Course Details

Course Information Package

Course Unit Title	ONLINE DIGITAL COMMUNICATION
Course Unit Code	MID510
Course Unit Details	MA Interdisciplinary Design (Elective Courses) -
Number of ECTS credits allocated	5
Learning Outcomes of the course unit	By the end of the course, the students should be able to: Assimilate the increasingly pervasive role of Internet technology to: Society, Business, and Communication. Apply the basic concepts and imperatives of user-cantered design as applied to web development. Develop and produce a user-cantered project development process, commonly known as information architecture, to a web development project. Translate organization into site layout, navigation and structure, utilizing visual design to support the goal and content. Acquire XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) web site development skills, purposing and applying of XHTML and related technologies. Confidently use structure and syntax of XHTML, client-server concepts and web servers, posting web sites with FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Operate Hand-coding v. visual development, understanding the range of currently available XHTML development tools such as Dreamweaver and other full-featured development environments. Handle other related tools and technologies, such as FTP software and server software. Assimilate the role of XML in the development of the Semantic Web. Apply web usability and information architecture concepts to web site projects. Demonstrate awareness of related technologies such as popular desktop applications, databases, web servers, and languages that build upon Flash and HTML.
Mode of Delivery	Face-to-face
Prerequisites	NONE	Co-requisites	NONE
Recommended optional program components	NONE
Course Contents	• Overview of Web Development and Its Ongoing Evolution. Goals, Procedures, Methods. URLs and web navigation using browsers. Basic history of the internet; the role of internet technology in Society, Business, and Communication. The role of the World Wide Web Consortium. Basic concepts and imperatives of user-cantered design as applied to web development. Information architecture, the user-cantered project development process. Defining goals. Understanding the user and client. Gathering and organizing content. Translating organization into site layout, navigation and structure. Visual design to support the goal and content. The Semantic Web. • Basic XHTML and web development concepts. Materials. Hand-coding v. visual development. Understand the range of currently available XHTML development tools. Dreamweaver and other full-featured development environments. Other related tools and technologies, such as FTP software and server software. • Purpose and application of XHTML and related technologies. Structure and syntax of XHTML. Online XHTML development resources. Hyper linking and Typography. Relative and absolute links. Formatting type in XHTML. • Design Basics Text, Tables, Layout, Frames, Consistent grid layout concepts, Commonly recurring web site/page elements, Identity, Global and local navigation, Consistent grids, Content design. Cascading Style Sheets, Relationship between CSS and XHTML, Internal and external style sheets, Redefining XHTML tags, Creating original CSS styles, Online CSS development resources. • Design Enhancements. Rollovers, Behaviours, Templates/Libraries, JavaScript, Manual workflow and site management. Automated workflow and site management, Dreamweaver templates and libraries, HTML Site with Flash Navigation, Intro to Flash and Its Development, The relationship between Flash and XHTML, The Flash application and interface, Tools in the Application. (FMXHOT Chap. 3) • Basic Animation, Graphic Symbols and Object Oriented Development. Animation Basics, Tweening, Symbols and Instances, Motion Tweening and Timeline Effects, Animation concepts, Tweening, motion and shape, Graphic Symbols and Instances. • Complex Symbols & ActionScript. Text, Bitmaps, Buttons, Movie Clips, ActionScript, Achieving interactivity, Unexpected uses of buttons, Movie clips, Movies within movies, Multiple timeline concepts, ActionScript, Programming basics. • Project Development Application of web usability and information architecture concepts to the completion of the assign web development project. Survey of related technologies such as popular desktop applications, databases, web servers, and languages that build upon Flash and HTML.
Recommended and/or required reading:
Textbooks	Shedroff, N., Experience Design 1, New Riders Publishing, 2001 Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T., Blur: How to know what’s true in the age of information overload , Bloomsbury, 2010 Papacharissi, Z, A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, Taylor & Francis, 2011
References	Gromala, D., Windows and Mirrors: Interaction design, digital art, and the myth of transparency, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003 Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T., Multimodal Discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication, Hodder-Arnold 2001 Solis, B., & Breakenridge D., Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How social media is reinventing the aging business of PR, FT Press, 2009
Planned learning activities and teaching methods	This course uses a variety of teaching methods to accommodate various learning styles. Illustrated Lecture is but one method in which students will be introduced to course concepts. Students are expected to participate in news and current event discussions, providing topics that are of interest to them. Skills session is covered in class as a group, and students will practice skills both in and out of class such as IT labs in order to complete projects. The course is also available as an open lab for project work. Students will also participate in online discussions and a blogging activity that will further provide an opportunity to communicate and contribute towards the appreciation of the online digital communication.
Assessment methods and criteria	In-class participation, discussion 20% Interim Exercises (2) 30% Presentations 10% Visual Project 40%
Language of instruction	English
Work placement(s)	NO