iBeth

Idea Generation Techniques

This site is neat: All Known Idea Generation Methods.  (via Rebecca's Pocket)

CCCC High Points/Low Points

Other people have posted in-depth, insightful reports on CCCC.  For examples, see here, here, here, here, and here.  Check out some of the academics in my sidebar for more.  I'll just stick to high points/low points:

San Francisco

high point: Sharing good meals with good friends at good restaurants

low point: Forgetting my jacket.  I could have bought one but it seemed silly to do that for just a few days, especially when I spent most of the time inside.  So I was pretty chilled.  I knew SF would be cold and clammy, but it's tough for a Floridian to remember to bring a jacket (unless one expects air conditioning).

Internet

high point: Getting good pics of my kids from my husband when I checked email at the conference computer center

low point:  Wireless access at the hotel that did not work, combined with staff ignorance about wireless technology in general.  (When I complained, they gave me a small handout with info on settings for an ethernet connection.)

 CCCC

high points: Lawrence Lessig's presentation (best presentation I've heard at any conference.  Ever.  Inspiring ideas, sincerely directed towards an audience of writing teachers, with audio & visuals expertly suited to the talk.  By the end, I felt like someone on the front lines of preserving culture as we know it, and I'm not the only one: the audience responded with a standing ovation.  I'm told you can see Lessig in action here, though I haven't had time to view the performance myself); Getting great feedback at my session (5-10 people crowded around me afterwards asking for more info about my research--really rewarding)

low points: Making a stupid comment at one session that was NOT at ALL what I meant to say.  I meant to use some personal experiences as an indicator of preferences for given research methods, and to comment that discomfort with certain methods means that some kinds of questions can never get asked.  Instead, my words just complained in general about how I could not get something published, and I couldn't seem to straighten that out.  bleah.  And missing most of the blog-related sessions.  And missing Ed White's presentation on the new SAT, which apparently inspired a fascinating fiery discussion.  (Too many sessions!  Plus I had a preference for sessions held in rooms in which one could actually hear the speakers--many rooms were basically squares of curtains set up in the exhibit hall.) 

Travel:

high points: a nearly empty flight from Atlanta to SF; abandoning my grading to watch the end of The Incredibles so I knew what my kids were talking about when I returned; COMING HOME.

low points: leaving my family behind; having to change planes in Atlanta's horrible airport; an extremely crowded flight from SF to Atlanta during which I was seated in the exact middle of the plane and could barely move--I dropped my lunch $ on the floor and had to go through unbelievable contortions to retrieve it--and I am not that large of a person, my need to diet notwithstanding.

Now comes the time of year that I traditionally spend frantically trying to think of something on which to present at next year's CCCC. 

Writing Quality Varies With Audience Size

As a new blogger, I am usually the last one to pick up interesting posts like Richard McManus' essay about the fractal blogosphere.  While I have a few minor quibbles (e.g., why call it "fractal," why number the levels when ranking is unnecessary) the concept is quite interesting. 

I've thought a great deal about broadcasting v narrowcasting--it seems to me that broadcast rhetoric loses power in the same way that a broadbeam flashlight is less incisive than a laser.  Witness the 2004 election, in which bigoted anti-gay fearmongering Republican appeals, targeted to a narrow audience with extreme religious views, accomplished more politically than the more tolerant, more mainstream appeals of the Democrats. 

Cartographies

Frequently, when I’m trying to write a paper, I’m reminded of those complex kinetic sculptures that connect varied colors and shapes in a complex, multi-layered moving network.  Picture one of those delightful sculptures cut off from its hanger and collapsed in a heap on the ground—my ideas are that heap.  If only I could figure out a good place to hoist them aloft, I could produce something intriguing, but as it is, my thoughts are generally a tangled, unremarkable mess for far too long. 

Maybe I should take more time to explore visual mapping.  Robert E. Horn suggests lots of ways that visual mapping can support problem-solving and argumentation . . . sort of Edward Tufte on a scooter.  I’ve always been convinced that the way we USE texts is more important than what we put IN our texts (witness this blog, which helps me cultivate habits of critical reflection even though nothing I say here is terribly interesting or insightful).  Maybe this visual tool can help me better direct my own research into fruitful avenues? 

Because Writers Need Readers

This post from TechDirt deserves more thought. In it, Mike notes that writers lament that they rarely read sites like the Wall Street Journal and the Economist anymore because of their subscription-only policies:

It's not that these sites are subscription only (since some are clearly willing to pay for them), but that it's impossible to link to those sites -- knowing that most readers can't get into the site. So, these former "must reads" are put on the dust-collecting pile, not because these readers can't read them, but because they can't share them.

Mike recommends that this desire to share news, not just receive it, change how news organizations deliver the news. I think there must be some classroom rammifications as well. Audience has been an important concept forever--yet much of the discussion seems to focus on delivery rather than on sharing. (I wonder if there is a difference between delivery/sharing when one is the writer? hmmmm)

Possible future research

So that I don't forget them, here are some ideas I've had for future research:

*book about research methods for writing program directors (need co-author?)

*experiment to test different writing conference lengths (30, 45, 60 mins)

* how to apply scholarship assessed rubric to writing programs

*website design as a site for research (I don't know what I was getting at with that one)

* gender and writing center use--with so many years of data now, I should be able to do some correlational research (the hard part would be sorting through the old klunky access dbases)

*how students use grammar checkers/do grammar checkers (software) make writing better or worse/does it matter if they are one-at-a-time error reports or list-at-end grammar reports/are grammar checkers more helpful than writing center consultations or other proofreading methods?

*I don't know how to summarize this briefly . . . I've been thinking about the issue of control and how it relates to validity. More control strengthens internal validity at the same time that it lessens external validity. I think there's a similar principle operating re: persuasiveness. We can be more persuasive the more narrow the group we address.

Of course I have no idea when I can start any of these projects. Too many of my own projects remain unfinished. But it feels good to start having ideas again. I have been so burned out--I've wondered if I would ever have ideas anymore. I wonder if this habit of writing has anything to do with that? Now, esp with the live online calendar linking to entries, I feel more of a pressure to write regularly. I know I'm not writing brilliant stuff, but maybe I'm starting to oil the gears?

Lorem Ipsum

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

I'm only spouting Lorem Ipsum to have something to say in my first post. Still, it's interesting to note that Lorem Ipsum is not nonsense text, but rather is a 2000+ year old passage from Cicero.