Daily Work: Rhetoric and Technology, and Housework

That’s right. It’s the weekend, and as usual, I didn’t bother to get dressed. But I did do lots of things, even if I wasn’t dressed. That has to count for something.

I attended a Computers and Writing Online Symposium session:

“Computers & Writing–A Discipline?” Cynthia Selfe, Fred Kemp, James Inman, and Cheryl Ball. What defines Computers & Writing as a discipline? Is it a discipline? What distinguishes it from the discipline of Composition and Rhetoric, for example, or Technical Communication? What research and what theory inform its pedagogy and practice? How are we defined on the job market and then what roles do we play within our academic departments?

The session touches on some of the issues that my paper is supposed to cover. I’m still not sure how I’m going to present, given that I don’t think that I’ll actually be there. I’m thinking that it may have to be some kind of Flash-driven PowerPoint sort of thing. I’m trying not to think about it. My proposal, which was written more by Dickie and Karla than me, is below:

“Don’t Think of the Technologies: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate” George Lakoff in Don’t Think of an Elephant, suggests that we need to know our own values and reframe debates based on those values, not on others’ conception of what we do. This presentation describes the values embedded within NCTE’s successful and popular ReadWriteThink website and the practices that grow out of such values. ReadWriteThink is based on the premise that sustainable digital environments must focus not on the technologies themselves, but on the literacies and pedagogies they support. Accordingly, when people ask how to use software to teach, they are in turn asked how they already teach–or aspire to teach. The advice they receive then emphasizes how technologies can support their current or future practice.

We’ll see how it all plays out. I’m somewhat worried that I’ll be able to pull it off.

I managed to finally get the toaster oven into the kitchen. Two months on the couch is long enough for a Christmas present. I still can’t figure out where to put everything so that it fits and makes sense. I end up going to the kitchen, putting one thing where it seems to belong, and then going back to sit down. When I go back to the kitchen again, it’s like I’m trying everything out to determine whether it really fits where I put it. Mostly this process is telling me that I really want a bigger kitchen, but since I’m not interested in remodeling, I need to figure this all out.

Between the kitchen and thinking about various things that I’m supposed to be writing, that’s about all that I accomplished. Still, it has to be good enough. It’s certainly better than most weekends when I take long naps and get nothing at all done.