The Home Page · The Integral Worm · My Resume · My Show Car · My White Papers · Organizations I Belong To
Technical Writing · Exposition & Argumentation · Non-fiction Creative Essays · Grammar and Usage of Standard English · The Structure of English · Analysis of Shakespeare
Analysis of Literary Language · Advanced Professional Papers · The History of the English Language · First Internship: Tutoring in a Writing Workshop · Second Internship: Advanced Instruction: Tutoring Writing
Visual Literacy Seminar (A First Course in Methodology) · Theories of Communication & Technology (A Second Course in Methodology) · The Writer's Guild
UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" · UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" · Introduction to Journalism · Feature Writing · Science Writing Papers
Communicative Objective #1 (CO1): A re-contextualization of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
Blackboard Weekly Posts (A Bulletin Board Community)
An Explanation for a History of "this" Space · The Task Order for a History of "this" Space · Photos of the Artifacts Compromising a History of "this" Space
The End Product of a History of "this" Space ·
The Rolling Credits of a History of "this" Space
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The Goals and Choices Narrative · The Process Narrative
Introduction
As a virgin to the “Shipka Spaces” I had no idea as to what would be found acceptable or unacceptable as a history. All I knew would be applied from lessons learned in creating projects throughout my academic career plus three constraints drawn from instruction in Information Systems Project Management. All projects are subject to three main constraints: Scope, time, and cost. Every other constraint is a derivative of these three.
Why “this” particular artifact?
The old fashioned method of scrap-booking proved to be the best method for several reasons. One was familiarity with the problems I would encounter along the way as far as materials not playing nicely with each other. Rubber cement is best suited for such projects because of the lack of paper curling and ease of clean up. As it turned out I ended up using the dreadful glue stick because I ran out of the Borden’s rubber cement I had been using on the previous projects. I purchased Ross rubber cement in a different store because it was closer to my work place. I tried the new cement on a test page only to find the glue was reacting with the paper, discoloring it. I was working with data/artifacts that I could not duplicate. I had to make sure I did not damage the data because I was also trying to recapture the atmosphere of the moment it was written. I needed to display the data exactly as it was reported in order to freeze the moment in time. Photocopies were right out because I would loose the authenticity of my peers choices in deciding to use a color pen or pencil. I also chose not to cut out colorful comments from my peers in order to not take their words out of context, which is typically done in the journalistic approach. I wanted to capture the heartfelt feelings behind the words and provide my peers with a safe place to say what they really wanted to say without judgment. I wanted this to count and be meaningful for all.
Scrap-booking furthered the cause of a humanistic approach as this provided a direct link to the thoughts and feelings of the people who were in the "Shipka Spaces" at this moment in time. We cannot feel or touch a website or a PowerPoint presentation. By being able to look at my peers handwriting, the viewer gets a greater sense of who this person is and creates a personal connection with them. After all, the object is to get people to connect with each other and formulate friendships they can carry on with them beyond this space.
The design decision of the artifact may have been different if the data was not so overwhelmingly positive. This positive feeling became the essential drive for the artifact because I as the historian was the only one who could see us as an entire group expressing the same desires. I wanted my peers to recognize that we are all having the same problems in different ways and maybe this becomes more of a call to action to shake off the chains of “apathy” that so clearly drag us down in this university.
Why “this” bizarre genre?
I am a trained scientist. I have written many scientific reports and this could have easily been just another scientific report added to the pile -- similar to the end of
My goal became to share with them as they shared with me their intimate thoughts on such a powerful question. I wanted to create a humanistic approach in order to show to all, although we don’t share these thoughts openly, we are all thinking the same things. As a group, we have greater similarities than we do differences. I also wanted to entertain. I wanted to draw the viewer into the pages and set up an environment for them to spend time with the book listening to the various voices I have come to know within this space. Everyone within these spaces has something of importance to contribute and has the power to change the outcome in any discussion including this one. In the end, I wanted to promote the sense of a positive shared experience to fuel the enthusiasm others feel because “Enthusiasm is contagious” with the hope that this enthusiasm will spread out into the rest of the student culture.
This of course is simply a Utopian dream for most of us this feeling is occurring way too late in our academic careers here at UMBC. Most of us will graduate and move on. Hopefully, I will be around one more year to wrap up a whole host of loose ends in various minors. If not, which is highly likely due to poverty, apathy, and all too many forces acting upon me from the outside including my own family, trying to prevent me from succeeding at any goal, I may have to return for my last class in Shakespeare, cut my losses and move on.
The genre I have created is partially scientific, partially entertaining, partially journalistic, partially from a historian perspective, but most of all humanizing. Some of my peers may look at this and think, “Yea, yea. What a crock, you’re doing all this for a grade, you’re just ‘hard core.’” These groups have forever changed the way I see communities, communication, education, and even the student body and I hope I can carry over this energy and enthusiasm into Graduate school. Everything I have learned so far is making me think more deeply about pursuing a career in education but I would have to confine myself to, at a minimum, the undergraduate level.
Why not a web site?
This entire presentation could have been done as a website. I could have easily done this and the path would have been more difficult. My concern was not with the level of difficulty, but turn around time. After receiving the data I would only have one week (7 days) in order to design and create an artifact, analyze data, formulate a hypothesis, present the data, and write out my goals and choices. All of this was going to be dictated by the data collected; therefore, my turn-around time was extremely small. I have the skills for building a website, but as with all computer type projects I have little control over down networks and also there are high learning curves associated with becoming familiar with software programs I have not used before. I would also find myself on endless hunts for Java scripts and pre-packaged Java code in order to increase and connect multi-modalities to make something that did not look thrown together. If there was more time I would have probably have made audio files while the data was being created and captured moments on video in order to present others with the atmosphere of the day. Unfortunately I do not have any of this equipment and I have no friends so there is nowhere for me to borrow such precious resources. As it turned out, my historian day was pushed back (At least I think it was, I can’t remember anything clearly with so many projects revolving in my mind at the same time) to the same day that our 324 and 407 projects were due. I was exhausted and I’m sure everyone else was. I know Sarah Miller, (my co-author on the
In some ways though, I think that the website would have also removed the “human spirit” of the entire plan, plus there would be definite quality issues in scanning the questionnaire responses in addition to color loss. I think that by using the original questionnaire and the original writings of my peers makes the entire work quite personal and a humbling experience for myself. I basically placed my peers in the driver’s seat and said “let’s go! Show me your world through your eyes” without any expectation of what they would show me. The paper based artifact also creates something that is tangible. The viewer can choose to look at a particular page as long or as short as they want. They get to feel the sensation of holding the original documents, not just the historian’s interpretation of what was said. By creating the paper base it also leaves something behind for someone else to analyze and draw new conclusions.
Why not a PowerPoint presentation?
This entire presentation could have been done as a PowerPoint presentation. Much of what I have to say about this refers back to the development of a website. The difference I see between a website and a PowerPoint presentation is the position of being the driver in the driver’s seat and being a passenger in the vehicle. A website would place control and interactivity in the hands of the viewer so one could pick and choose what to view, what not to view, and what order to view pages. A PowerPoint presentation would be more like a slide projection show from the old days having moments flashed in front of one’s face and sitting back passively watching the data unfold. I am an advocate for active learning having come from Automotive Engineering and the Laboratory Sciences where instruction meant reading, recitation, and then jumping into the lab and doing what was learned. Laboratory sessions could and did sometimes go on for 4 hours at a time with some passionate teachers who would dig in with us. A PowerPoint presentation I think was on a low list of priorities and the web site coming in just above PowerPoint.
Why the
Why ask 324 to repeat the same message in a different mode?
This was more data for me than rather an exercise for my peers. I already understood walking into the Shipka Spaces that each genre has advantages and disadvantages for expressing a message. I knew this intuitively through my life experience, but the focus became centered and brought to the forefront in my readings during the Winter break having just had Dr. Carpenter for the Visual Literacy seminar. I needed to know more about semiotics and continued my studies on my own. We also had our “black box” day in ENGL 407 in Lecture Hall V, which already demonstrated to my peers what the limitations were in different genres if they weren’t already aware of these differences.
As a scientist and technologist I also knew that there are many things that become extremely cumbersome trying to explain them in words alone. As Dr. Murray used to say in Calculus Three, “A picture is worth a thousand words, some say, but I would agree with at least a few hundred.” In the sciences and technology, words only help to confuse the reader’s mind. Seventy percent of the population are “visual learners.” Knowing this, it only seems to make sense to take advantage of this fact in a class centered around multi-modality.
When I delivered my little joke about not using smoke signals, Morse code, Semaphore flags or Aldus lamp I think just went over their heads. I also think they missed the point that it was possible to repeat some of the things they said in symbolic logic, Venn Diagrams, charts, graphs, and other modes of visual communications. As a scientist I have a whole toolbox full of different methods and some are better than others. This again becomes a matter of thinking outside the box only to find one’s self in a new box. To see some of these would have been exciting for me as I could actually read them and interpret the data. For all I cared they could have written the message in their favorite programming language or worse yet in binary code.
Never Again
The use of disposable cameras was the Achilles heel of my project. This was a huge mistake on my part and I should have never relied on the things to begin with. Because of this, most of the data from the sculptures is completely useless. A digital camera would have been nice because I could just snap, check if I liked what I saw, and either keep it or scrap it instantaneously. I don’t have friends and I don’t know of anyone who would lend me one. Buying one was out of the question because when one eats every other day in order to make rent, a digital camera is a frivolous expense.
I do have a Pentax K1000 SLR which I should have used. I would have been more comfortable with it and because it is an SLR, I would have known whether I was capturing the images properly. Processing and film cost would have been about the same. The problem here is that the camera equipment is buried in a corner of the room where I cannot find it right now. I don't have time to dig it out because I have to continually work on the fly as an academic producing more and more. As a doctor working towards tenure you understand this all too well. My last girlfriend was also a Ph.D. and I know how hectic being an academic can get. I’m still at the lowest level just trying to be recognized to enter graduate school to follow the same path both of you have been down.
If the camera equipment wasn’t buried in some obscure corner of the room this meant that it was in my stored car. Currently my car sits in the landlord’s backyard because I can’t afford to insure it living in Baltimore City, yet I can’t afford to part with it because it symbolizes my only escape from the economic poverty I’m living through. The car is also my gateway out of this place. My landlord has a huge German Sheppard and the dog knows I’m afraid of her. I have been bitten so many times by large dogs it is not funny and I don’t need anymore bites. Going back to my car for anything that is inside it is always a huge risk because I don’t know when the landlord will come out with the dog not on a leash. In circumstances such as these, I usually watch for an opportunity for when they have left for the day to sneak into the car to find some portion of my previous life. In addition this would have to be done during the day because the neighborhood is freaky about people wandering around at night and as far as the neighbors are concerned I am a stranger. The other problem is my landlord has a small barn on the property which is his workshop and contains all his tools. This has been broken into more than a few times so I have my reservations about wandering around back there at night. My life is a big enough Hell and I don’t need to be accused of stealing or any other crimes I didn’t commit. This summarizes the unfortunate circumstance of not recovering my SLR one mistake I will not make in the future. Having the data and loosing it was extremely bothersome to me.
I should have spent a little extra money on the Kodak cameras versus the Fugi cameras because I have never, ever liked Fugi film. Colors never seem to come out right with Fugi film. I also figured by using ASA 400 and a flash that I would have enough light because I have shot with my Pentax under darker conditions using ASA 400 without a flash. I hate using a flash because I have found one runs the risk of washing out the colors. The other huge mistake I made with the disposable cameras was forgetting the four foot rule. I am so used to working with an SLR and seeing exactly what will be photographed that I forgot “snappy cameras” first don’t show you what you are actually framing and second, that their focal point starts at four feet to infinity meaning that one cannot photograph closer than four feet without getting a blurry image. The lenses on “snappies” were never intended for close-ups. These were some really dumb mistakes considering I have some knowledge of photography. I had considered taking the artifacts with me but suspected that they would never survive. I could have probably gotten them down to the library safely and stuffed them in my locker until historian day but then again they may have turned to goo by then. I do not know if the artifacts would have survived the turn around process either: bringing them back from the library back to FA018. This is why I chose to capture the images with film, which was a separate disaster in itself.
Why the chart of organizations? This I thought was just something fun. I figured those who are in organizations might like to see what other organizations others have gravitated towards and surprisingly many the organizations seem quite fitting for English majors. Many of the organizations involve the arts, writing, and social contact. I represent the only odd one out being in Math/Stats and IFSM. I think the surprise would have come in if someone other than myself had said they were a member of the student chapter of the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) who compete in off-road dune buggy events around the country. Even then, that group must have to do writing also, I mean who doesn’t? The chart could also serve as an icebreaker into opening conversations with other like minds.
Why the graphs?
Creating graphs is one of my strengths. “Luke, play to your strengths...” analysis, methodology, and interpretation all plays to my strengths including graphical analysis. “Yea baby, you gotta love this stuff.” I taught myself how to do graphical analysis using Excel’s chart maker. I was always comfortable creating graphical stuff back when we did it with drafting tools, pencil or ink and paper. In CHPDM I had to do one graph and the staff loved it. From there on I earned the title “King of all Graphs.” I could take the most complex data and build simple charts and graphs so any lay person could understand the message being conveyed. My training in art helps me with the visual aesthetics and lack of clutter. Working in CHPDM forced me to get good with graphs because when one person saw what I could do, the word spread like wildfire and I was doing graphical analysis practically full time. I didn’t have to write SAS programs anymore, which was what most of the people did around me.
The graphs do become a tremendously time consuming something that people who don’t create them would never understand. The Excel help files in the software provides little help and when one simply uses the Graphing wizard, anyone who knows something about Excel graphing capabilities can recognize that the graph was created with the wizard. They are overly complex and awful looking as far as the color choices. I could have gone to town with the graphing, but kept the creativity down to a minimum because my goal was not to razzle dazzle people with eye popping charts but to convey the information the data was indicating visually at a glance.
Musical interlude maybe yes, maybe no?
As a final portion I may or may not bring in a portable player and play “A Little Help From My Friends” by the Beatles as a musical interlude playing in the background as one views the book. The purpose is to say thanks to all of my peers for without their frank answers and cooperation in this history as without them the end result would have never been possible. The secondary reason is everyone is looking for connectivity within and without the classroom. We all spend so much time here that being alone in all of this is counterproductive. We are all social creatures and need to socialize. I am not clear as to whether this will be added in the end because of money. I don’t own the CD and I have no idea whether I will have the money come time for History Day.
Why not the three-ring binder?
After looking at the data on Friday the day most of us left for Spring Break, the data was crying out for a more humanistic approach. I walked into the UMBC Bookstore and found this huge hard covered sketching binder. The only thing that came to my mind was a hand-crafted yearbook. This book was just shouting at me and the book was the article that would humanize all the data. The idea of a three-ring binder was forgotten in a moment. The plastic sleeves would have been cheesy for this particular work similar to plastic seat covers in a living room.
It is funny how all of these things link together. Thoughts also ran through my head of hand writing all the text into the book practicing my calligraphy. I haven’t done this in so long that I felt this would be a bad time to start up again. After having this thought, I did some of the reading in Levy where he is talking about having received his Ph.D. in Computer Science with a specialty in Artificial Intelligence then deciding to continue studies in the ancient trades of calligraphy and book binding. Apparently I am not original in my studies, I only wish I knew where I was heading or what I am out to achieve.
Why not just simply extract quotes?
I think that a questionnaire of this type is rare. I gave my peers the opportunity to voice their thought and feelings. To simply extract colorful quotes as done in journalism, I felt this was the same as tying one of their hands behind their back and expecting them to put up a fight. By extracting quotes I would be destroying the spirit the questionnaires were written in and I would be taking their quotes out of context changing the intended meaning. My reservation in devoting an entire page to each response seemed rather unimaginative.
On the other hand, it allows everyone to read exactly what was said in its proper context and as a Historian the object is to leave the artifacts behind, in tact so that other historians in the future may formulate their own conclusions. Obviously, I stuck with the idea of pasting the data in full because I felt this was the humanitarian thing to do.
There were many exceptions in the data. Using hard statistical science would eliminate these colorful variations and remove much information that disappears from such analysis. (i.e., I was a member in this place because of a collective interest, found myself uncomfortable in that space because of atmosphere, went somewhere else and connected.) A clinical analysis would remove these colors of variations. I decided to take the approach of “chaos theory” which simply says, “Don’t throw any data out.” We may not have the technological tools to analyze all the data today, but the technology may exist tomorrow. This becomes my defense for inserting all the data raw, as is. I know no one is ever going to analyze this stuff but because this is a humanities space and I gave everyone enough space and freedom to say what they wanted I think it would have been rather cruel to turn around and reduce them all to a quote.
Why were everyone’s pictures inserted at the end?
First I didn’t have them. Two, this idea came to me way too late in the game. We had already been released for Spring Break. Yes, I could have annoyed Matt Bowen or Brittany Bauhause with my request and for all I know they may have been fortunate enough to get away. Matt on the other hand I know was behind his computer because he would be working on his history while on Spring Break. Considering he was also working on his history I decided not to bother him because I’m working on mine and I have little time to do anything else. To send all those images to me in email would be a great deal of work and I figured that the last thing Matt needed right now is one more thing to do. I just decided to chalk it up as a lost and an afterthought.
Why not a page showing the various organizations we belong to?
The reasons are simple. I thought about creating such a page but I ran out of money for color laser prints. I also ran out of time to research all the organizations, find their various icons and cut and paste them into Microsoft Word.
What’s your process?
The process begins in the most unlikely of places, the day I entertained the idea of a life in Columbia, Maryland, or allowed someone to entertain it for me. I was leading a dual life between Columbia, MD and Philadelphia, PA, very much in love with a Ph.D. who made me an offer to combine our lives. Little did I realize I was talking marriage and she was still riding the fence. My life in Philly was becoming progressively awful with unacceptable changes in the Drexel Computer Science program at night and unacceptable demands on my job as a Commission Sales Computer person by day. Coco and I actually stopped into UMBC on a whim and said that she knew several of the faculty members on campus, meaning she could pull some strings here and there if there were any hitches. I was hot for a companion, a family (she had two daughters), a real life, and continuing my education to lead a better lifestyle. All of the key ingredients and opportunities were here in Maryland and none existed in Philadelphia.
The exploration of UMBC’s culture began on that very first visit. One does not simply apply to a university without first exploring its student culture to determine if one actually fits with the existing culture. Drexel was a nightmare as far as student culture was concerned. I assumed culture was less important as a night student, but it's not. Student culture outside the classroom is brought into the classroom. The culture becomes vitally important because most of the work we do within the universities is a collaborative effort and if you cannot get along with your peers outside the classroom what can you do when it comes to negotiating projects within the classroom? I have learned from experience that student culture is important when deciding on attending a college or university
The first day I came to UMBC I embarked on my exploration of the student culture by walking around the lunchroom, sitting down with students, telling them who I was, what was the purpose of my inquiry, and asking them questions about their majors, their studies, and most of all, what’s it like to be a student at UMBC. Little did I know, years later, I would embark on a journey writing for the school newspaper doing exactly the same thing: interviewing students. All my commission sales training had pushed me so far out of my introverted shell that this was like talking to customers finding out their likes and dislikes
I applied to the university and was accepted for entrance in the Spring of 2000. The turn around time was going to be ridiculous. I would have to move out and in on a Saturday and be prepared for school on a Monday. I was not 20 years old anymore and had accumulation from a two-bedroom apartment so it would be impossible to tear down and set up that quickly. I didn’t want anything interfering with my studies so I opted to enter in the Summer of 2000 instead
My first course was one of the last Computer Science 300 level courses I needed to complete in order to start as a Computer Science Senior in the Fall 2000. I had no idea I wasn’t being taught anything in Drexel as it was always reported as being a good school. I learned those high marks were only for Day College. I was a Night College student and those figures remained hidden. I could not possibly keep up in my first programming class and the de-humanizing approach the professor took reminded me of too many engineering courses I had failed. I decided enough was enough and I would switch majors from a dual Comp Sci/Mathematics degree to IFSM/Mathematics dual degree
At the same time I was spending most of my time on my studies and my girlfriend just wanted to party. I couldn’t understand that she had already gone through all of this went through all of this with her ex-husband who worked his way through to earn his Ph.D. and left her to do all the dirty work only to walk out on her and go off with someone else. This was the point I was missing. The point that she was missing was finally completing my education so I didn't have to do nickel and dime thankless jobs was my goal. We were at two opposite ends of the pyramid of needs. I was at the bottom; she was on the top. Coco said at the beginning she was looking for someone who was not only an interdisciplinary but also team oriented. Little did I realize that the team would only allow one to flourish not two. Coco was also on an approximate seven year cycle where she would become bored with her entire life, trash everything and start new in another place. I didn’t realize she was right on top of her seven-year cycle. The closing of the door was the last I ever heard from her
In the Fall I tried to study my last two Math courses: Mathematical Proof 1 & 2 and IFSM. I found I had to drop math courses because I could no longer think in symbols and my 15 year old beloved baby cockatiel died possibly due to rat poisoning one hour before having to report to my Accounting final. I floated around disciplines and clubs trying to find some type of connectivity in my life because there was nothing else left. So now you ask, "How could you participate in so many clubs?" The answer is easy; the only two clubs that met a a weekly basis were "Philosophers Anonymous" and The Weekly Retriever newspaper. All of Bartleby work was done online and the bulk of the work in creating the physical journal was done during Winter Recess. We had a meeting here and there but not many. The rest of the groups met once during the entire semester
This entire background is what set me up as the best candidate to attempt to explain to Shipka, “What is the student culture of UMBC?” Shipka threw out a seed for everyone that I immediately grabbed for while handing out the history of “this” space assignment. “You could do a history on student culture”
I some ways I also consider this a mistake. I had no idea that Shipka would allow students to do similar topics. Allowing students to do similar topics makes sense because no one student will take the same approach. The other regret was not having spent more time viewing samples of student’s work from the past to formulate a greater range of ideas. On the other hand, jumping on the project immediately remains the best decision for me because this method reduces my stress.
Shipka was a new professor to the UMBC campus and as with all campuses, UMBC must have been a foreign culture from her perception having come from a tightly knit student culture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I assumed Shipka was trying to understand, “What is the student culture here at UMBC?” I figured I was the best candidate for her quest as I have been on this campus 6 years thus far and I am a graduate from three other colleges. I also attended Drexel University, a city school, which was a third culture. This placed me in an excellent position to act as a diplomat for the university and the student body. I had participated in various organizations within UMBC and as a Writing Center tutor I have become deeply entrenched in the UMBC student culture.
I could appreciate Shipka’s dilemma. As a professor and an outsider looking in she was trying to make sense of something that can only be understood from the inside. How can you understand the complexities and intricacies of a culture unless you are immersed within it? I, on the other hand, have a similar problem. I am labeled as a “non-traditional student;” therefore, there exists a generation gap between myself and the student body, actually two generations, as some of student’s parents are younger than I am. The generation gap places me in position where I am tolerated but not fully accepted as a peer. It takes time for my peers to understand that even though my chronological age should create a disconnect, when they actually begin to get to know me they realize that we (myself and them) have vast similarities because of my co-existence with them over the course of so many years. Culturally, I have grown and span several generations. I never stopped learning and always kept in touch with my peers following emerging trends in youthful culture. As is the way, we judge books by their cover without thinking that for survival reasons some people use camouflage for protection within a culture.
Entering this project I had some pre-conceived notions about the student culture such as UMBC being a Commuter College. For me, the term Commuter College signifies an immediate disconnect from the university and everyone within it. There is no sense of unity, oneness, or togetherness. Everyone is out for themselves. This mentality also stems from being Suburban. Back on Long Island I had a friend from Queens and he defined this mentality with an acronym, FLID (A F#*!in’ Long Island Deutsche Bag). I never took offense to the term because I realized by associating with him in the 5 boroughs I was immersing myself into Manhattan culture (A New Yorker thing). For Shipka or for anyone else, the term Commuter College is meaningless especially when one is familiar with a completely different university student culture. Commuter College becomes a nondescript convenient lexicon lightly thrown around. The first problem for me as a researcher was I had create a definition of the student culture for myself in order to formulate a hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis to prove or disprove.
Commuter College has the following meanings. First, all life on this campus as with other commuter schools dies on Friday after 2 p.m. and does not return back to life until mid-Sunday afternoon. This is not the fault of the student body but the fault of the UMBC administration. Food, coffee, goodies and other necessities are no longer available after 2 p.m. and the campus rarely holds any form of entertainment on weekends. The reason for this is UMBC wants to be the top Research University on the East Coast and wants to remain a serious Think Tank. Unfortunately, the administration misses the point that even the hard core students need to let their hair down once in a while and paint happy faces on their knees. In other words, the more complex the mind, the greater the need for play.
Strictly by accident, I found that I did not have to look any further than my fellow Writing Center tutors for clues as to how to formulate my hypothesis. I didn’t even have to ask nosey reporter type questions as I had done when I first came to UMBC. My peers where throwing out bits of raw meat left and right without being aware of my quest.
Elizabeth Piccirillo was the first to provide me with my clues. While I was working in the Writing Center February 16, 2006, Elizabeth voiced her disgust with the student body of UMBC. I do not know Elizabeth that well but I have seen her work in ENGL 395 and heard her responses and comments in class. I do think she is dedicated to her work and does offer critical insight to issues in the matters at hand. In other words, I have respect for her passion and commitment to her goals and the goals of others. As of late my peers have described me as being “hard core” which apparently must be a student culture niche. I would place Elizabeth within this category and even go so far as to call it a loosely associated club.
Elizabeth was not at all happy and in her disgust she blurted out to absolutely no one in particular, this was more like a cry in the wilderness, “We should start an ‘Anti-Apathy Club’”
I find it impossible to recount my response to her statement if I even made one, but I felt her pain and had felt it for more years than others could imagine from one “commuter campus” to the next. I wanted to feel the same type of comradely students felt in silly movies such as the Marx Brothers film
The seed phrase literally fell into my lap and began to grow within my fertile imagination into things I never anticipated. I find that I form a project and in turn a project forms me. Projects become a delicately choreographed dance of give and take between its creator (myself/animate) and the project (inanimate, brought to life). The other way I think of this process is the analogy of two pilots performing navigation: one who wants to get to the destination in the shortest period of time and the other wants to explore everything in between and around the peripheral.
This idea of an "Anti-Apathy" Club began to burn in Elizabeth’s craw. In our online chat session February 17, 2006, in ENGL 407, Elizabeth blurted out the statement once again. Elizabeth was like a dog with a bone and not about to let this go
A few days later, February 20, 2006, Jonathan Deanne, another fellow Writing Center tutor showed me a blog on Wikipedia he had discovered about UMBC. Jonathan a dramatist at heart and loves to find smutty juicy bits in order to stimulate his imagination in his fiction writing. His mind was focused on a hearsay scandal and I was more concerned with the first few sentences of the entry, which provided grounding for my project
February 21, 2006, the latest edition of “The Retriever Weekly” hit the stand. I picked one up as I always do but now I am searching for clues that may support my half-baked hypothesis. The first article on the front-page read, “Students search for diversity within school organizations” Although this is an aside, the "Retriever Weekly" article stimulated this
I read the article carefully searching for clues only to become disgusted with the entire article. I find myself being beaten with a dead horse with the buzz word “diversity.” I am sick to death of it and tossed the article aside. I think twice about my decision to toss the article and slip the newspaper into my binder marked 407 History containing other bits and pieces of information I have collected in my research
I find myself going around in circles for weeks on this project. Eventually the whole concept is brushed aside in order to make space in my mind for design considerations in creating the first two communicative objectives that are due: The
My Shipka 407 History “Heads-Up” date comes due after the “Pass It Forward” day for the first two Communicative Objectives and I became extremely concerned about my 407 History. Before my assigned history day I toyed around with ideas and collected various data, all of which was quickly dismissed. The day that I have to submit a Blueprint to Shipka, I begin to ground the communication into something, whatever that something is I still had no idea because I believe that the data would dictate the communication itself. I had taken an online questionnaire for UMBC a few weeks before and saved a copy of it for possible inclusion into the 407 History.
The UMBC questionnaire was trying to determine how university organizations help students to develop leadership skills. This was such a bunch of crap because the questions were forcing the data to support what the researchers wanted to prove. Leadership positions within these organizations are few and coveted. Being placed in such a position is strictly political and if one does not fit into the political atmosphere and not well connected or well liked by their peers, regardless of one’s abilities to lead, one simply will not obtain a leadership post. Simply summed up, “Wherever there are people, there are politics.” I’ve conducted many lab experiments and have had to design some. I worked on the U.S. Census and other questionnaires as a student statistician in the
I had no primary data at this point and figured the only way I could get it was to ask my peers to define UMBC student culture for me. At the beginning of the semester I didn’t want to burden my fellow peers with extra work because I know how hard things get. On the other hand, at least every day I find myself in a “black box” performing for someone else’s project, history, or presentation and I am now learning how the Shipka Spaces work or how to make them work for me. The Shipka Spaces are a brand new process for me. I never had a professor that allowed the class to conduct itself. As the semester continued, by observing others, doing my assigned readings, talking to others, and watching how Shipka acts not only as a participant but also as a mediator I came to the understand that within these spaces we, as students, teach each other and there is an expectation of collaborative sharing of information. I decided to retreat to the 6th floor of the library to process my thoughts for the 407 “Heads-Up”
I decided that my history needed primary research involving my peers. I had formulate a questionnaire to try and resolve the question “What is the student culture of UMBC?” I had to be careful and not bait the answer in my question and this takes considerable work. I dismiss the idea of a “cookbook” plug-in approach because the researcher basically forces the data received toward their pre-conceived hypothesis. As methodologists we are not supposed to do this but we are only human and our own biases will crop in. A highly structured questionnaire in which no one could say what they really wanted to say, which was my experience in the “Leadership” questionnaire mentioned previously, could lead me to never finding the answer to the question I was trying to resolve.
I decide to use an open-ended approach placing my peers in the driver’s seat. Intuitively I knew this was dangerous and a daring move because I would be creating a space for tremendous variation and the entire process could blow up in my face because a trend may not have emerged from the data. I decide this is the best way to go because from all of my experience with the student culture I realized I was standing outside the room with Shipka peering in. I am an outsider looking in even though I am immersed in the culture. The totally vague, open-ended question would provide my peers with a place that I have not seen provided by anyone else to say whatever they wanted to say, good, bad, or indifferent in a safe way by providing the response anonymously. My hope in making the poll anonymous would provide my peers the safety and space to say whatever they honestly felt. Again this was dangerous move because I could get back useless data. On the other hand, I was providing my peers with the opportunity to voice their opinion without fear of being judged. I felt this was a rare opportunity on this campus when everything within this environment is so highly controlled including the student newspaper. What I was gambling on was that the open-ended questionnaire would also reveal the perceived apathy I was searching for but could not nail down. My expectation was to receive some really pissy negative feedback such as “You f#*!in’ idiot, why do you ask me such dumb ass questions, go piss off!” My hope was I would receive remarks like this, which would support my hypothesis that the student body suffered from apathy.
On the other hand, by leaving the entire questionnaire open to the respondent’s interpretation I was saying to them, “Your opinion really does matter and I am providing you with the space to say what you honestly think and feel without judgment. Go ahead; hit me with your best shot. Fire away!” I also knew as a researcher, collecting primary data through an open-ended vague question would be the opening of “Pandora’s Box.” I had no idea what my peers would say or even if anything they said would be similar to each other. The object for me was to determine if apathy existed and if so to what degree but I could not come out and blatantly ask this because I would bating the answer. The formulation of the questionnaire became the subtle trick of a magician.
Once again, the lecture I attended “Magic, Mathematics, and Masonry” placed another seed in my creative process. This one lecture so far has provided a great deal of creative mileage spanning across several communicative objectives. A magician uses two techniques to throw the mind of the audience off the path of the trick. One method is to do the dirty work right in front of your eyes while they “bla, bla, bla...” so the audience collective mind focuses on what is being said and less on what the magician is doing with their hands. The second method is to create a distraction drawing the audience’s collective mind to focus their attention on the distraction leaving the magician free to do the necessary dirty work for the trick. Which one of these techniques I used in my questionnaire is unclear to me but I succeeded in pulling it off. I lead my peers down a path of where I wanted to make them think I wanted to go.
I went back into Felix’s magic bag of tricks (my 407 History binder) with all my widgets of information and notes to myself looking for some trace of how to construct this question and glanced at “The Retriever Weekly” I was going to toss. Organizations, organizations, organizations.... “Interesting... I have a plan...” This becomes key to the question. I have been around many organizations and the university likes to push the idea that the key to being part of the student culture is to be involved in an organization. This was the ulterior motive of their questionnaire and was probably one of the reasons why I was selected as a test subject. Somewhere the researchers must have known how many organizations I belonged to and also found my name in a leadership position
My experience with organizations painted a different picture but I account that to the age difference/generation gap between myself and my peers. But what if... what if my age has nothing to do with the answer I am seeking and connected-ness with peers is as it always is in social settings a matter of chemistry? I now needed to make another dangerous assumption that age is not the segregator in this complex social equation. I knocked myself dead formulating an open-ended polling question and ran it past Shipka for approval. Shipka approved my idea and now the questionnaire was written in stone. From here, I can only move forward.
I decided to use the focus the university likes to brag about which is “Look at all the organizations we have, there must be something on the menu you would like to choose from?” The university claims that the organizations help to ground a student into the culture and foster friendships. A main problem of the freshman/transfer student dropout rate is the lack of a network of friends for moral and academic support for the first year. At one point or another we all need
Surprisingly, as much as individualism is stressed within Western Cultures my peers in the Shipka Spaces proved beyond a doubt that there are some generalities that draw us together as a human species: one of them being a shared interest in which friendship culminates from; second, the need to feel accepted; third, the desire to belong to something. The social experiment proved to be a success and began to design itself from this point on.
My History Day arrived, Shipka distributed the questionnaire, and the data was collected. I also wanted to entertain in this history so I had my peers in ENGL 324 switch modes from text to visual expression in the form of pictures and 3-D objects. I knew before entering this space as a scientist that some things cannot be expressed in words and on the other hand, sometimes the words cannot be expressed in image. This was only done for ENGL 324 because this group had not had the experience of having to cross modes and modalities delivering the same message. For us it would demonstrate how framing with modes and modalities dictates the message delivered and for me I could receive new messages. Some said the same thing as the text and others took the liberty to deliver a new message. I also knew that by taking over the class in the second exercise I would be blowing my cover as being the anonymous historian but this was of little importance. Only five of my peers cross over into ENGL 407 and with the questionnaire already done I had the necessary data I required. I cracked my stupid joke at the beginning of the exercise about not delivering the new message in smoke signals, Morse code, Aldus lamp, or Semaphore flags and either it went over their heads or it just wasn’t funny to their sense of humor. Once again I could hear that damn cricket
The next day I began to briefly analyze the data and to my surprise there was little indication of apathy. All this meant was that my pre-formulated hypothesis was wrong and I would have to re-formulate my hypotheses to fit the data. That's why it's called it science. Science is based on observance of a pattern of repetition and it is this repetition of a phenomenon that leads us to the answer of our hypotheses. I had to expect the unexpected. I had unveiled the “Anti-Apathy Club.” Elizabeth was a blind woman in a black room searching for a black cat, but this time it never meowed. Little did she realize her black cat lived in the Shipka Spaces. Elisabeth doesn’t know it yet but we both found what we were searching for. We were inside looking outward for the answer
The project and the data was forming me and dictating to me what the artifact should evolve into. I ran over to the bookstore and found a huge bound sketchbook. “Scrap-booking!” Give them back the data and an analysis, but this is a discipline of the humanities and people hate being reduced to numbers and raw data. I am a scientist and this comes natural to me but I have alternatives in the Shipka Spaces. I can broaden my horizons. “That’s it! A tribute!” I have found the “Anti-Apathy Club. Who needs presidents, hierarchy, structure, affiliation and every other political structure that goes into an organization. This could be an organization of the heart, the human spirit, something absent within all the other organizations. Further, make this a proposal to continue spreading the word. Only I knew the secret we kept from each other and now it was my opportunity to share the secret. Our community needed this. This could be an inoculation to prevent the apathy virus. I decided not only did I want to share my discovery with my peers but also I wanted to do this not only as a tribute, a proposal, and a motivator, but I also wanted to humanize the data. I wanted to inform and I wanted to entertain. The data formed the project
Tuesday, March 21, 2006, the cash network for paying for printouts was down. I was livid! There were no UMBC buses running, it was a payless week, because of the project I had no bus fare for the MTA so Monday and Tuesday I had to walk the entire way from my living space (it’s anything but home, it’s a flop) to UMBC, 10 miles round trip with 3 hours of my day wasted in traveling. I specifically came to UMBC to print. I needed the color laser printer in Tech Support to print my charts. I rarely need color so I use a black and white laser printer at home for text. I made this decision way back when I was in Computer Sales in 1996 because I had already decided while in Drexel I would pursue a Graduate degree and my Doctorate so I needed a laser printer for my thesis and dissertation papers. I also needed the Edwardian font only available on the UMBC computers for my intro page. I had spent some time Monday checking fonts and found this to be a beautiful font for humanizing the entire book. I figured that this introduction page in this particular font would signify the author’s (me) intent in making this book a tribute. I could no longer visualize the artifact in my mind and needed to switch to a hands on approach in order to feel and touch the book. The book was being designed with the intent of communicating with 70 percent of the readers who were visual learners and 10 percent of the learners who need “to do,” touch and feel the artifact. I needed the visual and the feel in order to direct me as to what to do with the information for Goals and Choices
I was stuck but I was not about to walk back at this point so I had hours at my disposal and I had to move this project forward somehow. I began writing my goals and choices blindly without the aid of my artifact in the hope that the network would be brought back up again. Otherwise I would have to work around the problem until Monday when everyone returned from Spring Break. The whole thing was making me sweat. The university seems to think that everyone runs to Cancun and Daytona Beach to immerse themselves in pure hedonism for seven days. The administration seems to forget that many of us sink every last dime we earn into our education and depend on the university services we paid for. The administration also seems to forget that professors use the Spring Break for the best time to assign projects that cannot be done during the normal course of the semester. All I could do was cross my fingers that the network would be restored, eventually.
Wednesday, March 22, I called Tech Support to make sure the cash system was back online because otherwise I would just stay home and work on Goals and Choices, semiotics, and describing my writing process. I was lucky and the person said the system was back up in the ECS building. I went in and was happy all day long because I was able to assemble the artifact to completion and now I could write my Goals and Choices with the artifact at my side to remind me of what I did and did not do and why in my creative process
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