First Steps on the Web Book

This document explains how the CS6204 class (Fall 1996) will create the on-line book about the Web.

What Each Student Must Do

Each student must do one of the following jobs. The instructor will assign students to jobs, based on requests from students.

By Thursday, 5 September 1996, each student must send email to myjob@daphne.cs.vt.edu, containing a body similar to the following that lists three jobs in order of preference (number one is the most prefered job). A student can also state that they don't care which job they are assigned.

1. Advertiser
2. Copy Editor
3. Editorial Board

1. Write one chapter, or one section of a chapter, on a topic that is assigned by the Editorial Board (defined below). Revise the chapter in accordance with reviewer and copy editor comments. Establish deadlines for all aspects of the Web book..
2. Perform one of the following jobs:

   Editorial Board (5 members):

   Responsible for:

   defining the scope and table of contents for the book, matching student interests with topics in the table of contents;

   defining the audience for the book (e.g., deciding what background readers will have, how terse or verbose the text will be); and

   creating and adhering to a basic timetable for completiion of important milestones.

   Review Board (3 members):

   Responsible for:

   creation of the basic review process;

   designation of reviewer(s) for each section; and

   enforcement of deadlines for; original submission, review, revision, and final submission of book sections.

   Style Editors (3 members):

   Responsible for:

   designing the visual appearance of the book;

   creating any "generic artwork" needed for the book;

   creating HTML templates used by all authors;

   insuring that download time is not excessive for art used in the Web book.

   NOTE: "Generic artwork" refers to art used as page backgrounds, navigation buttons and other icons and the "front page"

   Production Editor (1 member):

   Responsible for merging all book materials into a single document on the WWW. (The actual directory in which the Web book will be placed will be owned and writable only by the production editor. The production editor copies files containing book chapters, sections, and other materials into the Web book directory. The production editor makes sure that all needed parts of the book are present when the project is done.)

   Art Editor (2 persons)

   Responsible for:

   deciding style and presentation format for pictures, graphs and figures;

   checking figure submissions for correct style

   Programmer (4 persons)

   Responsible for creating electronic tools to assist with production of the book. Examples might be forms to submit review reports, a way to keep track of multiple revisions of chapters and sections (e.g., Web interface to CVS or RCS), a way to log changes to the book, a tool to assess who and how often the world reads the Web book, tools to help future classes update the Web book, documentation on the tools, and CGI-bin scripts or Java applets that might be needed to run demos that are embedded in the book.

   HTML Syntax and Web Link Verifier (2 persons)

   Checks that all HTML files are compliant with the syntax standard chosen by the editorial board. Checks that all links in the document work.

   Copy Editors (4 persons):

   These individuals, who should have a good command of English grammar and usage, will copy edit all text in the book. Copy editors will modify text to correct grammar and errors and to clarify awkward or confusing sentences. Copy editors can ask authors to rewrite poorly written sections.

   Advertiser (2 persons):

   Using suggestions from class mates, the advertiser will inform the world about the existence of the Web book. Advertising might include getting the book indexed by popular Web search services and posting announcements to newsgroups. Another way advertising can be used is by "pre-announcing" the book to various departments and getting their feedback in order to provide relavent and timely information to the potential audience.

   Extra Reviewers

   All students that do not have a job listed earlier (if any) will serve as extra reviewers. The editorial board might call on extra reviewers when reviewers on a chapter disagree on its quality or accuracy of its content; they might also read the entire book for continuity.

3. Reviewing two chapters or sections of the book.

Choosing a Book Topic to Author

By Thursday, 5 September 1996, each student that knows what topic they want to write about should email a note to "mytopic@daphne.cs.vt.edu" stating their name, an explanation of the topic, and a brief explanation of why they want to write that topic. The instructor will give one file containing all email received by 5 September to the editorial board. The editorial board will then define the table of contents for the book, possibly adding topics that no student requested to make the book "complete" and to add continuity to the book. The editorial board will then assign students to topics. The instructor will resolve conflicts between what a student wants to write about and what the editorial board assigns.

Return to CS6204 home page.

Last modified on 9 September 1996.

Send comments to abrams@vt.edu.
[This is http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~wwwbtb/fall.96/WebBook/FirstSteps.html.]