Hi everyone!

So good to meet you all today, and to get to know a bit about you and your ideas about science fiction. I’m going to take photos of your group (large!) post-it creations and post them to this site for next week 🙂

I know we went through a lot of material quickly at the end of class, so just a few reminders about what needs to happen before our next class on Thursday (2/5). You should check your homework (as always), on our dynamic course schedule.

1. Get an OpenLab account and join our course site. Follow these instructions here. You should do this ASAP (like today, so in case you run into any problems with your e-mail, you can go to the Help Desk–but definitely no later than tomorrow, F 1/30).

2. Review the Syllabus & OpenLab Composing rubric & guidelines/expectations, (both of which were also handed out in class), and browse through the rest of our OpenLab Course site.

3. Make your Introduction post (due by Su 2/1). You can find more info. about what I’m looking for here, and see the post I already made for myself. Here’s info. about posting/categorizing/commenting, and here is info. about adding links, images, and video to your posts.

4. Read about defining Science Fiction (links provided on the Schedule).

5. Read “The Machine Stops” (a short story by E.M. Forster) & watch Metropolis (the restored version), linked from our Schedule, & blog in response (follow the OpenLab Composing Guidelines for this first post). Make sure to categorize it appropriately (“The Machine Stops” & ‘Metropolis’)

*All response posts are due no later than the Tuesday night before (Thursday’s) class, so this first response post is due no later than coming Tu 2/3. Make sure to go back and read through the posts before class, and to comment on them (and reply to other classmates’ comment) to get some discussion going. You can use these comments to ask questions, debate ideas, reference other texts, build on someone else’s point, etc.

**Use the “Framework for Analyzing Science Fiction Texts” (handed out in class, and listed in Science Fiction Resources), the “Annotating a Text” (in Writing Resources), and “Elements of Fiction” reading (linked from the Schedule) to help you move beyond summary to thinking critically about these texts.

Whew! That’s it for now. I know it seems like a lot to do/learn, but once you get on OpenLab and get the hang of posting, it’s actually simple and fun. Please don’t hesitate to come see me in my office, Namm 520, today (I’ll be around for my office hours, Th 5-pm), e-mail me (jbelli@citytech.cuny.edu), or “comment” (click “reply” to this post) if you have any questions. And, most importantly, happy first day of the semester, and enjoy the weekend ahead 🙂