Hi folks,

Here are the exam questions you may choose from. Please pick one and respond. Note that each prompt asks you to assume a persuasive aim as opposed to a strictly informative or explicative one. This means that while you should feel free to define terms, explain concepts, and summarize important pieces we have read, you should do all of these things in the service of an overarching claim or set of claims that you want to support.

You may use your books, any of the articles on our Angel site, and other resources you may be able to access from the web to support your response. And you may compose your response using formats/media that seem most appropriate.

Please post your final response by Thursday, May 5th at Noon (the end of our scheduled exam time for the course)

For those taking the course for Graduate Credit:

1. Pick two of the terms below and explain how core technologies like Paper, Ink, Codex, Chalk, Photocopiers, CSS, HTTP, XHTML, and XML to name a few (and, by extension, content management systems that make use of these core technologies) raise questions about the terms' meaning:

Communication
Mediation
Content Development
Content Management
User
Author

Be sure to list some actual questions that are raised. Then describe, briefly, how you might investigate the questions you have identified.

2. In this class, I have mentioned that we've tired to engage a set of new or alternative "basics" that are indispensable given the nature of TC work today. Explain what these new "basics" are in the form of an elaborated listing of concepts, then explain the "old" basics too. Reviewing the two lists, use the concepts to create an explanation of TC work that you might offer to either a) colleague in the field who is unfamiliar with TC and skeptical about technology, b) a curriculum committee reviewing your proposal for a new graduate program concentration. In each case, your explanation should include references to core competencies of graduates of the program, courses, research topics pursued by faculty and students, and possible venues/forms of scholarly work.


For those taking the course for Undergraduate Credit

3. A key pre-requisite of single-sourcing, Rockely and others would have us believe, is the seperation of content from presentation. Discuss, in theory, how this can be achieved using some of the technologies we have talked about during the semester. Then, using a specific example, explain why Dave Clark, among others, is skeptical about just how complete a seperation of content from presentation is possible and therefore cautious about the limits of single-sourcing.
4. In this class, I have mentioned that we've tired to engage a set of new or alternative "basics" that are indispensable given the nature of TC work today. Explain what these new "basics" are in the form of an elaborated listing of concepts, then explain the "old" basics too. Reviewing the two lists, use the concepts to create an explanation of TC work that you might offer to a fellow student, family member, or potential employer who may not be familiar with the field. Your explanation should include a characterization of the types of work a TC graduate should be able to do and the expertise that enables them to do that sort of work.

-Bill H-D