CSE 100/INFO 100 Fluency with Information Technology

Project 1

A Website of Misinformation

Preparation:

You should have completed Lab 3 and Lab 4 before starting this assignment. You should also read the following before starting this assignment (from Fluency with Information Technology by Lawrence Snyder):

Chapter 4: Marking up with HTML
Chapter 5: Searching for the Truth
Chapter 6 has further examples of finding and evaluating information

Project Overview:

For this project your challenge is to create a website of “misinformation” that appears as authentic as possible to a visitor. Your site will have an image which seems to support the misinformation. While the content of your website will be questionable, everything else about your website should convey the opposite. Basically you will be creating a website that has false claims, yet contains information that appears as authentic as possible to a user.

Your misinformation website might be about:

A discovery of a new species (on Earth or somewhere else).
A new (computer or human/animal) virus.
Addition of a well-known landmark (e.g. the Space Needle) to a different cityscape (e.g. San Francisco)
Yet another scandal for some public figure. (No private persons may be used for this.)
Yet another conspiracy theory.

Or, choose something else that you find fund and interesting -- surprise us! You may choose any content area for your website as long as it is in good taste and permits comfortable viewing by everyone in the course. It should maintain a good-natured tone and not lead to harm, insult, or injury, even if someone took it for real. If you’re unsure about the “tastefulness” of a particular content, it is a good idea to talk with your TA or professor first, or choose something else. Your website will be public, and should not cause discomfort to viewers who happen across it.

Other Rules:

In addition to the overall rules of conduct for this course (see syllabus), you will not violate any rules/policies as stated in the University Computing Policies: http://www.washington.edu/computing/rules/.

You must have permission to use any material, such as images, which does not originate with you. That means finding out whether the image is in the public domain, or getting permission from the owner to use it. The Wikipedia has a terrific list of sites with public-domain images.

Pages you create must be valid according to the HTML 4.01 Transitional Rules. Use the W3C MarkUp Validation Service.

Overall Project Objectives:

To design and implement a website using HTML. The HTML is to be directly coded, not using a web site builder or WYSIWYG editor.
To manipulate a photograph in Adobe Photoshop (or some other photo manipulation program).
To experience first hand the ease with which “misinformation” can be made available online.
To experience the process of determining permission to use on-line materials
To reflect on the challenges of misinformation online.
Ultimately, to become an appropriately cautious user of online information.

Overall Project Steps:

Decide on a theme for your misinformation site
Think of what misinformation you will have and how to convey it (keep in mind that you will have to include a manipulated image.)
Locate a picture: either online, your own scan, taken with digital camera, or from some other source. You may only use images for which you have permission.
Modify the image to support your theme.
Create the misinformation website. Among other things, this involves writing authentic-sounding text which explains your premise and how the image supports it. You are free to create additional pages as needed to make your site more "realistic".
Test your site with 2 individuals to determine how successful you are at conveying your misinformation. Prepare a short report on your test.
Prepare a "disclaimer" page for your site which explains the joke, cites your sources, etc.

Specifics

The completed web site is due Friday, February 6 4. By that time, all files must be in place, and no changes to the files are allowed after the deadline. There will also be a web-based way for you to give us electronic copies of the files. We will also collect certain materials on paper that day in lecture.

The proposal for your site is due Friday, January 28, in class, in the form of a file and a print-out of that file. This will basically be a statement of what your theme is and how you plan to support it with an image.

If you need more time to do the site testing you may turn in the report on that as late as Monday, ~~January 31~~ February 7.

Certain files and directories will be mentioned in the instructions below. Please use those exact names (yes, case-sensitivte). File and directories that you create which are not explicitly mentioned can have any appropriate names. Do not create file names that begin with "index"! Be sure that all files and directories have Unix Read permission (if not, users cannot access them).

Proposal details.
Within your “fit100” directory in your Dante web space (public_html or student_html), create a directory titled “project1a”. In that directory, create a file called project1a.html. This is where you will describe to us your intended theme for the website. The file doesn't have to be long or detailed. The focus is on the information, not on the content or HTML formatting. Include in it:

The proposed title of the site
A paragraph or so further describing the theme of your misinformation website.
Link to 1 or more image files (.jpeg, .jpg, .bmp, .gif, various formats etc.) which you plan to modify. Include a link to the original location of the image and information about the website or other source where you found the image.
A brief description of how you plan to doctor the image(s)
A statement about your legal rights to use the image. Example: an excerpt from the originating site’s copyright policy or an email from the copyright holder that gives you permission to use the image. If you took the picture yourself, you can simply state that fact. If you don't have permission but think you can get it, explain how that will work. If it's from another site but is public domain, state that (and how you know it is public domain). Remember: if you can't get permission to use the file, you can't use it for this assignment!

Via a web browser, the files listed above should be accessible and viewed through the following url:
http://students.washington.edu/UWNetID/fit100/project1a/project1a.html.   Make a print-out of the page and hand it in in class on Friday (January 28).

Main project details.
Within your “fit100” directory in your Dante web space (public_html or student_html), create another directory named “project1b”. Within that directory, the page “project1b.html” is to be the main page of your website. (Thus, via a web browser the site would be available at http://students.washington.edu/UWNetID/fit100/project1b/project1b.html).
The page project1b.html must have at least the following features:
a) An inviting and interesting title and main heading
b) One or more photographs (modified from genuine images) supporting your theme
c) Text supporting your story of misinformation. In most cases this would be a couple of paragraphs. There is no specific required length, as the purpose is to explain the theme and reinforce the authenticity of your image(s). You may create additional pages if it you wish, with text and images. Place all such pages within the project1b directory.
d) At least 3 links to other websites that ‘support’ the misinformation on your page. For instance, if you are doing a webpage on the discovery of alien life forms on Mars, you may want to include a site such as “http://www.nasa.gov.” Be creative here, and try to find links that really make your webpage look authentic and credible. (4 points)
e) A link to your disclaimer page (described later).

Make your misinformation website look as authentic as possible. How well you manipulate your image(s) and the quality of your content will affect how believable your site is. Review “Characteristics of Legitimate Sites” (Ch. 5, page 139) for tips on how to make your site look authentic.

Disclaimer details.
The disclaimer file should be named “disclaimer.html” (in the same directory as the main page). It should include the following (does not have to be in this particular order):
a)   Descriptive title and main heading.
b)    Text clearly stating that the misinformation page contains false information, and explaining the origin of the page as a FIT100 assignment.
c)    Link back to your misinformation page.
d)    All the manipulated pictures from your misinformation page, in both versions: the original, and the modified version (labeled as to which is which!)
e)    A paragraph citing the source of images (include a link) and explaining the basis of your permission/legal rights to use them (example: an excerpt from the originating site’s copyright policy or an email from the copyright holder).
f)    a paragraph explaining how you manipulated the images in Photoshop or other photo manipulation program.

Site Test
After your site is complete or nearly complete, test it by showing it to two individuals. Ideally these would be people who do not know you are working on this project. Give them a chance to browse it. Afterwards, ask them to rate you on the “Characteristics of Legitimate Sites” (In Chapter 5, page 139). Record these results to include in your site test report. The report is a file named "sitetest.html".   On it should be:
i.    The results of your test with the two users (display the results in an HTML table)
ii.    A paragraph with your interpretation of the test results.
h)    A short essay (a couple of paragraphs) discussing misinformation on the web, the ethical issues involved with misinformation on the web, and the problems with misinformation. Who is capable of doing this? Who is responsible for the information? What should information seekers be aware of? etc

Turn-in procedure for the main part
You will be submitting electronic copies of the files through a web form. The exact procedures will be announced later. The electronic deadline will be before the paper deadline. Upon submission, you will get an online receipt verifying the files you have turned in. Please SAVE this receipt for your record purposes, just in case something does go wrong, you have proof you submitted the assignment.

We will be grading the exact files you will be submitting online so if you do not submit any files, we will have nothing to grade!

Major Grading Criteria

How well your site meets the requirements named above, in a technical/HTML sense.
The creativity of your theme and of your handling of it.
The quality and persuasiveness of your modified image.
How well your site meets the requirements for format and content. This includes the persuasiveness and coherence of your misinformation through use of text and formatting.
The care taken in conducting and writing up the visitor experiment, and the thoughtfulness of your discussion on the disclaimer page.

What about spelling, punctuation, and grammar? They are not mentioned explicitly above. Yet as discussed in class, these factor contribute directly to the credibility of a site. Therefore, you should make them as perfect as you can.