Author: Margaret Smith (Page 2 of 3)

Lab 7: Frederick Douglass Speech

February 25, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Although we often think of corrections to a text when we imagine editing, literary editions serve lots of functions (and very rarely is correction one of them!). Literary editions layer different kinds of information about a text through annotations, including background on the period or place, context from the author’s life and other works, and variants across different editions of the text. In this way, they help to make the text more approachable and help the reader engage with the text more deeply.

In a printed edition, you’ll often encounter these annotations as footnotes. In digital form, they come in lots of shapes and sizes: links to other pages, pop-ups, and digital footnotes that link back and forth between text and annotation.

Today, we’re using the Recovery Hub Digital Edition Template to annotate Frederick Douglass’s speech on the Dred Scott decision. You read this speech last week and made note of areas where further clarification and background might help people understand the text better. Today, we’ll put that into action.

The Recovery Hub’s template is designed to make the process of creating a digital edition simpler. Although there’s lots of code involved, you don’t have to write it! Instead, you can use their existing code and lightly customize it to suit your text. Today, you don’t have to interact with the code at all! But if you’re interested — maybe you want to try your hand at digitizing your family’s recipes, like we talked about last week? — you can find the template on GitHub.

View the edition

Instructions

I’ve set up the project for us by creating a repository for our code and cloning the template. Here are your tasks:

Head over to this Google doc, which contains the speech. Leave a comment on the section of text you’d like to annotate with your proposed annotation and your name. This could be a single word, a phrase, or a sentence. You should add at least three annotations.
We’ll discuss the annotations together and see what themes emerge.
Once you’ve got a sense of the kinds of annotations people have proposed, go back and fill out your annotation. Here are a few points to touch on:
- Why this annotation? What about the text you selected seemed like it needed further engagement?
- Explain the term, concept, or other content.
- Link to at least one external resource.

Lab 6: Digitization Technologies

February 17, 2026 / Margaret Smith

This lab will be completed in class. In groups at your tables, consider the physical artifacts in front of you. What are they like, physically? Touch them, smell them, look at them. (Please don’t lick the artifacts.) What can you learn from them in person?

How might you convey that information in a digital space? What technologies might be best suited to your artifacts? How might you enable digital users to explore the artifacts and learn new things about them?

As a group, complete the worksheet and turn it in before you leave class.

Article Annotations (due 2/18)

February 16, 2026 / Margaret Smith

The reading for Feb. 18th is an academic article, and it’s a little more dense and jargony than usual. You don’t need to understand every detail! Come prepared with questions, areas that were confusing or difficult, and anything else you’d like to talk through.

To prepare for discussion, compile a Top 5. This should be a bulleted list of the top five ideas, topics, questions, or quotations you would like to discuss in class. Your list should demonstrate your engagement with the reading. The Top 5 assignment should help you engage with the reading and come to class prepared to share your ideas. A quality Top 5 will do more than summarize the text. It will provide you with a set of topics, questions, and quotations to discuss in class.

History of Computing events (due 2/4)

February 2, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Choose at least three events from the history of computing that you think constitute significant moments. You may use any source you like, so long as you cite it. Write a brief description (a couple sentences) for each event noting why you think it’s a milestone worth noting.

Add your events (one per line) to this spreadsheet.

If your event duplicates someone else’s event, that’s ok! But your description of it should be your own.

Timeline spreadsheet

Assess the Cahokia VR app (due 2/2)

January 28, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Read the article and watch the video about the Cahokia AR app: https://cahokiamounds.org/augmented-reality-project/. You do not need to buy the app!

Write a blog post applying what we’ve read and discussed about audience, accessibility, and representation to the Cahokia app. What does the app do well? For what audiences does it enhance access and accessibility? What groups does it exclude? Your blog post should be at least 200 words. Add the tag “Cahokia” before you publish.

Lab 3: Web Accessibility

January 28, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Web accessibility guidelines help us to ensure that our content meets at least a minimum threshold for accessibility. While it’s a long way off from universal design (designing to make sure our projects are maximally accessible for a maximal audience), it’s an important first step.

There are a variety of tools for evaluating accessibility. Tools like Funkify allow you to simulate various disabilities to get a sense of how design impacts usability. That’s useful to a point, although it’s always better (and necessary!) to talk to actual people whose lived experiences are a much better guide.

Today, we’ll use WAVE, the web accessibility evaluation tool.

Choose a page on the SIUE website to evaluate, and run it through the checker at https://wave.webaim.org/.
In a blog post (with the tag “Accessibility”), answer the following questions. Bullet points are fine!
- What accessibility issues crop up for the page you chose?
- Who is most likely to need the content on the page?
- How might the accessibility issues impede people’s access to the content? Who might be most impacted?
- Name one or two ways that the accessibility of the site could be improved – the smaller and easier, the better!

Place-based idea generation (due 1/29)

January 21, 2026 / Margaret Smith

We’re doing a lot of place-based work this semester. Reflect a little about where you live. (This can be on campus, in the local area, or wherever you’re from.) What questions does it spark? Think about the times you’ve thought “I wonder where that comes from,” “I wish this could be different,” or even “Damn it, why does that happen?” Writing for someone who’s never been to that place, your blog post should lay out 1) the question, 2) the context, and 3) why your audience should care about it. Add the tag “Place” before you publish. (150-200 words) [Reflect, 20 pts]

Lab 2: Active Reading with Zotero

January 21, 2026 / Margaret Smith

One of the most effective ways to read and engage with a text is to annotate it as you go. This is particularly true of dense texts! (I’ve tried to avoid those in the syllabus, but sometimes you’ll come across things that are unfamiliar or complex.) Annotations can be anything that stands out to you — underlining a phrase that makes a key point, definitions of unfamiliar words, questions or comments in the margins, or whatever signs and symbols help you make connections throughout the text.

You might have your own strategy for annotating your readings, and throughout the semester, I encourage you to use whatever tools and methods are most effective for you. Today, however, we’re going to try out Zotero. Zotero is a free and open-source tool for reference management, note-taking, and annotation, which you can use on your own or collaboratively. (If you don’t already have a system for taking notes while you read, I recommend trying Zotero out for a few weeks!)

Create a Zotero account. Visit www.zotero.org and click “Log In,” then “Register for a free account” to create your username.
Join the class group. Go to https://www.zotero.org/groups/6392594/hum230sp26 and click the red “Join” button.
Annotate the syllabus. Find the class syllabus in our library. You’ve already read through it once, but go ahead and skim through it again. Is there anything that catches your eye? Leave an annotation on the document. Maybe it’s a tool or topic you’re interested in, or a question you have about a class policy, or even a typo you notice.
Add some metadata. As a group at your table, choose an item in the class library that doesn’t have complete metadata (that is, the information you’d use to cite it). Gather and enter as complete information as you can. You might need to correct what’s there as well!

[Your name]

January 14, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Lab 2: Writing for the Web

January 14, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Crafting a Digital Identity

Make a list of the social media platforms you’re active on.
Who are you speaking to (or listening to) on each one? What community are you participating in?
What do you share about yourself on each platform? What do you keep private?
Think about this class as a digital community of colleagues. What information do you want us to know about you?

Homework: Write and post a blog post introducing yourself. Include an image – that might be of yourself, of your pet, of a place you love, etc.

Adding A Blog Post to WordPress

Accessing the Dashboard: Our website is https://iris.siue.edu/hum230sp26. You can access the dashboard by going to https://iris.siue.edu/hum230sp26/wp-admin and logging in with your SIUE username and password.
- Once you’re logged in, you’ll also see a banner at the top of the website that includes a link to the dashboard.
Adding a Post: When you’ve made it to the dashboard, click on “Add New” Under the “Posts” heading to the left of your screen. You’ll be taken to a screen that looks like a word processor. You can type right into the post box, or you cut and paste directly from your own word processor into the blog screen.
Adding a Title: Type a title in the “Add Title” Box that is informative and describes your topic.
Adding a Block with Text or Media: Click on the plus sign to choose what kind of content block you are adding. Common blocks include “paragraph” to add text, “image” to add a picture, or “quotation” to add a block quote. There are several other block types you can add, but these three are the ones you’ll likely need most often.

Adding your post’s text: Add a paragraph block and then type your text. Note that a toolbar will pop up at the top of the screen giving you options for formatting the text.
Adding Image: Add an “Image” block. The site will give you the option to add an image from a URL, upload one from your computer, or choose one that has already been added to the media library.
Block Quoting: If you have a line that is four lines or longer you should turn it into an indented block quote. To do so, after you introduce your quote, add a “quote” block.
Saving your Work: Click on “Save Draft” and then “Preview” in the widget in the upper-right hand corner to check your work (In “Improved” mode “save” and “preview” are at the left of the editor). Take your time, add to the post, and proofread.
Publishing: Choose “Publish” from the widget at the right for the post to appear on your blog (or at the left of the editor in the “improved” version).