The Web, Network Culture & Who You Are

Currents | Week 8 | Kevin Cadena

Weekly Description

As we continue to examine all parts of contemporary technology, we'll now shift our focus to the network culture that has emerged from the connections brought on by the internet and how it has reshaped how people express and think about their identity.

Agenda

Introduction to HTML & CSS Targeting
Week 8 Tutorial Link

We'll be going over the basics of the web's language, HTML and the basics of how to target HTML elements using CSS through Glitch

Creating a Glitch Account
  1. Please make a Glitch account and use your New School Account to make it.
HTML Overview
  1. What is HTML Mean?
  2. Where does HTML Exist?
  3. What is an HTML Element?
  4. How are HTML Elements written?
  5. What are the basic textual HTML elements?
  6. What are the media-rich HTML elements you can add?
    • Image
    • Video
    • iFrame
    • Audio
  7. How should you structure your HTML?
  8. How can you comment your HTML?
  9. References:
CSS Targeting
  • What does CSS Stand For?
  • What is it used for?
  • How do you connect CSS and HTML together?
  • How is it written?
  • How can I target things with CSS?
    • Targeting Elements
    • Nested Targeting
    • Adding Classes & IDs
  • References
    • 90 minutes total

    BREAK

    Network Culture & Shifting Identity

     Presentation Link
    45-60 minutes

    [UPDATE] Join Our Glitch Team!!!

    Seems they fixed the Glitch Teams Issue!

    • Using Your Glitch Account, Add Yourself To Our Glitch Team!.
    • You'll have to submit your draft for this week through here too!

    Homework

    Practice Read
    Color & Typography

    Make a Codecademy Account For These. They are the free lessons.
    Color
    Typography

    Glitch Feminism: Chapter 01 — Glitch Refuses & Chapter 03 — Glitch Throws Shade by Legacy Russell
    Do

    My Networked Identity

    “ALL THINGS CHANGE IN A DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO REMAIN THE SAME?”
    — The Puppet Master from Ghost in The Shell (1999)

    All our readings and presentation points towards a modular and boundless way towards expressing ourselves. For the final project of this class, we'll be grappling with the themes of the presentation and the reading head on. You will be researching, creating assets and making a first draft of what a new networked identity, expressed through code and software would look like for you.

    This will be a two week project, we'll be using this coming week to create, make assets and bring in a first draft.

    For Next Week

    Reading & Reflection
    1. Start by Reading The Excerpts From Glitch Feminism linked above.
    2. Reflect on the points made by Legacy and use these guiding question
      • What is Legacy defining as a "Glitch"?
      • What are the social pressures that have forged the shape of your identity? Be specific. (i.e gender pressures, social pressures, familial pressures)
      • What parts of the forge were placed on you without consent? How do those make you feel?
      • How are you perpetuating existing systems of expression? What are your biases?
      • If we start thinking about identity in a modular way, moving away from the center and towards where glitches exist, how would you change?
      • If you are happy with who you are and how you are, what are some things you'd want to experiment with about yourself?
    Creating Assets and Finding Media

      Next, think through how you want to represent those changes. Do you want to build it those changes to your identity with HyperText? Do you want to create visuals that represent the new parts of this identity?

      For example, if you want your style of clothes to be gender-non-conforming, how would you represent that?

    1. Use any of the software from the Tiny Tools Directory to make visual or formal assets you need and can't make from HTML. Here's some of the more useful categories from the directory:
      • 3D
      • 2D
      • Retro
      • Animation
      • Video
      • Music Tool
      • Paint / Draw
      • Pixel Art
      • Experimental
      • Tiny
      • Map Maker
    2. Use the following guiding questions to think of what you'll create or what you'll search for:
      • What different shape(s) or form(s) would this new identity and the pieces of it take?
      • What would they change in relation to?
      • How would this new identity glitch the systems that force your identity to be certain ways?
    3. Find other media types to populate your website with. Use eveything at your disposal! Audio, Video, Text!
    4. For this assignment, use of any Adobe Programs, G Suite, or Microsoft Programs to creat assets is not allowed.
    First Draft of Your Networked Identity Page
    1. Using Glitch, assemble all the assets, text, audio into a web project, and create a simple HTML + CSS draft showing how you're going to use those materials.
    2. By next week, you should only need to implement your page and have a clear sense of the next steps.
    3. Use the references below for any CSS needs!
    Submission
    1. Post to CANVAS and add to our W08 Homework Playlist on our Glitch Team!.
    References
    Other Resources

    Black Beyond

    Cyberfeminism Index facilitated by Mindy Seu

    More HTML Practice

    Week 8 Tutorial

    Introduction to HTML Codecademy Classes

    CSS Layout

    How to setup CSS Grid Reference

    CSS Grid