Appendix X
Web Development in Communication and Writing Curricula
This is an appendix to the study "Science Communication & Writing Curricula at Select Universities" [1]. Numbers in this paper and entries in its appendices are from a companion database that remains under construction. I will add the remaining (~45) Carnegie RU/H classified universities this fall. Additions, modifications, or deletions of departments or courses in the database may change appendices and numbers in this post. Should a print version of this article be submitted, I will place a notice here. —P. Logan, August, 2013
This analysis is a component of a larger survey on contemporary communication curricula, a domain characterized by National Communication Association (NCA) definitions, descriptions of interest groups, and briefs on doctoral programs research areas of emphasis [2]. While focused on departments of communication, the survey also includes related writing (usually journalism or English departments) and a few science departments. Universities in the initial sampling universe include the 108 Carnegie classification "very high research activity (RU/VH)" universities and all 79 universities listed in the NCA database "Doctoral Programs in Communication" [3]. Also included are approximately half of the Carnegie "high research activity (RU/H)" institutions and others used in previous Harrington School benchmark studies. Records in the database provide useful links and illustrations to academic units and courses with a focus on science communication, community engagement, and web development.
The intended audience is anyone assessing the state of web development curricula as found in communication, journalism, and writing programs. The target audience includes academics with advanced degrees in communication and also those whose current interests include the state of web development and general internet study courses found within these programs.
Web Development comprises technologies to produce content on the World Wide Web. The consumption of web content, a critical focus of media literacy studies, depends on the production of web content, making web development technologies increasingly important to communication, journalism, and writing programs. This is a brief survey of the status of web technology and general interest courses dealing with the internet, as found in select departments of communication, journalism, or writing.
Web browsers rely on three principle technologies to display web pages. HTML (hypertext markup language) provides a logical structure to contain text, images, and multimedia content. Visual rendering (layout) follows CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to control typography, color, borders, and spatial positioning of content on the page. Within a page, Javascript provides browser-interpretable programming capabilities permitting dynamic rendering (e.g., rollover effects, the ability to manipulate display windows, HTML form feedback) wherever there is a need for the user to interact with page structure or layout. All web and web-like (e.g., smart-phone) displays of web content use these technologies.
Web content itself can be static or dynamic. Static content includes text, etc., written as part of the web page as it is stored on a web server (i.e., the contents of the page never change). Web page technologies permit dynamic content (text, images, or digital visual or audio media) to be loaded into the page in response to user input; page content comes from databases or image files and is loaded into the page at the time of creation, depending on selections made by the web user (e.g., through an html form). Dynamic web pages rely on a server scripting technology (PHP or Microsoft VBScript) and a database technology (MySQL or SQL server). Although they are not web technologies per se, additional technologies allow the web developer to produce images (photos, logos or other artwork) or other digital or audio content using programs such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
Web development technologies are not normally considered to include content management systems (e.g., wordpress). Code expediters (e.g., Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expression Web or MS Visual Studio) are secondary to the web technology itself. Flash, a coding environment from Adobe, uses a derivative/dialog of JavaScript, ActionScript, to manipulate screen objects (e.g., images), and is a viable but quite different method for producing web pages. In what follows, scope is limited to primary technologies recognized by contemporary browsers from Mozilla (Firefox), Microsoft (Internet Explorer), Opera Software (Opera), or Apple (Safari).
A previous survey: In 2005, I conducted a search for web development courses at leading research universities, similar in scope to the current communications survey [4].
To assess the current state of web development curricula at research universities, I conducted an informal survey.... The survey involved surfing through the web sites of 134 universities, made up of the joined sets of 1994 Carnegie Research I and II Universities, all 1862 Land Grant Universities, and 13 institutions considered peers by the University [of Rhode Island]. Methods ... essentially involved a concerted effort to find "web development," "web technology," or terms like "asp.net", "PHP", or "C#" using the university site search, plus an effort to peruse sites for departments like computer science, management information systems, information technology, etc., which have various names but are usually recognizable in lists of academic departments at each institution web site.
. . .
From the 134 institutions, I was unable to find at least one course ... in 54 institutions (40.3%). In 47 of the remaining 80 institutions (35.1% of the 134), I found 1-4 courses ..., but not enough to be called a full curriculum. In 33 research universities, I found at least 5 "web technology" courses in individual departmental course offerings ... which I consider to be a minimum to be called a "minor" curriculum.
In the 2005 survey, I encountered only one course offered by a communication department. Communication and Media Studies at Tufts offered "Communicating with the World Wide Web," a survey of web history and uses, and offered to explore "how the technology behind it works, and how to create one's own multimedia website." (There does not appear to be such a course in Communication and Media Studies at Tufts today.)
Sampling method: While surveying course lists for a study of science communication and writing curricula, [1] I also made note and entered into the same database any courses pertaining to web development or the internet in general. The domain of the survey was similar to the 2005 survey, but confined to departments in communication or writing. Universities surveyed included 105 of 108 Carnegie "RU/HV" and 45 of 99 "RU/H" research universities and all 79 of the National Communication Association doctoral granting communication departments. The survey covered departments of communication and journalism or in cases where there was no equivalent, Departments of English. No attempt was made to search further by using individual search terms (e.g. "web development," as above) across the entire university website.
Based on course description alone, courses were categorized for three indicators of web production technologies and two indicators of web consumption foci. Production technologies were categorized as "static" if the description directly indicated "HTML," "CSS," or "Javascript" or appeared to suggest that students would be creating web pages, technology not specified. Technology was categorized as "dynamic" if the description indicated a server-side web technology or use of a database. An "other" category was applied to courses suggesting a primary focus on producing web content (e.g., specialized writing or images), regardless of specific technology. Consumption was categorized as "social" for any description suggesting a focus on social media or the use of the internet for interpersonal communication. The category "internet" was marked for courses describing a general use of or communication effect related to use of internet technology (often an historical or sociological appraisal).
Results: courses were encountered and entered into the database, marked as having content related to web development or the internet. Of these,