1. Art and Diseño

Instructor: Barbara Myers
Office: BIC 2406
E-Mail: [email protected]
ENGLISH 1115
WRITING FOR THE WEB
HYB01
REQUIRED TEXT:
Felder, Lynda. Writing for the Web. Creating Compelling Web Content Using Words, Pictures and
Sound. New Riders, 2012. Print. ISBN # 978-0-321-79443-7
(Recommended: A good dictionary and/or thesaurus)
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Facebook claims more than 1 billion active users as of 2012. As of 2015, Twitter reports 550 million tweets are
sent per day. Approximately 350 million text messages are exchanged across the world’s mobile networks every
month, and 145 billion emails are sent every day. Blogs are now considered an important part of a company’s
online reputation with 60% of businesses now boasting a company blog. By the end of 2011, NM Incite, a
Nielsen/McKinsey company, tracked over 181 million blogs around the world, up from 36 million in only five
years. The evolution of search engines has also made the creation of unique content in a variety of media
critical to improving visibility of brands and businesses online.
In sum, the world of personal self-expression is now a vital piece of worldwide communication and, with
increasing numbers of people engaged in the consumption and production of texts, an important part of the
rapidly growing web. This dynamic transformation in how we communicate is generating new understandings
of the power of the written word.
English 1115 will enable students to explore writing in the digital age. Specifically, students will engage in
digital formats that will allow them to become informed participants in online contexts, to shape their personal
brand and be published.
A hybrid course, English 1115 blends face-to-face meetings with online instruction. The course features guest
speakers, professionals experienced in communicating in online contexts. Through practical application,
students will learn to effectively:
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Develop and support an online presence
Build a personal brand
Manage an online reputation
Participate in an ongoing, real-world blogging project with publishing potential
Apply web content and design fundamentals
Coursework provides students with the opportunity to participate in a real-world blogging project that allows
hands-on practice with web design, writing style, content and infrastructure optimization. Projects are designed
to acquaint students with the principles and techniques of online communication grounded in the research that
supports them. Emphasis is placed on user experience, online brand/tone/voice, content planning, website and
social media interfaces.
In order to understand the difference between writing for print versus writing for the web, students will examine
reader behavior and explore how to accommodate the needs of online readers. Two assumptions will be key in
this work:
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Writing and speaking are rhetorical – effective communicators must carefully consider their audiences
and purposes as they plan, draft and revise their communications.
Audiences differ in how they read and respond to communications – effective communicators must
recognize and negotiate shifting demands in each new context.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In addition to opportunities to publish, upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to do
the following:
• Understand how people read online vs. in print
Examine user experience, active vs. passive reading behaviors
Identify common online reading and scanning patterns
Design for audience purpose
Understand the writing and design relationship
• Generate your online brand/tone/voice
Develop and support an online presence
Understand how your brand is perceived online
Create a tone/look to fit your brand
Understand how word choice and content structure affect how your brand
is perceived
Understand why establishing a personality, especially in social media, is
critical to success
• Apply rules for web writing
Understand your audience and their limitations
Use personas to inform content
Address needs of both novice and expert users
Measure readability and comprehension
Create accessible, clear and concise content
Use writing techniques to increase credibility
Convert language to engage the audience
Use and/or design effective visual elements
• Apply best practices for formatting online content
Set up and post content for website and social media types, including
Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs
Prioritize information to increase visibility, improve scanning and
comprehension
Chunk content to reduce information overload
Create titles that attract attention and help users find information
Create headings and subheadings that encourage scrolling
Write effective summaries for complex content
Integrate hyperlinks that encourage clicks
• Understand techniques for optimizing web content and design
Repurpose print for the web
Design content for scrolling
Identify benefits of long pages vs. pagination
Apply strategies for designing content text, images, audio, video
Consider alternative ways to present information
• Manage the writing process
Integrate content strategy into a development process
Define and apply a consistent voice, tone, and style to appeal to users
Evaluate content