of this class. See me immediately!!