Women’s Studies J111:  Women in Culture
Group Projects #2
Web Site Review
Due 1 December 2000

I’ve tried to focus the second group project a bit differently so that the group experience won’t be so painful for us all this time!  In the first place, I’ve chosen sites for you to review—I hope that not having to agree as a group on a site will make things easier for you at the same time that it exposes you to some interesting and important websites for a Women’s Studies course.  Second, I’ve increased the size of the groups considerably; while this may make for some logistical problems with a larger number of participants, I hope it will also make for less work being put on the shoulders of just one or two people.  Finally, I’ve given you a rather more detailed set of rules for the assignment; you’ll find those below.

You’ll find the group you’ve been assigned to by clicking the Groups button in Blackboard, and I've listed the websites each group is reviewing below:

• Group One:  Guerrilla Girls:  Facts, Humor, and Fake Fur 
• Group Two:  National Organization for Women 
• Group Three:  National Women's History Project 

The Assignment

Each group has been assigned a website to review.  The three sites I’ve chosen all deal with women in a major aspects of culture—in this case, art, history, and politics.  The entire group together needs to present a written evaluation of the website.  You are essentially doing a review or analysis of the website.  This analysis may take the form of a traditional academic paper or of a web site if your group has the inclination and the web authoring skills.  I’m not going to specify a length, but the analysis should show considerable depth and effort.  Try to avoid simply dividing tasks as a group; ideally, the group assignment will involve people coordinating activities to produce one coordinated product, not several different pieces of writing cobbled together.  I am willing to participate in all group activities—just let me know what you need.

The following are a list of questions to consider as you think about the website; don’t use these as an organizing principle for your presentation, though, but rather as questions for brainstorming ideas.
 

• What do you believe is the primary message of the website?  This is actually a very easy question to answer briefly—but take some time to think about a more complicated answer than the most obvious one.
• How does the site represent gender, particularly the way women are represented in the culture?
• How do the ideas in the site fit into or depart from mainstream ideas about women in culture?  How does the site explore alternative views of the subject?
• Does the site invite feedback, participation, interaction from the audience?  How?
• Look at the design of the site as well:  how does the site take accepted internet practices and use them to promote its message?  For instance, how does the Guerilla Girl’s use of the word “fE-mail” appropriate and reinterpret internet usage?
• What links are provided in the site?  How do the links emphasize the message of the site?

The Rules

All group communications must take place in the group area discussion boards or through the email group feature on the group web page.  DO NOT DO ANY WORK FROM ANY POINT OUTSIDE THE GROUPS BUTTON.  Please follow all these rules—they may seem arbitrary, but they are designed to make the group experience more productive.

• All email must be sent by clicking on Groups in Blackboard, then click on the name of your group, then Send E-Mail.  Please send email to All Users.  I do apologize, because I know this is very cumbersome, and much more difficult than just hitting reply, but one problem we had last time was that not every group member received all email, particularly when one person replied to another’s email, or when group members had several different email addresses.  I think this should eliminate those problems.
• Make sure your email address for the course is accurate and that you check it daily.  If you need to update your email address, please click on Course Information and then the link to the Blackboard Handout for directions on how to do that.
• Each group member should access the group pages daily; group participation requires a substantial investment of time on the part of all group members.
• Each group should have at least one or two chat sessions; I do understand that not every group member will be able to attend those sessions, but if you miss a session, you can review the transcripts of the chat in the group area by clicking on Group Virtual Classroom and then Browse Classroom Archives.  Do be aware that all group members can access the archives, so when chatting about the work, don’t say anything you wouldn’t like your colleagues to see.
• Chat sessions must be entered through the Groups button.  If you enter through Communication, you will not be the same chat area as the rest of your group.  Several groups last time had a couple of people working in the group chat area and a couple others working at the same time in the classroom chat area, wondering where each other were!
• To check an archived chat, enter your group area through the Groups button, then click the name of your group.  Next, click on Group Virtual Classroom and then Browse Classroom Archives.  If you want to print the chat out, but can’t get your page to print all the text, go to Edit, Page Setup, and, under Page Options, select Black Text (that’s using Netscape—I don’t use Explorer, so I don’t know how you’d do that there).

The group project will count 50 points.  Since all group activity should be taking place through the group pages, I will be able to monitor group activity and assign grades accordingly.  Every member of the class is expected to participate.  If you do not actively participate in your group, you will receive 0 of the 50 points for the project, and I will also penalize your participation grade.