Course Description
Through a series of workshops and projects, students in Localhosts will create a web server using a single-board computer and develop browser-based works using HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP. Students are expected to formulate a research and content strategy related to a topic of their choosing, culminating in unique and 'situated' web-based projects.
You will be asked to consider the following: Where can a website go? What is a website made of, and how can it relate to its setting (the computer it resides on, the surface that renders it, its author, its viewer)?
P1: That One Time Online (1wk)
Write about a formative or significant memory you've had online. Use HTML elements, media, and basic styles as needed to create a single-page website that illustrates your story. The next time we meet, we will weave our memories together to create a collective hypertext.
P2: Field Notes (2wks)
Establish a method of observing an aspect of the world around you. Your approach should be less about comprehensive documentation and more about identifying the unusual, the poetic, and the subtle. Create a set of 'field notes' that reflect your observations. While each entry should be unique, they should be consistent in format. Create a website that contains an index of your notes, as well as a page for each individual entry. The next time we meet, you will use this website to support a 5-10 minute reading of your work.
P3: Log (10wks)
Use your server to host a 'Log' (a method of recording, a method of publishing, an archive/collection) related to a topic or concept of your choice, to be installed in and/or accessed from a location of your choice. Your log should contain ~25-50 entries and be designed to be viewed within a particular space or situation. Consider how the conditions of your website's use may contextualize the content. What kind of behavioral, viewing, or reading experience do you want to support?
This project will be broken into five parts: Concept, Design, Prototyping, Final, and Documentation.
Instructor
Bryant Wells
bryant.wells@yale.edu