A communal blog for ENGL 3177/5177: Web Logs and Wikis
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course wiki

 
Andrea's Presentation Notes
posted by Andrea at 8:30 AM

 
For anyone who gives a darn, and I know there's *so many...I posted my last chapter. It was by far the hardest for a few reasons, which I will likely cover in my report on Wednesday. It was fun though, and coulda been way gooder(!) if I had more time. Still, 60 pages of work doesn't look like much on the wiki screen. (Actually 59...just rounding up for my own benefit...)
And whether or not someone put someone up to it, I got a few emails from a gentleman that was looking for information on Joseph Rosenberger the other day. I still think it is a ruse, but it was pretty cool getting feedback from a spectating specter.
See yaz!
posted by Jeff at 11:35 PM

 
I am ready on deck with my Summary of Comments for our class on Monday morning when we meet f2f. See you then.
posted by Don at 4:53 PM

 
Monday Monday Monday

Marian, at Old Dominion University, is keeping a blog, Oh, That's Just Rhetoric - and has recently found the blogs and wikis class. Pay a visit to see how rhetorical ideas we work on in class develop beyond class. There's some good advice about projects in the 5 April entry, by the way.

Jeremy Althiser, and Renee Loud are presenting, with Don Hunt on deck.

See you at 10:00.
posted by morgan at 10:48 AM

 
tick tick tick
Monday looms and we're back in f2f class.

I'm still looking for volunteers to present Wednesday, April 30, and Friday, May 2.
posted by morgan at 6:58 PM

 
Revised final write up assignment

I've posted a revised write up assignment: a little trimmer and more helpful in getting started, I hope. Feel free to leave comments or questions at the bottom of the page.

I'm off to Bigville for a conference on Friday. I'll check in on Sunday, when I get back.

Don't leave a mess, and shut the lights off when you leave.
posted by morgan at 11:54 AM

 
I'm late! I'm late! Sorry for the wait! But here it is StudioTour2!
posted by bladdy at 11:08 PM

 
Presentations and Project Write Up
For those seeking to present Monday or Wednesday (we have 2 volunteers so far: space is going fast!), I've posted a draft of the presentation and project write up assignment so you can get a sense of where it's going.

I'll be simplifying the assignment over the next couple of days, but here's the essential part for presenting:

Think of your presentation as a first runthrough for your reflection.

Aim, in your 10 minute presentation, towards giving us a sense of what you discovered in your project that we can applaude and take away with us.

posted by morgan at 9:32 AM

 
I thought this was a good link for Jessica. Excellent sports writing

 
revised studio tour by ml
posted by mackenzie at 4:10 PM

 
Tours are in - and next week looms!

Studio tours are in (and Joshua Page posted with one minute to spare!) You might want to review those who have toured your project. I'll be reviewing them this week and assigning the points you requested.

We start meeting again face to face next Monday for presentations. I'll be posting more on the presentations this week and will announce it here. But look to what you wrote in your project proposal to get a start on what you're presenting in class.

You'll have 10 minutes of fame: 10 minutes to present your report to the class. (Sorry Jeremy: I have to cut you back from 20 to 10. Giving everyone 20 minutes will keep us in class until Labor Day!) Your written report doesn't have to be finished when you present. The final due date for the written reports will be during finals week.

I'm seeking volunteers to present on Monday, April 28 (need 2) and Wednesday, April 30 (need 4) so we can hit the ground running. What's in it for you? Fame. Glory. The opportunity to avoid a project in another course.

Email me or stop by during office hours this week (M and Weds: 12:00 - 2:00, and Tues, 1:15 - 2:00) I'll be out of town (presenting in Mpls) Thurs and Friday.

posted by morgan at 8:36 AM

 
Here is my second studio tour. I hope youenjoy, and I hope I made the cut.
posted by Joshua at 11:59 PM

 
Faith's Studio Tours 2 getting from thought to action. (almost!)
posted by Faith at 10:38 PM

 
Stacey's kryptonite.

posted by Stacey at 9:43 PM

 
I have enjoyed the three course meal I was offered this week. But I may have made a mess on my side of the studio tour 2 table? Can someone hand me another napkin...
posted by peppergreen4 at 8:43 PM

 
My studio tour 2.
posted by Jason at 8:42 PM

 
studio tour by ml
posted by mackenzie at 8:00 PM

 
My StudioTour2 is done.
posted by machelle at 6:07 PM

 
My whirl wind tour is done. Studio Tour.
posted by caroline at 4:48 PM

 
YYaawwwWNNN! (I finnished about 4:30 a.m., but blogger was down and wouldn't let me post) My Studio Tour II is ended. The quill is dull and the inkwell empty....I (belatedly) bid you adieu till the morrow.
posted by Don at 9:25 AM

 
Shave and a haircut, two bits! Sorry, couldn't resist comments from the pnut gallery.
posted by Faith at 9:44 PM

 
Studio Tour II
posted by Chi at 9:19 PM

 
GTG!
Studio Tour Part Two: the Wiki Menace is done.
Huzzah!
posted by Ayleen at 5:54 PM

 
Jing's comments ( Renee, if you find you don't want to write about those courses, just change your proposal) motivated me to revise my project proposal, finally. It doesn't change my project, just the proposal, as I suggested to myself in my Midterm Reflection, but never acted upon until now.
posted by Renee at 11:42 AM

 
My Studio Tour 2.
posted by jing at 3:31 AM

 
Studio Tours reminder

The Saachi Gallery is open at the County Hall - and the Studio Tour 2 is due midnight Sunday, 20 April.

Keep in mind, we're back in f2f class - with presentations! - starting Monday, 28 April. And I, for one, am getting a haircut for the occasion.

I'll have news later this coming week on special events...
posted by morgan at 4:33 PM

 
Studio Tours 2! That's a wrap! But you're welcome to stay for the Informal Dinner.
posted by chad at 10:47 AM

 
My second studio tour is done and up on my wiki page. Studio Tour 2
posted by Andrea at 8:22 AM

 
Hi all! This time I tried posting my second studio tour in my blog to see how it affected the writing. Its the last entry for today, April 17 - hope everyone can find it. I can see some very interesting stuff occurring...
posted by Jessica at 10:13 AM

 
Here's another insightful letter from my 80 year old father-in-law on current world issues.
posted by machelle at 10:46 PM

 
Joshua Murray is all done.
posted by Joshua at 6:31 PM

 
Mackenzie I have a site that you may like to look at. Check this out
posted by machelle at 11:53 AM

 
I finished my Studio Tours Part II. Gee, I'm not tired at all...
posted by Jeff at 2:57 AM

 
Me, too. A little adventure, pulp and poetry. Studio Tours 2.
posted by Renee at 11:25 PM

 
Posted my Studio Visits 2
posted by Rowanstaff at 11:05 PM

 
Studio Visits 2

To get ready for presenting during the last two weeks of class, I'm asking you to make a second studio visit. Refer to the first studio visit assignment for details. The idea is to get some feedback from others on what you've done as well as get a sense of where others are now. This gives you a rhetorical context for your upcoming (imminent!) presentation.

This time out, skip over the three studios you visited the first time and visit the next three on the list.

Keep each visit to a couple of well-focused paragraphs, written so to give the writer some useful feedback. To do this, I'd suggest reading the writer's Midterm Reflection to help you select what to focus on. The midterm reflections should be on the writer's wiki page on the course wiki. In a couple of cases, you'll find them on the writer's blog.

As I mentioned the first time
- make some notes as you click around before you start try to write the responses

Your purpose for the visit is to bring new eyes to the project and say what you see. For you, the visiter, the purpose of the visit is to see what others are doing. The purpose for writing is to get those thoughts in order. So, fashion your comments from your notes

- to remark on what the writer is doing
- to let the writer in on another way of seeing what's happening
- to highlight things the writer might miss
- to raise questions that can open into more development

Again, keep the comments tight.

Post your comments either to your page on the wiki (title it /StudioTour2), or on your blog: your choice. When you're ready, leave a note here on the Daybook, linking to both the project you visited and your comments.

Points
Let's try this: As you did with your mid-term reflections, mention how many points you reckon you deserve for all three visits:
- 25 pts - drive through
- 50 pts - light lunch
- 75 pts - informal dinner
- 100 pts - seven-courser, wine included....
You get the idea.

Due Sunday, 20 April, midnight.

Questions? Post them here or visit me during office hours.
posted by morgan at 12:24 PM

 
Karl, check with the technical writing class to see it this would be covered in it. I think that the IT department (and possibly Visual Arts) cover this type of subject. I know there is classes available at BSU for people who want to work in the printing fields.

design technology
posted by Faith at 11:51 AM

 
pdfs

Karl -

pdf is a file format owned by Adobe that allows print designers to embed fonts and create static page layouts that print identically on all platforms. You create the files using Acrobat (~ $100 or so for an student version, I think). Download a trial version and play with it. It's not a difficult program to learn.

Over the years, the format has been developed to do markup and overlays for prepress work, proofers, hypertext links, annotation capabilities.... That's what makes it valuable to printers. Some faculty use pdf to mark up student papers, as well.

Sometimes people put pdfs online, but it's essentially a print-based file format. To read pdfs comfortably online, the documents have to be designed for online reading - and very few are.

[shameless plug] Again, the pdf program isn't difficult to learn, even on your own. The challenge is writing good content and learning to use design for meaning. The challenge is learing to use hypertext links well, learning to use heads and bullet lists well, learning to write link text, create whole information architectures. Online writing - and the stuff pdfs make possible - means that professional writers have to be concerned with more than words and sentences and paragraphs. They have to be concerned with information architecture, visual hierachies, navigation through online and print spaces, integrating words and images to create meaning. It means making the most of the medium - which is what we're doing in blogs and wikis - and it's what we do in Web Design and Content Writing (ENGL 3160/5160: T and R, 10:00 - 11:15, fall). The Technical Writing course (offered in spring) - and a tech writing and presentation course under development - also incorporate using different file formats. [/shameless plug]
posted by morgan at 11:50 AM

 
I took a field trip on friday to Brainerd with the Design Guild. We visited: Bang Printing, Range Printing, and the advertising firm of Russell and Herder.

One point which came through at all three establishments was computer files and formatting. The main one mentioned was PDF files. The two printing firms were boisterous about this.

Though all three companies spoke of a multitude of computer files and programs, PDF was used by all three businesses. Realizing my own deficiency in the business end of writing, as it pertains to different issues such-as file coding, I am asking if anyone knows of specific classes in the English and Writing programs here at B.S.U. that cover these subjects?

Enjoy the sunlight!!!
posted by peppergreen4 at 12:18 PM

 
Hey all, I think that we finally got our puter up and running safely. I am now able to post my ResponseToBirkerts.Sorry for it being late, when it rains it pours in my household and life. See you all in class soon.
posted by machelle at 12:41 AM

 
For all you bloggers, THIS will amuse you. At first I was a little confused, but after reading a few entries was laughing quite hard. Enjoy!
posted by Stacey at 6:34 PM

 
Responding to Birkerts is finished. Sorry I'm slow, but I spent most of the weekend sick as a dog.
posted by caroline at 4:16 PM

 
Stacey's response to Birkerts.

posted by Stacey at 11:07 AM

 
I agree with you Jeff... this project could have expounded into a larger paper. Too bad I dont have a technical writing course.

Don, thank you for the wonderful I-movie. I really loved the viewpoint from the little girls eyes!!
posted by peppergreen4 at 10:27 AM

 
Wow! This is most elequently said Don . This is one time when I wish we were meeting as a class. Everyone has written with such intensity, and from such different viewpoints. This is cool!
posted by Faith at 9:22 AM

 
I was just giving a quick peek to some of the responses. I am really suprised how (offended? mad?) some of you are. This is NOT a criticism. I was just curious and wondering at how the responses of all of us to the same work can be so different. When I was reading and re-reading and reading again, both chapters, I would find myself interpreting the same paragraphs differently each time I read them. That is what struck me when I was looking through all of our responses. Does the differences in our responses to Birkerts ideas to a certain extent give validity to his arguments even when we disagree with him?


posted by Faith at 12:45 AM

 
My four cents-adjusted for inflation-on Birkerts
posted by Joshua at 11:38 PM

 
Birkerts...grrr...tried to tactfully give his book a piece of my mind. By the way, if I am not being ambiguous, paradoxical, ironic, subtle or witty enough to point out that this link is to my response, then it must because it has gone by the wayside in electronic writing as he would put it.
posted by Jessica at 11:13 PM

 
Machelle called me a few minutes ago. Her computer crashed totally. When they boot it up, the screen comes up and then the whole thing shuts down. They are working on it and praying it isn't fried permanently. Aya your wikki poem brings a much needed moment of levity, ahh to bed to bed, perchance to laugh? Goodnight John Boy.
posted by Faith at 11:08 PM

 
Response to Birkerts is posted on my wiki Response to Birkerts though I confess I am still working on it. This stopping and thinking is slowing me down ;.)
posted by Faith at 10:59 PM

 
Response to Birkerts is posted on my wiki.
posted by bladdy at 10:36 PM

 
My response...
posted by Chi at 10:28 PM

 
Wiki wiki in the night
giving me things to think over tonight
give me no sleep for fear of loss
because hypertext is becoming boss

Oh, to lose the gift and love of a book
A thing that I had previously forsook
The moons wan face
glares on my monitors glass
A warning on my slow pace
To finish my essay for class


Just a quick spurt of siliness for the night.


posted by Ayleen at 9:55 PM

 
I don't know if it's exactly what you wanted (or for that matter, what I set out to do), but it's what came out about Birkerts today.
posted by Don at 9:48 PM

 
Here is my response to Birkerts.
posted by Jason at 9:43 PM

 
To the cyber users..... Cyberia is established.
posted by crystal at 9:03 PM

 
Deadlining

I've had a quick look at the reading responses so far - and they're pretty impressive. Looking forward to the rest of them.

This is will be a general work week. Keep moving forward on your projects.
posted by morgan at 7:49 PM

 
This was actually fun. Wish I had even more time to expound! My response is up...Hasta pronto!~
posted by Jeff at 7:33 PM

 
My Response to Birkerts is done.
posted by Joshua at 5:11 PM

 
Responding To Birkerts is accomplished. With the attack on the heart of Procrastination, Day-light-savings!?! forced this finalization way too soon before the deadline...
posted by peppergreen4 at 5:01 PM

 
I have finished my Response to Birkerts and man, was it a bear! I hope I spelled his name correctly throughout my comments -- I had a hard time with that. If anyone is interested, I found a page where some other students responded to some of Birkerts' writing.
posted by Andrea at 2:55 PM

 
and my Response to Birkerts.
posted by jing at 1:57 PM

 
My Response to Birkerts.
posted by Renee at 1:38 PM

 
Responding to Birkerts is trickier than I thought it would be. I'm off to Prairie Home Companion....then back to responding.
posted by Renee at 1:29 PM

 
tick tock tick tock...

A reminder: The responding to Birkerts assignment is due midnight tomorrow, Sunday, 6 April. Post a link to your response on the Dayoook by that time.

Time's moving on: the clocks spring forward an hour Sunday morning. No time to loose.

(It looks like the connections to BSU were iffy this morning, but they're back now.)
posted by morgan at 12:57 PM

 
I'm off to choir tour for the weekend. So here's my composition! Choir, composition - get it? HA! Okay, that was cheesy...
posted by chad at 9:47 PM

 
I bet you will make a wonderful teacher Blazing Trails I was just checking out your project and was caught up in the persona you are using. You might become BSU's own Pied Piper! Either that or we can draft you as the on air talent for some childrens programming.
posted by Faith at 10:18 PM

 
can it work?
posted by jing at 4:01 PM