Hu 337--Print & Digital Publishing
Michigan Technological University
Spring Term, 1998

Instructor: Dickie Selfe
Office: 138 WAHC 487-3225
Home: 482-5663 (before 10:00 PM!)
Office Hours: To be arranged		 Collaborating Teachers:
Tarik Kanaana
Shamba Murrell
Text: Electronic Highway Robbery, by M. Carter, Peachpit Publishing. Text: Getting It Printed, by Beach, Shepro, Russon, Coast to Coast Books (OPTIONAL)

What is HU337?

 This is what Print Lab used to be: Print Lab was the third course in our publications sequence which began with HU 330, "Publications Management" and HU 245, "Graphic Communication." (NOTE: I expect you to have taken one of these two courses already or to have talked to me about your situation. Set up an appointment with me today or ASAP if you haven't.) Print Lab focused on the final steps in the publication process: taking camera-ready mechanicals and transforming them into finished printed products.

The above is still true to some extent. "But the times, they are a changing." So Print Lab has changed into a course called "Print and Digital Publishing" which will require you to think carefully about how you might use digital media to publish information. There has been and continues to be an amazing proliferation of digital "publishing" systems over the last several years, and those systems have had a powerful influence on print publishing. So in this class we will be considering ways to manage Internet publishing efforts as well as print publishing projects.

Course Goals

I have five primary goals for this class:
  1. I want you to get both some conceptual (book learning) and some hands-on experience with many of the different stages of print production: planning a project, plate making, press make-ready, printing, proofing, and press cleanup). Printing experiences will help you better understand what a printer goes through and be better able to communicate with printers and with your co-workers about printers.

  2. In order to keep current with the people who print publications for you, you will have to work closely with a number of publishing "shops." In small groups you will be spending some time touring local print establishments, on campus and off, and interviewing some of the publishing professionals in those shops. If anyone has the opportunity to visit larger printing "plants" downstate, in the UP (Marquette, Escanaba), or in northern Wisconsin, please let me know early in the quarter so you can plan for visits in lieu of visiting a local shop. Our objectives for visiting will be two fold: 1) collect information about how students can best prepare their materials for these print shops. 2) collect information on the types of print projects in which each shop excels. We will then create a web site that contains this information.

  3. Together, we will all try to come to some understanding of work-related and social changes that are occurring as we move from a traditional print culture to one dominated by digital media. We'll read, talk in class, and talk online as we explore these larger cultural issues.

  4. I would like you to think about how you might manage a large online publishing endeavor. We'll accomplish this by visiting and evaluating some sites that already exist, by talking to professional online publishers (if I can arrange it), and by writing a proposal that outlines a large online publishing endeavor and describes how that site will be managed over time. This proposal can either be produced for the web or on hardcopy.

  5. I want you to experience (or re-experience) the joys and frustrations of working on a team as you problem solve and produce copy on our printing press. You need to try, this quarter, to develop a patient, persistent curiosity about the equipment and processes that we'll use. Take pride and responsibility for the projects in which you become involved and all the tiny details with which the publishing professionals must concern themselves. Be picky, but get the job done!

Readings and Discussions

We will meet every Mon. from 3-4 PM for discussions of the previous week's reading. It is extremely important that you become both personally and intellectually engaged with these challenging readings AND the face-to-face and online discussions that follow. I'll grade this portion of the class based on your participation.

Weekly Reading Schedule

MON. or TUES.Everyone reads selection (1st time), Summary of selection with bibliographic information posted to CAP-L@MTU.EDU by one student. (I'll do this the first week.) The idea is to encourage responses not just from our class but the other readers of CAP-L. Extra credit for anyone who does get a response from non-class members.
TUES. thru SUN. All class members (other than the student responsible for summary statements) post a one or two paragraph "speculation" to CAP-L OR to the class list <337-L@mtu.edu>. During the week, respond to at least one other person's comments. (A total of two posts per week.)
MON.Following a week of online discussion we'll meet on Mon. from 3:00 to 4:00 for a full class discussion of the selection: questions, clarifications, disagreements, implications. The person who supplied the summary, will take notes and summarize the f2f discussion for CAP-L. (I'll do this the first week.)

Reading List--We will discuss these readings on Mon. of:
WK 2Kalmbach, Jim (1997). The Computer and the Page, , Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, pp. 53-99.
WK 3Gomez, Mary L. (1991). The Equitable Teaching of Composition with Computers: A case for change. In Evolving Perspectives on computers and composition Studies: Questions for the 1990s, (Eds. Gail Hawisher & Cynthia Selfe). Urbana, IL: NCTE Press, pp. 318-335.
WK 5Birkerts, Sven (1994). The Gutenberg Elegies: The fate of reading in an electronic age, New York, NY: Fawcett Columbine Books, pp. 210-229.
WK 6Roberts, Paul (1996). Virtual Grub Street: Sorrows of a multimedia hack. In Harper's Magazine, June, pp. 71-77.
WK 7Carter, Mary (1996). Electronic Highway Robbery, Peachpit Press, pp. ix-xiv, & 19-60.
WK 8Carter, Mary (1996). Electronic Highway Robbery, Peachpit Press, pp. 63-96.
WK 9Carter, Mary (1996). Electronic Highway Robbery, Peachpit Press, pp. 97-115, & 125-150.

Where to Find Non-book Readings

Your will find copies of the readings in these locations. Please abide by the guidelines for use so that your classmates can easily find and read these pieces at their convenience.
  1. In the CCLI in a small file cabinet in the back of the Mac lab, I will keep a copy or two of the readings in the bottom drawer. A sign-out sheet will be there as well. If you are going to read the assignment in or near the CCLI, take one copy, write your name, title of reading, date and check-out time on the sheet. On the same line, write the sign-in time when you return the copy. If you are not making a copy for yourself, take extensive notes on questions and reactions you have to the reading to refer to as you write summaries, comment on CAP-L, comment on other peoples' posts, or comment in class on Mondays.
  2. In the library, I will leave a complete set of readings on reserve. These copies are primarily for making copies of your own. I recommend this practice so that you will have them to refer to when you come to class, since we'll have short open copy quizzes on each reading at the beginning of the period. If you are not making a copy for yourself, take extensive notes on questions and reactions you have to the reading to refer to as you write summaries, comment on CAP-L, comment on other peoples' posts, or comment in class on Mondays.
  3. As a last resort, I will have the originals in my office.

E-mail Discussion

IMPORTANT:

CAP-L@mtu.edu, as some of you know, is inhabited by people other than those in this class. There are ~50 people on this list: students from other universities (Eastern Michigan for one), professional communicators, and other instructors. They are all at least as busy as yourselves and most of them have volunteered to participate in this discussion. DON'T post to the list just to fulfill the requirements of this assignment or without carefully considering what you are going to say. If you have any doubts about whether your comments are appropriate, send a message to me and I will help you with your electronic contribution for that week. All your posts to CAP-L should include enough information so that those not from MTU can understand and benefit from your comments.

In-class Discussions

We will discuss the readings on-line before our class discussions on Mon. When you come to class on Mon. bring in any on-line posts that you want to discuss, so that you can quote from them and remind us of what the person said. At several points in the quarter we will meet in the lab to participate in electronic, synchronous discussions instead on in room 134. There is some possibility that we can meet on-line with the participants on CAP-L.

Print and Digital Publishing Plans

Traditional Print Making

In the Print Lab

Early in the term, I will divide the class into two groups. Each group will be responsible for managing one or two simple, less-than-critical print projects that will help refine your press skills. It is critically important that you get elbow deep in each step of the process early in the quarter. During later, more complex projects where quality is of more importance, I will assume you have acquired enough of the basic skills and general knowledge to trouble shoot the inevitable problems that appear at each stage of the printing process. Like I said, we'll start with several not-so-critical projects that I will bring in. But by the third week of class you should be ready to print a project of your own. My policy concerning printing projects is that you can print any reasonable project for a not-for-profit group as long as you supply the paper. Extra-credit projects are also possible.

The lab is available from 8-4:45 Monday through Friday (except when the Bull is being printed), so we will want to experiment with times other than the Mon./Wed.. 4-5 & 3-5 lab times. I will meet with both printing groups at the beginning of the term (except on Wed. of the 1st week), but leave you more on your own as the term progresses. Missing scheduled class periods will affect your final grade.

Visiting Print Shops

Either in pairs or groups of three, you will set up an appointment with a print shop, brainstorm and prepare some questions to ask while on tour, visit the place, prepare a short class presentation of what you learned during your visit, and give that presentation in the 7th week. The final task will be to put your presentation into a web form that will 1) be useful to other students preparing publishing projects for these shops AND 2) not offend, annoy, or otherwise defame the print shops themselves. Currently the shops I have in mind include: Other suggestions are welcome, particularly those out of town!


World Wide Web Publishing Proposal

This portion of the class has three components: 1) some discussions about the use of the WWW for teaching and publishing that I am setting up for the Humanities department this Spring 2) your presentation on a substantial publishing site of choice, and 3) your WWW publishing proposal.

WWW Discussions in the Humanities Department

The Teaching With Information Technology group within the Humanities Department will be hosting a number of presentations on the WWW. Titles aren't set but may include
Each session will last only one hour, from noon to one on Fridays during the term. Please try to keep that time slot open if at all possible. Watching presentations like these on video tape isn't all that much fun. We should all learn a great deal about this new, "hot" medium.

Publishing Site Presentation

During the first five weeks I will expect you to surf the web, find an "information-rich site"--not just a small number of related web pages--review/critique that site, and prepare a presentation for the class in the 6th week.

WWW Proposal

You will have the rest of the term to develop a proposal for developing your own "information-rich" site along with a plan for maintaining that site. I will expect you to hand in a draft of that proposal by the end of the eighth week of class.


Course Requirements (a review with percentages)

  1. Participation (15%)--Attendance at the class meetings and the lab sessions is absolutely critical in this course. Your team cannot afford too many absences as they work in the Print Lab. If you are ill or have to otherwise miss a printing or planning session, please call me and ALL your group members, before hand. You must make these absences up to the satisfaction of both me and the group! This grade is determined by your attendance in class and lab sessions, your participation during class and lab sessions, your handling of assigned activities in a timely manner, and your participation in group meetings that occur outside of class time.

  2. Print Project: (25%)--Here is your chance to be creative and useful at the same time. You will follow a document from start to finish.

    1. In the second week of the quarter, you will meet with me if necessary and decide on a small publication that will require two or three press runs: fliers, brochures, small booklets, .... The document can be almost anything that is not obscene or illegal. If you have any concerns about a project, ask.

    2. By the end of the second week, turn in a proposal that includes a thumbnail (a quick, hand or computer drawn sketch) of the document, a description of its purpose and audience, the kind of paper you'll be using, and the name and phone number of each person in your print group. Keep a copy of this document for yourself.

    3. On Wed. of the second week, set up a conference with me for the following week. At that conference, you should be able to present a neat and relatively complete mockup of your project. After I've met with everyone, I'll set up a print schedule, so you can begin preparing your "camera-ready copy." I'll expect you to come up with the paper on which to print your project.

    4. Review of mechanical--One of your classmates and I will review your mechanicals (final copy) at least once before you print the project.

    5. Final copies to me for grading--as soon as you complete your print project, hand in all copies to me for review before taking them to your client. Make sure there are enough so that I can keep at least one copy.

  3. Group Print Shop Visit/Presentation/Web page (10%)--Set up the appointment, put together questions in advance of the visit, visit the place and interview the printer, prepare a presentation for the class, and finally put that presentation in web form. Web form due at 5:00 PM Friday of the 10th week

  4. Printing Press Quizzes (5%)--These will be part of our lab sessions during the first three weeks and will be based on the press documentation that I hand out in class. Please return the documentation once you are finished with it. I'll keep one copy in the Print Lab for reference.

  5. Internet Publishing (30%)--This is where this term's class differs from those of the past.

    1. Find and review an "information-rich" site on the WWW. Spend some time analyzing how it is designed, organized, and maintained. Sending an intelligent note to the web manager with carefully composed comments and questions will often result in a thoughtful response from that person if they have time. Put together a presentation (5-15 minutes) for the class using PowerPoint, overheads, or some other software. We'll either meet in 134 or the CCLI for these presentations. Show us the site as you analyze how they have designed, organized, and maintained this online publication. Presentations to be given on Mon. of the 6th week

    2. Work on a proposal for a site you would like to create, grow, and maintain. The proposal should include a rationale for site, how it compares to other related publications or sites, what technological and human resources it will take to begin, grow, and maintain the site. Be sure to include a discussion of where (on what server) the site should reside.
      1st draft due at 5:00 PM Friday of the 8th week
      FINAL draft due at 5:00 PM Friday of the 10th week

    3. Attend the Friday noon WWW sessions sponsored by the TWIT committee or view and respond to the taped versions via email to 337-L@mtu.edu

  6. Digital Change: Participation on CAP-L, 337-L, or a final "paper." (15%)--Participate in this e-mail conference twice each week. (See "Electronic Discussion" above) This e-mail listserv is a computer-assisted publishing conference made up of professionals and other students of publishing from MTU and other universities (Ill. State, Eastern Mich., Purdue University). YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUBSCRIBING TO CAP-L@MTU.EDU ASAP. Here's how.

    1. Send a message to

    2. majordomo@mtu.edu

    3. In the message type the following

      4. subscribe cap-L

    That's it.


    7. Grading

    This has always been a difficult process in Print Lab. But I think the following is a fair procedure. If you attend the lab sessions and make a good faith effort to do all of the project work, You will get a B+ or A/B. If you do not attend regularly or neglect any of the project work, you will get a C or worse. If you attend, do project work, and achieve excellence in some area of the class (in the discussions, as a trouble shooter, through extra work on projects,...) I will give you an A. To illustrate "expertise," your group members must, recommend you.


    Important Notes: