COMP 5250, section 1
Fall 2006

In this class, you'll learn specific, creative techniques for combining text and images in electronic media like the Web. If you are interested in integrating design and writing in your career, don't leave UMD without this course. No prior knowledge of software is required

Using Dreamweaver, Photoshop and other digital tools, you'll experiment with

• finding a voice that speaks powerfully on the computer screen,
• telling stories in interactive hypertexts
• translating and visualizing print texts for an online audience
• layering words and images to create unique reading experiences,
• designing irresistible Web links, and more...

While this course is appropriate for computer novices, it will also build on the experiences of other information-design classes:

For former "Visual Rhetoric" students (COMP 3220), New Media Writing will extend your skills to include words and texts.

For former "Web Design" students (COMP 5230): New Media Writing will focus on advanced techniques digital authorship that will make your sites more effective, and give you experience beyond the Web.

For former "Document Design" students (COMP 5220): New Media Writing will allow you to concentrate on the detailed workings of electronic writing and design.

Here are some sample projects from recent New Media Writing classes:

• How would you capture the essence of a movie in digital hypertext? Joey Erickson briefly recreates the characters and relationships of the Cohen Brothers’ film The Big Lebowski in "A Conversation," innovative set of screens done for the Visual/Verbal Project.
• The “Gathering” project is an experiment in interactive storytelling. In “All in the Family,” we visit a family gathering in rural Iowa, where Maggie is meeting her fiance’s family for the first time.
• What if you took a news report from the paper and made it an online experience? Here, we see two sides of an earth-shattering event of 2004: the break-up of Barbie and Ken.