For your first assignment, you’re going to write a blog post describing a project that you want to pursue. This might be a project you want to do right now or it might be a project you can’t really take on until you’ve gathered more information (either through classes or experience). This might be inspired by a problem you notice in a community you’re a part of, but it could also be something different. The most important skill we’re practicing with this assignment is the ability to break a problem down into smaller components.
Step 1: Identify a specific group and a problem that group faces.
Step 2: Compose a blog post that describes this project and breaks it into smaller parts. Make sure that you include citations for information that you quote or paraphrase in your post (we will go over the use of hyperlinks for citations from Internet resources and in-text citations for other source material).
Tip: You may find it useful to compose in a document outside of OpenLab (Microsoft Word, a Google Doc, or something else).
Step 3: Upload a featured image for your draft blog post.
Step 4: Gather information needed to describe your featured image and make sure the media file has accurate information in the “caption” and “alternative text” fields. We will work together in class to learn how to reproduce images on a website carefully, ensuring we provide proper attribution and make the image legible for all readers.
A complete blog post should have the following components:
- Title
- Featured Image (something you’ve created or something you’ve found)
- Complete media file details for featured image (“caption” and “alternative text”)
- Captions conveying attribution statements for all images in the post
- Actual post with source material clearly cited with hyperlinks (flyby hyperlinks and actual citations)
- A list of works cited at the bottom of your post formatted according to MLA guidelines (use Zbib or guidelines from WAC Clearinghouse)
