lit-tech

identity in fyw

photo courtesy of a sea snow (http://photozou.jp/photo/show/240326/29485488)

Recently a colleague asked me to share some ideas on how to present on identity to a first year writing class. I told her that during the time I was teaching fyw (I’m currently teaching rhetoric, technology, and the internet), I approached it through a very multimodal pop culture focus: Lady Gaga.

In order to reach a variety of people (I had a returning vet, a high school student, foreign language students, and traditional students), I needed to set this concept up in ways that the students could all relate.

  • We read the NYTimes article “Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)” and discussed how relevant this was to the people in the class. Did it define anyone? Was it indicative of a generation? Was it important?
  • Next, we read the ever-controversial Camille Paglia and her article (Lady Gaga and the Death of Sex) about Lady Gaga in relation to other iconic figures like Madonna and Gwen Stefani.
  • Then we read Jack Halberstam’s What’s Paglia Got to do with it? We also discussed who Paglia and Halberstam are, why their opinions might matter, and how they could be focused to reach specific audiences.
  • We then watched several videos:

    After these, we discussed how the articles and the videos add to the idea of who Lady Gaga is, how we, the general public, might view her, and if this is a strategic identity construction. We also discussed how some of the gestures in Poker Face are similar to Madonna’s in “Material Girl” and how artists often “remix” or “reuse” iconic symbols as their own.

  • Finally, we looked at images of Lady Gaga on Google Images. What do images of her with or without makeup, in a meat dress, in various forms of dress or undress, mean? How do these construct identity?

What was really interesting about this form of discussion is that because it was held early in the semester, it gave a baseline of inquiry into the topics we tackled later in the semester. We (and usually this was the students) referenced the Paglia and Halberstam articles several times throughout the semester in relation to ideas of community, technology, and critical analysis.

The best outcome, though, was that we had fun. It was enjoyable to see the students get excited about the discussions.

to the letter


I teach a Technical and Professional Writing course for juniors and seniors in disciplines across the curriculum. We discuss and practice writing in many different forms: correspondence, instructional, data analysis, and others. In the process of this course, I use email entirely for correspondence outside of the classroom. I expect return emails to be done in a formalized manner: salutation, body, and a proper closing. It is tiresome to get emails that are just attachments, or that don’t contain the name of who is writing me (this is especially bothersome early in the semester when I don’t know the names and email addresses of the students yet). My students are great about it and give me wonderful emails (my instructions were to be conversational in approach because we are spending an entire semester together and this allows me to get to know the students better).

It seems, however, that not all students are receptive to this type of writing. In fact, Historiann‘s experience was downright awful. The exchange that really amuses me is

Thank you for responding, but at the same time it is not your duty to counsel others on how to conduct themselves via email. I was never rude or inappropriate in any manner. I’ve had many professors and others I’m not well acquainted with who email me in the same fashion. There are many customs and practices and no single one is correct. You are the first person I’ve had an email exchange with that feels the need to reprimand me about email etiquette.

I’m a 33 year old man who doesn’t need to be told how to conduct myself. I do just fine. Hopefully, in the future you will be more relaxed with not only students, but any person who may be interested in talking to you about history. You will find that you shut out a lot of people in life by conducting yourself in this manner.

While it is true that there are many customs, there are also appropriate guidelines that we should follow when approaching someone to ask for assistance and whom we don’t know. In addition, perhaps it is important to remember that formality is a condition of a relationship. I write to plenty of friends and family without a proper salutation (I almost always close with my first initial — lowercase d), but I’m also very cognizant of my audience. When I write to a new professor, I always greet them with Dr. or Professor so-and-so. It is not until we’ve developed a relationship do I even ask how they would prefer to be addressed — even in email.

I believe my students deserve the same respect. I email them with a salutation, body, and a closing with my full first name — unless it is an ongoing conversation, and then I will often do without the salutation (and realize they may as well).

If I were to write an email to my husband’s pillow (if I had a husband and he had a pillow like this), on the other hand, I doubt it would get any respect from me. It may just get the trash.

new directions


With the changing of my blogging clothing, I’ve decided to add a bit of academia to my blog.

Above the first post on my blog, there is an announcement box. In this box, I will be posting rhetoric/composition/scientific & technical comm conferences and calls for proposals/papers.

Mostly this is for me, because I can’t keep up with all of the deadlines and opportunities. But I think it’s also a great way to share this with other people who might be interested in seeing what is available out there.

If you know of a conference / CFP in these areas, please send me an email. I’ll get it posted.

do I look fat in these jeans?

In April, I wrote about the study of the sexual orientation of women and men. I discussed how we are bombarded with images of women in sexual poses from the moment we are born and how that may affect the way we view women sexually.

A co-worker recently sent me a video about advertising and the portrayal of women in advertising. It is 34 minutes long but I think it’s worth a half hour of our time. It will make you think.

One thing I do want you to consider while you watch this is the jokes made about men (the minute rice comment, for instance). While she does promote equality and advocates for less objectification of both sexes, there are still a few derogatory statements made about men — something that shouldn’t be a part of this kind of presentation.

Words are important. The way we use them along with images can give an entirely different meaning to the subject. Contextualization is everything.

dancing through the blogosphere


So, I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to keep to my ten-year rule of posting only once a day. I collect things to write about and then when it comes to the next day, the news has changed and I no longer want to write about that topic. So I have pages and pages of stuff that is not relevant anymore simply because I wouldn’t blog about it when it was on my mind.

So there.

I know I’ve been writing about zooomr a lot lately. You know, I go through my phases of what interests me. Right now, that community is very interesting to me because it is on the cusp of big change. They are going *more* social — which is exactly what I love about social software and social networking. I do like the connections even if I am an introverted hermit of a geek girl. Heh.

–

So, the other day, a flickr user asked for a critique on his web site. He doesn’t ask in just any group — but he asks in a professional photographer’s critique group. Everyone kept writing, “looks alright by me” and “I like it.” What the heck? For photographs, we are *required* to critique the image on very specific points and I figure that’s what he wanted. He did say, after all, “Since this is a portfolio group, I thought I would open myself to all the critics I could find. Let me know what you think…”

So, what do I do? Yup, you guessed it. I critiqued it. I have to look at web sites and other materials on a daily basis with a critical eye. I figured I could give him some good feedback. So, I wrote

I’ll preface this by saying I’m on a Mac PowerBook G4 running Firefox 2.0.0.3. Part of my professional background is in usability, web development, and rhetorical values of text and graphics in online environments. That being said, these are only my opinions and are subjective. :-)

The most important things to remember are audience, context, and purpose. When you keep those three areas in mind, you can create a usable site that will promote you well.

I think it’s important to understand who your audience is. Are you trying to sell your photography to a certain demographic or just showcase it? In your contact, you write that you are seeking corporate, agency, and ministry-related assignments. Your site doesn’t say that to me, though, when I go to the splash page. Tell your audience up front what it is that you are doing. Let them know you are for hire for certain industries.

The brown text on brown background could cause problems for some who may have sight disabilities.

While flash is nice, also know that it is not always accessible for those with accessibility issues. That means you could lose customers because of it.

When I select a specific portfolio area, it would be nice if it closed with a click instead of having to open another in order to close one. Also, it would be better to have a gallery than to have rotating images. That could be confusing to a customer.

I do like the look of it and the palette. It has a relaxed atmosphere and makes me want to stick around and check out more. It is very peaceful. Your logo is wonderful — not too overwhelming and not too understated – perfect.

I realized, as I’m going through, that I am an expert in this field. I do know what I’m doing. I’m good at it. I not only have an education in looking at these kinds of things critically but I also have real-life on-the-job experience at doing so. I am good at this.

But he didn’t really want that kind of critique. He actually did want us to say, “atta boy, good job!”

Oy.

–

The ‘sphere is all-a-twitter over twitter. Do you twitter?

I thought about it. But really, who wants to see what I’m doing throughout the day?
wake up
go to the bathroom
let dakota out
find some clothes to wear
take a shower
brush my teeth

Bored yet? Oh, sure…you got stuck on the shower image, didn’t you? Heh.

Plus, I can’t post photographs to go along with my twitters. How would I convey my meaning without visual cues?

Really.
–
Speaking of visual cues, I am thinking more and more about the connection between bloggers’ text and images. Of course, you may realize that my thesis is on the autobiography of women’s traumatic blogs — specifically women who write about trauma and also use visual media to aid in that conveyance of information.

What they write and what their images say are not necessarily the same things. I find that interesting.

But it’s true even throughout the ‘sphere. People seem to miss that rhetorical connection between textual language and multimedia language.

I’m not sure why.

Maybe that’s the next step for the doctorate.

new age


photo by me

I work in a department where most of us are pretty geeky. We get excited about things that most people roll their eyes at. Sometimes, it’s almost like we’re out-geeking one another.

Let’s learn a new language! PHP, SQL, whatever. It sounds good.

Oh! I want to do that in Flash — those slideshows you are doing are antiquated, don’t you know. (All said with a hint of one-upsmanship and a knowing geeky wink and nod.)

So, it’s not surprising that most of us have laptops. Some of us have tablet PCs. Some of us have PDAs. Some of us have iPods (no Zunes yet — but that’s probably wise since I’ve heard they are not all that great). Heck, we even had 2 co-workers bring in an XBox360 and a Wii so we could see the differences (and…uhhh…play with them).

What happens when you have an intelligent group of well-read geeks getting together? Well, of course, they’d want to start a bookclub. But it can’t be any ordinary bookclub, can it?

Oh, no.

We gather around and decide to have an audible bookclub.

Yes. That’s right.

We are all downloading books to our iPods and listening and then getting together in 6 weeks (I know, seems like a long time but many of us are in school, all of us work a lot, and we need time to actually read…uhhh…listen) to discuss the current book.

So, I have been listening to podcasts on my Nano for a long time. I listen to books from podcasts. But they are usually broken up by chapter.  That makes it easy for me because I can choose exactly when to end it and come back to it.
I started listening to Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game last night. The file is large.  Five plus hours for the first part of the book. And like a good book, I didn’t want to unplug. I was getting caught up in the story.

I listened on my way home from work. I listened as I did my household chores. I missed some things but I chalked it up to that phenomenon where I gloss over words when reading, too.

Still, it requires a bit of concentration that is like reading but also different. I think about things differently than I do when reading. I conjure up images differently.

I don’t think I’ll ever put books down. I like the smell of them and the feel of them in my hands. But this is a nice way to get some different reading in.

prescribed


photo by me

During my (many) years online, I have read many blog entries, discussion posts, forum entries, and bulletin board discussions about the use of language online. I have read about the way “young people” write online and how they don’t know how to construct proper sentences. I have read about the laziness of people who use shorthand online.

I typically shake my head and chuckle at these discussions. To me, what is going on is a regurgitation of the rules that someone’s third grade teacher told them. You must follow the rules! You can’t deviate in language!

One of the (many) problems with a prescriptionist approach to language is that it doesn’t take into account that language changes – a lot. It doesn’t take into account that technology may be driving language into a whole new incarnation.

There are many who will raise the battle flag against this. It is the death of the language as we know it, they will cry. It is the beginning of the end!

It reminds me of Chicken Little.

When Shakespeare made up words to use in his plays because there weren’t any words in use to make his point the way he needed it made, do you think the people rose up and bemoaned his pioneer spirit? When the OED includes new words that are in our lexicon, are they promoting the destruction of our society as we know it?

The New Zealand’s Qualifications Authority has decided that instead of fighting the change and progression of language, they are going to accept it (but not necessarily embrace it). What they call text-speak is now going to be allowed as acceptable writing on exams.

Of course there is going to be backlash. The article quotes a blogger (and interestingly enough, I couldn’t find this Phil Stevens in a blog – but a lot of people were using this quote as if he is a definitive voice on the subject) saying that this is not a smart move (I’m taking a little latitude in paraphrasing).

I think the New Zealand’s Qualifications Authority is being responsible. They are being progressive and understand that language is not stagnant and if comprehension of the topics is being met, then the way we reflect that can be flexible.

Thanks to Kairosnews for the link.

money can’t buy it

From slashdot

Ad-supported Textbooks Are Here

prostoalex writes “Talk to any student about the price of the college textbooks, and you’re likely to hear similar complaints about the cost of the textbooks, the rip-off buyout prices at local college bookstores and insidious publishers who keep changing editions every few years just to change the page numbers and kill off the used books market. Freeload Press, says the New York Times, will distribute ad-supported electronic textbooks to students of 38 universities. However, it seems that neither professors neither New York Times are impressed with the quality of titles so far: ‘The reading difficulty is created by Freeload’s use of PDF images, which retain the printed page’s layout without reformatting. Navigating around a single superwide, supertall page requires lots of clicking and zooming and patience. The company will soon use improved software that can automatically adjust the text so it is more legible, said Tom Duran, a founder of Freeload Press and its chief executive.’”

Social News Sites Pay Top Submitters

prostoalex writes “With the proliferation of social news sites relying on users to submit and vote for content, quite a few of newcomers to the industry face the need to pay top submitters or hire people away from other social news sites, the Washington Post reports. The phenomenon has also led to the appearance of the surfing jobs, where people are paid mostly to surf the Web and find out new links.”

From the article: “The system depends on a steady stream of contributors like Spring. Last month, Netscape said it would be the first to pay the most active contributors — $1,000 a month to post at least 150 stories during that time to its newly redesigned Web site. The job qualifications are rather fuzzy, but an executive said active ‘navigators’ or ‘social bookmarkers’ provide a valuable service because they keep the site’s content varied and fresh.”

designing a book with LyX

Considering that I’m going to be taken a course in document design, usability, and accessibility, this site might prove to be useful.

From their About page:

LyX is an advanced open source document processor running on many Unix and some non-Unix platforms. It is called a “document processor”, because unlike standard word processors, LyX encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. LyX lets you concentrate on writing, leaving details of visual layout to the software. LyX automates formatting according to predefined rule sets, yielding consistency throughout even the most complex documents. LyX produces high quality, professional output — using LaTeX, an open source, industrial strength typesetting engine, in the background.

Works with Macs and PCs.

wikis

They often talk about measuring the accuracy of Wiki articles as though this was a physical process in which they could use a yardstick.

I read the above statement in a classroom and thought about it. I responded:

I think that the problem with Wikipedia is that it became the “go-to” place for anyone doing research on the internet. Everyone started looking to it as an authority, a secondary resource, to the research they were doing on other things.

Instead of carrying on the traditional wiki practice which allows anyone to contribute, the admins then had to consider their audience and purpose more carefully. Who did they really want to reach and why? What was important in this community.

Instead of a worldwide community that is more democratic, they have limited it only to those who are now authorities in the field they write in. If you have a PhD behind your name, in the Wikipedia arena you are given much more credit.

While I understand the need for this, it limits Wikipedia from being a true wiki. There is limited social intereaction and it is quite elitist at this point.

Addendum:
Funny enough, I found this on the Kairosnews blog today:

The Chronical of Education posted a note today describing how Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says that he wants to get the message out to college students letting them know that they shouldn’t use Wiki either for class projects or for serious research. Speaking at a conference held at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday called “The Hyperlinked Society,” Mr. Wales said that he gets a number of e-mails each week from students who complain that Wikipedia has gotten them into academic trouble. However, he said that he has no sympathy for their misfortune, noting that he thinks to himself: “For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the [Wiki] encyclopedia.”

Mr. Wales said that leaders of Wikipedia have considered putting together a fact sheet so that professors could pass it out in their classes to explain what Wikipedia is, and that it is not always a definitive academic resource. In an interview, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia is suitable for many uses. For example, if you are reading a novel that mentions a particular historical event, you could use Wikipedia to get a quick basic overview of that event to understand the context. But students who are actually writing a paper about that event should rely upon the authority of history books.

While it’s interesting that he is stating this, I have a feeling that it will be used by more and more college students because it is written by experts in the field (for the most part) and because it sounds authoritative.