| |
| |
Final
F.A.Q.
So
what am I supposed to do?
What
if I can't think of a beginning or ending text?
Do
the web-pages all have to have images?
What
do you mean by a "connection"? How am I supposed to write that?
Does
the final text have to be something you (zach) know about?
How
will I turn this in?
What
do I have to do to get an 'A' ?
What
will prevent me from getting an 'A' ?
What
are the requirements again? |
|
So
what am I supposed to do?
Select one
of the (fiction) texts from this course (Photopia, Memento, your video
game, House of Leaves, Garden of Forking Paths) it doesn’t really
matter which one. This will be your “relay.” Next, select
a text which has significance in your major or in your personal life.
Preferably, the work should be fictional, but it doesn’t matter
too much. It must, however, be something that we did not read in this
course; in fact, the less obvious the connection, the better.
Your project, is to build
a connection between the texts. Think of it like the “Six Degrees
of Kevin Bacon” game with ideas instead of actors. A connection
will consist of another text that is somehow related to an original
text.
|
|
What
if I can't think of a beginning or ending text?
If you have several
ideas you can't decide among, I might be able to help narrow your
list down some, but the text itself doesn't matter so much as its
ability to have connections with other texts.
It will take some
pretty creative thinking to come up with your list. And keep in mind
that your final text (and at least two of the in-between texts) have
to be material from outside of the class.
|
|
Do
the webpages all have to have images?
Yes. As usual.
Pictures will help greatly to explain connections or, possibly, convey
your navigational metaphor. If, for example, you were to present your
narrative as a journey, images of roads or train tracks would help
maintain that metaphor.
Obviously, if
you choose to do a MOO project, you won't have any "actual"
images, but your spaces should be visually suggestive and well described.
|
|
What
do you mean by a "connection"?
There are any
number of ways one text can connect to another. I mentioned the Borges-Baudrillard
connection, but we've talked about others in passing. Labyrinth
connects to Memento because David Bowie's music accompanies
the end credits in both films. That's a weaker connection, but it
counts.
Also, House
of Leaves has lots of potential departure points. For instance,
frequent references to Derrida make for a substantial connection.
How am I
supposed to write that?
Your
essay has to figure out how to do that, but we've talked about links
and you've created some web-pages now, so hopefully some ideas are coming
to mind. You could make it a narrative about a journey. You could make
it a collection of non-linear pages with key words linking pages as
nodes. It's up to you as long as it "hangs together" logically.
In other words, each page should have a somewhat uniform appearance
to relate it to the other pages.
|
|
Does
the final text have to be something you (zach) know about?
Absolutely
not. You'll be telling me all about it in your project.
|
|
Initially by e-mail
and, officially, by dropping off your printed pages in my mailbox
(Turlington 4310). The main thing is to e-mail me and let me know
that it's done before its final due date of December 18th (at 12:00
PM). Please note that owing to the extreme lateness of the due date,
there will be no possibility of extensions or turning
it in late.
If you do the
MOO version, please print me a list of everything you've created for
this project (with the look/cut/paste technique or with a log). This
is so I can see this project's material separately from the last one.
|
|
What
do I have to do to get an 'A' ?
Demonstrate
that you understand the material you've selected, express the idea of
connections coherently, and exhibit some personal connection with the
material (meeting all length requirements) and you will get an A.
|
|
What
will prevent me from getting an 'A' ?
Lacking
images, grievous writing errors, an insufficient word count, or an obvious
lack of familiarity with the texts will prevent you from receiving an
A.
|
|
What
are the requirements again?
- at
least 3 “interstitial nodes” (like Borges’ in the
above example, two of these and the end text should not be in our course
readings)
- 1 page, room, or note that explains the organization and navigation
of your project
- 7 html pages or MOO rooms.
- 1800 words.
top |
| |
