Instructions for students: uploading work

ENG 705 will be using WordPress to create and display your assignments. WordPress is normally a blogging platform but we will be using it slightly differently so that your articles will be created as “Posts.” but on the site, they will appear as articles linked to an index of works.

After signing in

  • Go to the Dashboard by hovering over “Studies in Visual Culture – Eng 705” in the upper left corner and then click on “Dashboard.”
  1. First – add the still images you will use to the Media Library

Images should be resized before uploading (keep them close to 50KB)

                  http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-Pictures-(for-Macs)

http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-Photos-with-Image-Resizer-for-Windows

  • Go to Media > Add New then upload your image
  • Go to Media > Library, click on your image and fill out metadata:
    • You will add a Caption to the image, in MLA 8 style, that attributes the image to its creator, describes the source, medium, and other pertinent information. (Consult the UBC http://copyright.ubc.ca/guidelines-and-resources/support-guides/image-citation-guide for instructions about what information belongs in your caption.)
    • In the Caption put the title of the work in quotation marks or you can put the title inside <em>your title goes here</em> which will display as italic.
    • You will add Alt Text to describe this image for screen readers for the visually impaired.

Special Note about Video or Audio

There might be an occasion when you want to include a video in your Exhibit.

Do not upload the video file to the Media Library as you would an image at this stage. Videos are handled differently, by embedding the URL. (Information about how to do this follows).

  1. Second – Adding your article

                  From the Dashboard:

  • Go to Posts > Add New
  • Fill in the Title you have given your assignment (ex.: “Tristan Tzara’s Cut-Up Poem”)
  • Add your byline right at the top: © Copyright 2019 Jane Student, Ryerson University. Note: There is a special character icon in the WordPress Editor where you will find the copyright symbol. If you do not see the icon which looks like a horseshoe, you need to hit the Toggle toolbar at the end of the first row of editing icons.
  • Along the righthand side is a menu:
  • Format should remain as “Standard”
  • Under Categories, click the appropriate boxes for the Assignment (for the first assignment, the Category is “How to Look at..”; for the second “Seeing Critically” + either “Papers” or “Projects,” depending on which you produced.
  • Include Tags that describe the item (object/text/still image/moving image /sound) you are studying, and up to four more tags that describe aspects of your work that might help other scholars access it. I suggest the names (first and last) of the artists you discuss, as well as relevant topics, themes, etc.
  1. Now add your content – the final text of what you wrote for the assignment – to the Editor:
  • You should complete your assignment in a text editor (ie. Microsoft Word) before uploading it to the course blog. Editing content in the site panel is not a good idea as it could result in you losing your work if there are any issues!
  • Begin by pasting in your Unformatted text from your final assignment document (there’s a tab to do this in the Editor menu that looks like a small clipboard)
  • At the end of the body of your text, add a horizontal line and then your works cited list, formatted in MLA style, 8th

To add the horizontal line, make sure you have toggled the secondary toolbar, place your cursor where you want the line and in the Editor menu select the line icon (on the lefthand side).

 

➢    At the very end of your Exhibit, copy and paste the following disclaimer:  Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.

 

4. Format the text you imported:

  • For your Headings: highlight the text for your heading and go to the box in the upper left corner of the Editor, click the arrow icon and choose “Heading 3 or 4.”
  • For large offset Quotations from your own words: keep the text in its own paragraph, put quotation marks around it, highlight the whole quote and make it Bold. You can choose a text colour in the Editor (the icon has a Capital A with a line under it).
  • To use any hypertext links that refer readers to another site, type in what you wish to call the link, highlight it, the click on the Insert/Edit link icon (looks a little like a bicycle chain), then add the URL of the link.

You now need to bring the images you uploaded earlier into the exhibit itself.

  • Place the cursor where you would like to add an image and click Add Media:

You will be taken to the Media Library where you can choose your image among many. Double check that your image caption is visible.

  • Once the image is part of your post, you can change the alignment of the image by clicking on it and choosing from the pop-up options.
  • The pop up options also allow you to “Wrap” the text around an image either on the left or the right.
  • You can change the size of the image by clicking on it and dragging one of the corner boxes.
  • You can also further edit the Caption information by clicking on the image and selecting the pen icon.

If you are adding video as opposed to still images, you must embed the URL rather than upload the video or merely put a link to a URL. The process is explained clearly in this video:

http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-easily-embed-videos-in-wordpress-blog-posts/http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-easily-embed-videos-in-wordpress-blog-posts/

A Note on Effective Design

Remember: what is displayed in the Visual Editor is not what it will look like on the website. To see how it will actually look like you can:

  • click Preview
  • or click View Post
  • Consider how your reader will see your exhibit. An unrelenting block of text can be hard to read on screen.

For visual relief, you can:

  • Divide your text into several short sections by adding Headings
  • Wrap text around an image, or anchor the image to the left or right.
  • Insert images at the beginning, or between sections. Videos, because they often display full screen should be used at the end of sections.

What you are doing is letting the images and text work together on behalf of your ideas. While in Draft mode try different things out and Preview them. If you don’t like the results then edit something, delete something, change the position of something until you feel the exhibit communicates your ideas with clarity.)

5.– Saving your Exhibition 

  • As you work on the exhibit you can save it by clicking the Draft button (on the right hand side)
  • Set Visibility to Private while you are working.
  • When the Exhibition is completed click Publish (you can still edit if necessary, and then click the Update button) and leave your work public or private.

At the end of the class you will have the option of being indexed and visible to the public.

If you’re unsure about how to use the WordPress Editor, you can visit:

http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/14-tips-for-mastering-the-wordpress-visual-editor/

  1. –Getting the assignments back into D2L for grading
  • Once your work is all set up in the exhibit site, you need to get it to us in D2L.
  • Open your work and hit preview.
  • Select file / print / “print to pdf” from your browser window.
  • (Safari has a save to pdf function that sometimes works well)
  • Save this pdf file with a filename that has your first and last name in it.
  • Please review the pdf document to see that your images made the transfer. Sometimes different browsers make it come out in different ways. If they are not there, try again.
  • Submit this pdf of your post to D2L (or if the images do not survive transfer, submit your original paper in .doc, .docx, or .pdf.)

If you are having problems at the last minute before submission deadline, please just email a word-processed copy (in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format) of your assignment to Dr. Tschofen to time stamp it.

 Remember:

  1. You are not under obligation to make your work public.  Discuss with the professor for information about other means you can use to prepare and submit the work. See below for information on the degrees of privacy you can maintain.
  2. You are the legal author of the online publication of your work. This means you retain rights and responsibilities over it. You are responsible for ensuring that your work complies with principles of ethical scholarship, copyright, and Ryerson’s policies regarding plagiarism.
  3. The digital magazine is open only to the professor for the duration of the course. It will be “live” and searchable by the public when the course is completed. Students will receive an email notification of when this is to happen.
  4. As long as published submissions are set to private during the course and after, only you and the course professor will be able to view it.
  5. If you wish to publish your work and make it public, be aware that your Ryerson username will be visible and hyperlinked to your Ryerson email address. Because we recommend that you include your first and last name on the publication to ensure that copyright goes to you, you will be also revealing this information.
  6. The final publication visible to the public will have an index of author’s names and articles hyperlinked. The course professor will control the indexing of the works of authors who give permission.
  7. If you are an author who has given permission to be included in the final publication, you have the option to be indexed but keep your work private or password protected (which you could give for instance to future employers or your family and friends. ONLY you can control these toggles.
  8. In order to be able to toggle your work’s privacy levels after the course date, please keep track of your publication’s URL. If you ever have problems, contact the course professor.