Writing on the Web

• Topics

  • Introduction: Writing and Technology
  • Informing and Framing your Writing
  • Language, Code and Expression
  • Re-wiring Hypertext: Writing for Web2.0
  • Authorship and Personal Interest Blogs
  • Orwell
  • Collaborative Writing
  • Comment Culture and The Attention Economy
  • Tweeting and Texting
  • Online Journalism
  • E-Literature, E-Fiction, E-Books
  • Publishing Online: The Open Access Movement

• Study resources

  • Instructional Methods

    • Audio/Video conferencing
    • Blog
    • Chat Rooms
    • Disscusion forum/Discussion Board
    • Online assignment submission
    • Podcasting/Leacture capture
    • Streaming Multimedia
    • Web links

  • Print Materials

    • Welcome letter

  • Online Materials

    • Online Assessment
    • Audio-Video streaming
    • Resources and Links
    • Printable format materials

Entry Requirements

Equivalent Subjects

You cannot enrol in this unit if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:

• CUR-WEB206-Writing on the Web

Special requirements

No special requirements

Writing is a technology. Yet there is little discussion of writing on the web. From Facebook updates, to tweeting within 140 characters, blogging, comment culture, online journalism, and the truncation of language via texting, writing remains dominant in digitisation. This subject offers you a practically oriented, conceptually-based approach by which you can become more effective in written publishing on the internet. From understanding how writing can capture the re-structured reading that comes from scrolling down rather than turning a page, to the reinscription of structure and flow via hyperlinking, a cohesive approach to considering the written word in a digital framework will be considered. Not only will students be writing online but they will understand how writing has evolved via digital forms of publishing. Interwoven in these themes will be underlying information issues such as relevance, credibility, authority and utility.

This subject examines writing on the web in its many diverse forms. Students will gain a theoretical understanding of the different modes of writing in an online environment as well as practical skills in exploring their own writing. They will think through the practice of writing, consider what it means for a culture, and examine how writing can be transformative. In particular, the unit explores the relationships between authorship and authority, hypertext and credibility, collaboration and consciousness, comment culture and bullying, news and entertainment, as well as considering short-form texting and emojis.

Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.

Find out more about the Academic Integrity module.

• Web content creation I (25%)
• Web content creation II (35%)
• Research Essay (40%)

Textbooks are subject to change within the academic year. Students are advised to purchase their books no earlier than one to two months before the start of a subject.

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