First Project: Short Research Paper

Select a person or an event that played a significant role in the development of multimedia and/or the Internet.

Be sure to select an appropriate topic; one where you can find sufficient resources--online and/or offline--to write a paper of 5-8 pages. Creativity is encouraged; if you pick a person or event I talked about in detail during class, you cannot get a grade higher than a B. Need ideas? Stop by my office and I can offer some suggestions.

(A few I'd really rather not read about, only because I've already read so very many papers on them: Steve Jobs, Steve Case, Bill Gates, Paul Allen, David Filo, Jerry Yang, Pierre Omidyar, Vint Cerf, Linus Torvalds, Tim Berners-Lee, Vannevar Bush, Marshall McLuhan, Doug Engelbart, Marc Andreessen, and Grace Hopper.)

Write the paper in your own words. If you plagiarize any of the paper, you will fail not only this assignment, but the entire course. (Web sites with examples of what does and does not constitute plagiarism can be found in the readings for our class on research, copyright, and ethics.) I will submit your paper to TurnItIn.com, which will check it for plagiarism.

Be creative, and don't be afraid to be personal. This does not need to be a formal research paper (though you still need to cite your sources of information, including web pages and books). Explain why you chose this person or event--what meaning and importance does she/he/it have for you? What did you find out that you didn't know before? Don't just summarize the facts that you find...that increases your risk of plagiarism, and decreases your chances of a high grade. Instead, do the research, then put the books and printouts away, and think about how you'd explain to your best friend or your parent what's important or interesting about the topic you've chosen.

The paper should be submitted to me both electronically (as a .doc or .rtf file uploaded in the Files section of myCourses), and in hard copy format at the beginning of class.

Here are the guidelines for writing and printing out your paper:

• The total length of the paper should be no fewer than 5 pages and no greater than 8 pages, not including the title page or bibliographic references. A page must have at least 250 words on it to count in the page count. (That means the paper must have a minimum of 1250 words!)
• Use a serif font (e.g. Times, Bookman, Century Schoolbook, Garamond) in a 10 or 12 point type size. Use double-spacing between lines.
• The margins should be no greater than 1" on each edge.
• Do not put an extra space between paragraphs, but do indent each paragraph(by no more than 1/2")
• Put your name, my name, the quarter (041 or 20041 or Fall 2004) and the course number (4002-320) or name (Intro to Multimedia) on the first or title page, and your name and the page number in the upper right corner of each subsequent page.
• Use a style manual, such as APA, MLA, or Turabian to format your paper, footnotes/endnotes, and bibliography. For more information on citing sources, try the Internet Public Library guide to research and writing (link will open in a new window).
• Include a bibliography of all articles, books, and online resources you use to research your topic. There should be at least eight references, of which at least four should be books or magazine articles. (This bibliography is in addition to any footnotes used in the report, and does not count towards your overall page total.)
• Proofread and edit your writing. I also suggest that you use a style guide (e.g., Strunk & White) to improve your writing style. Use your spelling checker! Spelling and grammatical errors will count against your grade.
• Print the paper out on a laser or ink-jet printer, and staple all pages together in the top left corner (do not use plastic paper covers, binders, or folders).

Your paper will be graded using the criteria below. The assignment is worth up to ten points; total points for each component are shown below.

• Appropriateness/creativity of topic 2 pts
• Quality/originality of content 3 pts
• Quality of writing (grammar, syntax, etc) 2 pts
• Thoroughness of bibliography 3 pts

The paper is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 21st.

Second Project: Basic Web Site

In this assignment, you will take the content from the paper you submitted, and begin shaping it into a web site about that person or event.

The site should have a minimum of 5 pages--one main page, at least three content pages with information from your paper, and one page of references. Do not simply divide the text of your paper up into three chunks and put one on each page; the linear, narrative organization of a paper seldom transfers well to the hypermedia, screen-based environment of the web. Instead, think of another way to organize your content. It could be chronological, by type of information (biographical, technical, financial), by topic (accomplishments, history, current projects), or any number of other breakdowns.

The main page should be named index.html, and should include links to all other pages in the directory. It should also include links to the myCourses site (http://mycourses.rit.edu) and to your main IMM page (http://www.rit.edu/~yourid/imm). Your main IMM page should include a direct link to this assignment.

All files for this site (except images, if you use them) should be placed in your imm/project1 directory. Any images used should be placed in your imm/media directory. All links to files on your site should use relative references, with appropriate paths.

While you can add images at this point, you do not have to--you will not be graded on images. However, you will be graded on some basic aspects of design, all of which can be effectively implemented through effective use of color and typography. Here are the requirements for the site:

*Meets all requirements for number and content of pages, as well as location of files *Content is well-organized and well-presented. *Clean, valid HTML and CSS code (Clean means that it is easy to read, has sufficient white space, uses relative URLs wherever possible, doesn't include unnecessary tags, and uses CSS appropriately to streamline formatting. Valid means that it passes through the W3C HTML and CSS validators without errors.)
*Uses basic design principles ("C.R.A.P."), appropriate typography, and color, to enhance the delivery of your content.

Your site will be graded using the criteria below. The assignment is worth up to ten points; total points for each component are shown below.

Organzation & quality of content	2 pts
Mechanics (number & location of pages; clean, valid, uses tables & CSS)	5 pts
Design (typography, color, C.R.A.P.)	3 pts

The web site must be posted by 2pm (the beginning of class) on Thursday, October 21st. We will check modification dates; anything uploaded or changed after that time will be considered late, and the grade will be reduced by one letter grade for each 24 period following the deadline.

Third Project: Graphics-Rich Web Site

In this assignment, you will copy the files from your last project into your project2 directory, and enhance it with images appropriate to the web, including JPEGs, GIFs, and animations. Your navigation should be accomplished with a frameset that includes a rollover-based navigation bar.

The project is due on Saturday, November 13th at 2pm. (We'll run a program then that checks everyone's directories and creates file listings for each student.)

Here are the general requirements for the site:

• All images must be stored in your media directory, and relative references must be used for all links and image references within your site.
• All images should have relevance to your site content, and should be designed and placed to enhance rather than distracting from the content.
• All pages must have clean, valid HTML and CSS code
  • Clean means that it is easy to read, has sufficient white space, uses relative URLs wherever possible, doesn't include unnecessary tags, and uses CSS appropriately to streamline formatting
  • Valid means that it passes through the W3C HTML and CSS validators without errors.
• You should demonstrate your command of basic design principles ("C.R.A.P."), and use of type and color, to enhance the delivery of your content. All of your pages should share a common design look and feel.

Here are the specific requirements for graphics on this site:

• All steps that you take to create graphics for the site should be recorded and posted to a "Resources and Methods" page (the "how I did it page"). Use a table to lay out the content, with the image on the left and the description of what you did and why on the right. Make sure that a link to this page is included in your navigation bar.
• Your site must use a navigation bar with rollover buttons or navigational elements. The navbar should be in a frame that remains visible when other content pages are displayed.
• A logo-type graphic must appear on your site (it can be stand-alone, or it can be incorporated into the navigation bar). The graphic must include:
  • One or more words from your paper title
  • Your name
  • Shapes made with the vector tools (rectangles, circles, etc) and transformed in some way.
• You must create a composite image using at least three different source images. One of these should be a photographic image related to the topic of your paper. On your sources page, provide the original versions of all source images, and describe the steps you took to create the composite.
• At least one element in your site must be thumbnail-sized image that is based upon a larger photographic quality image (e.g. a nicely rendered 3d scene would be acceptable, but a cartoon graphic would not; a photographic portrait would be acceptable, but a black and white caricature would not). Clicking on the thumbnail should call a javascript behavior that opens a new window with the original large image inside it. load a page with the original larger image inside it. You should also modify the thumbnail image in some way--correcting/changing colors, combining items from more than one image, etc. Document this process on your Resources & Methods page.
• At least one element in your site (other than the logo or navigation bar) must be animated (using GIF animation).
• All images should be appropriately anti-aliased and optimized. Steps taken to accomplish this should be documented.

Your site will be graded using the criteria below. The assignment is worth up to 32 points (although the weight of the assignment is 15% of your final grade); total points for each component are shown below.

Mechanics (number & location of pages; clean, valid, uses tables & CSS)	5 pts
Design (typography, color, C.R.A.P., consistency across pages)	5 pts
Images (proper type, well implemented)	10 pts
Technology (js, rollovers, frames)	4 pts
Documentation (images and technology)	8 pts
Possible Bonus Points (creativity, design, coding)	3 pts