California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: June 11, 1999
Faculty on the Site.

• Sunday, June 13, 1999

  • Reorganized the What's New set of files. Looks like we will not need the whnwdt.htm file by date because the what's new by file seems most effective if I enter it as I do this file, by date. That means that if someone is looking for whatever has been added by date, the whnwfl.htm should suffice. I think this will let Wisconsin see directly what changes have been made.

  • Developing a routine to add items to site. So far, seems I need the following:

    • The substantive file where item will eventually reside. Item should go there.
    • Then, a what's new by topic addition to the topic list, with the item's actual location on the browse additions themselves list. Link from topic index, with NEW icon, to actual item.
    • Listing of item in site index, with link to actual item residence on site, or, in some cases, to external link.
    • Special inclusion under We Specially Recommend for items we most want students to see and update their information on.

  • I've been linking from topic index to whnwtop.htm. That should be a stop gap, with a special notation, for when there's no time to create an appropriate file. This linkage system will need some clean up before I can get the long list of May and June links off the What's New page.

  • I think we may want a Specials History file because I am reluctant to remove some specials, since I know that students may not consistently have time to look at them. On the other hand, we need to move them off the What's New page. So if I create a spechist.htm file, then the blurb that advertises them could remain available for students to peruse old specials they might want to consult when they do have time.

• Friday, June 11, 1999

  • Great frustration over how I'm going to update the What's New in Topics file. Afraid it will take far too long to remove the material from the topics listings, mainly because I'll have to find a way to highlight them as they move to the site index. I think what I need to do is simply create a fourth list - we'll probably need an entire line of indexes in the navigation bar - to just provide a list of site topics, far less extensive than the site index, but enough that if I move a piece on the violent child, those who may have missed it on What's New will still pick it up on the topic list. Need to think on this. Think it might also help then, just to move the item from the What's New Topic list to the Regular topic list. Will have to try it all.

  • Created Topic Index Will mark with dates, and a NEW image, Tried others, but they were overwhelming. Plan: As I remove a topic from the What's New Topic page, I'll remove the NEW icon from the topic index on that item. But that leaves the topic index intact, which is what I think I was trying for.

  • Altered and/or created an entire set of files to organize updates on the site. The UWP team has begun posting, making it essential that there be sound communication on coordinating files. Files created: whnwtop.htm, which contains additions as they are made, chronologically, except ordered by topic, with a topic index for current additions.

  • Created two new files to organize additions to the site By Date, and By File. Once again, these are listings that I have been feeling a need for. Those of you who use this aspect of the site should let me know how effectively they're working. The "By Date" file is intended for a quick update of the whole web site. But that does not give any sense of the relative importance of the additions, nor does it permit easy selection by topic. Thus, in May and June, as the additions proliferated, I began to group them by topic. But then I found myself with a less important topic featured if I stuck to the date, and a few days absence from the site could turn the What's New file into a profusion of random additions. To solve that I am about to add a We Specially Recommend file that will permit us to highlight special additions without creating chaos with our topic and date-based files.

  • The In Transition file was created to hold What's New pieces until I can check that they are efficiently linked through all access files. Especially at the end of a semester, that back works up as students often have the highest rate of input for Dear Habermas at that time. But I can't just keep adding to the What's New file ad infinitum, as I did both last Spring, and this Spring. In Transition provides an interim file where one can find recent material that is not yet completely transferred. And I can get these files off the main "What's New" file, keeping it to reasonable bandwidth.

  • The creation of our third index, site, author, and now,topic, forced us to search for a better search technique. I automated the one I use. We will try to install a search engine shortly, but my problem with most search engines is that when they permit you to search, they do not offer you the opportunity to browse the index. I need to browse. So I redesigned all our index files to offer search by using initial letter of alphabet of search object, browse through a link that places you at start of index, and, on the topics index, a browse option to browse the additions themselves. This needs the enhancement of a search engine, but not for a few weeks yet.

  • Hard to tell how the What's New By Date, and By File, will affect this Site Additions File. So far it has hwlped me immensely, since it forces me to keep all those who need to stay on top of what's happening on Dear Habermas informed of what and why changes are being made. The Wisconsin Team and I probably use it more than anyone else. If it serves the needs of others, please let me know if it needs to be tweaked in combination with the What's New files to work more effectively. We once had a Table of Contents that we never used - it seemed too tied to hardcopy approaches. The Site Index seemed to solve that problem. But Site Additions really has served as a kind of journal, which should let us trace our development as an on-line publication/community.

  • Two new areas I expect to develop soon are those of writing and Net and Computer Support. I added a link to an on-line writing program at CSU Sacramento. Although such programs do not provide face-to-face, which we have come to find essential for our own outreach to students, they do provide valuable material for students to work with, especially if they will supplement that work by sharing it with teachers in this local academic community. I will also be adding to the Net Links for our course on virtual academic communities next Spring.

  • Deserving of special attention is the new link in the Navigation Table on recalcitrant computers. More computer training materials will be going up shortly.

  • The primary occupation of the week was spreadsheets and recording all e-mail from our virtual academic community this Spring. I hope to have the results of that data recording process up shortly. There have been on-going commentaries of the whole grading process in four files accessible through Legitimacy of Grades

• Saturday, June 5, 1999

  • All week recording e-mails. Grades completed soon.

  • Created new file Lists on Who's Where on the Continuum from Left to Right. First list came from a New York Times article, listing conservative scholars. left/right in siteindx. Added listing to What's New. This will be an important file on helping students to pull out the political/philosophical position of authors in judging the faith they wish to put in the given authority. Link added to evaluth.htm.

  • Changed home page navigation bar. Added women's center access button, moved dept. things onto Dept. Update button. Added Jobs button. Added author Index button.

• Tuesday, June 1, 1999

  • Added "If I Get Out Alive" to Violent Child. Linked through What's New.

  • Gender links on navigation table needs to be changed to go to gender.htm, just updated today. On gender.htm, made notes of saving of PSSI discrimination file of George Diehr, which is on the Pomona server. Can't find a valid e-mail address for him.

  • Rearranged the navigation table to reflect the files we most use now. You'll find a new link for book sharing, and one for criminal justice (which isn't updated beyond the crim just class yet, but will be, and the new behavioral science connection link for those of you who need that track. Just explore the navigation table.

  • Added explanation for department honors in 1999. The department will plan this way ahead for 2000.

  • AKD and Older Adult Center moved into Department Update primarily because they weren't being used very much and other categories were.

  • Added new file Behavioral Science and Public Discourse First additions are in archeology and behavioral science.

  • Created system for tracking submissions, which is available in the editor's directory - not accessible to the general public, only to editorial staff.