Web Development Assignment

Due: Sunday, 2/16, 11.59pm

For this assignment, you will set up your own course website while investigating the effects of one substance in depth, drawing both on the reports of individual users and aggregated information.

Step 1: Set up your website

Use this tutorial to set up your own website for the class. This will be the lab activity on 2/12.

Step 2: Investigate a Drug

Erowid is a fantastic starting point to explore the effects, both good and bad, that individual substance have. For this assigment, you should dive into the user reports for one of the following drugs:

You can find the experience reports by scrolling down to the "Experiences" section.

Once you have a sense of how people experience the effects of this particular drug, investigate the same substance on Visualizing Erowid. What new information do you learn by looking not at one but hundreds of reports in an aggregated form? But also, what do you lose?

Step 3: Write a blog post

Once you are done with your investigation, write a 500-600 word blog post, which summarizes:

  • What is it like to take the substance that you have explored? Are there any common misconceptions?
  • What have you gained from exploring the same substance on Visualizing Erowid? And what got lost in their summary?

The goal of this assignment is not just to make you familiar with a substance but also to make you comfortable with web development. Here are the technical requirements for this assignment:

  • Set up a new page to host this assignment entitled pset_web_dev.html
  • Add your blogpost to the navigation bar at the top of the page
  • Include at least 3 links
  • Include at least 1 image
  • Include custom CSS styling for at least 2 elements (shadows, boxes, animations, font changes--whatever you feel like) and add a short note about what you have changed.
  • Send me a link to your new website