Still Catching Up on Last Week's Readings

It's been a nice holiday weekend. Although I had hoped to get ahead, like most weekends, I am barely up to date, but it all seems to work out. I had lunch with my pregnant friend and she was having contractions. I always forget that there is more to life than getting a PhD. I am going to try to keep this in mind for a little while longer. At least until tomorrow before I start freaking out all over again.

Now, back to the reading.

On Rhetoric - Aristotle (translation by George Kennedy)

I have something to admit - I didn't read the whole thing. Maybe someday I will, maybe someday soon. But I really wanted to wrap my head around epeidictic rhetoric. Speech of praise or of a blame, but mostly praise is addressed. Present time is most important, because the speaker incites past moments AND looks towards the future. I enjoyed the list of terms an epeidictic speaker might employ to cover negative aspects, such as calling someone actually rash, "courageous." I do this even when I am not praising or blaming. I do this when I am trying to diplomatically describe someone. But I suppose this is what people do when someone dies or becomes involved in tragedy. Those who speak about them knew them best, but want to remember them in the best light.

Composition Studies in the New Millennium - Lynn Z. Bloom, Donald A. Daiker, Edward M. White (eds)

"Under the Radar of Composition Programs: Glimpsing the Future Through Case Studies of Literacy in Electronic Texts" - Danielle Nicole DeVoss, Joseph Johansen, Cynthia Selfe, John C. Williams

This chapter uses case studies, much like the Selfe piece I wrote about from yesterday. In this case there are three (all of which are cited as authors, which I find interesting research-wise, but that's another thought for another day). By looking at a young women raised in an upper-middle class environment, one young man raised religiously and one older man, also religious and their introductions and explorations with technology, the authors (or Selfe perhaps) convey that aspects of the composition process and varying literacies were at play for these participants. DeVoss, by playing games online began composing scenarios between characters and gained analytical skills by mapping out the spaces of the game and knowing where to go. Johnson, by showing an early interest in graphic design, experimented in what messages could convey visually. By bringing multiple visual elements together, he was composing an argument. Williams, as an older man without formal education began putting together a text on God. He learned how to use computers (word documents and emails) at the university where he was a maintenance man. He learned by observing and playing and getting to know the software himself - just as we (or some people) advocate - don't be afraid of the fear and the mess.

Ultimately, the author(s) thinks these three case studies teach educators three lessons - literacies are constantly shifting depending on time and context and educators need to be aware and prepared for this. Educators must also be willing to address the wide variety of literacies that come with time and context and with what students may bring into the classroom. Finally, educators have to acknowledge different literacies and work with them because that is what students know. By trying to stick with one (traditional text writing) we are not empowering students to learn.

"The Challenge of the Multimedia Essay" - Lester Faigley

By opening his article on the stories of a few teenage boys who were able to make money and little chaos by hacking into computer systems, Faigley makes the case that by avoiding the incorporation of multiliteracies and multimedia, we are not empowering students to become active citizens. They won't be able to see writing past the classroom. If we avoid this, we are avoiding all the shifts in the workplace that are happening around these multiliteracies and multimedia. It is a shift that must happen.

"Narratives in the Database: Memorializing September 11th Online" - Joyce Walker (Computers and Composition 24(2007))

Walker looks at the various multimodal elements that go into online memorials and how it closes the gap between public and private mourning. Her argument is that being online, with different elements change the emphasis of the rhetorical goal and interaction with the audience. For example, she compares the online databases of victims of the 9/11 attacks (the smiling pictures, the warm anecdotes of their likes and hobbies) and the perpetrators of the attacks (the Al Queda suicide bombers). She feels these juxtapositions help to create identities as mourners and cements them as cyborg citizens.