Readings and visual notes

The seven steps, for each essay

Survey

Do this before you read.

• Look at the title, the author, the headings, the images, and the first and last paragraphs.
• Write the title and the author at the top of a page.
• Write one sentence on what you expect the essay to argue.

Question

• Copy one leading question from the list below.
• Write one question of your own.

Read

• Read the whole essay once.

Recite

• Close the essay.
• Write two sentences, in your own words, on what it argued.
• Check your two sentences against the essay.

Record

• Make your visual notes: words, sketches, diagrams, arrows.

Review

Do this the next day.

• Reread your notes, not the essay.
• Answer your two questions on the page.
• Star the one thing you would bring to a discussion.

Reflect

• Write one or two sentences on which of your four introduction answers this essay challenges or changes.

Leading questions

“Code is Clay”

• Pedersen made a hypercube in a ceramics class, not a mug. What does that say about what making is for?
• He writes, "Delete it. Rewrite it. Start fresh." What work have you thrown away? What did you keep from it?
• He writes that the craft "got more valuable once it wasn't necessary anymore." What would that look like for code?

“Making space for a handmade web”

• Amisola describes early webpages as handmade, amateur and unpolished. What in your own feeds is the opposite?
• She imagines a website that isn't always awake, one that's hard to find, and one without ownership. Which would you build? Who would it be for?
• If your site did not answer to a million people, what would it answer to?

Across both essays

• Which idea in these essays challenges or changes your answer to "What do you think a coder is?"

Pages and submission

• 2 to 4 pages, each 5.5 by 8.5 inches, in a Moleskine Cahier notebook.
• Pen, in any color that scans well.
• Handwritten, with visual elements: sketches, diagrams, connections.
• Scan the pages into one PDF, in reading order, named week-0-notes-lastname.pdf.
• Upload the PDF in Canvas by Sunday, September 27, at 11:59 p.m.
• The grade is complete (2 to 4 pages with genuine engagement) or incomplete (fewer than 2 pages, or minimal effort).