For HELP go to:

Academic Issues	Technical Issues	Your Computer	Accounts&Passwords	Computer Labs
CreatingWeb Projects	FAQ's about web projects	Lotus Notes Databases	Getting More Help	OIT Fellow

Academic Issues: For help with questions concerning the readings, assignments, grades and other issues related to the subject matter of this course, please Robert Griffith, by e-mail at bgriff@american.edu,  by telephone at 202-885-2419, or during his office hours at 209 McCabe.

Technical Issues: For help with general questions concerning Eaglenet, Lotus Notes, the World Wide Web and other issues related to the use of computers, contact AU's new Help Desk On Line.  To access the Help Desk web site, open your web browser and go to http://help.american.edu. Or, call the Help Desk at (202) 885-2550.  You may also contact Mark Kraynak at Kraynak@american.edu.

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Your Computer:  Every student in the class will need daily access to a computer. For recommendations on the minimum requirements for your computer, please click on Recommended Computer Configuration.

Computer Labs:  While it is ideal to have one's own computer, it is not a necessity.  The University maintains a large number of public workstations.  At least two of the computer labs, Mary Graydon and Anderson, are open 24 hours a day.   For details, click on American University Computer Labs.

Student Accounts and Passwords:  All registered full-time AU students at American University are automatically assigned EagleNet and Lotus Notes accounts. EagleNet provides on-campus access to electronic mail (e-mail) and the Internet. For off-campus access to the internet and e-mail services, including Lotus Notes,  you will need to subscribe to an internet service provider (ISP) such as AOL, Erol's or IBM Global Network. [AU recommends that you subscribe to the IBM Global Network, the university's preferred internet service provider.] If you have not already activated your computer accounts, please do so immediately.  For details, click on Computer Accounts.

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Lotus Notes Discussion Databases:  We will use the University's state of the art  Lotus Notes software to extend the classroom experience beyond the conventional limits imposed by time and place.  Each student will participate in two "virtual" discussion groups:  the first, the Entire Class Discussion Database, will include all members of the class and will be used to post messages and conduct discussions involving the entire class;  the second, the Team Database, will be limited to members of the teams into which the class will be divided.   You need not have Lotus Notes software to use the Lotus Notes Discussion Databases.  You may access them via the web by clicking on http://domino.american.edu, which takes you to the Lotus Notes Project web page.  Then click on "CAS Classes using Lotus Notes discussion groups." From the list of CAS courses, find and click on our course (either the Entire Class Discussion Database or your individual Team Database). At the prompt, enter your EagleNet Userid and your "Internet Password."  (Note that your Internet password defaults to your birthday, in DDMMYY format with no dashes or slashes.)  For more details on using Lotus Notes Discussion Databases, please click on Using Lotus Notes Discussion Databases.

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Creating Web-Based Projects:  Team projects should take the form of small web sites.  This means that they should be prepared in HTML,  short for Hyper Text Mark-up Language.  However, to do this no longer requires more than a rudimentary knowledge of  HTML itself.  There are many authoring programs that do the work for you, translating easily understandable commands into HTML.  One of the simplest of these is Netscape's Page Composer, available to everyone on EagleNet.  Just pull down the Netscape Communicator menu and click on Composer.

• An introduction in Page Composer will be held early in the semester to familiarize you with its basic operation.

 
• Page Composer is supported by the Office of  Information Technology (OIT), which means you can seek help in any of  AU's computer laboratories.

 
• For help, you may access the OIT Help Desk via the web at  http://help.american.edu;or call at 202-885-2550.
•  Page Composer's own Help Menu connects you directly to on-line documentation from Netscape.

 
• Support is also available on an appointment only basis from the University's New Media Center.  The Center also has several more advanced authoring programs, including PageMill and NetFusion.

 
• For more advanced tutorials on web development, see the Web Developer's Virtual Library.

 
• Posting Web Projects:  Teams are expected to mount their projects on their g-drives. Directions for accomplishing this may be found by clicking on: Posting Web Pages.

 
• For answers to Frequently Asked Questions about possible questions and problems, please visit the newly created FAQ PAGE.

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Getting More Help:For help with general questions concerning Eaglenet, Lotus Notes, the World Wide Web and other issues related to the use of computers, contact AU's new Help Desk on Line.  To access this website, open your web browser and go to http://help.american.edu. At the prompt, type your EagleNet USERID and your "Internet Password"  [If you do not know your Internet Password, contact the Help Desk at 202-885-2550.]
 

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