About the class website . . .
Greetings - I'm looking forward to working with all of you on our shared readings and interpretations of these texts. I firmly believe that all meaning is something created, negotiated socially, not something objective that just sits in a text waiting to be "discovered." Of course, I'm open to being proved wrong here. . . .
This class website exists solely as a locus of communication and information sharing. It's not meant to be a soapbox or lectern for me to pontificate - it's something for all of us to work on together. We use this format just because it's simple, and relatively clean, without the unnecessary baggage that comes with a commercial course management system like Blackboard.
It's necessary to keep conversations on the material going when you only meet every 2-3 weeks.
That said, this format has a few caveats:
This site is public. Anything you post or comment on could theoretically be found in a Google search by anyone (including potential or current employers, significant others, etc). So it's best to keep the exchanges public, but pseudonymous. Use a screen name, or your first name only, rather than first name and surname.
This particular web technology requires the owner of the site (me) to act as main author, editor, manager, etc. So usually, what happens is that I will post a short prompt, mini-essay, or set of discussion questions, and you guys will use the "comment" feature to post your thoughts, reactions, and reflections. I'm not particularly happy about this hierarchical structure, but there it is. If you want to be an author of a post on the main part of the site, please tell me - that is easy to set up.
You will also want to get set up with some kind of RSS reader if you don't use one already. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way of having updates to sites you read sent to you passively -- all news sites and most weblogs use them. That way, you will know automatically when there is new business happening on the class website. More on this when we meet.
As always, I'm happy to answer your questions on this site, over email, or by phone.
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