betajames

Context for those who may need it: 

Above is a shot of the whiteboard at the conclusion of the first session of ENG 560, Spring semester. Among the topics listed as potential areas of focus for our collaborative writing project are computers and writing (with a narrower eye toward social media), composition pedagogy (with a narrower eye toward the place and use of popular culture in the classroom), academic scholarship (with a narrower eye toward the real influence of journals in the field), student literacy (with a narrower eye toward ESL), and labor issues in rhetoric and composition. 

Granted, the above shot says rather little about how wide the initial casting of the idea net was. During the initial discussion, there was talk of job opportunities and justifying the Master of Arts degree, the evolution (or revolution) in publishing, the impact of impending government legislation, and questions of student assessment and engagement. Many of these general topics may very well resurface; I even expect a couple will. 

Of the topics we bantered about, the "social role of the teacher" proved to be the most fruitful. I judge this in part by how many different voices contributed to that particular conversation. Though we had some lively debate about popular culture in the composition classroom, the "social role of the teacher" appeared to have broader appeal. My move to suggest this as a preliminary scope for the collaborative writing project was met with overall approval and we elected to read Peter Elbow's "Embracing Contraries in the Teaching Process" per JW's reference.

Prior to these discussions was collective agreement about course particulars, e.g., that there be two primary researchers/writers per chapter and seven chapters total for the book. With a class of fifteen, though, there is still the question of what the fifteenth student will do, what their role will be, and how their responsibilities will be equivalent to the work of the other fourteen students.

So, as we prepare for the second session of ENG 560, Spring semester, I think it pertinent to attempt a summary of where we stand. 

1. Initial scope: Based in part on Peter Elbow’s “Embracing Contraries in the Teaching Process,” we will examine the social role of the writing teacher and how the responsibilities associated with this role are evident in a variety of situations, pedagogical and otherwise.
2. Target audience: As current and future first-year writing teachers, we are our own audience. 
3. Potential chapters:
   a. how we (writing teachers) determine our social roles/responsibilities (coach, gatekeeper)
   b. how others (admins, government, media, society) determine our roles/responsibilities
   c. how these social roles change over time (historical basis)
   d. how these social roles depend on our pedagogy (pop culture? social media?)
4. Burning questions:
   a. Is a traditional book too safe? Should we push ourselves toward something else?
   b. What will Student #15 do? What will be their role/responsibility?

Thanks to MB for her notes and JS for her whiteboard work.

I expect there will be some changes come May 10.

Also: it looks way better in Pages. Scribd sucks.

I'm working on my 3-year review letter. Here's part of it. Let me know if I'm missing anything, yeah?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CREATIVE WORK

1. In my two-year review portfolio, I mentioned two scholarly works that were under review; both have since been published. Details on each, including citation information, are below.

"Fostering Meaning and Community in Writing Courses Via Social Media." Teaching Arts and Science with the New Social Media. Edited by Charles Wankel. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, April 2011. 
This chapter explains what is attainable and possible when incorporating simple social media tools in college-level writing courses. Among the chapter's findings are that the overall ease-of-use, mobile accessibility, and relative simplicity of social media tools like Posterous and Twitter make for low barriers of entry for a majority of students. These characteristics can encourage student participation in ways that content management systems like Blackboard do not. In essence, simple social media tools allow and encourage students to document and reflect on their own learning in ways that are as meaningful and unique as they are. The chapter concludes by focusing on how social media can make for successful additions to college-level courses if proper affordances are made in terms of framing and timing. For more information about the collection, please go here.

“‘We All Stray From Our Paths Sometimes’: Morality and Survival in Fallout 3.” Network Apocalypse: Visions of the End in an Age of Internet Media. Edited by Robert G. Howard. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Phoenix Press, May 2011.
This chapter observes the resurgence of post-apocalyptic themes in popular media with specific attention to videogames. Fallout 3 is one such game that offers a unique perspective on morality and survival in the post-apocalypse. The opportunity for players to modify Fallout 3 adds complexity to this perspective. Among the chapter's findings are the necessity of ascribing to a moral code for survival in the post-apocalypse but also the importance of videogames as places of creativity and experimention. In essence, this chapter explores how a videogame provides players with a vehicle for exploring the nature of humanity through the powerful cultural lens of a prophetic, post-apocalyptic vision that presents itself as secular but pushes those who play to engage questions often associated with the religious. For more information about the collection, please go here.

In keeping with the standards of academic publishing, the editor of each collection made sure my contribution underwent a thorough peer review process. And although these works are print-based publications, I view them as representative of the interdisciplinary possibilities afforded by working in the digital humanities. Because it draws from cultural, literary, and rhetorical studies, there is an intellectual rigor within the field of digital humanities and I think it is no stretch to consider my work in those realms. In particular, videogame studies are an increasing, pervasive field of inquiry as evidenced by peer-reviewed journals like Game Studies, Eludamos, and Games and Culture. Both videogame studies and social media analysis can also be found in past issues of rhetoric and writing studies journals like College Composition and Communication and Computers & Composition and in sessions at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Computers and Writing, and the Modern Language Association conference.

Intrinsic, respective aspects of the above chapters, too, are the argument for using social media to facilitate student learning and the argument for studying videogames as viable cultural artifacts. Each aspect is very much present in my past and future courses. 

2. In my two-year review portfolio, I also mentioned publishing pursuits even closer to my training in rhetoric and writing. Details on two pieces under editorial review are below.

"Playing with Techne" (working title). Rhetoric/Composition/Play. Edited by Matthew S.S. Johnson, Richard Colby, and Rebekah Shultz Colby. Foreword by Cynthia L. Selfe and Gail E. Hawisher. Afterword by Debra Journet.
This chapter explains how Platonic, Aristotelian, and Isocratic notions of techne function within videogames. In revealing techne as flexible and diverse, requiring different interactions in relation to particular principles, and the acquisition of means to desirable ends achieved through tapping into the potential within, videogames shape practices of literacy, causing reflection and/or revision in light of new knowledge. Learning becomes an ever-present possibility, further revealing techne as a kind of play, a fluid, contextual form of action. There is a certain richness to historical inquiry that makes for a worthy addition to discussions of composition pedagogy and videogames. This chapter endeavors to provide a degree of that richness.

"'Ride Out The Avalanche': On Teaching My First Graduate (Technology) Course" (working title). Better Late Than Never: Preparing "Late Adopter" Writing Teachers to Practice Multimodal Composition in Secondary and College Writing Classrooms. Edited by Christine Denecker and Christine Tulley. Respondents: Dickie Selfe, Debra Journet, and Heidi McKee. Afterword by Kristine Blair. 
This chapter reflects on my first graduate-level course, which proved to be the most polarizing in my eight years of teaching. In turn justifying critical reflection of one's own pedagogy, describing the context in which the course came to be and the rationale for its existence as well as course specifics and results, this chapter intends to provide a measured perspective for those seeking successful teaching with technology. Much of this perspective appears through the sharing of and reflecting on texts created by and for students, including anonymous feedback, instructor and student blog entries, and course materials, all of which are available online.

Of particular interest should be those responsible for the foreword, afterword, and respondent sections of each collection. Kristine Blair, Gail Hawisher, Debra Journet, Heidi McKee, Cynthia Selfe, and Dickie Selfe are some of the most influential scholars in the field of rhetoric and writing studies. I take great pride in the knowledge that the editors of both collections deemed my work important enough to be bookended by such important members of the rhetoric and writing community. 

"In the unflickering glare, at the center of a severe perspective, Nelson suddenly felt the visceral truth of the world as text; he apperceived the fundamentally linguistic nature of reality. Everything was text, at every level of existence, all the way up from quarks to queer theory. Words arranged in lines; lines arrayed on pages; pages pressed together, bound, and trimmed in books; books arranged cover to cover along a shelf like the words in a line of text; shelves stacked one atop the other like lines of text on a page; rows of shelves pressed together, with just the barest passage for a reader, like the pages of a book. And here he was, a mote of consciousness at the center of this rectilinear grid of information, this circuit board of signifiers, his little lump of appreciation accreted like a pearl out of all this text. The theorists were right; Vita was right. None of these volumes was the product of individual consciousness. It was the other way around. He, Nelson Humboldt, was the distillation of textuality, a bit of condensation, a by-product, a speck..." (255)

--Hynes, James. The Lecturer's Tale. New York: Picador, 2001.

A relative wealth of full-screen writing programs and distraction-free text editors are available online. Each purports to be unique in its presentation despite often promising to deliver the same, basic thing: increased focus on the task at hand.

Beyond the occasional rave review online, though, I haven't come across much analysis or research about any one of these programs. So, I'm curious about them, their implications, and how they are pitched to users. Both the programs themselves and their descriptive pitches enable and frame the act, purpose, and value of writing in different ways. Some are very process-oriented; others are more expressive. Many exhibit stark, monochromatic styles, harkening back to simpler times.

Certain programs invite certain kinds of writers. For instance, Writer for iPad implies concern about "destroying the voice and the organic structure of our original thought." Meanwhile, Ommwriter "believes in making writing a pleasure once again, vindicating the close relationship between writer and paper." Furthermore, WriteRoom "gets your computer out of the way so that you can focus on your work." These programs are pitched and presented more as environments than tools. They are more spaces for us to write from/within and less instruments facilitating the writing process, if it is a process at all.

Many of these programs are available for free or at minimal cost. I encourage my fellow THATCampers to download and give a program or two a trial run prior to (or even during) our time together.

Selected directory

FocusWriter (Linux/Mac/Windows)
JDarkroom (Linux/Mac/Windows)
Marave (Linux)
Ommwriter (Mac/Windows)
PyRoom (Linux/Mac)
Q10 (Windows)
WriteRoom (Mac/Windows)
Writer (iPad)
Writer (internet browser-based)