The End of the Conference

Our session was the last one listed for the last panel on the very last day. We had a small, but interested, audience and I thought things went quite well.

Except, of course, for a small "wardrobe malfunction."

I suppose it must happen to us all at some time. The unzipped fly. The sneaky blouse button. The toilet paper trail on the shoe. But oh, why did I wear such a dangerous wrap blouse with a white bra?

Computers and Writing, Part II

Disclaimer: My conference notes are frequently transcriptions of a talk. These are raw, unedited notes.

Session 3.2: Ethics and Technology
Session 5.8: Special Delivery: The Production and Distribution of Multimodal Public Rhetoric
Session 6.6: Closing the Loop in Cyberspace: Online Learning Environments as Sites for Assessing Learning and Technology
Session 7.4: A Rationale for Using Burkean Theory to Analyze Digital Media
Session 8.2: Orality and Literacy 2.0

Blogging Computers and Writing, Post 1

Disclaimer: I tend to transcribe in my notetaking, so I may be always quoting. These are raw notes, so be kind.


Lunch Session: Friday, May 18

Blogging

Speaker 1: Lowell Boileau (http://www.detroityes.com/)

Lowell is an artist whose paintings reflect the city/changes
Began by thinking of the web as a way to bypass the gallery system to sell his paintings
"The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit"--original site
Evolved over time
Lots of photographs
Not really a "blog"--forum run discussion that discuss the various issues in Detroit life.
Quote: "Web more about sociology instead of technology"

Speaker 2: Mollika Basu (http://detroit.metblogs.com/)

Mollika blogs for a corporate blogging group. The blog is a group blog that discusses the various activites/events in Detroit.

Speaker 3: Randy Wilcox (http://www.detroitfunk.com/)

Photographing empty buildings
Elbert C Donovon building--old Motown headquarters--found lots of important papers
http://www.detroitfunk.com/2006/06/28/back_to_motown.htm
http://www.detroitfunk.com/2006/06/30/motown_lowdown_1.htm
Photoblog (would that be a "phlog"?)

Questions and Answers:

Sense of responsibility about representing your city?

Randy: I'm not a cheerleader--I show everything I see. People respond and love it--give feedback and keep reading.

Mollika: don't see it as good/bad to show the different aspects. Our blog represents a small portion. Encourage people to blog it all to get a holistic view.

Lowell: grabbed Detroit Yes--I am a cheerleader; felt need to have an honest discussion. Try to find the most beautiful moment--bring out the beauty and potential oft the city.

Comment from audience on the way Randy's personality comes out through his blogging--even the small bits of information.

To Randy: tell us about Sean?
Basically, this was a discussion of the negative side of blogging--the people who attack you verbally and even "physically" by tearing down sites. The dangers of hackers, basically.

Question: neighborhood/region based? Is there a good amount of local blogging action?
Lowell: lots of neighborhood threads on detroityes; geographic regions and school-based

Question: archives of this work; are there any efforts toward archiving these sites/snapshots of the city?
Lowell: there are spiders/bots archiving (archive.org); SoulfulDetroit.com--forum has reunited Motown people there; talking to Wayne State person (didn't get the name) to discuss archiving the discussion.

Question for Mollika: do you get pressured from restaurants/etc?
Mollika: not me, but some other bloggers do get this; untrained "citizen journalists" who don't know where the lines are. Our sit is almost like a franchise; we have resources to help us determine what is and isn't appropriate.