Idea Warehouse

Looking forward to this April--project is coming along nicely, manuscript reviews are done, editor stint over, and job apps sent. I look forward to some nice weather some time as well. Perhaps a trip to New Hampshire for the short conference there in two weeks. I also want to write three new articles. Oh yes, and the CCCC reviews are due by May 1. Back to the project.

Academic Work

What with publishing my new professional page (http://www.wendywarrenaustin.com), finishing up two manuscript reviews, serving as Editor-at-Large this week for Digital Humanities Now, submitting various applications, and working on my confidential project, I certainly have my work cut out for me, even though I'm not teaching this semester! Whew! Makes me tired just thinking of my TO-DO list!

Gearing Up for Heavy-Duty Writing Times

I have an unusual oppportunity to catch up on my scholarship this semester, so I've been making lists and reading a lot of background material. Having gotten my Ph.D. in the year 2000, I didn't know of any schools that offered a Ph.D. in new media or digital culture. I had long been interested in that area, and I created my own individualized instruction class that I called "Writing for Multimedia" that Dr. Mike Williamson taught, or rather served as instructor of record. I read Landow's book then, before it was revised and updated, I read Jane Yellowlees Douglas's early work, and Colin Brooke's and many others who have continued working in this field. Twice I taught to writing majors at Edinboro an undergraduate version of "Writing for Multimedia," again which I created from the ground up. I taught "Science Writing" as an individualized instruction, and developed a plan for a "New Media Minor" at Edinboro, and received the blessing of the Dean of Liberal Arts to work on it as a multi-disciplinary minor, particularly with the Communication Department, Art Department, and Computer Department. At that time, I did not know (no one outside the department did) that the "Speech and Communciation Dept." was changing its name to the "Dept. of Communication and Media Studies," so I ended up stepping on a few toes as I called the first meeting to explore the possibility of this minor. After smoothing the few ruffled feathers of a few and reassuring everyone that I was hoping this to be an Interdisciplinary Minor, we had our meeting, at which time I suggested that the Communication and Media Studies Dept. take the lead on this. Nothing happened, so the minor when nowhere, but I kept up my contacts with the supporter of this idea.

I was excited to be able to review a new book in this field that was published in Composition Forum, and I made plans to attend the two-week DMAC (Digital Media something something) that started being held at Ohio State right about this time. However, even though I put down my $100 deposit, I couldn't attend that year, hoping to the next one. But, as things worked out, Dan got a job at Northeastern University's School of Law, and we began the difficult process of moving eastward. That's taken quite a long time, but we're here, now, finally (I say this after being here a complete year), and had a lot of weird setbacks along the way, some health-related, some family-related, and many simply hard. The hardest, I think, was leaving Edinboro after being there for 24 years. The last time I shut and locked the door of my office was one of the hardest and saddest moments I had in a long time. Yet, I know I'm not the only one in the world who is part of an academic couple who has to deal with this kind of thing. My way of coping with things like this--as Dan often jokes about/which is true also-- is to go find a book (or 2) on it! But there are none, really, for each situation is different.

So, here we go. New adventures await.

 

Time to be writing a lot again. This is the time of year when I actually have the time to catch up on my writing, and I didn't even make it to the BRAWN "write-in" yesterday. Rats.

BRAWN get-together

Went to a delightful gathering this evening in Cambridge! The Boston Rhetoric and Writing Network (BRAWN) had a One-Last-Gathering-Before-We-Grade set up at a local bar & grill. I met some very nice people there from a variety of schools with an equally wide variety of interests, but all with a rhetoric/composition/writing degree or job or major. 

Near-Plagiarism: Still Plagiarism? or Just Similar?

Yesterday I was showing one of my ENGL 100 classes (Introduction to College Writing) at Framingham State University the web site for The Everyday Writer, my favorite college writing handbook. Published by Bedford/St. Martin's, The Everyday Writer's website offers a lot of helpful tips, even for the student who has not yet purchased the textbook. Since I had initially required it of my students (although later un-required it, since the bookstore could not get them, for some oddball reason), I wanted them to be aware of all the resources that the book's site had to offer. All semester I had been focusing solely on the 20 Most Common Errors whenever we dealt with grammar, not including when I suggested grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, and mechanics improvements on their papers. Since it is designated as a Basic Writing course, many of the students had some of these errors in their papers, a lot of which (the errors) had to do with the limitations that aliterate individuals face. I'm defining "aliteracy" according to Kylene Beers' definition: those who know how to read, but choose not to read, either at all, or very much. I believe that aliteracy is very closely connected to the main problems of basic writers. (I wonder, is Basic Writers, as a term in Rhet/Comp, capitalized? or is it just a designation, such as "strong writers," or "expert writers"?).  That's why I focused on those 20 errors. Having given the students a diagnostic test in the beginning of the semester, and then again at the end, with different sentences, I found that students generally improved in identifying these errors, after having explained and focused on them and how to fix them.

Anyway, to my main point, ....I'm clicking along this website, and lo and behold, come across a video of Andrea Lunsford talking about Plagiarism in a Remix Culture. I nearly fell over, because my book --since 2005!--has been called Due Credit: Avoding Plagiarism in a Remix Culture. Also, in the beginning of the video is a student saying "You've got to give credit where credit is due." My jaw dropped to my knees. What the heck? I made a comment that that was pretty much the name of my book! And I thought to myself, when I was talking about my book in a workshop at CCCC, Andrea had said, in response to a question I posed about scholar credibility and open source publishing, that I should consider publishing my book in an open source format, to which I replied that some scholars actually NEED the credibility that a traditional publisher will give them, when they hand over the copyright to their work to a main publisher, despite my beliefs about copyright. Not everyone has the flexibility or pull to request special permission to publish their own work in various formats, especially after a publisher has taken the author on board.

At any rate, I mentioned the similarity to my book title, and the students recognized this surprise for what bothered me and said, after I said "I know Andrea," "Call her up!" Tell her about your title. To this I said that she already knew it. But maybe she doesn't. So, I think I will send her an email. Hence, the title of my post.

So, several students said, c

Near-Plagiarism: Still Plagiarism? or Just Similar?

Yesterday I was showing one of my ENGL 100 classes (Introduction to College Writing) at Framingham State University the web site for The Everyday Writer, my favorite college writing handbook. Published by Bedford/St. Martin's, The Everyday Writer's website offers a lot of helpful tips, even for the student who has not yet purchased the textbook. Since I had initially required it of my students (although later un-required it, since the bookstore could not get them, for some oddball reason), I wanted them to be aware of all the resources that the book's site had to offer. All semester I had been focusing solely on the 20 Most Common Errors whenever we dealt with grammar, not including when I suggested grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, and mechanics improvements on their papers. Since it is designated as a Basic Writing course, many of the students had some of these errors in their papers, a lot of which (the errors) had to do with the limitations that aliterate individuals face. I'm defining "aliteracy" according to Kylene Beers' definition: those who know how to read, but choose not to read, either at all, or very much. I believe that aliteracy is very closely connected to the main problems of basic writers. (I wonder, is Basic Writers, as a term in Rhet/Comp, capitalized? or is it just a designation, such as "strong writers," or "expert writers"?).  That's why I focused on those 20 errors. Having given the students a diagnostic test in the beginning of the semester, and then again at the end, with different sentences, I found that students generally improved in identifying these errors, after having explained and focused on them and how to fix them.

Anyway, to my main point, ....I'm clicking along this website, and lo and behold, come across a video of Andrea Lunsford talking about Plagiarism in a Remix Culture. I nearly fell over, because my book --since 2005!--has been called Due Credit: Avoding Plagiarism in a Remix Culture. Also, in the beginning of the video is a student saying "You've got to give credit where credit is due." My jaw dropped to my knees. What the heck? I made a comment that that was pretty much the name of my book! And I thought to myself, when I was talking about my book in a workshop at CCCC, Andrea had said, in response to a question I posed about scholar credibility and open source publishing, that I should consider publishing my book in an open source format, to which I replied that some scholars actually NEED the credibility that a traditional publisher will give them, when they hand over the copyright to their work to a main publisher, despite my beliefs about copyright. Not everyone has the flexibility or pull to request special permission to publish their own work in various formats, especially after a publisher has taken the author on board.

At any rate, I mentioned the similarity to my book title, and the students recognized this surprise for what bothered me and said, after I said "I know Andrea," "Call her up!" Tell her about your title. To this I said that she already knew it. But maybe she doesn't. So, I think I will send her an email. Hence, the title of my post.

So, several students said, c

Office Time

I wonder when I'll actually get to meet my "phantom office mate," Lorianne DiSaboto? I'm glad that these days, one can check out a person's blog and get a sense of at least one or more sides to a person's personality, but it's also a little weird that it's something we do virtually, and through the mediated space of our computers. I know I sat next to her at the retreat or maybe it was the orientation for new teachers before school started. I was trying to remember people's names, and I had remembered Lorianne's email and name, and so I was trying to remember all the newer ones. Sorry, Lorianne! I probably didn't do more than say hello that day.

Anyway, tomorrow I will finally get my ID card, also. A better time to do it would have been when everybody else did it: before classes. As usual, I had a zillion things to do/places to be, because of trying to cram everything in before Dan and I went to Tim and Suzanne's wedding at the Cape. We had to leave RIGHT after the orientation to get down there in time, so I was running around like crazy. Plus, when it was hot, it was much harder for me to do things. I'd get really tired real fast, and would have to pace myself. I attributed this to my MS, although now I am getting conflicting diagnoses of what these types of episodes might be. Soon, I will get a second opinion, but meanwhile, I'll also concentrate on taking better care of myself overall. I don't know why that is sometimes so hard to do, but it is.

Walking around Framingham State campus certainly gives me a workout, especially since there are so few places to park. It's a beautiful campus, even if it is quite hilly. My office window is huge, letting in a lot of pleasant light, and looks out onto the main building areas, even though it is in the basement of one of the buildings.

 

 

 

Last official hour as Edinboro Associate Professor

Today is my last official day employed by Edinboro. I spent 24 years there, good years. I will miss it greatly, but I am glad that I can finally live where my husband lives, after 3 years of going back and forth to see each other.

1 Month without Diet Coke

Well, I still think I'm going through Diet Coke withdrawal/detox, but I have at least made it this far. I invite any and all family members and friends who would to contragulate m)e to post a comment. I can use all the motivation I can get to keep it up. Laura Schocker, writing for the Healthy Living section of the Huffington Post, describes her addiction to D.C. and how she kicked it. For the last week or so, I've glanced a bit more longingly at the refrigerated Diet Cokes sitting in the vendor's booth at Back Bay, had my head turned, but not TOO long, at the aisle in Target of those 7 oz can packs, and keep thinking I need to get out and drive by McDoonald's to get my daily fix (Med. Diet Coke, please, [and lately], and banana bread), but then my new self kicks in and tells me, no, no, now, none of that for you, kiddo. It's also a little bit of a caffeine withdrawal, too, I'm sure, as much as the aspertame and taste withdrawal.

I have to remember that I CAN quit things that I want to quit, like coffee, (over 15 years ago), alcohol (same time frame), and much longer ago, cigarettes.  No matter that I wasn't an alcoholic, just enjoyed a couple of really cold beers on a hot day or a wonderful glass of wine before or with dinner. It's not a burden, really, to have kicked that, although I often glance over a wine list in a restaurant and think to myself what I might order with it, if I did drink.

Today I went to the Boston Public Library for the first time. What a place!! It's like walking into a beautiful museum. Will write more on that later.