Week #3 – Assignment #1

**Here is the class recording from Tuesday 2/13:

The Course Schedule page is here – this is our most important page as it hosts all of our weekly assignments and their specifications – please check this page each week at the beginning of class.

1. Did you read the 1st day welcome blog post located here <–it has an assignment that prepares us for this week – the assignment details are located at the bottom of that post, it simply asks you to leave a comment, and to respond to one of your classmate’s comments, did you? 

2. Let’s get signed up! Did you sign up for the CUNY commons and the CT101 website? If not, please review the process for access to the CUNY commons and the CT101 website as per the course schedule page.

And now… this week, its time to get blogging!

Let’s learn about and tour our WordPress blogging interface here on CT 101’s website. We will discuss and learn how to sign in, create a new post, add text, verbiage, images, GIFs, videos, hyperlinks and contextual content into the blogging interface! We will begin by sharing some sentiments accompanied by visual media to help tell our stories.

***Each week I will screen record a video tutorial that demonstrates techniques and tips for each assignment – The tutorials will always be posted shortly after class directly into the corresponding blog post with the assignment details.

This Week’s Assignment…

Assignment #1 – What Makes You Happy on the Internet this Week?

Your goal for this week will be to read and follow the info / links listed in this week’s blog post. Absorb the information and then begin to prepare and gather all of needed media, images, links and content that you need to create and publish your first blog post here on our class website!

(This assignment was originally created by Professor Michael B. Smith a few years ago, it still holds true as a great example and ice-breaker for our first blogging assignment.)

In a new blog post, take the time to introduce anything you want about yourself and describe a piece, or multiple pieces of the Internet that is “making you happy” this week. Share what the content is about, the media format, and the online space in which it was discovered. Let us know why this (or these things) make you happy! Thats right, express yourself! Make sure it’s something you can ’embed’ into your post and be sure to link back to the original source(s) of the the items via hyperlink.

Below is also an example:

“I recently discovered a writer who made side-by-side comparisons of frames from the Simpsons with frames from the original movies that inspired the cartoon. I love this kind work because it shows how culture is seemingly endlessly recycled and remixed.”

 

Also, here’s a video short (below) from the original, famous “shower scene” from the 1960 film Psycho that the inspiration is drawn from.

Lets notice some key words above: “The Simpsons” and “Re-Mix Culture”. These are both terms that you may be familiar with, but what about the audience that you are sharing this with? Both of those terms (subjects) are great examples to hyperlink to! Hyperlinks give context and meaning to subjects and terminology.

PS – THIS whole blog post is an example of a good quality post! Notice the length, the amount of embedded media added, hyperlinks, content and context to help support the verbiage.

It all just takes a little bit of regular practice.

Let’s do it!