Daniel Curry
George Mason University
Last Updated 18 April 2014
copyright April 2014
History and New Media at George Mason University
This website is a portfolio containing projects/assignments created for the “Creating History in New Media” class (also known as Clio II) at George Mason University. Clio II is the second of two required digital media classes taken by History PhD students at George Mason University. The course is an intensive exploration of the adaptation of history to a digital environment. The main goal of Clio II is to give students the basic skills needed to create a professional looking website to include basic HTML coding, image restoration, traditional graphic design techniques and web design techniques. The acquisition of these skills allows students to better understand and adapt to the evolution of Academic History brought about by digital technology.
Assignments
The menu at the top of the page links to the individual Clio II assignments. Assignments include:
Portfolio Home Page:
This page is the first assignment. Students were asked to create a standards-compliant, HTML5/CSS3 home page that includes a header, footer, content area, and nav from scratch. Students were asked to concentrate on creating a solid layout and visual identity (color scheme, font, images).
Type Assignment:
Students were asked to demonstrate that they are aware of word processing conventions, CSS, and can use type as both an element in information and aesthetic design by creating a web page that includes a title, text, navigation, subheads, leading, line length, margins/padding, a pull quote, a rule, an image, a block quotation and a footer.
Image Assignment:
Students were asked to demonstrate their mastery of image editing skills, color and composition as well as the use of images to tell or illustrate a narrative of the steps taken to achieve the effects on the images used. The web site should include a restored photograph, a cropped image, a resized image, a hand-colored photograph, a vignette photograph and a matted engraving.
Design Assignment:
Students were asked to choose a historical period or topic and develop a web page design appropriate to the period through the use of fonts, layouts, illustrations, colors, and layout.
Individual Project:
Students were asked to create a modest, reasonably sophisticated history web site with solid and engaging content. The site should be clear in its purpose and potential audience as well as encompass all the standards of design found in previous assignments.