Course Schedule

Week-by-Week Topic and Assignment Schedule

Important Note: This schedule is provided as an overview of what I expect to cover this semester. As the semester progresses, however, I imagine that some due dates, assigned media, and daily topics will shift. The course Canvas modules will be the most precise guide to what is due when once the semester is underway.

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Unit 1: Dear (My) Data

Monday, August 22

Introduction to the course and to each other

Wednesday, August 24

How does data relate to human ways of knowing?

Required Media:

  • Ted Chiang, "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" (2013)

Friday, August 26

Where are the lines between benevolent and malicious data use?

Required Media:

Monday, August 29

What are the histories of data visualization?

Required Media:

Wednesday, August 31

Can we imagine new possibilities for data and its visualization?

  • Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec, selections from Dear Data (2016)

Pre-writing activity: Drafting "Dear (My) Data" planning documents

IMPORTANT NOTE: Draft of "Dear (My) Data" plan due by Friday, September 2

Friday, September 2

In-class activity: Peer review "Dear (My) Data" plans

Monday, September 5: No Class for Labor Day

Wednesday, September 7

What is the relationship between data and power?

Required Media:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Final "Dear (My) Data" assignment due by Thursday, September 22

Friday, September 9

OPEN DAY to work on your "Dear (My) Data" assignments and attend the iSchool's Networking & Career Fair


Unit 2: The Universal Encyclopedia

Monday, September 12

What is the relationship between scale, access, data, and knowledge?

Required Media:

In-class prewriting: What is Wikipedia Anyway?

Wednesday, September 14

Meet at the University of Illinois Archives, Main Library Room 146

Historical research primer

Friday, September 16: Prof. Cordell Away

Guided work session with Matthew Kollmer: bring your "Dear (My) Data" visualization and/or writeup in progress, at whatever stage they are in.

Monday, September 19

What is Wikipedia, anyway?

Required Media:

In-class activity: creating Wikipedia accounts

Wednesday, September 21

Understanding Wikipedia's structure, policies, and community

Required Media:

All from Wiki Edu's training libraries Links to an external site., which are an excellent source for help if you get stuck during this unit's writing assignment.

In-class activity: Choosing an Article

*Step 1 of Wikipedia Assignment, "Create WP Account & Choose Topic," due by end of day Tuesday, September 27

Friday, September 23

Understanding notability, reliability and the use of sources on Wikipedia

Required Media:

In-class activity: Finding Sources

*Step 2 of Wikipedia Assignment, "Create WP Account & Choose Topic," due by end of day Thursday, September 29

Monday, September 26

Why should information scientists care about what's in Wikipedia?

Required Media:

Wednesday, September 28

In-class activity: Evaluating Existing WP articles

Friday, September 30

In-class writing workshop

Monday, October 3

Informational writing and perspective

Required Media:

Wednesday, October 5

In-class Activity: Peer Review of colleagues' Wikipedia articles

Friday, October 7

In-class activity: Revision workshop


Midterm Workshop Week

Monday, October 10

Open revision workshop

Wednesday, October 12: No Meeting

Work on revising your "Dear (My) Data" and "Universal Encyclopedia" articles

Friday, October 14: 

Open Revision Workshop


Unit 3: Hello World!

Monday, October 17

Is programming a form of literacy?

  • Kevin Brock, "The ‘FizzBuzz’ Programming Test: A Case-Based Exploration of Rhetorical Style in Code" (2016)
  • Annette Vee, "Introduction: Programming as Literacy" from Coding Literacy (2017)

Wednesday, October 19

Looking at literate programming exemplars A-H

Required media:

Note: you should browse these before class, not attempt to read them in their entirety.

In-class activity: Developing guidelines for effective literate programming

Friday, October 21

Looking at literate programming exemplars K-W

Required media:

Note: you should browse these before class, not attempt to read them in their entirety.

In-class activity: Developing guidelines for effective literate programming

Monday, October 24

"Hello World!" assignment discussion & prep, including Google Colab discussion

Wednesday, October 26

Can we speak with (and back to) data?

Required Media:

Friday, October 28

"Hello World!" writing workshop

Monday, October 31

How do human choices shape user experiences?

Required Media:

Wednesday, November 2

In-class activity: "Hello World!" peer review workshop

Friday, November 4

In-class activity: revision workshop


Unit 4: The Wondrous Writing Automaton

Monday, November 7

Can programs be literate?

Required Media:

Wednesday, November 9

What are the limits of large language models?

Required Media:

Friday, November 11

In-class prep: writing with AI

Monday, November 14

How might AI collaborate with human creativity?

Required Media:

Wednesday, November 16

How might play intersect with AI research?

Required Media:

Friday, November 18

In-class writing workshop

November 19-27: No Class for Fall Break

Closing Exercises

Monday, November 28

Required Media:

Wednesday, November 30

Required Media:

Friday, December 2

In-class activity: Automaton paper peer review workshop


End-term Workshop Week

Monday, December 5

Open Revision Workshop

Wednesday, December 7

Wrap-up discussion and workshop