this blog will provide those of us interested in theorizing blog use in the classroom with a space to hash out ideas, propose theories, invite readers, and debate their possibilities and limitations

 
[Some key points--to keep them out of the archive abyss. And, yes, I'm sure to bastardize and butcher your thoughts--sorry--muahahahaha]
* temporality/maleabilioty/incompleteness/timebinding--could work in arguments about subjctivity and composing processes
* Conscientiousness/inconscientiousness--invoking audiences and responding to perceptions of addressed audiences
* kairos/prepon/parataxis--student centered--proper measure for students
* subjectivity/collaboration/decentralization/textual space--removing authority role and involving students in knowledge making and delivery, etc.
* Institutional demands/rationalizing learning experience and outcomes
* power structures
posted by Anonymous at 8:35 AM

 
Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna post a short writeup/summary--maybe part of our proposal--and then some key points that we have discussed thus far.

<>part of proposal? rough, nonethelss> Blogs provide advanced interfaces for students to work within while negotiating, reporting upon, and making meaning. Because blogs operate outside of the physicality of the university, they empower students by reducing traditionally embedded hegemonic structures and creating a venue within which they can expressively, transactionally and poetically communicate<>

posted by Anonymous at 8:30 AM

 
I think blogs can also be used as a more simple way of teaching very basic HTML, which might be of some value. In terms of institutional expectations, it will make our students more computer literate (and that's a worthy goal from a multiple of points of view). It also seems valuable in that students can begin to identify with their space (not sure this point has been raised). They could choose their own templates and modify them (within reason) to reflect their personalities....Some of my friends have very brief movie reviews, music listening lists, etc, in their template, which would be a useful way of illustrating how identity is discursively produced. But I'm not sure that completely justifies using a blog over some form of listserv or discussion group (which also allow basic HTML, as in Web Crossing). I *think* the argument that blogs are emerging as a more common form of discourse than discussion lists might carry some weight as well, especially given the slightly more public nature of blogging (and the political uses to which this publiuc space might be put--ie war blogging, peace blogging, etc). It's also a different type of literacy than other online forums, especially in the ways that blogs are more fluid in negotiating collectively vs. individually produced digital texts. Another potential factor to consider might be the emergence of audioblogs and photoblogs--not sure if there's any real distinction here between what listservs and blogs allow, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there. Not sure these suggestions really answer Holly's question, and in fact, I think Christopher's suggestion makes a lot of sense.

Update: Sorry for all of the parentheses--I tend to abuse them when I am writing off the cuff.
posted by chutry at 3:00 PM

 
Hmmm, in one sense, some institutions require students in certain classes to write a certain amount of words per semester. I think BGSU mandates first-year English classes to require 8000 to 10000 wods per semester. A blog, certainly, would add verbiage to the course, but as an educational tool, it provides a map of course progress--a useful instructional (albeit also institutional) evaluation tool.

posted by Anonymous at 12:10 PM

 
I think that sense of incompletion is what I find interesting--can be used to reinforce the idea that writing itself is never complete (even down to the fact that comments/readers are constantly "rewriting" what we say. I had the mildly odd experience of finding myself being quoted on someone else's blog the other day & it made me realize--in a concrete but reasonable way--the multiple publics of blogging. I've also been impressed by some bloggers who have been revisiting earlier material--stuff they've written over a year ago. I'm not familiar with Gooey, but it sounds like an interesting way of entering into discussions of context, that sort of thing.
posted by chutry at 9:37 AM

 
Oh, any hey, has anyone ever messed with Gooey a few years ago? They had a flash chat applet where user comments appeared in random places and sort of floated around. Breaks down our reliance on print-modeled technology, in a way.
posted by Anonymous at 6:22 AM

 
Howdy, all. Here's some knee-jerk reactions to the dicussion thus far: When considering the temporality of blogs, would we want to consider the rhetorical situation, then, as it's constructed within classroom contexts? On one had, we have the static classroom, sans computers, which enforces old standards--I read an article a while back that discussed that in terms of churchgoing--with desks facing to the teacher's lectern. In these cases, students also hand in static entities--essays written on paper. On the other hand, electroic classrooms help to break that construct, even to the point where assignments are constantly and consistently maleable, whether in the form of online journals or online peer editing. Does the temporality stem from the fact that a blog really is never completed and what impact does this have on writing? I'm pretty intereted in these discussions of self-consciousness, as I'm typically an asshole troll online.
posted by Anonymous at 6:21 AM

 
I have to leave soon, but I like Doreen's answer to the "Composition Matters" prompt. In some of the blogs that I read, especially Jill Walker's, these questions have been coming up a lot lately. Perhaps one of the questions to address (and this fits the "medium" question) is how blogging differs from chat/IM, online gaming (MOOs and MUDs), and other attempts to formulate identity online. My sense is that it is precisely the sustained format of blogging that makes it versatile as a "tool" for considering some of these concerns. I have to go--I'm showing my students a movie tonight--but I think the discussion so far has been representative of my concerns. In terms of the "multiple publics" issue, I am intrigued by the "networking" (in multiple senses of the term) that goes on through blogging, the fact that I have blogrolled people that I've never met in RL. Also struck by the different technologies (including Blogshares) that enable this process.
posted by chutry at 1:46 PM

 
why does composition matter? In regards to blogs, composing offers opportunities for constructing identities, working within multiple publics--institutional, personal, social, alleviating power differentials, and creating new kinds of texts.
posted by Doreen at 1:23 PM

 
I also have a studnet who blogs (and has for a couple of years). His blog is pretty self-cosciously constructed, so I may invite his input as well (Patrick is also *not* an English major). Like Holly, I am interested in how subjectivity is formulated and sometimes "performed" on weblogs--specifically I'm interested in how blogs are manifestly temporal documents, as a friend of mine suggested recently. Given that my research takes place mostly outside of rhetoric departments, I may have to be caught up to speed on a few terms, but like Doreen, I see the blog as a potentially new medium that blurs boundaries between the journal, the message board, etc. The comments that I have received (sometimes from complete strangers) have definitely made me more aware of what I say, and now that some digital media scholars (Matthew Kirschenbaum, Jason Rhody at UMD) have blogrolled me, my blog has become even more self-conscious. Not sure what else to say right now, but just wanted to further clarify where I'm coming from.
posted by chutry at 1:22 PM

 
I've been thinking about the personal/public binary as well. one overall question could be do blogs offer a meeting place between transactional/expressivist rhetorics? If so how? Audience is a def. factor in terms of what can/cannot be said/discussed as well as visual rhetoric as part of the medium although some you have to pay at some blogs for visual image capacities. Also I think if we frame it as an alternative to the messageboard and to the traditional journal then we are talking about a new medium, a new form of delivery that has pedagogical possibilities for understanding the rhetorical triangle in a more material and multiply discursive way. audience, subjectivity, medium....


posted by Doreen at 1:06 PM

 
Clarification for Chuck
Because the CCCs has gotten so competitive in recent years, they now have a service for drones like us to submit a proposal draft for critique. the deadline is manana so today Holly, Chris, and I are going to throw something together around 3-ish. You're more than welcome to be on stand-by as well. I'll add the comments thingy soon so we can have better conversations!
posted by Doreen at 9:10 AM

 
The template is fine with me (I actually like it better than mine). For now, I'll just add a link to my personal blog, the chutry experiment to give you a sense of how I've been using my blog. As far as the panel proposal goes, I'll follow everyone else's lead since I've never participated in the "big C's." Not quite sure I follow here--is there a two-stage proposal process for the conference?
posted by chutry at 8:48 AM

 
Is this template okay with y'all? Also we can change the title and intro as we develop our ideas. I have little creativity right now, it being end of semester and all so suggestions are very welcome.
posted by Doreen at 12:46 PM

 
Ok, howdy. I thought I'd say hello and introduce myself in rapidfire style. Christopher = Pantagruel-.
posted by Anonymous at 10:26 AM