Writing to the Moment

2004-03-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

Photography and Memory Revisited

A quick note to students who were in my English 1101 class. Miles Hochstein, whose photo-essay we discussed last semester, has contacted me to comment that he read many of your comments about his project. He writes:

I was just reading through your students' blogs commenting on my web site
(located via Yahoo search for my name) and enjoying their musings very
much. Please convey to them my thanks if you have a means to do so,
including the guy who thought I was a "wieido". I love that comment and
thank him for it. It reminds me of the amusing social norms that seemed so
important when I was growing up. I would say to him with a smile now
"that goes without saying!" Discovering your own unique individuality,
your own inner weirdo, is something that I would commend to any young
adult. Is there any other happiness?

I enjoyed all the comments, including the negative ones, and particularly
the thoughts people had about their own relationships to photography and
memory.

I learned from the experience of being the object of commentary. Please
feel free to post this on your blog if you'd like.

I just thought that some of you might be interested to know his reactions.

(Cross-posted to my English 1102 blog).

2004-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

Note: most of my teaching materials will now be appearing in my spring course blog, available here.

2004-01-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Not that it won't be the most popular post on the planet by tomorrow, but I just wanted to create a link to the "Why I Hate Personal Weblogs" piece, and I still haven't gotten around to installing MT in my office.

2004-01-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

When discussing research, the CNN article on search engines might be useful.

2004-01-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

More Thinking

Salon, Metrosexuals.

2004-01-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

Thinking Out Loud.

Rushkoff, The Pursuit of Cool.

Rushkoff, Playing God.

Rushkoff, Which One of these Sneakers is Me?

Steven Johnson, Geeks Without Borders.

2003-12-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

Other Group Blogs

College Food Blog
Twisted Celluloid
Techies' Take on the Movies
ACC/Big East Conflict
Gaming Exposed

If you don't see your group blog anywhere on this page, let me know and I'll add it. Thanks.

2003-12-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Request

Just a quick note to say that I've been enjoying your portfolios. I'll likely write my own summary entry after the grading is completely done, but I do have a small request. I'd like to store some of your comments in my teaching portolio. I'll likely be contacting a few of you individually over the next few days to ask if I can use quotations from your portfolios.

I realize this is public material (after all it's on your blog), but it seems a little more conscientious to request your premission for this use of your writing (basically as a means of promoting my own profile as an academic). I've been pleased to see many of you comment on how blogging has helped your writing.

And once the grading process is done, you're certainly welcome to do whatever you wish with your blogs. After all, the work you've done in them belongs to you.

2003-12-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Wrap-Up

Just a quick breakdown of requirements:

Personal portfolio (900-1200) words, with links to at least four entries or texts that you have written this semester.

Group blog (5 personal entries with wrap-up entry) plus a group conclusion

Short summary of your group's process emailed to me charles[dot]tryon[at]lcc[dot]gatech[dot]edu

Also, don't forget that you can write a review of one of the presentations on your individual blog for extra credit.

Hope everyone has a good holiday season.

2003-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

A Screenplay written by my blog.

Available here.

2003-11-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Attention, Procrastinators

I've extended the Turnitin.com deadline. Get you papers in now.

2003-11-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Maybe I Shouldn't Blog About that Wild Party...

Check out The Onion article on blogging.

2003-11-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

Schedule

This Friday (November 14) we will meet in Skiles 357, one of the computer labs, to give you time to work on your group projects.

The following Friday (November 21), we will meet in Skiles 302, the computer lab we used last week, again to give you time to work on group projects.

Later this week, we'll take time in class to schedule your group project presentations.

Happy Monday.

2003-11-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

Reloaded

Nope, not the film...Instead, it's a reading assignemnt for Monday by Tara McPherson available on electronic reserves. McPherson discusses how the web creates an illusion of "liveness" analogous to the experience of watching TV. She also discusses the illusory promioses of transformation associated with consumerism, specifically in the context of online shopping. You will have a blog due on the reading assignment on Monday by noon.

As you read, begin thinking about how the essay treats this concept of liveness and mobility. What are the benefits? What are the flaws? Keep in mind that McPherson is writing in 2002, after the web has become fairly commonplace, if not ubiquitous, in our lives. Also pay careful attentiion to Raymond Williams' description of television viewing in terms of flow. Most importantly, pay careful attention to McPherson's discussion of how the web structures human experience.

Key terms:

phenomenology: "A philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness." (American Heritage Dictionary online).

materiality: the state of having matter

Fordism: refers to the development of the assembly line, which is characterized by mundane, repeated tasks, usually requiring little skill. Neo-Fordism would refer to a contemporary return to some aspects of Fordist models of production.

media-specific analysis: focus on the specific nature of a medium (whether television, cinema, the web, print, or other technology)

If you have any questions let me know.

2003-10-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

American Memory

Here's a link to the American Memory Project search page. You might try to search for "early films" or "Edison films" to get back a wide range of results. You might also want to try some of the films listed in my entry on American Memory Project. Search around and have some fun! Your blog on American Memory Project is due on Friday.

Your blog on Roland Barthes is due Monday, but you should be prepared to discuss the essay on Friday in class (possible quiz/in class writing alert!).

Your first group blog entry is due on Wednesday of next week. Send me the URLs by Wednesday as well (you can appoint one person per group to do this).

2003-10-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

Camera Lucida

For Friday be sure to read the selections from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida, including the sections that I gave you in class. A blog entry on Camera Lucida will be due on Monday, but as always, you should be prepared to discuss (and possibly write about) CL in class. Later this afternoon, I will place a quick glossary of Barthes' key terms.

You should also be working toward setting up your first blog entries for your group blogs, which will be due one week from today, Wednesday, November 5. Once you get started on your group blogs, be sure to send me the URLs (nominate one person per group to do this). More instructions to come.

2003-10-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday

Just a quick reminder that we'll be meeting Wednesday in Skiles 302 to give you time to begin coordinating your group projects. Also be sure to turn in your papers to turnitin.com in order to receive full credit for the assignment.

2003-10-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Misbehaving is Good

I'd like to recommend the newly established misbehaving.net, a group blog dedicated to gender and technology issues. If you're still looking for good examples of group blogs, this one is highly recommended.

2003-10-27T08:19:00.000-08:00

Discussion of Early Cinema

This summer I discovered the American Memory Project's digital collection of the Edison film catalog. We'll discuss in class several questions that I began thinking about over the summer. I'm certainly interested in talking about how these early films offer complicated temporal structures, but we'll also spend some time discussing the effects of preservation, including Stewart Brand's argument taht preservation is a social, not technological, problem.

Entry One
Entry Two

2003-10-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sample Group Blogs

Take a look at the techniques these authors use in constructing collectively authored blogs. You might consider offering an introduction to your blog modeled on the ones these authors use. You might also use these blogs to provide your group with a sense of focus or purpose. See the assignment sheet for further details.

Begging to Differ
Crooked Timber
Grand Text Auto

2003-10-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Reminder

Don't forget to bring your rough drafts to class on Monday.

In case you're interested, here is a link to The Homeless Guy, a blog authored by Kevin Barbieux, a man who has been homeless off and on for the last twenty years.

2003-10-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

Gallery Assignment

As we originally discussed, Friday will involve an activity outside the classroom. For this assignment, you will be expected to attend a local museum or gallery (possibilities include but are not limited to the High Museum, the Georgia Pacific Folk Art and Photography Exhibit, the Martin Luther King Center, the Carter Center, or the Michael Carlos Musuem). Most of these spaces are accessible by MARTA, many by MARTA's rail service.

When you analyze the museum of your choice, pay carefuil attention to the questions we raised in class during our discussion of the William J. Mitchell discussion of museums.

First , make clear what exhibit or museum you analyzed. Is it the museum's permanent collection or a temporary exhibit? Depending on the status of your object of inquiry, your answers to the following questions may be different. How would you describe the space of the museum? Does the space create a "narrative" that guests are encouraged to follow? How would you describe this narrative? Is it organized chronologically? Is it organized by "school" or "movement?" Does the organization follow another pattern? Did you find this organization effective? Confusing? What implications might this method of organization have in terms of framing our understanding of art? Our understanding of narrative?

In closing, Mitchell comments that in virtual museums, "sprawling gallery spaces become unnecessary" (59). Given your experience in this virtual museum, what is your reaction to Mitchell's claim?

2003-10-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

Technique Article

The Technique, the "south's liveliest college newspaper" (the student newspaper here at Georgia Tech), has a feature about using blogging in the classroom featuring our classes and Doreen Piano's English 1101 courses. I'll provide a link to the online version of the article as soon as it's available. Thanks to Jeff Wei for a well-written and comprehensive exploration of our classroom activities.

Here is the link to the Technique article, as promised.

2003-10-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

New Deadlines

Your rough draft for paper 2 is now due October 20.
The final draft will now be due October 24.

For Blog 8 (due Friday) you should identify the visual text you'll be addressing in your next paper. For the entry you should discuss in 250 words or so why you've chosen that particular text, what you find interesting about it, and how you think you might evaluate it (what criteria you plan to use).

2003-10-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Dating Blog

Here's the dating blog I've mentioned a few times in class. Enjoy.

2003-10-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

Adbusters

For Monday, take a few minutes and check out a few of the "advertisements" at Adbusters. Especially check out the Creative Resistance section.

2003-10-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Photography and Memory

One of the major conversations about photography is its role as a technology of memory. When we watch Kodak commercials, their cameras are portrayed as capturing all of the important moments of our lives. A much different take on photography as memory can be found here. For your next blog entry, read all of the relevant material and then reflect on the discussions of the material we've read this week. To what extent do these "technologies of memory" fulfill their role? To what extent do photographs actually inhibit our capacity to remember? Perhaps you can address this topic by discussing whether or not you take photographs and then explaining what you photograph and why.

2003-10-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Stream-of-Consciousness Blogging

This is just a quick self-reminder to take a look at this blog by Nicholas Laughlin. Looks like he's addressing some of the same questions that I do.

2003-09-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Reading Assignment

Read Milon's Memory and reflect on how Lane uses the blog medium for a much different purpose than most writers. Also read my discussion of "blogging and the everyday" and follow some of the links to other bloggers who are writing about the same topic.

Amazing...I just used Blogger's spell check for the first time and "blog" and "blogger" aren't even in their dictionary.

2003-09-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Blogging and Identity

I came across an interesting discussion of blogging and identity on Localfeeds, a blog tracking system that records blogs published within a certain geographic area, in this case Atlanta. The discussion centers around the relationship between African-American identity and blogging. I haven't had time to follow the threads, but because I've been particpating in a much different identity meme, I wanted to reference this discussion and come back to it later.

2003-09-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Teacher's Guide to Bowling

Maybe I should teach Bowling for Columbine....Michael Moore has added a guide for teaching Bowling to his website. Looks pretty interesting. Stay tuned for more details, including links to Wednesday's assignment. Via CultureCat.

2003-09-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Creative Loafing: Best of Atlanta

As promised, Creative Loafing's Best of Atlanta lists. You get to learn more about Atlanta and to think about evaluation arguments at the same time. Enjoy!

2003-09-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

Another Blogging Composition Class

I was just contacted by another composition instructor, Karl Fornes, who is using blogging as a part of his classes at the University of South Carolina-Aiken (he even assigned a rhetorical analysis of Daschle's blog). More details to come.

2003-09-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore Responds

Given some of our class discussions, I thought some of you might be interested in Moore's response to some of the criticisms that have been made of his film. I think his point that his film was thoroughly fact-checked because of the potential for lawsuits is an important one.

2003-09-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Blog 6

For your next entry, find a causal argument in an editorial or in a blog. Link to the editorial and analyze the author's argument. What method does the author use? Is this method effective? Why or why not? If not, what method would have been more effective? Be sure to post this entry by 12 midnight on Friday and to comment on the apporpriate blogs.

2003-09-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

Course Update

Just a quick note to let you know that I'll be turning the Manovich essay in to the library tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Also, please ignore the ads in the banner ad above my blog--they're advertising "non-plagiarized" research papers, whatever that means. I'll see everyone on Wednesday.

2003-09-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Slight Shift in Plans

Instead of reading Lev Manovich for Wednesday, you can now read Manovich for Friday, when your next blog entry will be due. For Wednesday, read Chapter 6 in Good Reasons. Barring a major catastrophe, I will be returning your papers on Wednesday as well.

Also, for thos students who could not turn their papers in to turnitin.com, I will update the due date so that you can submit your assignment. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

2003-09-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wes Clark's Campaign

Because I think the information might be helpful: a quick link to an entry that includes material written by Wesley Clark, Jr., son of the most recent candidate to enter the primary for the Democratic nomination for President.

2003-09-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Anticipating Visual Arguments

We won't be talking about visual arguments for a while, but I thought some readers might enjoy these parodies of Apple ads on Something Awful. Be sure to flip ahead to page two.

2003-09-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

Narratives and Blogging

Blogs for Friday:

Salam Pax

Riverbend

Turning Tables

LT Smash

All four of these blogs present interesting narrative arguments about the role of the US and the international community before, during, and after the war. As you read, be sure to identify carefully the arguments that the authors are making, the rhetorical appeals they use, their tone or word choice, etc. For Salam, Tables, and Smash, I'd encourage you to read what they were saying in February and March, during the stressful moments before the war began.

2003-09-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Narrative Blogs

Here are the blogs you'll need to read for Friday's discussion on narrative blogging and argument. Keep in mind that for your next blog entry, you should have comments appended to your blog. In order to fully complete the assignment, you should not only write your entry (250-300 words), but you should also comment on the entry of the blogger listed immediately below yours on the blogroll. The last person listed in each class should comment on the first person for your class (in other words, John Ussery should comment on Kathryn Abbott's post, etc). I'll also expect everyone to link to at least one blog (either the whole blog or an individual entry), using the linking feature on the Blogger toolbar.

2003-09-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Narrative Arguments

I'll provide a more detailed post on Narrative Arguments later, but for now, I just wanted to remind you that your reading assignment for Wednesday is Chapter 8 in Good Reasons. Faigley and Selzer offer Leslie Marmon Silko's essay as an example of narrative arguments, and we'll spend a significant time in class talking about that essay, but as you read the chapter, I'd like you to think of other kinds of "narrative arguments" that you encounter in your daily experiences, including television shows, movies, and songs. As you think about those arguments, try to determine whether or not you find those arguments effective or not and why.

This discussion will provide an entrance to our second unit on archiving and memory, with our particular emphasis on how these concepts are changed by the emergence of digital technologies (or how our concepts of memory and archiving change the way we understand/use digital technologies). Hope everyone had a good weekend.

2003-09-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Rough Drafts

Just a quick reminder to my 1101 students that your rough drafts for the first major paper are due on Friday. We'll have a peer workshop on Friday and then your final drafts will be due on Monday at the beginning of class.

Next week we'll begin moving into a more systematic discussion of digital technologies and memory, using Benjamin's "The Storyteller" as a starting point.

2003-09-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hannah's House

Given our discussion of fictional blogs, I thought you all might be interested in this fictional student blog, Hannah's House, authored by a group of students in Australia. "Hannah" is a communications student at a university in Australia, and her blog template looks remarkably like my personal one, which makes me feel a little dizzy. Looking around, I found some comments, making me wonder which ones are "real" and which are not....

Scroll down for links to comment programs and to the Benjamin essay.

2003-09-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

One Last Time

Here is the comment functionality provider I'm using. Here is another comment source. See my previous warning about comment functionality. Squawk Box is particularly easy to use--I have had good luck with them in the past.

2003-09-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

My Reflection on Benjamin

Now that everyone has completed their posts on Benjamin, I'll provide you with a link to my reflections on Benjamin's discussion of the unsteady relationship between narrative and experience. As I was working on some notes about my paper on blogging, I began reflecting on his discussion of how meaning ("authority") derives in part from death. My entry hints at that interpretive problem (although you'll certainly notice I don't specific mention what I mean by "later than that").

You'll also notice this entry explains in a little more detail the source of the title for this class. More broadly, Richardson's discussion of Pamela seems to hint at the rapid transformations of narrative that are taking place with the rise of print culture, and as we talk throughout the semester, we will have an opportunity to discuss how new technologies transform the ways in which we communicate and remember our experiences.

Note: In order to get credit for Blog 5, you will have to have installed comments into your blog.

2003-09-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Interesting Comments on "The Storyteller"

Lyn Hejinian has an interesting comment or two about Benjamin's "The Storyteller" in this interview. Her interpretation of Benjamin's comments on storytelling and experience might be helpful if you're struggling with developing an approach to Benjamin for your blog. Scroll down a little for her comments.

Steven Johnson (blog), author of Interface Culture and Emergence, two of the more engaging recent books in the field of techno-criticism, makes some intriguing connections between Benjamin's comments on modern information society and contemporary digital culture.

2003-09-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Blogging and Journalism: Another Viewpoint

For those of you who were interested in the blogging and ethics discussion, this article provides another point of view. On a quick glance, Matt Welch provides a nice overview of how blogging has evolved, giving special emphasis to September 11 (note his reference to Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit fame). He also highlights the important "filtering" function that many blogs serve. I'm off to class, so this is looking more like a link-and-comment post without much analysis. Hope everyone has a good weekend, and we'll be talking about Benjamin on Monday (when you'll turn in Blog 4).

2003-09-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Questions

Scroll down for the link to the Walter Benjamin essay. As you read his essay, you might want to keep the following points in mind. First, recall that Benjamin was writing in Europe in the 1930s, during the time when fascism was gaining power in Europe, a political transformation that deeply disturbed Benjamin and many other academics. "The Storyteller" also responds to a transformed experience associated with (but not limited to) the overwhelming effects on mind and body of World War I, which many refer to as the first "mechanical war." Benjamin is also addressing changed social relations due to the rise of industrialism and mass production as well as transformed experiences of travel due to railroads. Finally, he also addresses a transformation of communications, specifically in his discussion of the novel and the newspaper. One thing to keep in mind uis that these changes are, in many ways, more gradual than Benjamin seems to imply in this essay (print culture underwent rapid changes in the 18th century, for example).

As you read, pay careful attention to Benjamin's tone. How would you characterize his word choice, his examples, and his arguments in general? How does he describe the past? The present? What are the qualities of "good" storytelling? How are they different than the communication style of novels? Finally, as you read, consider the context for this assignment. Why have I introduced this essay in a course that has, until this point, focused on writing in electronic formats?

2003-09-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

From the 'This is Kind of Cool' File

I just found out that Full Monty producer, Simon Beaufoy, is planning an Internet premier for his latest film, This is Not a Love Song, at 1 PM today (basically as I am composing this entry). Alas, overwhelming demand has caused the site to crash.

2003-09-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Site Meter

This isn't required, but if you're curious to find out just how many people are viewing your blog, Site Meter is a great tool for tracking that information. Enjoy!

2003-09-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

Walter Benjamin Essay

For Monday, we will be reading Walter Benjamin's essay, "The Storyteller," which is available here through the online reserves. For students who are having difficulty accessing electronic reserves, we'll address that in class. For Friday, be sure to read Chapter 3, focusing on Audience, in Good Reasons.

When you read the Benjamin essay, be sure to consider the social context in which he is writing, Germany in the 1930s, a period of rapid social transformation. Benjamin was, in large part, identifying and defining the existence of a new form of narration, one that was based in large part on the effects of mass production. Benjamin also notes in passing the devastating psychological impact of World War I on the soldiers who "returned from the battlefield grown silent--not richer but poorer in communicable experience" (84).

As you read, pay careful attention to the tone that Benjamin uses. Does he seem nostalgic for earlier modes of communication? How does he characterize the earlier form of communication he refers to as "storytelling?" Be very specific here: how would you characterize his word choice? His tone? What does Benjamin have to say about the emergence of print culture, specifically the popularization of novels and newspapers? Benjamin also discusses a "decline in communicable experience." This is prehaps the most nuanced point in the essay, but an important one. How does Benjamin describe this decline?

Keep in mind that you may find Benjamin's essay rather difficult (I still find it challenging in places), and try to read for his general arguments in terms of print culture, narrative, and experience.

2003-09-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Kaycee Nicole

In order to address some of the ethical issues we ~~will discuss~~ have discussed in class, I introduced the Kaycee Nicole story. Here are a few key references, including a Yahoo News Groups site dedicated to the Kaycee Nicole hoax and an FAQ at rootnode.org, a music site. Here is a reaction to the hoax by someone who was particularly close to the story.

Update 2:02 PM: I used strike-through beofre I read David Lorang's interesting critque of it. I do think it's a valid criticsm, and I tend to use it only in specialized cases (like complicated verb tenses).

2003-09-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Another Free Comment Source

I came across this comment service while blog surfing. For those of you who haven't added comments, it might be a good service.

2003-09-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Moore Spinsanity

Spinsanity is a terrific independent media website that offers a slightly different take on rhetorical analyses of the media. As you might imagine, I have mixed feelings about their motto, "Countering Rhetoric with Reason," given that most rhetoricians consider "good reasons," effective logic, to be an important part of rhetoric (as Aristotle's emphasis on "logos" suggests).

Given our class discussions, you might find their take on the Michael Moore controversy particularly interesting. The Michael Moore case offers an interesting limit, especially when we consider the difficulty of creating an objective documentary. Because the camera was at one time seen as an objective recording of reality, we now sometimes hold similar standards of objectivity for documentary films when in fact every cut, edit, subtitle, even camera movement and placement, are under the subjective control of the filmmakers. In a polemic film like Bowling for Columbine, these expectations are often placed under greater scrutiny, meaning that any apparent misrepresentations (or even misinterpretations) will face criticism--a pretty difficult challenge for any filmmaker who wishes to make an argument via documentary film.

Does this mean that film viewers should abandon their expectations for objectivity? To a certain extent, I would say yes; certainly most filmmakers (and televised news media broadcasts) distort and selectively represent what happens in order to promote a certain viewpoint, and it's important to be aware that all documentary images (news or film) are representations. In some sense, I think that the controversy around Moore's film might actually point to the fact that he's simply making "sloppy" arguments, that his argumentative techniques are too obviously misleading (as the edited NRA speech and the staged gun purchase suggest). His suggestion that viewers should "trust" him to provide us with factual information, as the Q&A from Roger Ebert's site suggests, is naive, given the politically charged claims that he makes. Moore might be better served acknowledging that his documentaries have a highly rhetorical function (in the best sense of the term); by making that move, I think he'd gain a lot more credibility as a filmmaker.

My criticsm of Moore might sound a little harsh, but I'm writing as someone who found Columbine to be quite powerful; I thought it was an interesting reflection on why there is so much violence in contemporary American society, but his claims that he is objectively presenting what he films undermine his credibility, and ultimately the film itself.

2003-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Remembering September 11

Because so many students wrote about Rachel Lucas' critique of the lack of planned media coverage of the two-year anniversary of September 11, I thought I would call your attention to an article in the New York Times(free subscription required) on the topic. The article speaks to the mixed feelings that members of the media have about revisiting these traumatic events. For the most part, they note that their audiences simply want to move on and aren't interested in revisiting this part of our very recent past.

These debates certainly speak to remembrance, the role of the media in providing framing narratives that guide our interpretations of historical events (as Rachel's post, implying a political bias in the media, suggests). But I think there are several other problems at stake. First: the question of profit. Advertisers have been reticent to buy advertising time for 9/11 commemoratives. Because of the profit motive that supports US media, these documentaries are likely to remain unproduced. Second: there are so many narratives out there (movies such as Spike Lee's 25th Hour, books, articles) that I'm not sure that it's even possible to "forget" these events. There is so much broadcast space (or, more precisely, time) available that it seems impossible to forget. I'm not sure that I have a clear insight here; I certainly wouldn't suggest that memorial shows are redundant or unecessary, but perhaps by reducing the amount of coverage, we can find new ways of remembering and understanding this moment from our past.

Update: Check out Dr. Andrew Cline's analysis on Rhetorica.

2003-08-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Begging to Differ

Here's a quick link to Begging to Differ (BTD), one of several sites that have commented on our use of blogs in English 1101. Begging to Differ is a collaboratively-authored blog, where authors have significantly different political positions. Any enterprising freshmen who want to tackle the complications of analyzing this type of blog would certainly be welcome to try.

I'll also point out that writers who address Howard Dean's blog, for example, will have the similar problem of a multi-author blog, but with a slightly different effect than BTD. I've been thinking about the rhetorical analysis projects frequently over the weekend, and I may have more to say about them over the weekend.

2003-08-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Blogging and Ethics

Rebecca Blood, one of the better known bloggers, has addressed the question of weblogs and ethics, focusing primarily on the issue of whether or not it is appropriate to edit or update earlier posts. Jill Walker, who wrote her PhD thesis on blogging also addresses these issues in a thoughtful manner, through a post by Dave Winer. I also reflected on these issues briefly in a post I wrote this past summer (you don't have to read me, but I thought I'd provide the context). In a sense, I think that for me, this discussion is very much based on defining weblogs (we'll address definition arguments in a few days).

Obviously these conversations might have a different tone, now that we've developed a slightly larger audience, but for your next entry, take a look at the essay by Blood and reflect on your own intuitions about the function of blogs. Use the following questions as guides. You can't answer all of them in 250-350 words, so simply touch on those issues you find most interesting. Is it appropriate to delete material you've already posted? Should you link to your references? What kind of responsibility do you have to correct misinformation? In short, what responsibility do you feel that bloggers have toward their potential audiences?

2003-08-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Comments

Here is the website I use for comments. I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend.

2003-08-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Conversation Continues

Joanne Jacobs has also commented on our assignment, and discusses some of the benefits of using blogs to teach writing:

I think there's a lot of potential for using the Internet, and blogging in particular, to increase conversation between students and teachers, get students to write more and generally make the world a better place.

I'm not sure I could have said it better myself. I truly hope that we can accomplish these goals in our English 1101 class this semester.

2003-08-29T05:44:00.000-07:00

Busted

As many of you may have noticed Rachel Lucas noticed my link to her site (which isn't surprising--I can usually tell when someone has linked to mine). I don't think that really changes the nature of the assignment at all, but it will create an interesting wrinkle (obviously we've changed her audience for at least one entry on her blog, and I've also changed the audience for yours, all unintentionally). Still, I think she makes some great points about some of the difficulties involved in the project I've assigned, noting that:

I hope you all recognize that when a blogger has written about 800 posts, and has hundreds of regular readers, a lot of the "arguing" disappears from any given post because there's a history there, an understanding on the part of the readers such that I don't have to explain every nuance of any issue. Plus the majority of my readers, from what I can tell from the e-mail I get, are smart enough to know all the nuances anyway.

In fact that's what makes her blog potentially more interesting--the range of viewpoints and ideas aren't easy to boil down to a simple ideology. Plus her arguments use humor pretty effectively.

I apologize to Ms. Lucas, too, for accidentally making her feel like the subject of a psychology experiment--that wasn't intended. I happened to find your blog among the more interesting, well-written, creative "political" blogs out there and wanted to provide students with a range or perspectives. I'll respect your privacy and omit your blog from future assignments, if you wish (since I can't leave comments on your blog, I'll assume you've dropped by).

2003-08-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Sample Blogs for Friday

Read sections from each of the following three blogs. Then, pick one blog, and take a closer look. For your second blog entry, you will then discuss how that one blog makes its arguments. You may use the questions on 100-102 to provoke your thoughts, but for the most part, you'll want to focus on (1) locating a central argument; (2) analyzing the language and style of the argument; and (3) determining how the author establishes ethos, pathos, and logos.

The three blogs we'll be focusing on in class discussions (which will therefore be off limits for the paper):

Rachel Lucas

Joanne Jacobs

Tom Daschle

We will also spend a few minutes talking about Rhetorica. Another blog you might find interesting is Chris Allbritton's Back to Iraq. Allbritton was an independent journalist during the war who was not embedded with the military. Looking through his blog you might find an intriguing position on the war. One example of a soldier blog is located here.

Finally, you should explore adding comments to your blog no later than Monday of next week. Blogger does not offer free comment functionality, but there are other services out there, some of which are listed in my archives. You should also go to Blogrolling and add a blog roll to the margin of your blog. You should at least include the class blog and any other blog you wish to add. Keep in mind that blogrolls say something about you (who you like to read, what type of blog you write, etc). If you have any suggestions for other blogs that people might find interesting, feel free to add them in the comments.

2003-08-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

One More Thing

Rhetorica offers a great example of what a rhetorical anaylsis might look like. It fpocuses on analyses of blogging, the news, the media, and propaganda. For example, Dr. Cline recently analyzed the media concept of "buzz." Check it out.

2003-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

HTML Basics

For those of you who are unfamiliar with HTML (HyperText Markup Language), here are a couple of quick guides on how to incorporate it into your blog posts. HTML will allow you to include images, lists, different fonts, and other formatting tools. This index from Case Western Reserve University looks particuarly helpful. You might also try this site from the Maryland Institute for The Humanities (MITH). Learning how to do lists, especially can be a useful tool, and as you compose you ~~might also~~ will find that using the "strikethrough" command can be useful for tracking changes or correcting mistakes.

2003-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Blogdex

A quick message for now: Here's a useful tool for getting started on your Rhetorical Analysis blog assignment (and eventually your first paper). Blogdex is a "web diffusion index" designed by the MIT Media Lab, a highly innovative group of researchers on computer technologies. Essentially Blogdex ranks web pages according to popularity, which it defines by the number of incoming links. Because most (or many) links on blogs are made to news articles, these rankings change rather quickly.

Blogdex can be used a few different ways: First, you can quickly identify stories that bloggers find important. Second, you can track the various versions of a story: often readers of different political perspectives will link to versions of a story they find more reliable. Third, you can begin to find other bloggers who share your values. If you click the link that says "track this site" underneath any news article, you will see a list of blogs that have linked to that article, often adding their own commentaries. Once you've looked around for a while, you can find bloggers whose values either align with or contrast with your own beliefs.

A few more famous bloggers:

Oliver Willis

Atrios

Instapundit

Lawrence Lessig (copyright law)

Andrew Sullivan

Right Wing News

I've tried listing bloggers from a variety of political perspectives, but if none of these bloggers strike your interest, then you might consider looking at a few of the indexed blogs on Blogdex. Another useful strategy is to look at other people's blogrolls. If you share some values with Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit), but don't find him particularly engaging, try looking at a few blogs in his blogroll. Another possibility to keep in mind is that you may want to write your Rhetorical Analysis on a blog that you disagree with. I'll provide an assignment sheet on wednesday, but for now, begin looking for blogs that you think might fit your interests (whether you agree with them or not). Finally, as you look through other blogs, you'll often find links to articles in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times. These newspapers often require "subscriptions," but these subscriptions are usually free (although free access to New York Times articles usually ends after a few days).

Also, for Wednesday, be sure to read Chapter 4 in Good Reasons.

2003-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Political Blogs

Here is a small sampling of political blogs for you to look at over the weekend. I'll add more later this week when the assignment drwas closer. You may notice a preponderance of Democratic blogs thus far, which can be explained by the fact that the Republican candiadte for 2004 has already been determined whereas the Democratic candidate has not. I will also add a few blogs by political commentators who are not seeking office as well. As you read, carefully consider the types of arguments the author(s) of the blog are making. From the evidence available (the blogroll, the comments, the content...), what audience would you imagine the authors are targeting? What is the context of the argument? What "reasons" are being offered? What types of arguments are they making? What evidence are they using? For now, simply note your observations, and I'll offer a more specific assignbment out of your observations. I'd also suggest looking at multiple entries in order to get a sense of how the blog is actually used (for example Graham, Dean, and Kucinich sometimes publish on their campaign blogs, but usually it is members of their staff). Political blogs (more to come):

Howard Dean

Bob Graham

Dennis Kucinich

Tom Daschle

I'll do some digging to find other political bloggers, and along with that, I will also provide you with four or five commentators. I recommend looking at several examples in order to recognize the diversity of styles for each blogger. As you read, keep in mind that Daschle isn't running for President, but instead has other motivations for publishing a blog. See if you can figure out his goals.

2003-08-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

My Introduction

A recent discussion of identity has been taking place among several blogs that I read regularly, so as another way of introducing myself, I'll refer you to a blog entry I wrote today on "Remembering Atlanta" on my personal blog. As you can see, my entry was inspired by a combination of experiences. Reading the article in Creative Loafing was probably the immediate inspiration, but I had been thinking about these ideas for a few days because of my visit with George.

Keep in mind that you don't have to model your entry on mine (I'd prefer that you find your own voices), but I thought I'd share it. I'll also encourage students to begin working with hyperlinks in order to make your blogs more "connected," and be sure to add comments functionality (there are several options linked in an earlier post) to your blog.

I'm slowly working on adding your blogs to the blogroll at right. Be sure to let me know if your blog isn't listed because I'll likely be tracking changes by checking the roll. I'll see everyone on Friday when we'll be talking about Chapter Two in Good Reasons.

2003-08-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Another Iraqi Blogger

I thought you all might be interested in seeing a new Iraqi blog by Riverbend. She's 24 and lives in Baghdad, and she writes very passionately about her perceptions of the post-war situation. She also provides a great perspective on daily life in Iraq, dealing with the heat, the noise, but also with black-outs and rationed water.

I'll provide links to some of the soldiers' blogs in the next few days, but I don't have that information available right now (it's on my home computer).

I will also be adding your names to the blogroll on the right as they come in. Be sure to include your name, your blog's name, and your blog's URL in the emails that you send.

For Friday, be sure to read Chapter Two in Good Reasons, and if you have any observations, feel free to leave a comment below.

2003-08-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Quick Reminder

Just a reminder to everyone that you should read the first chapter of Good Reasons for Wednesday. I'll also spend some time talking about formatting, but again, the best way to figure these things out is simply to experiment with the medium of blogging--see what works, what doesn't, what feels comfortable. Do you want titles for your entries? Probably....It helps the reader to anticipate what you're writing about. Do you like using boldface for emphasis? Italics? Both? I'll provide some quick HTML tips later this week to help you along, but for now, the best thing to do is just get started.

Several of you have asked me about what limitations I'll place on your blog writing. I do believe that you should resond to the readings--after all I think they're important enough to assign. But you do have plenty of flexibility here. Do you want to write mini-essays that are more formal? Do you want to respond to an essay by telling us an anecdote that might provide us with another point of view? Or maybe you want to compose your own narrative that responds tangentially to the prompt that I provide. I truly hope you'll see these entries as an opportunity to explore what type of arguments and what kinds of voices work when writing a blog.

As always, I'm happy to answer any and all questions.

2003-08-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

First Day

I'm writing this entry from my office between classes. I do encourage students to take a look at a variety of blogs over teh next few days in order to learn the type of "voice" you'd like to develop over the course of the semetser. You might notice that I've included a link to Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, in my blogroll (on the right). Later in the semester, we'll spend some time looking at his archives, including some entries he wrote during the war.

I'll add some other blogs to this entry later, but feel free to read other people's blogs to get a sense of how other writers are using the medium. You'll likely notice that most of the people on my blogroll are academics in a wide variety of fields. You might also take a look at Rhetorica, a blog set up by another rhetoric and composition teacher, just to get another perspective on how blogs can be used in the classroom.

If you have any questions about this class or this entry, feel free to use the comments section, especially if you think your classmates will benefit.

2003-08-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

How to add a Blogroll

Adding a blogroll is one of the easiest ways you can communicate something about your blog and yourself. Once you've added a blogroll, it's quite easy to add new blogs to your roll. Go to Blogrolling for more information. They'll provide you with a short bit of code that you can include in your left or right margin. In the next few days, I'll ask you to email me your URLs for your blogs and add them to the course blogroll.

2003-08-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Early Assignments

The first reading assignments that you will have in English 1101 will be to read the first two chapters in Good Reasons. You should read Chapter 1 for Wednesday and Chapter 2 for Friday, and we'll spend time in class talking about argument. I believe very strongly that good argument skills are among the most difficult skills for writers to develop. With that in mind, we'll spend some time working on those skills, and the first major paper, the Rhetorical Analysis, is designed to think carefully about these issues.

As you create your blogs, one of the ways you might want to familiarize yourself with online publishing is to write a brief introduction of yourself. As with all writing, you'll want to keep in mind the multiple audiences that might come across your blog. One interesting example of a blogger who writes very personally about her experiences is located here. Obviously, you'll be negotiating what you choose to write and what you choose not to write much differently than her. No matter what, I encourage you to experiment with publishing entries before your first blog entry is due on Friday, August 22.

2003-08-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Other Free Comments

Phil Ringnalda offers other sources for free comments here.

2003-08-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Testing the Comments

I'm returning to Blogger after working with Movable Type (MT), another blogging program, which creates some problems for adding comments (we'll discuss the importance of comments to blogs in class when we talk about audience). For those students who have server space, you may prefer using MT instead of Blogger. Blogger offers some helpful advice on installing comments here. They don't offer free comment functionality, and you can take a look at these outside sources, most of which offer basic commenting for free.

You can also add your own blogroll here. At some point during the first week of class, I'll ask for your blog titles and URLs in order to create class blogrolls.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

2003-08-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Welcome to "Writing to the Moment," the official blog of Dr. Chuck Tryon's English 1101 course. I'll be providing several updates in the days ahead, including links to online reading materials, the course syllabus, and all major assignments. For a few examples of what other bloggers are doing, check out my personal blog, the chutry experiment, and take a look at some of the links in my blogroll. We'll spend a few minutes in class discussing how to get started on Blogger and how to add a blogroll and comments. Until then, I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer, and I look forward to working with you on your writing.