January 22 — Introduction and digital literacy
Week 1 · Thursday
Key takeaways
- The syllabus is the primary guide, but Canvas Announcements are the definitive source for updates.
- Treat your computer as a personal tool to be customized, not a fragile machine — mastering shortcuts signals advanced digital literacy to employers.
- Install a password manager, ad blocker (uBlock Origin), and tab manager (OneTab) as essential browser extensions.
Topics covered
“Mountain of principle”
The core philosophy is to create and experiment without fear of imperfection. Make a lot of stuff. Some of it will be good.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Copy, cut, paste
- New tab, reopen closed tab
- Switch applications
- Jump to address bar
Essential browser extensions
- Password manager
- uBlock Origin (ad blocker)
- OneTab (tab management)
- CopyClip (Mac clipboard manager)
- Grammarly
- Video Speed Controller
- Greenshot (screenshots)
File types
- Plain text (
.txt) - Markdown (
.md) - HTML (
.html)
First assignment
Read the “95 Theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto” and the Josh Topolsky article (“Your Media Business Will Not Be Saved”).