Online Discussion Instructions and Guidelines

Topics and Commenting

1. Discussion topics are due Wednesday by midnight. Topic posts should be approximately 250 words long.
2. Comments are due the following Monday by class-time. Two comments, or one comment and one discussion topic, are required for each week. Comments should be at least 50 words in length and must include some textual reference.

3. The address for the course website is http://lithum.typepad.com/.

Guidelines
1. Please remember that discussion topics are precisely that--topics for discussion. To that end, make an effort to set-up engaged

responses. You might end your post with a few questions, preferably numbered to facilitate organized discussion. It's also helpful to state some sort of argument or opinion that the ensuing discussion can consider.
2. Comments should make an effort to be clear about what they are responding to (topic post, one of the other comments). You need not state that you agree or disagree in general--often a considered response even to some part of the original post is more interesting than a blanket statement of judgment.
3. You can expect a weekly email reminder, most likely Friday morning or early afternoon, about writing comments.
4. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for the forum as a whole, feel free to let me know

In addition to hosting our online discussion, the course website will serve as a repository for a variety of information: the course syllabus, online discussion schedule, links to relevant information for each week’s reading, image galleries pertaining to certain texts, assignments and handouts, and whatever other detritus we come up with. I prefer to use this format rather than CourseWorks for a variety of reason too boring to recount here. This website is an experiment in-progress so you’re feedback, laud or lambast, is crucial. My goal here is to lighten the sometimes weighty apparatus of course logistics while simultaneously extending our discussion beyond the classroom.

While you can comment on posts without any special registration, you do need to go through the following procedure to submit a new topic.

Here’s how to post to the website:
1. I’ve created a Gmail account for the sole purpose of posting to the website (userID:    lithum0708, password: 111carmen). So, first log into that account through
   mail.google.com.
2. Now, choose ‘Compose Mail.’ The subject line of the email will become the title
   of the blog post and the body of the email will become the body of the post.

3. Once you’ve written your post, you need to send it to the address I set up to receive
it: 8ca66c65049dc487@typepad.com. Yea, I know it’s long and weird, but don’t
worry: it’s saved under the contacts for the Gmail account and also will be included on
the site. Cut and paste is your friend.

4. Send it. If at any time you have questions or trouble with any of this, please let me
know.