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My Professional Writing Papers

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) ·  Language in Society (A Third Course in Methodology) ·  The Writer's Guild

Journalism

UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" ·  UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" ·  Introduction to Journalism ·  Feature Writing ·  Science Writing Papers

Find a 3-piece Nehru suit for under $170.

Find a live seahorse for sale.

The Shipka Spaces: Theories of Communication and Technology

Communicative Objective #1 (CO1): The Re-patent

Communicative Objective #2 (CO2): Recontextualizing Authorless Text

The History of "This" Space: UMBC Food

Blackboard Weekly Posts (A Bulletin Board Community)

Presentation/Gaming Activity: "Shopping Happens"

The Presentation/Activity Directive for "Shopping Happens": The original task order ·  The Assigned Readings that Frame and Inspire "Shopping Happens" ·  Photos of the "Shopping Happens" Artifacts

Audio Tape of "Shopping Happens" ·  Flow Chart of "Shopping Happens" ·  The Process Narrative-Sketch of "Shopping Happens"

"Shopping Happens" Blackboard Community Post

The Goals and Choices of "Shopping Happens": An online shopping game/web search experience presentation/activity
re-representing the article, "An Online Shopping Experience" by McCarthy

Introduction
Each member of the group made sense of the article compared to our presentation differently. For me the article was ho-hum. McCarthy's article did not tell me anything new about the world I did not already know or had not already experienced. As an Information Systems (IT) person I have thousands of stories worse than his and countless hours working around the clock restoring systems because of technical glitches. McCarthy's experience ends by removing his system user's hat. On the other hand, I have to change hats in such a circumstance removing my user's hat and putting on my tech support hat. I am tech support. I not only experience the user's frustration but also experience the countless hours of sleepless nights and days, anxiety, and frustration as the IT person. I get it from both ends. I have been a long-term technology/science major and graduate, therefore I am fully aware that within a complex system, "the more complex the system, the greater number of failure points." Therefore, there are a greater number of possibilities for failure that will lead to a collapse of the functionality of the system itself.

         In our case, the system was the entire presentation within a computer lab. The presentation was hinged on technology as the main artifact that could create the greatest amount of damage in the event of an unexpected failure. My failure as a project/product manager and IS graduate was not recognizing the computer lab as a point of failure. We should have designed a back-up plan in case of a technological failure. When technology operates seamlessly it becomes invisible and only when it fails do we realize how dependent we have become on the technology.

         An Analog Backup Plan: Three packs of 4 x 6 index cards to perform speeches, a ten minute reading quiz, a script containing prompt questions to lead the class in a discussion about our online shopping habits or a host of other ideas could have been packed in a black box with a red rubber "Pinkie" hand ball sliced in half and glued to the top with the friendly words "Don't Panic" painted in red would have been a comical contingency plan. This container would have represented a panic button, something all good managers should have. The purpose of the container could have been to hold all the artifacts necessary to conduct an analog presentation/activity in case of power failure.

What is the ultimate goal of the presentation and activity?
The goal of this activity was to persuade our most web savvy peers to demonstrate and teach the rest of us their methods of conducting efficient web searches. Our secondary goal was to create an environment through the formulation a game in which our peers would become absorbed with the task of conducting searches in a fun way.

How did we accomplish this?
We accomplished this goal by hiding the lesson within an Internet online shopping search game similar to Bingo. We instructed our peers to go out and find a particular object for sale on the web with specific criteria, as an example: find a pair of denims for under $10. We announced a specific time limit on the search because we already tested the search term and recorded a specific time the object could be found in. The searches were ordered from easiest to most difficult, progressing in difficulty with each successive round. When the player found the item they were instructed to shout and raise their hand at the same time to indicate they solved the search. Naphtali ran out and verified that the contestant did in fact find the item. Christopher wrote the person's name on the board and placed a slash next to their name. While Naphtali and Christopher did this, Steven would ask the contestant the following questions:

1. Explain how you got there?
2. Did you already know to use a particular web site?
3. Did you use a search engine?
   • Which one?
   • What word or phrase did you search on?
4. Did you use a pre-set web site in your bookmarks?
5. Did you use a comparative pricing portal web site?

The person who completed the most number of searches, i.e. the person who accumulated the most points within the time limit of the presentation wins the game. The winner was also received a prize: A bag with $5 worth of snacks to get through the week. The game is meant to engage our peers in a distributed learning process and to mask the fact that they were indeed engaged in a learning process.

What was the purpose of the game?
The game serves several purposes. First, if learning is made fun the learners forget that they are learning and become more engaged with the activity. Second, without the game there would be no active learning which is what Gee stressed over and over in his argument about computer gaming as active learning. We wanted to create an environment through the formulation a game in which our peers would become absorbed into the task of conducting searches in a fun way. Third, the article in a remote way deals with competition in the marketplace between online virtual Internet stores and traditional brick-n-mortar stores. The only way to bring out this point in the reading was to stage a competition. Forth, the game would support visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. All learning styles were supported and engaged.

Strategy used for search terms
Why use these terms?
Each search term was selected to perform a specific purpose. The order of the searches was determined by first testing a search term and finding the item on the Internet using Google as the search engine. Note that other search engines will deliver different results. Once an item was found a watch was used to determine how long on average it would take to locate the item.

         Search time included the following:

1. Typing the search query into the search engine.
2. Clicking on the engine's "go" button to find the search query.
3. Examining the various links and determining which might be the most relevant.
4. In some cases, the user had to go a few levels into the site in order to find the item.
5. In some cases, the user had to scroll down on the web page to find the item.
6. In some cases, the user was brought to a web shopping portal and the user had to type in the search query again.
7. The last search, the "impossible search" had a trick. One had to drop "safari" from the term to find a pet rock. The search engine would find "Target" supposedly selling pet rocks. When one clicked on the link, one found a "safari pet rock bag for $29.95.

         The time to find an item was used as a benchmark of difficulty in finding the item. In order to draw gamers in, we gave out the easiest of the queries first and slowly increased the level of difficulty. More queries were searched than necessary in order to not run out of search queries. When the presentation reached the five minute mark the impossible or "trick query" would be delivered in order to end the game and for the purpose of delivering the conclusion of the presentation/activity.

Why were the search queries above in the search query chart not color-coded indicating the type of work the search query was doing?
The searches were color coded in the Excel spreadsheet after the presentation but when the data was copied and pasted into Microsoft Word the colors disappeared. The data could have printed on a separate page from the Excel file and placed in the document as either a figure to be referred to at the back of the document or as a separate page within the document. This design was decided against because the reader would have been forced to flip back and forth between the text and the figure when reading the document resulting in a document that was not designed for reader.

Why was Google chosen as the search engine choice for this presentation?
We chose Google because when one speaks to their peers, nine out of ten times our peers say they found the site using Google. There is a tremendous problem in using this strategy. Not all search engines perform searches using the same methods. There are many search engines and each has its own search algorithms; therefore, different search engines will yield different results for the same search query. According to Wysocki, Johnson-Eilola, Selfe, and Sirc in their book "Writing New Media," Self said, "Yahoo organizes the Web into a hierarchy of categories. Google crawls the Web and indexes key terms in a searchable database."

         According to Harnes, Farances and Jacobsen in their article "I Found it on the Internet: Coming of Age Online" three basic [search engine] types exist:

• Metasearch engine: Search engines that search several search engines at one time.

Ex: Dog Pile, HotBot, and MetaCrawler

• Subnet directories: Search tools in which human editors categorize web sites into hierarchical, nested subject categories. Some subject directories are highly selective and specialized.

Ex: Yahoo, Lycos, LookSmart, Excite, and About

• Internet portals: Gateways to the Web that offer several services one of which is web searching. Commercial portals tend to focus on shopping, travel, and business-oriented activities.

Ex: Isleuth, TechSavvy, Keen, CNET, and ZDNet

         A few peers were using Google's Froogle search engine in order to conduct searches. Froogle is a special search engine for the purpose of shopping online and filters out sites that are on virtual shopping sites. Even though the searches would still be compiled by Google the difference would be Froogle would only show users sites that were related to shopping; therefore, all links that were not virtual shopping sites would be eliminated thereby making search queries more fruitful and productive. B. Bauhaus, A. Sheikh, Y. Martin, C. Gatton, N. Horstman, and K. Bailey were in a cluster working near me while in the lab. According to Gatton, she looked over at Horstman's monitor and saw her using Froogle to conduct her searches. Gatton in her Blackboard post said she was Googling and changed her strategy when she saw Horstman using Froogle. I had found that these six people were all using Froogle to conduct their searches; therefore, Horstman may have been the kingpin in the beginning of using Froogle for the task at hand and the other people may have changed their search strategies based on the word getting out in this corner that Froogle would produce more fruitful searches.

Why did the presenter wear a light colored suit and bright, cheery tie and why were the backstage presenters in dark suits?
In our group meeting April 18, 2006 we discussed dressing well for the presentation. At the time, I explained to Steven that I have always worn a suit in class for my presentations because this sends a message to the audience that I am not only on stage and being expected to perform but that I am a professional and take my presentation seriously. The expectation is I expect the audience in turn to take me seriously as a presenter. In essence I was agreeing with Steve and was explaining why this should be done and that Steven and Naphtali should do the same if they owned such clothing.

         In a discussion April 19, 2006 with Steven Norfolk about our dress for the ENGL 324 asked me if I owned a dark suit. I said yes. We were discussing the fact that Steven will be the host and that Naphtali and I during the course of the game were simply the guys in the background or the dogs making all this happen. The main focus of the audience's attention should be placed on the game show host. On the other hand, Naphtali and I should become practically invisible to the audience while the game is being played. It was amazing. We were on exactly the same wavelength and Steven was starting to realize that I am a detail man accounting for every motion and word within the orchestration of this presentation. Every word and motion should have a purpose and when working with three people, one even plans who will walk left or right and when. All of this orchestration or designing is to create a smooth running presentation. This is like choreographing a play.

         Steven said that he was going to wear a light color suit. Why? Because all game show hosts wear light color suits not only so the focus of the audience's attention is on them but because we associate lighter colors with happier moods. A game show host wants the audience to have fun. A light color suit removes any negative connotations associated with a dark colored suit. The semiotics of a dark colored suit send a message of seriousness and a black suit would send a message of darkness and morbidity. For Naphtali and I this message would be okay because another message the dark color suit sends is that we a meant to blend into the background and become invisible. We want the audience's attention focused on our game host and not on the crew help.

         Little did I know what Steven had in mind, when I walked into the UMBC Atrium and saw his dress compared with ours if Naphtali stood to his left and I stood to his right we looked like the Mafia with Steven as the Godfather and Naphtali and I as his body guards. This was quite frightening and unexpected. From this point on, my partners pulled a great number of surprises none of which I was aware of and I hate surprises during a presentation. I want to know exactly what is happening each and every moment so I am not stammering trying to do improv.

What were your personal goals?
"Some people are born to lead; others have leadership thrust upon them." I fall into the "others" category. Whether due to age, experience in managing and developing group projects and/or due to having been a Product Manager for ten years was unimportant. This group needed leadership, otherwise Naphtali would have coasted and for the most part he did. I think Steven would have also eventually coasted or became frustrated. I know for a fact he did eventually succumb to frustration due to Naphtali's coasting.

         My goal, no, rather my vision from the start was to make this the best of the presentations. We were dead last to present. This meant that we had seen everything that came before. We had an idea of what we were up against. Matt's group was going to be a hard act to follow due to its overwhelming acceptance and all the banter the presentation stimulated within Blackboard. We had to design a presentation/activity that would blow our peers off their chairs. "You've seen the rest, now here's the best." We had a huge challenge on our hands. This became my personal vision which I shared with my partners. This became our ultimate secret goal.

         As I rose to the leadership role, my style was a hands-off approach. That is not to say I did not supply substantial input or output but it was my job to keep these guys moving towards the shared vision. Some days we crawled, some days we walked, some days we ran. At the very worse, we walked around in circles. My function was to recognize when we were off topic or not moving forward, to give the group a nudge so they would realize we were off and try to get back on topic. "This presentation was a group effort and some groups require more effort." This group was no exception.

         At the start I knew Naphtali would be the Achilles Heel of the group and would coast if given the opportunity. I already had this experience with him in ENGL 395 on a project evaluating various writing center web sites. Basically I would nudge him every once in a while to move forward with us as one. I did blow up at him at one point because I was so tired, I was no longer amused, and the due date was looming up ahead. I think if I had not blown up he would have continued taking advantage of my laid back style to management. I have less to say about Steven because even with his lack of an Internet connection at home, I received cooperation and dedication without interfering.

         My other function as a group lead was to motivate and bind these people into a united front with one vision. If nothing else, I believe I met this goal. My partners, for the most part were always on time for regular meetings, while I was not and all kept our appointments for the most part. Every step of the way I offered praise for accomplishments achieved.

Why was the color of the paper folder containing all the paperwork green?
The green paper folder containing all the paperwork contributed to the theme of money and the competitive spirit between brick-n-mortar retailers and online retailers.

Why is the entire project being delivered in a plastic portfolio?
After reading Geoffrey Sirc in "Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition, discussing the artist Joseph Cornell and his "box art" of collected disposable items. I want Shipka to see how purposefully engineered this activity was and how the activity changed. I decided that I wanted Shipka to have all the artifacts what went into designing this presentation as though I was delivering it to a client to reproduce the activity from school to school and classroom to classroom. I am designing the package as a portable kit. The advertising sticker of the portfolio was re-purposed as "Shopping Happens: An online shopping game/web search experience." Inside are all the contents necessary to re-perform the entire presentation for the purpose of demonstrating active learning, representing the article "An Online Shopping Experience" by McCarthy, and for the purpose of engaging peers in actively sharing their Web search query strategies with each other in a fun environment.

         The color of the portfolio has no meaning as all the colors available were actually quite disgusting therefore, my choice became a matter of choosing a folder that was the least disgusting. The UMBC Bookstore did have these portfolios in green but this was a hideous form of olive green that was ugly enough to cause nausea. This particular portfolio could have been chosen to maintain the theme of money and virtual shopping but was decided against specifically because of its disgusting color. If the portfolio was created in a more cheerful green, a green folder would have been chosen to support the theme of money and virtual shopping. A red folder with green piping was chosen because out of the choices this was the least ugly of the portfolios and the Day-Glo green piping would support the theme of money.

The entire submission of Goals and Choices plus all the presentation materials could have been submitted inside of an artifact that represented a panic button with the friendly words "Don't Panic" on the top in red letters. Why was this not done and what was the symbolism of this container?
The container for the entire project's submission could have been a square box painted white with a rubber "Pinky" child's hand ball sliced in half to form a red rubber button with the friendly, soothing message inscribed in red letters "Don't Panic" as a symbol to the presenters to remind them of the horrific presentation we had due to a technological breakdown. Every presenter, manager, or designer needs a panic button. Moreover, the panic button container would only work in this case specifically because of the breakdown of technology causing the presentation to break down.

         If the presentation had gone as planned without the technological breakdown, the panic button container would have made no sense nor would the artifact have been created. During the weekend of April 29 to April 30, I went out and browsed two toy stores looking for such a ball but found none. A white box with the same wording and a red circle painted in the center could have been substituted to represent the same meaning but it is the half of a rubber ball that makes the artifact more fitting. This is why the panic button container artifact was not created.

         Many managers, presenters, and designers have little squishy toys on their desk for the purpose of relieving stress. When the presentation began, our stress levels were already high. Pushing the red rubber ball on the top of the box representing a panic button with the soothing red lettered words "Don't Panic" would have been more psychological and symbolic than anything else and would have been stress relief through humor. The panic button would have not been for Shipka's amusement but rather symbolic of what Naphtali, Steven, and I went through in thinking on our feet and performing damage control in a presentation gone awry due to technical difficulties. As I said earlier, the panic button container artifact would only work because the presentation broke down.

Revised: The New Artifact and Container the Infamous "Panic Button."
Why was the "Panic Button" made with a "Black Box?"
This artifact was added on my own time after the project was "passed forward." This was a good thing because it took weeks to get this artifact correct. First, was the problem of locating an appropriate box: A photo box was purchased at Staples and this was the only place I could find an appropriate box after searching for weeks. The box itself became a nightmare.

         Originally, the concept was to have a white box with a big red button on top and the words “Don’t Panic” in red letters. The materials were purchased but the box only came in black. I purchased two cans of semi-gloss white spray paint and began to paint the black box to white. Everything was going fine and the painting was coming out nice and neat. On the last coat while painting the top for some reason the paint wrinkled on the top of the box. The bottom of the box needed one more coat and on the last coat, this too wrinkled. The box cost me six dollars, which may not sound like a big deal but as a student I have little money to work with and I have no car so I have to walk everywhere and take buses. It is just difficult to get around. I went out and purchased a second box and thought this through carefully. Considering the experience with the first box in changing it to white I decided against trying this a second time. I am not sure if the materials reacted or if there was a humidity/weather problem the day the last coat was applied but I decided that making the box white was more trouble than it was worth. I wanted a white box with red lettering and a red button because that is what is usually seen in cartoons but as I said I was afraid the same thing would happen and I would have to buy a third box. I had to settle for a black box. I also had to buy some flat black touch up paint because the second box was not in the best of condition. This painting worked fine.

         The “Pinky” ball was finally located at Toys-R-Us after searching high and low. The ball was not the hollow, air filled kind I was looking for but a solid foam ball. Considering how difficult it was to locate a “Pinky,” the foam ball would have to do as a substitute. The problem here was the ball was pink and not bright red. I purchased red vinyl spray paint from Pep Boys, which cost about ten dollars. This was special paint that flexes with the ball and prevents the paint from cracking. Ordinary red paint would begin to flake and crack as the button was pushed. This is why I opted for the additional cost of the automotive vinyl paint. The “Pinky” ball was cut in half with a hacksaw and went smoothly. I purchased three of these balls in case something went wrong with the cutting or the painting because these balls were difficult to locate and Toys-R-Us did not have many of them.

         The guidelines for the lettering were laid out using a draftsman’s T-square to ensure the guidelines were true and parallel. The top was carefully measured twice and meticulously laid out. The lettering was red from the original concept of a white box and now looking back white letters would have made a better impact against the black box. The red letters were used because I no longer had the receipt to return the red letters and I was not about to hold up this artifact by waiting another week to walk out to Staples once again.

         After looking at the artifact for a few weeks I decided to change the red letters to white. The red letters did not have enough impact on the black background. Contrast was improved by using white letters on the black box and this is now how the artifact stands. End Revision.

Why was eBay and similar auction sites banned from the searches?
Auction sites would create difficulties especially with pricing criteria. Products, goods, and services change rather quickly in these sites. Something that we researched on Thursday most likely will have been sold by the time the presentation arrived. In many ways, these auction sites are great for finding difficult artifacts but they do change extremely fast making them an unstable environment for the goals of this task.

Why did I stand at FA 018 until 11:30 a.m.?
I stood at the FA 018 door to redirect traffic if anyone forgot the announcement given on Tuesday, April 25, I could tell my peers in person where they needed to go.

         As it turned out this was a good thing. S. Miller walked up at 11:25 half asleep and I instructed her to go to the engineering building room 336/336A. Miller had no idea where the engineering building was. This is her first semester at UMBC which is information she shared with me while we were working on the 407 OED Radio Hour archival broadcast tape. (As an aside, this explains the purpose of the audio tape in the cereal box. Customers purchasing the cereal would have never received a copy of the radio broadcast. The tape in the box was a special version of the OED cereal with an archival tape from the OED Radio Hour.) I told her it was the building on our right next store. Walk in go right follow the hallway to the end, look left and take the elevator to the third floor. When you exit the elevator turn right turn right again into room 336A the Mac lab. I arrived in the Mac lab at 11:37 and no Miller. Fortunately she showed up two minutes later.

Why was a message redirecting my peers taped to the door?
Just in case someone forgot the announcement on Tuesday, April 25 and arrived to class late after I had gone off to meet with my group members to begin the presentation.

Why was the same message chalked on the chalkboard?
The reason I chalked the message on the chalkboard was just in case someone walked through the door without reading the sign. I anticipated the fact that someone may not be alert and by placing the message on the chalkboard I was counting on a late peer to notice the empty room, the time on the clock, and to then look at the message on the Blackboard to realize that they had forgotten Tuesday’s announcement.

The Blackboard Prompt

An Online Shopping Game/Web Search Experience
Based on your experience with Thursday, April 27 online shopping game, reflect and consider what you liked or disliked about the particular sites you viewed, whether it be the overall appearance of the site (aesthetics), ease of navigation (how easy could you find what you were looking for), download speeds, (how quickly it opens), or anything else about the web site that affected your shopping experience?

         How would you describe your ideal online shopping web site? If you already shop at such a site, post the URL and discuss why this site is an ideal online shopping web site.

Why the Blackboard prompt?
The purpose of the Blackboard prompt was to ground the presentation and activity back to the original reading. By performing the game we designed an active learning activity which would allow our more web savvy peers demonstrate their web search strategies but this was a departure from the original reading. The reading had purposes that were difficult to bring out in an activity. By having our peers develop their own web shopping experience through the activity we could then ground the reading and the activity. This returned the focus back to online shopping web sites and portals. This way our peers had a shared social experience to compare the shopping experience within the reading to their own shopping experience.

What was the purpose of the document titled “Our Peers in ENGL 324”?
The purpose for this presentation was to distribute to Naphtali and Steven. Each one was given a sheet and they were instructed to take a corner of the whiteboard and write the names of our peers for the purpose of the tally as the game commenced. This way our peers could always see who they were competing against in the game.

What was the purpose of the document “How to Log on to Mac”?
This was for the purpose of the presenters so if anyone was unfamiliar with Mac we could walk them through the log on procedure and help them open the Web browser. Naphtali was going to recite the directions for auditory learners, the directions were written on the whiteboard for visual learners, and if necessary we (the three presenters) were familiar with the log on procedure to walk over to any one user and physically help the user log on supporting the kinesthetic learner.

Why is the “Blueprint” re-shown here in Goals and Choices?
To demonstrate that each and every step of the presentation served a purpose and also that each motion within the room was being designed to eliminate confusion as to who was doing what at any particular moment in time.

ENGL 324 Presentation/Activity Blueprint
For the Reading “An Online Shopping Experience” by P. Dunn
Designers: Christopher Paul, Steven Norfolk, and Naphtali Barsky

The function of the title is to inform the reader that this document is for ENGL 324 and that this is a blueprint for the presentation. The presentation is based on the reading shown above. The names of the designers are to declare to the reader who holds intellectual ownership of this document.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Class Announcement

1. Please read the pdf article in the May 2 folder titled “An Online Shopping Experience” by P. Dunn.
2. Thursday, April 27, 2006 we will meet in ECS 336/336a.

What is the purpose of this announcement?
To alert our peers that the document to be read for this presentation is in the wrong file folder and that we will be doing something within ECS 336/336a.

Thursday, April 27, 2006
Two events begin simultaneously

1. Christopher Paul stops by FA 018 and tapes a sign directing peers to ECS 336/336A for Shipka’s ENGL 324 class. Purpose: The purpose of this re-direction was described earlier.

2. Naphtali Barsky and Steven Norfolk report to ECS 336/336A and begin entering peers names on the whiteboard (One writes on the left side of whiteboard. The other writes on right side of whiteboard.) Purpose: The purpose of the peer list served several functions. The list served as a time saver to reduce some housekeeping by having to write out a peer’s name once they had won a round in the game. Another function was to prevent Naphtali and Steven from running into each other and for the purpose of reducing their stress as presenters having to attend to last minute set up tasks. This was done for the purpose of efficiency. Two errors were made in sharing this list which was compiled by me at the beginning of the semester. One Holly’s name was still on the list who dropped the class after the “Pass it forward” date for the first Communicative Objective. The second error was that two lists should have been made. The original list should have been split in half so Steven and Naphtali would have their own names to enter to prevent duplication and to prevent a mishap with overlooked peers. Unfortunately, two peers were accidentally dropped and added once the peer recognized that they were not represented. Our peer’s names are necessary for maintaining tallies to determine winner of the online shopping search game.

3. Christopher Paul proceeds to ECS 336/336A. If necessary Christopher beings entering last of peer names on center of board. Purpose: To prevent the three of us from running into each other for efficiency.

Everyone begins to file into the room we greet our peers and ask them to have a seat anywhere they would like so long as it’s at a computer. Purpose: to create a friendly relaxed environment in an unfamiliar space and reduce stress.

When everyone is settled in, Naphtali (the introduction speaker) introduces himself, thanks them all for coming here this afternoon, apologies for the fact that we are in a Mac lab and that this was not intentional but due to the semester end crunch this was the only available lab. Naphtali provides the low down on the hoe down. Naphtali lays out why we are in the computer labs, what we will be doing, and the simple rules of the game. Purpose: All television games have an announcer. The announcer is responsible for introducing the game show host and for elevating the excitement within the space.

Naphtali’s Opening/Introduction Speech
Thank you all for coming this morning. We apologize for the fact that we are in a Mac lab. This was not intentional but this was the only lab available due to the semester end crunch. [I will include some information about the how to log on the Macs, after we have investigated them ourselves this week, before the presentation.] For this presentation, we're going to play a game that will test each one of you in your ability to use the Internet to buy products online. This game will work like Bingo. I will call out the name of the product, and then it is your job to find a website that sells the product. As soon as you find such a website, and you find the product with a price attached--there must be a price-you call out "I got it." The first person to say "I got it!" wins the round. Now, it's likely that some of you will say "I got it!" at the same time. In that case, all of you who said those words at the same time will receive a point for the round, and anyone who finds the product for the cheapest price gets a bonus point. With each passing round, the game will become more challenging, and the person who wins gets a free trip to Disney World! [Well, no, not really, but we'll figure out something to give the winner.]

When Naphtali finishes his introduction, Naphtali will say, "I will now swing things over to "Steven" who will be your gaming host for the afternoon. Take it away "Steven."

         Naphtali now walks to the back of the computer lab to act as the verification runner. Christopher stands left or right as necessary and acts as the tallyman. Purpose: So each member of the group knows exactly what motion they are to take at every moment so we (the three presenters) are working as a team to enhance the value and pleasantness of the gaming experience. We account for each and every word and motion in the room so no one interferes with anyone else’s function and so that each member knows what the other two will be doing at each moment. This is so that no one has to improv and so that there are no unexpected surprises. As a project manager, I hate surprises. I do not like wiping egg off my face.

Steven acts as the “gaming host” begins the round, hands out the search objective, and tells our participants how much time they have for each task. Purpose: so that everyone understands that there will be a time limit on the search. The time limits will be reasonable but the gamers will not realize this and if Steven decides at any particular moment or things are becoming to easy he can at will decide to assign shorter search times to increase the competitiveness of any one search. Steven had a chart showing not only the search terms but also the average search times, which searches had tricks to them and what those tricks were and where we found the item in case someone decided to challenge our searches. The large sheet also served as a checklist so Steven could keep track of the searches he had already done.

Rules of the game

1. When the contestant has completed the search they shout “I got it” and raise their hand at the same time. The person who completed the greatest number of searches, i.e. the person who accumulated the most points within the time limit of the presentation wins the game. Purpose: So we know right away who the winner was. We have three judges watching: myself, Steven, and Naphtali.
2. In the event of a tie each player gets a point, the player with the lower price gets a bonus point. Purpose: To promote good will and keep the game fun at the same time.
3. If three or more solve the search at the same time, everyone gets a point. No one gets a bonus point. Purpose: To promote good will and to keep the game fun at the same time.
4. eBay and other auction sites are forbidden. Purpose: The reason for this is the search terms were built over the course of a few days and by today, things that were searched for over a week ago more than likely exist now.

[What I want to see here in these brackets is Round One: The search objective is to find…. And you have X number of minutes to complete this task.]

Steven watches his watch (to be fair) starts on the nearest even minute and says, "Ready… Begin." Steven will time each search objective. Purpose: To provide Steven with the ability to control the game. If our peers were becoming disengaged because Steven knew the average search times he could decrease search times at will to increase tension in the room and re-engage the players back into the game. In other words, we built in factors that would allow us to control the game at will.

The participant raises their hand and shouts out “I got it” as though playing Bingo. Steven stands at the center of the room at all times. Naphtali runs over to the contestant and confirms the person has in fact completed the search successfully. Naphtali signals Christopher with a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down accordingly. Thumbs Up, Christopher places a tally mark next to the person’s name on the whiteboard. Purpose: So that each person in the room knows what they are responsible for at any moment at time so each person only has to concern themselves with their task. This way everyone could concentrate on their function and all attention would be focused on the game show host. Naphtali and I were responsible for the background work that would keep the game moving forward at all times so Steven could concentrate on entertaining his audience. I stood back and allowed Steven and Naphtali decide which function they wanted. Originally, these positions did not have names in them. Each person chose of his own free will what they wanted to do based on what they know they can do best. I designed the entire orchestration of the game and presentation on the floor. I was not concerned with what my function was in the presentation. I was concerned that everyone knew what they were supposed to do at any moment in time hence I was a choreographer or a producer/director. I didn’t care if I was in the lime light or not. All I cared about was designing a presentation that would blow our peers off their chairs and show them how a presentation is supposed to be done. “You’ve seen the rest, now see the best!” I was out to demonstrate my management skills.

Search for a...	Time	Other Factors
Oven	10 sec	The purpose is to engage our peers into the game.
Stove	10 sec	These searches were deliberately designed
Mattress	10 sec	to be simple so there would be several people
American flag	15 sec	shouting I got it.
A hair brush	15 sec	Steven would select someone from each winning
A T-shirt under for under $20	15 sec	round and ask them their search strategies.
A CD "Lady" by Lenny Kravitz under $10	15 sec	This would create an active learning environment
An ivory watch	15 sec	Easy to find therefore, reduces tension.
A baby hand fed Green Cheek Conure (It's a parrot) under $300	15 sec	Easy to find therefore, reduces tension.
Andapa Panther chameleon (purchase a live chameleon)	15 sec	First Zinger: its spelling: "chameleon."
A towel	20 sec	These searches were deliberately designed
A pair of designer women's shoes	20 sec	to begin to increase the level of difficulty.
A laser printer	20 sec	Easy to find, therefore reduces tension.
A quilt for under $20	20 sec	Easy to find therefore, reduces tension.
A gorilla suit	20 sec	Trick: will find faster if they type "gorilla costume."
The Kurdish English dictionary	20 sec	Can find quickly on Amazon.com.
Half gallon of milk	20 sec	Can find quickly on Amazon.com.
Wallaby shoes	20 sec	Trick: Spelling; lack of familiarity with the item.
Gucci accessories under $200	20 sec	Trick: Spelling.
Chocolate liquor	25 sec	These searches were deliberately designed
A copy of a book we read for class (Petroski, Gee, or Levy)	25 sec	to increase the difficulty of the searches and to
An aluminum baseball bat	25 sec	decrease the tension in the space for a few
A nylon jacket	25 sec	moments before the next zinger was thrown.
Onion skin paper	25 sec	The tension again is meant to relax and to get the
Book "Alice in Wonderland"	25 sec	gamers a little bored so we could throw
DVD Pulp Fiction	25 sec	the next zinger to catch them off their guard.
A pair of socks	30 sec	Easy to find therefore, reduces tension.
A shower curtain	30 sec	Any of these searches Steven could deliberately reduce search
A mouse pad	30 sec	times in order to increase tension and competition in the space.
A dot matrix printer	30 sec	Easy to find therefore, reduces tension.
Bulletproof vest	30 sec	Any of these searches Steven could deliberately reduce search
Jester tights	30 sec	times in order to increase tension and competition in the space.
Koala beanie baby	30 sec	Tension can be relaxed and increased at will.
An electric bass guitar	30 sec	tension can be relaxed and increased at will.
A gallon of milk	35 sec	Gamer will know where to look. Best search term is "half gallon."
Prune juice	35 sec	Can find quickly on Amazon.com.
American style juggling club	45 sec	Very difficult if the gammer not familiar with juggling.
An old fashioned typewriter	50 sec	Trick: will find faster if they type "antique typewriter."
Timex Watch for under $30	50 sec	Times are now becoming longer because the user must begin
Barbed wire	1 min	diving into different links on the page to find the items
Violet lip stick	1 min	making the searches more difficult.
Silk carpet	1 min 15 sec	This is true of all these searches on down until one arrives
An ivory pocket watch	1 min 20 sec	to the zinger.
A sea horse	2 min 10 sec	Involves a little bit of searching from link to link.
A three piece nehru suit under $170	Over 2 min	Involves a little bit of searching from link to link.
Breakfront	3 min 25 sec	Involves a little bit of searching from link to link.
Versace shoes under 250 dollars	May be impossible due to price.	Involves a little bit of searching from link to link
Safari pet rock under $30	Couldn't find.	Napthali couldn't find this because this artifact was the ultimate zinger. In order to solve this search one had to enter "pet rock" in Google and look to their right in the Shopping recommendations zone to find "Target" advertising a "pet rock" for sale at $29.95. When one clicked on the link one would find a bag called a "safari pet rock" for $29.95 for the purpose of carrying their pet rock and their dog at the same time.

While Naphtali and Christopher are verifying and scoring, Steven asks the contestant the following questions:

1. Explain how you got to the web site?
2. What search engine did you use?
3. Did you already know to use a particular web site?
4. Did you use a search engine?
   • Which one?
   • What word or phrase did you search on?
5. Did you use a pre-set web site in your bookmarks?
6. Did you use a comparative pricing portal web site?

Purpose: to promote the lessons learned in the Gee reading from this semester. That one learns more from being actively engaged when learning becomes transparent. Another purpose was to get the winning peer to reveal their search query skills so that others could put these skills immediately to use in the next round.

[What I want to see here within these brackets is Round Two: The search objective is to find… and you have X number of minutes to complete the task.]

Steven watches his watch (to be fair) starts on the nearest even minute and says, "Ready… Begin." Steven times the event.

         The participant raises their hand and shouts out “I got it” as though playing Bingo. The game host stands at the center of the room at all times. One person runs over to the contestant and confirms the person has in fact completed the search successfully. The runner will use a thumb up or thumb down to indicate a successful search to the recorder. The other person is the score keeper at the whiteboard, writes down the person’s name, and gives them one tally mark.

The gaming host asks the contestant the following:

1. Explain how you got to the web site?
2. What search engine did you use?
3. Did you already know to use a particular web site?
4. Did you use a search engine?
   • Which one?
   • What word or phrase did you search on?
5. Did you use a pre-set web site in your bookmarks?
6. Did you use a comparative pricing portal web site?

(As you see the intention is when we have all the search objectives in place we will copy and paste them into this text. The game host will use this sheet or cards or combination of cards and sheet to do their business. The other purpose of this document will be the blueprint. What we are doing is accounting for each and every person’s motion, action, and speech according to a running clock of 75 minutes. This informs Shipka that there is a carefully orchestrated plan to this presentation or more like a Stage Script.)

         When we get to the five minutes remaining we will want to wrap it up. The gaming host announces “Time limit is up.” The game is now over. The points are tallied by Christopher (the tallyman), and the winner is announced. Steven says, “Thank you all for participating I would now like to swing things over to Christopher who will conclude this afternoon’s presentation.” Purpose: So there are no surprises for any of the three presenters and we are all functioning as a team of presenters.

Thank you Steven.
In conclusion I would just like to summarize the purpose of this activity. The game served several purposes.

First, the game was to demonstrate that if learning is made fun learners forget that they are learning and become more involved with the activity.

Second, without the game there would be no active learning which is what Gee stressed over and over in his argument about computer gaming as active learning.

Third, the article in a remote way deals with competition in the marketplace between online virtual Internet stores and traditional brick-n-mortar stores.

The only way to bring out this point of the reading was to stage a competition.

The goal of this activity was to persuade our most web savvy peers to demonstrate and teach the rest of us their methods of conducting efficient web searches.

Thank you all you’ve been a lovely audience.

Give yourself a round of applauds.

Purpose: To make our peers feel good about themselves. To demonstrate and wrap up what the entire activity was about and explain to our peers if they didn’t recognize the experience to demonstrate several concepts we learned within ENGL 324 over the course of fifteen weeks that were impossible to demonstrate using readings and textbooks. This was a Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic learning process, which left out no one learning style. The entire design was to engage all learning styles. The purpose of the huge font was to extract the text and place it on index cards because I like to work with index card prompts with large fonts so I don’t have to struggle with reading the cards.

Why audio record of the presentation?
The purpose of recording was to capture any data that occurred for analysis in Goals and Choices and for analyzing presentation style. Audiences are unpredictable and unexpected turn might occur other than the presenters expected. In this case this is exactly what had happened. The audience was reporting to me how they were making sense of this presentation and what sense they made of the activity was not the same as the intent by the presenters. Recording the session would allow the presenters to reflect on the session and make adjustments to the entire presentation in order to reflect the meaning-making the audience was making of the presentation. This reflection would allow for fine-tuning the presentation. This recording would help the presenters in evaluating the session producing a Lessons Learned, which could be used for further improvement. Quality of the tape is not the greatest but does help me as a presenter to find places for improvement.

Why was a hand drawn flow chart created detailing the process of the presentation and activity?
The reason for the flowchart is the presentation or activity in my mind is a process. When working on large or complex processes, flowcharts are extremely helpful and are rarely used anymore. While I was studying Computer Science at Drexel, I had a professor who worked as an intern on the ENIAC computer project in University of Pennsylvania and worked for IBM (Big Blue) for twenty years. He was from the old school and said that nothing was done in IBM without a flow chart. Every program and every project we did for him was accompanied with a flow chart. His purpose for teaching and requiring flowcharts was a flowchart allows the designer to pick up steps the designer may left out or did not consider. Using a flowchart indicates visually there is a problem in one’s design logic if one cannot proceed to the next step. A flowchart slows the mind down and forces one to make a conscious decision for every step. A flowchart provides logical structure, organizes the mind, forces one to consider missing steps, and creates a visual of one’s logical decisions. This also guides the designer in design because one can quickly see whether a process will work or not and if there is a way to simplify the process. The flowchart is a tool for me as a designer.

         The second reason for the hand drawn flow charts is because of the reasons explained in the next section “Why was the flowchart hand drawn and not done with Microsoft Visio?”

Why was the flowchart hand drawn and not done with Microsoft (MS) Visio?
The reasons why Microsoft Visio was not used for this presentation are several. One, MS Visio is only available in the Information Systems building on the computers on the fourth floor of the Information Systems (IS) department of the UMBC campus. These are the only computers on campus that have MS Visio on them. Anyone can use these computers but mostly IS student’s use them because few people are aware the lab exists and few are aware that these computers have extra software on them for IS students.

         Second, I did not use this program because for some peculiar reason these computers are not connected to a network printer. In order to print one must take the file to another computer that has a printer. This creates a problem using MS Visio. One cannot print without the program being loaded to the computer.

         Third, I do have a copy of the new Visio but it is an old version, created before Microsoft bought the company. The two programs are not compatible. The old program will not read files created in the new version.

         Fourth, I do not have my copy of Visio loaded on this computer. The computer that had Visio blew up after 10 years of use. I am using a computer that is just as old as the one that I replaced. This computer is quite finicky and fragile. I refuse to load any program onto it that I am going to use twice in a year. This computer is unpredictable, has no backup software, and if I crash it, I cannot afford to run out and replace it. I am using this computer as is because most of the primary programs I need are already on it. I do not want to disturb it for something like this. I do not deem the flow chart being in Visio as important enough. The fact that the computer functions is good enough right now until I can replace it.

Why was there no presentation rehearsal?
I was having tremendous problems reigning my group members in. I wanted to have a few dry runs so that we all had a feel for what we would say and how we would move within the Mac lab but I found many times trying to keep Naphtali an Steven focused for extended periods of time difficult. I strongly believe a presentation should be rehearsed because a rehearsal when acted out will quickly demonstrate what portions are missing, what portions are not going to work, and what is working and will work well. This allows the presenters to make corrections within the space building familiarity with the purpose of the presentation.

Why was an audio tape made of the presentation?
The original purpose was to analyze the presentation afterwards to determine what work well, what did not work well, and how the presentation may be improved in the future. In this case, the presentation broke down due to technical difficulties but serves as a record of what went on in the Mac lab space as three presenters attempted to create a phoenix out of the ashes of a technical difficulty. The audio tape can now be examined as to what the presenters did and said in order to make the presentation successful by delivering the messages of the activity in an improv form. Unfortunately, not everything said within the Mac lab space can be heard but there is enough information to fill in the blanks of what was said by the presenters and what actions were taken to rescue the presentation from the technological glitch of the network crash.

Why has the audio tape jacket been altered to green?
The purpose of the audio tape jacket being changed to green is to play to the theme of money within the online shopping experience.

Why not record the session on videotape for analysis?
This would have been something I would have loved to have done: to have several video recorders running from various angles for analysis in order to improve the entire presentation and m own presentation/communication skills. A videotape would target my learning style and meaning-making style better than audio as I am a visual/kinesthetic learner. I would be able to see myself objectively and see where improvements could be made in my presentation style.

Do you really think that the presentation/activity was rescued?
My answer is yes, this presentation was rescued from the smoldering ashes of a technological glitch and rose like a phoenix. The audio tape reveals that the presentation was re-directed into areas that were different than the plan the presenters entered the room with. What was revealed was the purposeful design of the presentation/activity itself and various aspects of the article that may not have been revealed as clearly in the gaming activity. Some of our peers walked away with some new search query techniques. Some learned there are more search engines other than Google and that all search engines are not the same in the work they do. Others learned what should be revealed in Goals and Choices by revealing some of our goals and choices to them.

Why did we not use the presentation projector screen that is used for the instructor’s computer?
The presentation projector screen was investigated and found to not be working. The workmen came into the lab for the presentation projector and this is when we learned that it was dysfunctional. If the projector was functional we were going to demonstrate to the class what the secret was to finding the search query that they were not able to find. At 10:45 a.m., two workmen walked into the room with a ladder. We were worried that they were about to do some heavy work on it. I inquired about their job and they explained we had a presentation at 11:30 a.m. They said they would only be a few minutes, they needed to inspect how to remove the projector because it was dysfunctional and was to be retired. This explained why it did not work.

Why did we log on the Macs under one account?
Naphtali and I were concerned about the slow log on period and this was with only one person in the room logging on. I have had experiences at UMBC when log on times were even worse when an entire class would log on at the same time. My fear was that if the log on time went on too long many people would be so disengaged from what the intended purpose of holding class in the Mac lab was that we would not be able to re-engage them back into the process. This is why I agreed with Naphtali in logging all the computers on. I had not realized that the computers were all logged on under only Naphtali’s account. He was a little faster than I anticipated because I did intend to log them under two accounts but this may not have made difference. Steven did not use his account because there is a problem with it and when he logs on the network cannot find his account and assigns him a temporary account. I have no idea if things would have been different if he Mac computers had been logged in under three accounts or if the result would have been the same.

Why did the system or network crash?
This is still under investigation. I only assume that having the entire Mac lab logged on under one account was the reason for the crash but this may not be necessarily true.

Why did Naphtali warn us as to what he was going to do as far as the presentation?
This is still another mystery and with the blackout period of having to write goals and choices alone without consulting my partners I can only speculate. Naphtali many times will operate alone and not reveal aspects, which should be revealed to us as partners in a common goal. Once the blackout period has been lifted and everyone’s goals and choices have been passed forward I will ask but not until such time.

In what ways did you attempt to recover from a failed presentation due to technical difficulties?
Some of the missing aspects in my mind were filed in by the audio tape but on the other hand, some portions are indeterminate. A tape recorder can only pick up so much in a room, which is one of the constraints of using an audio recorder. The only way this could have been resolved would have been to have several recorders positioned in various parts of the room to pick up sounds that the single recorder could not pick up.

Making sense of the McCarthy article “An Online Shopping Experience” compared to our re-representation of the article through our shopping game presentation/activity, “Shopping Happens”
“…central to our approach to analyzing experience is an emphasis on the felt life of the personal lived experience, retold through narrative and analyzed in terms of the sense that individuals make of the experience.” McCarthy’s statement will be exactly the work that a recounting of the events that led to the network crash and “to give the reader a sensibility to what we mean by experience so that we can look at people’s interactions [specifically that of Naphtali, Steven, and myself] and see new and interesting things. Thus in the story that [I am] about to recount, [I] have tried to provide a vivid description of what happened and to minimize [the damage done by a network crash during a presentation relying on computer technology]. The aim I for the reader to see the felt life for themselves and [I will draw conclusions for the reader]”.

         In McCarthy’s article he mentions that he was at first working with a Mac computer to perform his online shopping task. When McCarthy called tech support their response was basically “get a PC” in not so many words. Our Mac network crashed mid-way into the online shopping experience game so one may draw a correlation between our experience and McCarthy’s experience leading one to conclude that the Mac is inferior to the Microsoft/IBM PC, which would not only be false but unfair to the Mac.

         Wednesday, April 26, I had just returned to campus from my night job and because I have a 45 minute wait before the UMBC Black line bus arrives and 15 minutes before tech support would close the third floor computer labs, I dashed into the Mac lab. Naphtali’s lassie fair attitude about not inspecting the lab before the presentation bothered me. I have had too many bad experiences on the UMBC campus with entire nodes of computers being blacked out and using a Mac after not having used one in six years I wanted to be sure that all three presenters could act as tech support if our peers had no experience using Mac. I wanted to figure out how to get onto the Internet with the Mac in order to help others. I walked in through the door marked 336a and sat down at the first bank of computers nearest the door. I jiggled the mouse as is the method one uses to “wake up” a Mac from its sleep mode state. It should be understood that a Mac differs from a PC in that Macs do not have on/off switches like PC’s. Mac deems them unnecessary and the computers work just fine without one.

         The splash screen was not that much different and had the familiar message of enter user name and password for logging onto the UMBC network. I typed in my user name and password and waited for the Mac to log on. At this hour of the evening a PC usually logs onto the network within a one-minute wait period due to low network traffic. The Mac display gave me the indication that it was attempting to log onto the network but after a five-minute wait time to log on I became worried. Remember I said this time of night is a low point in demands on the network and low network traffic. I assumed there was a problem with the particular computer I was using, so I then went through the log on procedure on the computer next to it. This computer also had an abnormally long wait period and the first computer was still attempting to log onto the network. Knowing how the computers are maintained on this campus from bad experiences in the library and knowing that our tech support runs when they hear there is a problem with a Mac computer I walked up to the rest of the computers in the back row and jiggled their mice. I found that none of these computers would come to life.

         I was operating under the principle that each computer may be dysfunctional and not the entire node of the network. I then proceeded to jiggle the mouse of each computer in the lab to determine how many computers were dysfunctional in the Mac lab. After my investigation I determined that nine computers were out. I then counted the number of computers in the room to find that we had more students than computers. When I was done inspecting the room I intended to send out an email to my team members and Shipka to inform them we might have to alter our plans for the activity and have our peers play the game in group of two. I began to rip out sheets of paper in my notebook and pulled out a roll of tape to flag the dysfunctional computers to save myself some time in preparing for the next day. I only did a few computers before the student tech support person entered the lab to lock up for the night. I informed him that there were nine computers down in the lab and that I ha a presentation the next day at 11:30 a.m. He said he would submit a trouble ticket on the problem. From previous encounters with UMBC’s tech support I knew nothing would be done before 11:30 a.m. or for that matter for the net few days especially because this was a Mac lab. There are few students on campus that uses the Mac platform so fixing anything within the Mac lab would have a low priority.

         I left and sent an email to everyone. There was an email from Naphtali who had also been in the Mac lab determining the procedures for opening the web browser on the Macs. Naphtali said in one brief sentence that he was concerned with the extremely slow log on time of the Macs. Naphtali’s email confirmed my experience and now I was really beginning to worry because there might be larger problems within that lab that I could not anticipate.

         There is only one Mac lab on the entire campus. Few people on campus use this particular lab. Most students are PC users. The fact that the Macs had an extremely long wait period to log on should have indicated to me that there was a problem with the Mac network trunk. Due to my own impatience, I logged onto the computer next to it only to find the same problem. I was operating under the assumption that the individual computers were the problem and not the trunk of the network. In order to wake up a Mac from its sleep state one has to jiggle the mouse as Mac’s do not have an on/off switch like PC’s and can only be turned on and off by their surge suppressor switch. I moved to the third computer only to find no screen display when I jiggled the mouse.

         When I found a dead screen on the third Mac, I decided to check all the computers in the room for functionality. I once had this experience in the UMBC lab and found 18 out of 36 computers down. This experience among others on the UMBC campus prompted me as a computer person and problem solver to check the functionality of the remaining computers. I hate surprises especially in presentations. I found that nine of the computers were dysfunctional. I then flicked the power switches on each of the dead computers to the opposite position hoping that someone simply turned them off. The power switches were not of the type with the lit pilot light switch so I could not tell if I threw the switch into the on or the off position. I walked around and jiggled mice again. None of the dead Macs came to life. I then flicked the power switches to their original state and when I did this with each computer I could hear the hard drives begin to spin up telling me they were receiving electricity. Once again I jiggled mice but all the monitors remained blank. I waited five minutes for the computers to complete their booting process and walked through one more time jiggling mice only to find the nine computers were still dead. I had done everything within my control to restore the nine Macs and now knew that the problem lied within the network trunk.

         In order to remember which computers were down, I taped a piece of paper to each down monitor with a question mark in order to avoid confusion when our peers entered at 11:30 a.m. to prevent people from sitting at a dead computer. I compared the number of peers on my email address class peer list to the number of available Macs and found we would be short computers. This would be a simple fix. I would send out a heads-up to my group members in email, explain my discovery, and we would just have to modify the game to teams of two on one computer. One could think of search query strategies and the other could operate the computer (fig. 46).

NOTE: Sketches Fig 1 through Fig 48 are all missing from the archives. At this moment I do not have time to re-create the sketches but will do so at a later date.

         Thursday morning, April 27, Naphtali and I were concerned with the 20 minute wait time to log on. Naphtali wanted to know if we could log on to the computers at the same time under one account. I told him that I had done this many times. Naphtali suggested that the three of us log onto our accounts and just keep the computers up until our peers arrived. I had no idea the network would not tolerate one person logged onto and using several computers at once. I agreed we should follow his suggestion. I was afraid our peers would completely disengage from the activity if there was a twenty minute log on period. Neither Naphtali nor I realized we set ourselves up for a technological mishap which would lead to a network crash.

         Half way into setup for the presentation I begin to play with the projection screen. I am thinking if the audience challenges us to show the web site where we found the item we can display the web page using the presenter’s projector. I find the remote is functioning because the power light is lit but the projector is not responding. Fifteen minutes later two workmen walk into the room carrying a ladder and I overhear them talking about retiring the projector. In this case, retirement means removing it from the Mac and the ceiling. I inquire hoping that they are not going to do this today and I inform them we are going to be having a presentation in the room at 11:30 a.m. The man assures me that they will not be long. He explains they are here to strategize how to remove the projector and nothing more. This incident becomes one more of a series of warning signs as was the case in McCarthy’s online shopping experience article (fig. 47) and none of us are heeding the warning.

         The first warning sign was Shipka informing us that the only lab available to present in was the Mac lab. Then, there is Naphtali’s test log in which resulted in a painfully slow log on to the network. Combine this with the knowledge that the Mac lab is rarely used by the UMBC community and the knowledge of how the PC’s are poorly maintained in the library adds to the list of omens. Next, there is my discovery of nine Macs down and the workmen wanting to retire the projector in the Mac lab. The technological breakdowns are adding up quickly and spelling out doom and gloom for the presentation but the show must go on.

         11:00 a.m. arrives and I split to meet M. DeLauney from ENGL 407 because she wants to interview me. Everyone wants to get the dirt. “Why were you presenting alone?” will be the main question on the menu. I wait around to 11:30 a.m. and M. DeLauney is a “no show.” This is really annoying because she’s cutting into my productivity. She was a no show two days before on Tuesday when she was supposed to meet me at Shipka’s office at 11:00 a.m. because I had a meeting with Shipka at 10:30 a.m. and I had specifically made room for her in my busy schedule. I assumed this was for a history or something.

         At 11:25 a.m. S. Miller forgot the redirect so I gave her directions on how to find the Mac lab. Half asleep she disappears but I am not sure if she even went the right way. Miller may have been drinking the night before.

         At 11:35 a.m. I take off to meet with the rest of my peers in the Mac lab. Miller shows up two minutes after me which is impossible to understand because she left 10 minutes ahead of me. It is now 11:37 a.m. and it takes a few minutes for everyone to settle in and there are a few announcements. We begin the presentation and the first to speak in the group is Naphtali whose function is to introduce and explain the rules of the game. I am taken aback by the persona Naphtali breaks into like he’s introducing the “Price is Right.” My mouth nearly drops as I observe him. Note I say almost, as my mouth cannot drop because then my peers will know that as team members we did not know he was going to do this persona. I notice Shipka’s mouth drops and her eyes light up because she did not expect this either and looking out there are a few peers who feel the same. I were not for his hoarse voice, I think he would have really gotten everyone into the spirit of the game, especially when he said “It’s every man for himself, every woman for herself” keeping the spirit of free trade and competition alive even in the presentation (fig. 48).

         When the game began, within three searches the computers froze and so did the online shopping search game. We accidentally recreated McCarthy’s online shopping experience disaster. Naphtali explains the rules of the game and swings things over to Steven. Steven throws out the first search term shop for an oven and within seconds Bilal Mechairia is the first according to the audio tape to shout I got it. Shipka finds an “Easy Bake" oven, and Crystal shouts she found a toaster oven. Emily Berman is immediately dissatisfied with this round. Evidently the deliberate ambiguity is going to frustrate people but this is all a part of McCarthy’s online shopping experience feeling somehow cheated and a sense of dissatisfaction once the order goes through one will not receive the product for days. Steven said an oven but not what kind of oven so anything that was an object representing an oven or had the name oven in it could be deemed a successful search (fig. 48). Steven decides to mix up the searches a little and throws out the search of a laser printer.

         The game comes to a grinding halt because some of the systems crash but not all. The next change becomes grouping off into pairs in order to continue playing. From the audio tapes things are still continuing to crash as a few moments later there seems to be only one computer working per desk so as presenters we decide to have people work as teams at each table. A few moments later all the computers have locked up (fig. 48).

         At this point, we attempt to move the presentation on. Steven reveals one of our goals in Goals and Choices. He reveals to our peers that one of our intentions was to allow those with more experience in forming search queries to flex their muscles. This would have a cost. Once the player won the round they would have to demonstrate their search techniques. Our hope was that many people would learn new ways to search and begin trying these new skills in the name of competition in the next round. This would create an atmosphere of active learning following Gee’s theories of learning though gaming.

         Steven swings things over to me to discuss the pet rock search, which is the grinding halt search, which is purposefully designed to shut the entire game down. I describe that this search was inspired by an IM (Instant Messaging) conversation with Naphtali the Sunday night before the presentation. Somehow we got into a conversation about pets and up comes a pet rock. I copied the conversation because I was searching for search queries and extracted pet rock as a query. I performed a search and came up with an anomaly. The bricks-and-mortar store Target claimed they were selling pet rocks so I clicked on the link. To my surprise the pet rock was a carrying bag to place your pet rock in and a small dog and was called a safari pet rock. I baked out and performed a search for safari pet rock and the artifact could not be found. I found the ultimate zinger term that would shut the game down. Who would know to drop the word safari in order to find a safari pet rock? No one. I then swung things back over to Steven.

         Steven discusses the purposes of the design of the searches. He explains that he had a sheet of searches informing him of the difficulty of the searches and their average search times. Steven had a code indicating which searches were zingers and what the zinger was based on whether one had to scroll or if we were counting on people not being able to spell the word correctly. The searches were ordered on his sheet according to their level of difficulty. He could, at will, alter the tension in the space by using easy or more difficult searches to re-engage people back into the game hence we could simulate the frustration McCarthy felt while trying to buy wine on the Internet. Seven also reveals that we never specified what particular search engine to use as we knew different search engines would produce different search results. Naphtali re-iterates that all of this is in the spirit of the competition of a free market.

         Steven then swings the presentation back to me and I discuss the types of search engines that currently exist. I had accidentally read the article written by Harris, Frances, and Jacobsen “Teenagers and the Library.” The main point I brought out was that if we were all to use different search engines using the search queries we created we would all probably turn up different artifacts. A few of the computers have returned and we continue running search queries. The ups and down in the presentation are the same experiences McCarthy experiences in shopping for wine through the Virginwines.com web site.

Why reveal the secrets of the search terms?
To demonstrate that each secret term no matter how simple, served a purpose and was carefully chosen for the work it would do.

Why explain the types of search engines?
I was the only one holding this information because I accidentally read the article by Harris, Frances, and Jacobsen “Teenagers and the Library.” Having read the article by mistake became an advantage in the presentation because this information was worth dispersing.

What was the purpose of the game?
The game was deliberately asked to engage people to make learning fun. The learning would be visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, therefore no one learning style was left out.

• Visual learning: Finding the object on the Internet
• Auditory learning: Listening to the winners reveal their search strategies.
• Kinesthetic learning: In the next round people would apply immediately what they learned about search strategies.

This all plays marvelously with Gee’s argument of active learning through gaming.

Why explain the strategies of the game?
To demonstrate that the presentation was purposefully designed to bring out the competitive nature and spirit of the market place.

Why explain Naphtali and I were in dark suits and Steven in a light suit?
To demonstrate everything within the presentation was carefully thought out and served a purpose. We were revealing to our peers what Goals and Choices is supposed to look and sound like.

When the computers came back up there was little time to play the game so why throw out the more elusive searches?
To demonstrate this was a real game of strategy. We selected and crafted each search to become progressively harder. When someone solved a search, the person would be asked to reveal their secrets. We purposefully designed an active learning environment.

         Our group had the greatest learning experience for all including us. We all received a re-creation of McCarthy’s online shopping experience due to the network crash. As presenters, we learned how to think on our feet and make a phoenix out of the ashes or a failed presentation and our peers learned what Goals and Choices should look like, some new search techniques, how to rescue a failed attempt of a presentation, and how to design purposefully within the "Shipka Spaces." Oh, and Shipka learned what a sea horse is.

What was the original plan?
The original plan was to secure a computer lab for the class period and simulate the online shopping experience in the assigned reading. As presenters, we were going to research and evaluate three web sites:

1. A flagship web site that instills confidence in the consumer and enhances the user’s shopping experience such as Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Considering most of us are English majors, most of us are probably familiar with these sites and have made purchases there. The first site would be a site that all others compete against.
2. One mediocre web site with some navigation difficulties, misinformation, slow downloads and other human computer interaction (HCI) problems.
3. One really awful site similar to the mediocre site but with more problems than one could bear in order to infuriate the user.

We were thinking of either asking our peers to fill out an evaluation of their experience. The alternative was to have a group discussion of our experience at the end of the exercise.

         This became clearer as time went on. First on the list was a book because all three of us purchased books online from time to time. Most of us within this class are English majors so the assumption was that everyone has made book purchases online. The book purchase was quickly dismissed as this seemed too easy.

         Next on the list was music CD’s. Naphtali downloads his music, so his experience would have been excluded. Steven and I had made purchases online from time to time. This was especially true for me as most of the music I hunt for is extremely difficult to find in brick-n-mortar stores. Using the Internet I usually find hard to locate music within 30 minutes. This idea was eventually dropped because my partners thought purchasing a music CD was too similar to the "Theme Song” presentation.

         All three of us are not big online buyers. My purchases were limited to books, music CD’s, stuff on eBay, and a few select computer parts outfits. eBay was right out for a host of reasons and computer stuff was right out because I think some people would be completely shut out. Steven is big on Anime but for most of us, Anime is a foreign language but this did lead to the product we chose to focus on and that was DVD movies. Maybe not everyone buys DVD’s or buys DVD’s online but practically everyone likes movies, especially English majors. Movies would include everyone. The product we would have our peers shop for became grounded. Once the product was grounded the next task was to cruise around the Internet and try different sites. The guys could not seem to follow what I was suggesting on this. What I wanted to do was all three of us to sit at three computers all together and basically send each person out on a different search engine, explore various web sites. While doing this each member would generate a list in MS Word labeled mediocre and the other poor. A flagship site would be easy to find. The other types of sites we would have to dig for. Next, when we were satisfied with the list we would send it out in an email, combine the three lists into one document then one person would go to each link as two looked over the user’s shoulder. This really wasn’t that complex in my mind because Dr. Carpenter used to regularly give us tasks like this as activities which we would complete in 30 minutes in groups of three and four. We did try this but not by my suggested method. Using only one computer slows down the process. With three researchers there is no reason why the task can’t be completed in 30 minutes.

         I figured what we needed to do was create a questionnaire evaluating our peers shopping experience. Maybe these questions should be drawn from the questions within the article as a starter and then dig into each site to see what other questions came to mind when comparing the three. I figured the questionnaire could be used for part of Goals and Choices to record our methodology in why we chose to use these three web sites. Another possibility was hand out the questionnaire to our peers to act as prompt questions. The last thought on this was just to have a copy for ourselves and take turns asking focus questions as Shipka does, then, open the floor for an open discussion. We would let our peers respond until they either burned themselves out or drifted off topic. When either of these happened we would ask another focus question to bring them back on topic. At the end of the period we would have fulfilled our requirement.

         I suggested if we wanted to throw something wacky into the mix, maybe we could have Sock Puppet Day. Shipka had blurted this out and it seemed a good way to liven up the presentation. Everyone has to respond to the focus questions through the character of the sock puppet. Why? Who doesn’t like sock puppets or any puppets for that matter?

         I suggested that we break up the exercise into three parts and that each person act as the moderator for 25 minutes which would take up the entire class time, Shipka wouldn’t have to do anything for the day which would have been fine by her and each of us would have fulfilled more than our obligation to present. I figured I would lead off greeting everyone and explaining what we would be doing in the computer lab for the day. Next would be Steven because he was the DVD expert and could explain all the problems one might encounter while trying to buy a DVD on a less controlled sales environment and Naphtali could conclude the presentation. When it came time for the focus questions, again I would ask the first question, allow my peers to burn themselves out or if they got off topic, nudge Steven to ask them the next focus question. Steven would then do the same thing I did and either let our peer’s burn themselves out or again if they went off topic Steven would nudge Naphtali to ask the next question. We would simply do a round robin until we came down to the two minute mark. Steven would be the time keeper and would nudge Naphtali to deliver the conclusion.

         What was never resolved was whether we should allow our peers to sit wherever they chose and next to whoever they wanted or should we control the seating by placing peers next to those who normally do not sit near each other to force them to talk to people they normally do not talk to.

         In my mind, McCarthy’s article had little to do with English and more to do with Information Systems, technology, and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) because we covered all of this in depth in more than a few classes.

Modified Plans
I don’t remember if the word boring describing the activity we were designing occurred to us individually or mutually over a period of time. Steven may have been the first to throw the word out and the though grew in our minds from there. We did mutually agree that this word boring was clearly a problem and so began the problem solving. How could we make a boring topic engaging?

         I began to toy with some ideas through email. Why don’t we ask our peers what DVD you chose to search for and why did you select this movie title. Then the idea was modified to asking our peers to visit the particular sites we selected and choose a DVD that was meaningful to them, in other words, if we said “Happy Birthday! Here’s $20 for you to go out and blow on a DVD what would you buy and why? How is this DVD meaningful to you?

         Next, we would act as "Data Collection Central." Once chosen, our peers would email us with the "full name and movie title" and we would post them on the whiteboard and our peers could guess who chose what? This was modified to picking you favorite movie of all time. Steven then added that they tell us their favorite TV series of all time, on the left side of the board we would have everyone’s names, in the center of the board, we would enter their favorite movie of all time, and on right side of board we would write their favorite TV series of all time as they came in. We would only give them X amount time to do this. Next, we would play match your peer to the movie title and TV series Then we would swing the floor back to them and allow each peer to reveal why "this" particular movie and TV series were significant.

         After a chance meeting with Naphtali in the library I mentioned how my biology teacher at Drexel used to keep us awake and engaged in the lectures taught from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the evening. He taught his lecture Jeopardy style. He would say a few words as he walked between the seats of the lecture hall then he would emphasize a particular word, stamp his foot and point at someone which was the cue to the student to complete the sentence. This method kept us active in the lecture and was actually entertaining because if the answer was incorrect another person would get a try. If the third person could not answer it was fair game for anyone to answer.

         From this discussion Naphtali thought we might do something else with the movie and give our peers a directive to do some research on one of the DVD web sites. Look up their favorite move and TV series of all time, copy and paste the information describing the particulars of the movie and send us the names of the movie and TV show. We were then going to take one piece of information from each movie and set it up into Jeopardy categories on the white board. Our peers would choose categories and answer the questions those who could not answer a question would be eliminated. Something wasn’t quite right about this and we began looking at game show formats.

         We then stumbled across Hollywood Squares, which I remembered but reading the post on the game somehow the game format was not coming back to me. I called Steven and he explained the format to me and then I explained it to Naphtali. Now we were having feuds as to which game format to play. At this point, we came to the realization that we no longer needed the computers hence we had come undone from the original reading. We became ungrounded. This is when we decided we needed to meet with the gaming expert, Shipka, for a gentle nudge in the right direction. We were chasing our tails at this point.

Lessons learned
The purpose of lessons learned is a space to allow me to reflect on the presentation and analyze what went well, what went poorly, and how future presentations may be improved.

         The purpose of the bulleted list is for future reference so I can quickly scan for various problems and attempt to improve these problems as a presenter in the future.

• Get a good night’s sleep the night before the presentation. This will help me to be more relaxed the next day when presenting and also with a rested mind, when unexpected changes occur before and during the presentation my mind can adjust quickly to the changes.
• Have a good meal the night before the presentation such as pasta. Pasta provides a long-term energy source necessary when presenting or performing on stage.
• Arrive early to set up and expect the unexpected.
• Try to have a back-up and a back-up plan for every step especially when it comes to computers, visual aids, and papers.
• Dress well and wear a suit. The suit sends a message that one takes themselves seriously as a presenter. If one conveys the message to the audience that one takes themselves seriously the audience takes the presenter seriously.
• Respect your audience, the respect usually comes back in return.
• During the question/answer period if one becomes flawed with an unexpected question admit you don’t know the answer. An audience respects an “I don’t know” more than a “bullshit artist” and the audience will remember.
• Rehearse one’s speech. This will reduce stammering and “um’s” and “ah’s.” If you loose your focus just pause, the audience will hang on your words and will never realize you lost your focus. Consider this purposeful dear air space. Dead air space is more effective than um’s” and ah’s.”
• Take whatever stance you will while presenting. For myself some motion is necessary, as standing in one place is too painful.
• Make very motion count and serve a purpose.
• Follow the audience. Many times the meaning-making I make of the presentation is not the same as the meaning-making the audience makes of the presentation. Clarify when necessary and if necessary repeat statements for emphasis.
• Conclude by summarizing your main points and delivering your main point last as this will be the most likely thing the audience will remember.
• Always thank your audience for their time and sign off with something to the effect that they were a wonderful audience.

What’s your process?
The conceptual process for this presentation begins in the most unlikely of places: ENGL 395 the Writing Tutor Internship. The first day of class an assignment is handed out. We are to grab a partner and write an evaluation of a Tutoring Portal which allows one to jump to various Tutoring Centers across the country. I remember Naphtali Barsky from ENGL 301 Literary Analysis so I grabbed him as a partner because I respected his insightfulness in analyzing literary text and because I had a lengthy conversation with him once just outside the Candy Shop. My alternative was to grab Bill Chewning as I also knew him from ENGL 301 but I think he was already paired off.

         I take a look at the web site and there were over 100 links we needed to analyze. I send off an email with priority and receipt to Naphtali explaining to him what I have seen and suggest our best strategy would be for one to take the first 50 and the other person research the rest. To expedite the task I tell Naphtali I will evaluate the first 50. I get back a receipt letting me know he read the email. Naphtali, because he is a better grammarian, agrees to take my evaluation and weave my findings into one meaningful text in one voice. Our instructions are to bring in a copy of our individual analysis and a copy of the final weaved text. I turn in my individual analysis because I never heard from Naphtali about the information I sent him via email so I assume he is studious and simply weaved the text. My work comes back with a low grade and a comment that the information was supposed to be in narrative form evaluating the sites. After class I query my professors. It was then that my professors realized all they were seeing was my responsibility of the research. They thought it was the entire analysis. I learn that Naphtali never turned in an individual or a weaved narrative and never said to me he had not turned it in either. At this point, I have lost respect for him and his lack of commitment in his work. The class seating is at full capacity so I continue to sit next to him for the rest of the semester. We never have another group project which worked well for me.

         Another exercise comes up later and we have to bring in a text that has never been edited, graded, or reviewed. The purpose is for one person to play the role of the tutee, the second person plays the role of the tutor, and the third records the tutoring session. We are practicing tutoring. I bring in a text that I was planning to submit to Bartleby which I thought was well written but I also had a concern about the paper and wanted a test read. The paper deliberately opened with the almost end and would flip back and forth between moments leading up to the end and the end itself. I was curious if this was working and if the reader could flow the abrupt change in time. None of us really know each other at this point. I had also just read Donald Murray’s book on editing where he said a good text reader makes the writer anxious to get back to the computer to edit and write more.

         In the exercise, Steven Norfolk was the recorder and Matt Bowen was the tutor. I read the text aloud and finish the paper after I have explained what the purpose of the paper is and what my concerns are as a writer. Matt says little about the paper and offers some praise. This leaves me with a dry taste in my mouth. He has not ripped into the paper like a pit-bull which was what I wanted. I am dissatisfied. I ask Steven his opinion. He backs out of criticism by saying he is only the recorder. I egg him on and do get a comment. “Maybe too gory…” and he bites his tongue. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Steven was holding back on his opinion and I think he had more to say than Matt but was afraid to speak up. Right away, Steven Norfolk captures my admiration. He was about to tell me his vision of the truth which was what I wanted. I needed to develop a working relationship with him because he seemed like someone who would make me anxious to return to editing.

         Steven and I begin to build a rapport in the Writing Center space. He stays to himself but I actively seek him out and chat him up. We learn we have a communication link across Anime. This comes about because I discuss with him two papers I am working on in ENGL 488 Visual Literacy analyzing Manga Art which is similar to Anime. My initial research indicates to me I know nothing about the topic and I have to come up to speed quickly if I am going to analyze Manga. Naphtali Barsky, Steven Norfolk, Matt Bowen, and I end up talking quite a bit because of similar Writing Center tutoring hours, especially Matt (fig. 1). Matt Bowen, Elizabeth Piccirillo, and Bill Chewning draw me into the “Shipka Spaces.”

         Bill, as dedicated as he is, one day walks into 395 and tells us to tell the professors he will be absent, he forgot to do something for Shipka and walks out. A different day Elizabeth walks in and says the same thing. Every time I meet Matt, the name Shipka comes out of his mouth and I understand he is lost in the class. He is trying to make sense of the class and Shipka. I have not seen or spoken to students this energized in years, not since I had Byrd, Kamp, and “Mad Dog” LaDante. I heard all the chatter about these professors from previous universities and took their classes deliberately because I could tell the other students were getting their money’s worth because of all the chatter. Their minds were working non-stop. I knew there was something exciting going on in Shipka’s space and I had to find out.

         Alas we meet again in ENGL 324. Matt, Naphtali, and Steven are there. We are still not really friends yet. There is still a little frost around the edges and some distance. I always account it to my age and say to myself, “If I were their age would I want to hang out with my father?” Answer: No. Shipka hands out the group presentations and immediately as far as a group anyway I know Steven and Naphtali. I learn they do not know each other so I become the mediator and formally introduce them to each other as I am the only one who knows both their names and have conversed with them individually. I have at least taken the first step so they know each other by sight (fig. 2). After leaving class that day I email Steven and Naphtali because I have taken the liberty to collect all of my 324 and 407 peers names and emails (fig. 3). This was a technique I learned quickly in ENGL 383 Science Writing with Dr. Carpenter because much of the work and teaching was done by us. Peer to peer. I don’t need to look up Steven and Naphtali because I have their emails for the necessity of keeping in touch as writing tutors. We sling email back and forth trying to arrange a day to meet. Some time in February we agree to a Tuesday at 9 a.m. I did inform them that early am is my worst time because I don’t really become functional until 12 noon but knowing how hectic going to school and going to work gets I give them any possible free time I am not in class, in the Writing Center, or at work.

         Tuesday comes and I show up ten minutes late when I really didn’t want to be late at all. I am working with new people and I want to develop a good rapport right from the beginning. 9:30 rolls around, 10:00 rolls around and no Naphtali. Steven is a little miffed about this. I explain right then and there my incident with Naphtali in ENGL 395 and because I sat next to him I was also aware of how often he was unprepared for class. I then said to Steven, we may have to work around him. We talk about the assignment. I figure let’s send the class out to buy something as an exercise just as was done in the article. We locate a few sites and evaluate them. The object is to find a web site that instills confidence in the consumer and the shopping experience also does the same such as Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Then we need to find a site that is mediocre and one that infuriates the user. We could either ask our peers to fill out an evaluation of their experience but from what I have seen so far in the Shipka Spaces is really what we want is to have a discussion afterwards. The main problem is what do we have our peers go out and shop for. My only online shopping has been through eBay, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and a site from 1996 called CDNow.com all of which were really a breeze. We talk about other things waiting for Naphtali and somehow we slip back to Anime. I learn more about Steven and he is also hooked on Comic books. As I child I was not allowed to have them or read them. But as an art student, cartooning and animation was something I was dying to do. A friend from Micro Center was fixated on comics as was another fellow in Micro Center. One read the stuff, the other drew the stuff. I could appreciate their fascination with the art work. This helped to establish a stronger link than just being in class together and working together (fig. 4).

         Steven and I leave for class where we meet Naphtali. Naphtali has an excuse for not showing up which I only half hear. After what I had seen of his lack of dedication last semester I do no expect much of him and just shrug it off. I again say well how about next Tuesday at the same time, we all agree and then I rib Naphtali a little by telling him, “Well get a hold of you one way or another, we know where you work (fig. 5).”

         The next Tuesday comes up and we are all there. We kick around some ideas and find that Naphtali and I do not shop very much on the Internet. Our shopping patterns are quite mundane. Steven on the other hand has a good possibility of a shopping experience and that is purchasing a DVD. There is a radio program on WCBM Saturday afternoons which talks about consumer home electronics. I worked in the field for a while and understand how complex it gets. The host talks about DVD’s on a regular basis and the formats are extremely complex. Not every DVD will play on every DVD player especially if one buys a $50 player. Naphtali I think is getting lost in the conversation because he doesn’t understand how complex it is. I on the other hand know enough to be dangerous, meaning I know a little. Just enough to understand what a nightmare it is to buy one that will play especially when purchasing on the net. The consumer could be making a purchase from a European site or an Australian site which have different format codes and the DVD’s will not play. Steven is talking all about the zones and codes and some of what he says is jogging my memory as to what I heard the radio host talk about. I am seriously thinking of letting Steven have the reins on this part and have him direct us to web sites to evaluate for the presentation. I have done a number of presentations in school and out and have also done commission sales making it easy for me to present. I have also been a manager so I know how to direct people. I have operated several operations as the sole go to guy and can plan ahead well and anticipate problems. I may have to just draw up the mater plan, provide directions for who has to do what when and where and maybe just make an introduction as an MC. It seems that Steven may like the technical stuff and may be able to get Naphtali to help him (fig 6).

         We do not meet for weeks because all of us are now buried in projects in the Shipka Spaces and are working on our individual stuff. I am posting to Blackboard like crazy trying to help others that seem lost. I am providing fellow historians with data for their histories. I am working on my Food and Culture Histories while working on the Patent and the OED plus participating in peer activities and presentations. We all have a tremendous amount of work going on individually, as small groups and as one big happy family. We are all working for each other (fig. 7).

         The Writing Center becomes a central hub for Naphtali, Steven, Matt, and Greg Masters. We are all quite energized mentally and are trying to negotiate meaning-making with each other, Shipka and everyone else within the Shipka Spaces. We are trying to generate our ideas while at the same time read “this” space. We are all experts at reading classrooms or so we thought. The Shipka Space is something most of us have never seen or for me I have never been in such a space that had glass walls. Some of our times overlap causing us to stay in the Writing Center talking to each other. At other times, some of us come down actively seeking out each other to bounce around ideas. The Writing Center becomes a meeting space because we know when someone will be there. We also know the Writing Center is not always busy and there can be long periods of downtime. By going into the Writing Center we learn to use the time productively for Shipka projects. The Writing Center becomes the “Shipka Think Tank" (fig. 8).

         The week we get back from spring break, Naphtali is bugging me everywhere I go asking will we meet. I keep telling him yes. We are at that point. We need to sit down and flesh out this project but Steven never seems to be in sight. I just keep reminding Naphtali yes we will meet, we need to grab Steven too (fig. 9). I send out two emails on the first Monday (fig. 10) we get back but no one responds. I send them again on Wednesday and again still no response (fig 10). Finally on Thursday March 30 when we first sit down in 324, I barely get my Food History out of my hands and onto the desk and hear in chorus, “Shall we meet Tuesday at 9 a.m.?” I give them a full-hearted “Yes.” In my mind I am thinking, Absolutely, even if Hell rises to high tide. I have committed myself and no nothing is going to interfere. Matt declares it “Chaos Day” in spirit of reading chapter 7 from David M. Levy's book, Scrolling Forward: Making sense of documents in the digital age, about how the world is chaos without maintenance and humans have a pre-supposition for order and impose order upon everything. The guys arrange their seats chaotically, I understand the spirit and do the same. Shipka enjoys the enthusiasm and initiative and declares that every time someone stops speaking we will get up form our seats and move to a new sea in the room. We all being to learn that we have seating preferences and we make conscious decisions as to where to sit in a particular space which enforces order (fig 11).

         Wednesday, March 29, I have a thought about the 324 Presentation. It occurs to me with the DVD search and purchase has a second technology problem. At first, we were considering the Internet, web sites, Internet Service Providers, and Human Computer Interaction problems but there are problems in purchasing DVD’s because of zoning scrambling codes. One has to be aware/conscious of the fact that DVD’s have regional formats. When buying bootlegs and from other regions one must be aware of formats and the affordances or lack of one’s DVD player. This could become the focal point of the exercise (fig. 12).

         Sunday night, April 2, when I get to the library I turn on Netscape and IM so Devesh Panchwagh can communicate with me to collect data for his history. I talked to him about this through email and I was hesitant to use IM. I had a nervous breakdown abusing IM and ICQ back in 1999, so I use this mode sparingly now. IM is really powerful especially when working remotely with other people on group projects but I was using it to socialize also. I wouldn’t sleep for days and communicated with people in practically every time zone, hence the breakdown. I let Devesh know regardless of the breakdown, using IM will be best because I am rarely home except to socialize with my parrot, eat, and sleep so calling me on the telephone is useless.

         I reconsider this and looking at the calendar I notice that Passover is coming. This will be a problem for this 324 group because Naphtali is going to be missing a few days because of this highly religious Jewish holiday. At the same time, I email Devesh, I email Naphtali and Steven informing them of my IM screen name and suggest we being using them to move this project forward. Surprisingly, Naphtali sends me an IM and I recognize the screen name from the online class exercise in 324 (fig. 13). He doesn’t think I recognize it but the name was unusual cyclopod but with a “K.” We chat for a few minutes, so we know this will work in moving the project forward. He mentions that he will be missing a few days and to his surprise I mentioned to him that’s why I sent out the IM screen name. I saw Passover on the calendar and I understand the importance of the holiday. Back in 2000 I was fortunate enough to be invited to several Passover seders and learned a great deal about the holiday and Judaism adding to what I learned in my New York friend’s households while growing up. The one thing I forgot to ask is if he is allowed to use technology on the holiday. I’m not sure if he is a Hasidic Jew because they are not allowed to touch technology once the sun goes down and forget to ask (fig. 14).

         Monday, April 3, an email comes in finally from Steven. Evidently he must be swamped. He has reviewed my several emails and is confirming we are meeting on Tuesday, April 4 at 9 a.m. in the Library Atrium. Steven also thinks we should meet Thursday at the same time. I confirm by sending an email to Steven and Naphtali we are to meet tomorrow and suggest Thursday as tentative and provide a heads-up. I figure I’ll leave it up to Naphtali if he wants to meet Thursday but I will take advantage of Steven’s offer and come in at 9 a.m. regardless to sit with him at a terminal to get this project moving. Steven finally mentions what has been nagging at my mind that this exercise is lifeless. The current thinking engages but in a boring way, so now the question is how can we kick up the fun in the exercise. I know this is not Naphtali’s strength or mine because my mind is so browbeaten by the academy but Steven is the Pop Culture/Anime/Comic Book expert so who best to bring in some imagination and creativity. To Match minds with him becomes an intellectual process of who’s imagination can go further and I always had fun with this in the sex forums.

         In my email I said to Steven, “The word 'boring' is also bothering me. Maybe we should facilitate a discussion turning control back to our peers but... Purchasing 'Cartoon Cels' online? Why did you select "this particular cartoon? What meaning does it hold for you? Wait. DVD purchase, why this genre? Why select 'this' particular DVD? Ask our peers to visit the particular sites we select and choose a DVD that is meaningful to them if they had the money to blow on one?" (I.E. "Here's $20 Happy Birthday, go buy yourself a DVD but tell me why this particular one, how is it meaningful?”) Shit. That’s too hard! I'm thinking our peers go out get the DVD based on "We give you $20, blow it on a DVD of your choice and is something that you would like to have and is meaningful to you. Now we act as "Data Collection Central." Once the DVD has been chosen, email us with your "full name and movie title," we will post them and guess you guys decides who chose it? Oh that's it! Go out and pick the DVD in your mind that is the "#1 movie of all time, "Guess my #1 Movie of All Time." Our peers select that DVD, email us with their full name and the movie title, we write our peers names on the board (while doing task or before they enter). On other side of board write movie titles as they come in. Only give them x time to do this. Now we could play match your peer to the movie title? Of course we know who selected what DVD but we swing the floor to them and allow them to reveal why "this" movie.” I find myself struggling with the innovative part because I’m tired and running out of steam working across three projects at the same time. I pass out in the library from all the running around on the bus and in town collecting data, emailing, checking Blackboard, and doing my ENGL 324 reading for Tuesday (fig. 15).

         Naphtali, Steven, and I meet in the Atrium of the UMBC Library and Naphtali has his laptop with him. I suggest we jump on three computers downstairs but Naphtali loves his computer and Steven seems comfortable, so I figure don’t micro-manage, these guys have come in early at an hour none of us come in and they are working pretty hard on this. They are motivated. I take the liberty to take notes to keep track of what we are doing for everyone’s goals and choices and also we have a record of where we have been and where we still need to go. Much of the work will show in goals and choices so there is no need to mention it here. Steven thinks the online session might need a blackboard post to follow up on the dirty work: the evaluation of the web sites and I think this might be a good idea that way while in the computer lab we can concentrate on the engaging portion and entertainment. I think we should ask our peers to go out and find their favorite movie of all time. Steven kicks this up a notch and adds favorite TV series of all time. I think of using email to receive their titles then realize this will get clumsy and time consuming. I leave it alone for the moment. Yes, this was semi-sort of done in the CD song but why not repeat a good thing after all everyone had fun with it and there was plenty of chatter for two weeks. At about 10:30 a.m. things begin to deteriorate and the conversations go off on tangents like Jackie Chan movies. I’m left out of the conversation but that’s okay Naphtali and Steven are having fun with the conversation and we all put in solid hour and a half of real work so let go (fig. 16).

         After getting out of ENGL 407, I run over to the library because I have tons to do with the new 407 assignment out, writing, designing, emails, all computer stuff to do plus Sarah’s word puzzle which is really time consuming and now I also have to finish making the sock puppet I suspected was going to show up somewhere before the semester ended. I go up to the 6th floor and come back down for some reason and Naphtali is coming the other way. Shipka’s has activated the creative part of his mind and both of us start chattering about the project. Standing right in front of the Circulation desk we actually get a lot of design work done dialoging our concerns and begin doing more brainstorming. The problem is I can barely remember what we have talked about because I went up to the 6th floor to do a brain dump and I’m becoming over-saturated in information and ideas. Naphtali says he’ll go off and do a brain dump and write the conversation out in Word and send it off to Steven and I to keep him in the loop. I tell Naphtali I’ll send out an email of the notes on what we did at 9 a.m. (fig. 17).

         Later in the evening I turn on AOL IM so Devesh can reach me if need be but he never shows. Naphtali pops in and we talk about the emails. I find IM great for this purpose when both are online and we’re working on the same thing. We can work in whatever programs we’re working in and make quick decisions in design while on the fly. IM is great for brief comments, questions, and things of that nature or sending someone to web sites you might be viewing. Naphtali voices his concern that goals and choices will look to similar. I point out the fact that they should be similar if we are working in a collective process. The similarity demonstrates that we are working as a design team and not to worry about it because we are doing our own writing so our voices will be different, layout will be different, and the way we explain what we did is going to sound different. I gain his confidence because this makes sense to him (fig. 18).

         Naphtali and I agreed to meet on Thursday, April 6 at 9 a.m. and either Steven would come to campus or he wouldn’t. We didn’t confirm we were all coming in but I agreed with Naphtali that I would come in because I know he will eventually go into blackout so I figure get as much of his time he can put in, copy our work into Word, and email it to Steven for Goals and Choices. We can always fine tune when we are all in the same place. When Naphtali goes into blackout I figure Steven and I can do the same thing for Naphtali. This will keep the project moving forward. I was up too late with minimal sleep--3 hours per night and I pass out. I wake up late, real late. So late I can’t get down to the UMBC bus stop without being late for ENGL 324. I was late once and forgiven but twice I would be pushing my luck. I can’t even walk down and be on time because I only have an hour to get to school and it’s a one and a half-hour walk. I am livid. The only solution is the MTA, I’m tapped but I have to get there on time for an activity revolving around the greeting card readings. As an English major this may be one of the places we may end up: writing the text in these cards. I was lucky because it was 10:20 and the bus passes about 10:30. If I miss this one I’ll never make it. When I get to class I have to hear the flack but it is my own fault. I have people depending on me in the Shipka Spaces in every direction. I do have a saving grace as Naphtali informs me he can give me some of his time after 2:30 till 5 p.m. This will work because I also have to go to advisement at 5 p.m. (fig. 19).

         The word gets out it’s “Puppet Day” in ENGL 407 and I am so accustomed to Naphtali and Matt being around I forgot they aren’t even in this class. It will be a shame to not see them in the fall because they will have finally graduated and it did take a long time to make friends. After “Puppet Day” in 407, Naphtali and I get on the laptop and he is very excited about somehow working Jeopardy into this presentation. We bounce off ideas as to how to run the game and how to generate movie trivia questions on our peer’s favorite movies by making them do the work for us (farming the work). The problem we suddenly realize is what happen to the object of evaluating the DVD web sites. In trying to make the presentation engaging we are disconnecting from the reading and losing our grounding. Now I am thinking we are chasing our tails in this project. I suggest we meet with Shipka as soon as possible to check if we’re grounded, adrift or if Shipka sees a way we can pump up this presentation. Again, Naphtali is nervous because I assume he has never come to office hours. I tell him about my few meetings in attempting to ground my histories and the procedure is simple. Come in with as much stuff, thinking, and planning as possible: the more the better. This shows we have made an effort and we are just a little stuck and need a nudge in some direction. Shipka has been doing this for ten years and that is an awful lot of projects. I assure him Shipka will work with us, we just can’t come in as blank slates. We may just need a seed or a poke or a nudge to get us moving down the right path to turn this into a game. Naphtali is hung up on the idea of Jeopardy because not only is this an intellectual game but his father was almost accepted to play on Jeopardy so this game has special meaning to him. At the same time, we are both worried that we have become ungrounded and are drifting off the task at hand: shopping in a virtual store versus a “brick-n-mortar” store. Naphtali finds the term “bricks-n-mortar” store interesting for referring to a retailer but that has always been the term used in Computer Science and Information Systems since virtual stores on the web became significant. He is fascinated with this because McCarthy called them “bricks-n-mortar” and so did I. I didn’t even remember this term being used in the article. It was the term we always used in the computer store and in computer classes (fig 20).

         Shipka offers us a Group Pre-Heads-Up for Tuesday at 4 p.m. I realize we have to be quick about this because not only are several of our peers at various stages of projects but now advisement has begun making time more precious. Not everyone reads the email fast enough. Naphtali responds quickly. I’m thinking of phoning but I don’t know Steve’s number. Fumbling for something for tutoring I remember we have a phone number list so I call Steve. He says he’ll meet on Tuesday and then talks about Hollywood Squares as a game format. Naphtali and I looked at this in a previous meeting. Naphtali did a search on TV games (I think) in Wikipedia (Wiki). I honed in on all the games of the 60’s and 70’s because these are the games I am familiar with from when I was a kid and would have been home to watch games. I look at Hollywood Squares because I think other than a Jeopardy format, Hollywood Squares may also work but I did not remember the way the game worked. The information on the Wiki somehow doesn’t make sense either. Steve says it has to do with Tick Tac Toe, same thing the Wiki said. Then it occurs to me the two contestants get an X or an O when a decision is made that is correct. Now I remember how the game works. Whether we use this as a format remains to be seen. At the moment we cannot see who would be the so-called celebrities. If I remember correctly, Naphtali also mentioned Family Feud in which teams of families competed against each other. The questions were not on the intellectual level of Jeopardy but even so the problem that occurs is that there were only two teams and we have 25 people. There may be ways such as breaking up into a few teams and having elimination rounds but again I think this is becoming ungrounded (fig. 21).

         Monday morning (actually Sunday night) I decided I better re-read the article to re-ground our thoughts in this activity. I go through the article carefully extracting information that can relate to a DVD purchase experience and find ways of grounding the DVD purchase with the Internet online Wine purchase experience. Some of the things that happened to McCarthy may never occur in our shopping experience so I negate those paragraphs leaving the text that can be related to the DVD sales (fig. 22).

         Yet another Tuesday meeting and this is beginning to feel like “The Breakfast Club” (fig. 23). My suspicions are that this meeting is going to be a waste of time because unanimously agree that the “Online Shopping Experience” Blimp has broken its tether and is now adrift (fig. 24). In other words, we have become ungrounded from the article. I figure at this point there is really nothing I can add that will help so several times I calm the crew by informing them we’ll meet with Shipka, if we’re ungrounded, she’ll tell us and give us a nudge in the right direction. Somehow they don’t believe me and still worry. I’ve been here before in projects and have found a fifteen minute meeting is all that it takes to get back on course. They forget they are working with a technician and scientist. We are expected to put our heads through brick walls solving problems. We never learn either, or as they used to say as you’re beating your head against the wall, “It feels so good I can’t stop.” Okay so it’s sick but it is social (fig. 24).

         Tuesday afternoon rolls around and we pile into Shipka’s office. We take turns explaining what we have done, where we are now, and state our concern that we think in attempting to not be boring we have become ungrounded with the original article by introducing the games. Shipka indicates we were on track at first but working too hard (that might have been the engineering guy, we tend to over-think). “Let your peers do the work, it’s apart of the active learning experience.” I feel like I am on a teacher’s proving ground preparing for K-12 teaching. I take notes furiously because I know she moves through ideas fast, it’s just how her mind works, and scribble as much as I can while Steve and Naphtali concentrate on what is being said and formulating questions. It’s funny but we are nearly where we were back in the second meeting of February. We are going to torture them with a whole bunch of objects few people buy online but make a game out of it. Those who complete the task in the designated time move to round two. The rest are out of the game. This would be typical of traditional academy learning, knowledge and merit rewards based on individual achievement. Steve wants team play which would be new learning strategy of distributed knowledge. Which will prevail in the end remains to be seen (fig 25).

         In fifteen minutes we’re done and back out on the sidewalk. We all walk over to the Writing Center which is now becoming central command. Naphtali is working, I have no idea why Steve came down, I intend to type up meeting notes, email, and print them in one sitting so we can all account for our time and when we meet again we can be on the same page. We have to start thinking in terms of what we are going to say, how to direct the tasks, and what will we ask as focus questions. We need to begin preparing for creating the “Blueprint” (fig. 26).

         I show the guys what my ENGL 407 “Blueprint” looks like and they are in shock and awe to see a two page flow diagram. When it comes to processes, this is the tool I have been instructed to use because if there is a step missing in your logical flow, the flow diagram alerts you immediately. The flow diagram slows down the mind and forces one to think consciously and act with purpose in each step of a process.

         I meet with Steven Norfolk Thursday morning at 9 a.m. with the intent of doing some work on the ENGL 324 presentation. I attempt to log onto a computer and it won’t log in. I move to the computer on the other side of Steven and this one won’t work either. I move to the next one a table away and this won’t log on either. Now that’s three that won’t log on. I move to the table in front of Steven and the fourth computer I try finally log on. I have wasted so much time trying to log on to a computer I get nothing done on this project I end up switching to the ENGL 407 Communicative Objective (fig. 27).

         Sunday night I call Steven to give him a heads up to meet on Tuesday at 9 a.m. so we can start writing and documenting everything for the presentation. I call him because I know he does not have Internet access when at home and I also know he has not been on campus for a few days. Apparently Steven’s computer is probably so old it’s only useful function is as a word processor. Steven is thinking of breaking the class off into groups but I have a simpler idea. We toss out the particular searches for our peers and the one who shouts out they found the object gets a point registered on the blackboard. We ask a few questions, which will aid others in the next round in refining their search techniques. No one is eliminated from rounds. When we run out of time to play the game the person who has successfully completed the most number of searches wins the game. This keeps everyone engaged with the game and by asking a few questions of the winner of the round, the hope and goal is to help others improve their Internet search techniques. We have found our ultimate goal in the presentation (fig. 28).

         Monday April 17, I go down to the Writing Center because I know Naphtali, Steven, Matt, and Greg will be dropping in and out. This allows me to catch everyone in one place to exchange ideas and string together any loose ends. I check my email at 6:20 p.m. and there is an email from Shipka the news is not good for either the ENGL 324 presentation or the ENGL 407 presentation. The bad news for the 324 presentation is that no PC labs are available that day but we can secure a Mac lab. This really comes as no surprise. The question for us now is can our peers work with a Mac?

         I speak with Steven and he thinks we should wait 18 hours until we are all in ENGL 324 and ask our peers how many people know how to use a Mac. I am working now making split second decisions. At first I think this is a good idea and agree. Steven takes off because he has to.

         Naphtali is with a tutee so I have to wait to break the bad news. We finally speak and he thinks we should secure the lab regardless that it is Mac. He thinks the only difference will be in logging into our accounts. Naphtali has a good point. I worked with Adobe PageMaker on a Mac and once the program opens, things were not really that different. If Naphtali can log on, Steve and I can watch over his should and go around the lab to help others who have trouble. Naphtali and I are thinking the web browsers cannot be all that different.

         Naphtali later suggests before leaving that all three of us go down into a Mac lab and perform a dry run to determine how to log on and bring up the web browser. This would be an excellent idea so we do not have to wipe the egg off our faces. I think it might be a good idea also to bring three towels to the presentation, one for each of us just in case we do have to wipe the egg off our faces. The insinuation is that when performers were really bad the audience would throw eggs and rotten vegetables hence this is why the towels would become necessary.

         I also double think the consequences of not securing the Mac lab and in my mind they appear dire. Shipka’s email was sent at 9:20 a.m., it is now 6:20 p.m. An entire day has already been lost in securing the Mac lab. We are at the end of the semester and many other classes will no doubt be jockeying for precious resources. We may not get another chance to secure a PC or a Mac lab in the coming week or for that matter from this point till the end of the semester. We have to act now regardless of Steven’s thought in the matter and regardless of our peers discomfort with using a Mac. The alternative for us without the lab may mean scrapping the entire presentation and coming up with a new one. We have already invested too much time in this presentation design to scrap it and I cannot afford to spend time with another one with three other Shipka projects revolving around in my head. I send off an email to Shipka to secure the Mac lab (fig. 29).

         Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., I write out the ENGL 324 Presentation Blueprint. I know the others are not thinking about this so I just construct the whole thing. I block out the places where I will expect Naphtali to write speeches for us as he said that he is good at speech writing and I know he goes to Toastmasters so I’ll leave that to him. Everyone in the group is a good speaker: both Naphtali and Steven want to speak. I figure what we can do to satisfy everyone is to break up the presentation speakers into three functions. An introducer at the beginning who will then hand off the presentation to the next person using a lead in as a verbal clue that person is up. Then the next person will be the game host while one person acts as the tallyman, and the third runs around the room verifying searches. The game host will be responsible for watching the time and will shut the game down when five minutes of class time remain. The game host will then verbally swing things over to the concluder who will sum up what the purpose of the entire activity was and thank the audience for their time.

         At 9:15 p.m. an email comes in from Shipka with good news and bittersweet news. The good news is about this presentation and that we have secured the Mac lab. The bittersweet news is that Shipka’s answer to the 407 Presentation is “I guess if all is ready to go, it's ready to go.” Unfortunately, for better or worse the 407 Presentation is ready to go regardless if any of either of us like it. There is just too much time already invested in it (fig. 30).

         I walk in late to our April 18 meeting, which is bad enough. I have been running on 3.5 to 4 hours of sleep a night since we returned from spring break. These morning meetings have not been as productive as I would like to them to have been. We need more work and less chatter. We start working on search terms. Naphtali begins acting as a smart guy. I shrug it off the first few times but he continues to push my buttons. Eventually I just snap and let him know that is enough. If you were actually funny you would not be here, you would be doing stand up comedy somewhere. Get to work! I am coming in here losing sleep and we are not moving any further in this presentation. This is real weird but I know exactly what happened because both Steven and Naphtali snap into productive mode. Dad just blew his top and said I will not put up with anymore of your tomfoolery. The response was that of a child being yelled at by the angry giants. My blowing up did work though because we finally moved forward with intent and begin testing search terms (fig. 31).

         In between searching terms, we discussed dressing well for the presentation. At the time I explained to Steven that I have always worn a suit in class for my presentations because this sends a message to the audience that I am not only on stage and being expected to perform but that I am a professional and take my presentation seriously. The expectation is I expect the audience in turn to take me seriously as a presenter. In essence I was agreeing with Steve and was explaining why this should be done and that Steven and Naphtali should do the same if they owned such clothing.

         In a discussion April 19, 2006 with Steven Norfolk about our dress for the ENGL 324 asked me if I owned a dark suit. I said yes. We were discussing the fact that Steven will be the host and that Naphtali and I during the course of the game were simply the guys in the background or the dogs making all this happen. The main focus of the audience’s attention should be placed on the game show host. On the other hand, Naphtali and I should become practically invisible to the audience while the game is being played. It was amazing. We were on exactly the same wavelength and Steven was starting to realize that I am a detail man accounting for every motion and word within the orchestration of this presentation. Every word and motion should have a purpose and when working with three people, one even plans who will walk left or right and when. All of this orchestration or designing is to create a smooth running presentation. This is like choreographing a play (fig. 32).

         Steven said that he was going to wear a light color suit. Why? Because all game show hosts wear light color suits not only so the focus is on them but because we associate lighter colors with happier moods. A game show host wants the audience to have fun. A light color suit removes any negative connotations associated with a dark colored suit. The semiotics of a dark colored suit send a message of seriousness and a black suit would send a message of darkness and morbidity. For Naphtali and I this message would be okay because another message the dark color suit sends is that we a meant to blend into the background and become invisible. We want the audiences attention focused on our game host and not on the crew help (fig. 33).

         Friday April 21, I send out an email to Shipka and my partners Naphtali and Steven. Shipka’s email is the Heads-up for the presentation with a list of the search terms we have done so far. The list is way too short and more time will have to be spent building the list. The email to my partners informs them that I will not have much time to do searches because I will be working. I really need Naphtali on this because he is the only one who is privileged to have cable access. Steven goes into a blackout when he leaves campus because his computer is old and is more trouble than it is worth to connect it to the Internet. My problem is that I access the Internet through the UMBC modems so I cannot compile UMBC lab speeds to get realistic times on web searches (fig. 34).

         An email comes back quickly just before I take off for work and Shipka says that she will add some more search terms to the list. I am very thankful for this on a few levels. For one with a group of three guys I am afraid the searches might become gender skewed with a male bias. Most of the class is women and I do not want to turn them off in the activity with male bias search terms. Second, I live alone without a woman’s influence. In other words, there are no women around that I can ask for some suggestions of what to shop for online. Three, I don’t think this is likely to happen but I do not want to take anything for chance: I want to prevent from having any sexist search terms. I want everyone to have fun with the activity and try to prevent from shutting out anyone. Four, we are now in the 12 week of the semester and we are the last presentation. My assumption is that everyone has seen Shipka more than a few times during the semester so she probably knows a little something about each person’s interests. If anyone can compile list of search terms that have a little of everyone represented it would probably be Shipka. Shipka’s input will be valuable and appreciated. I also keep this fact to myself so my group members do not take this opportunity to goof off. If I tell them that Shipka is also adding search terms these guys may just shut down and coast the rest of the way. I keep the information to myself and keep the pressure on (fig. 35).

         Sunday night, April 23, I come in to pick up my email and do my reading for Tuesday’s ENGL 324 and 407 class. Shipka has sent an email but I have so much to do at the moment I figure I will take care of it while in the Writing Center Monday morning. What I am not happy about is that Naphtali has been posting in the Blackboard site but has not responded to my email containing search terms and I do not have his speeches. As usual I am mad with him and have to send out an email to push him a little. I do not bother with Steven because I know he will not read any email until Monday. I worry less about him because he does produce. Most of his production is put in Monday through Thursday. Even so, I do not leave Steven out. I let them both know the “Blueprint” is going in Tuesday in class at 11:30 a.m. with or without your search terms and with or without your speeches. My reasons for getting the Blueprint early are never count on email, especially UMBC’s email server plus there is a hand drawn flowchart going in that can only be submitted as a paper copy. I am in Microsoft Explorer and remember that I have heard nothing from Devesh Panchwagh in ENGL 407 who wanted our instant messaging screen names to do something for his 407 “History of ‘This’ Space.” I start up Netscape and start up AOL’s instant messenger (IM). Many nights in a row I have turned on IM just for Devesh and he has never taken advantage of me being online since our initial conversation in IM. Somehow I do not think the conversation was very productive and Devesh did cut it short. I keep coming in assuming he needs more data for his history but he never takes advantage of the fact that I am online. I then quickly check the email and there is an email from Naphtali. I check the email and finally there is his speech and his search terms. I begin copying and pasting the data into the necessary documents and Naphtali contacts me through IM. We have done this a few times while on this project but most times the conversations are just “idle chatter.”

         I hate using IM and as I said in class I had a nervous breakdown at one point using IM. On the other hand, that does not mean that IM is not useful. I find IM to be quite useful if one is using it for synchronous communication especially when working in collaboration. ICQ, a similar program but much more powerful is better but with its power also comes a higher learning curve. ICQ is fabulous for collaboration because partners can do direct file sharing in real time. One gets files in their original state versus email, which can change files.

         This IM session with Naphtali is actually useful because I can tell him I am looking at his work and talk with him in real time while I am also patching in his changes to the original document. Once I am done patching the files, I email them off and give Naphtali a heads-up to expect an email. This time Naphtali has outdone himself. On his list are a few things I have shopped for but have forgotten all about. Even though the conversation is rather silly I see some new ideas for search terms so I copy the session to extract some of the “seeds of stimulation” and examine them in the Writing Center Monday (fig. 36).

         Monday morning, April 24, on my way walking to the UMBC Bus stop it occurs to me that I have become the group leader whether I wanted to or not. I have been keeping track of all the milestones, deliverables, organizing, documenting scheduling, and remaining in contact with Shipka. I begin to analyze what I have done as a leader which helps me to create an entire new section to Goals and Choices entitled, “What are My Personal Goals?” (fig. 37).

         When I finally arrive at UMBC I go down to the Writing Center a half hour early before my scheduled time in order to merge files and send out some last minute emails. This I have to do while in between servicing clients. My three hours in the center becomes a busy day as I help three students in three hours. When I finally get back to my emails it is almost time for me to catch the UMBC red line bus to my evening job. As I attempt to send the emails the computer seems to lock up. Naphtali walks in at the same time and begins chattering about his second communicative objective. I am just finishing reading “Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition” by Wysocki, Johnson-Eilola, Selfe, and Sirc as Naphtali begins talking about how he sees the project as a recycling of text. Stimulated at this point I mention how there is no paragraph out there somewhere that hasn’t already been said and that as hard as we try sentences are hardly original and that one reading or several readings “inspire” the creation of other texts therefore who is to say that “anything” is really original. Every text is in some way, shape or form is stolen from other texts. “The art as a thief is not to get caught” as my mother used to say about the art world. While I am talking to Naphtali about this I am still trying to send out the email which will not send. Eventually I have to crash the system thereby getting none of the necessary email out as planned (fig. 38).

         Tuesday morning, April 25, at 4 a.m., I find that there are no more new searches in my email. I am pissed. What is going on out there that when I leave the campus no one can work independently? Out goes yet another email badgering these two (fig. 39).

         At about 4:30 am I pass out at the terminal in the Engineering building 24/7 computer lab. I think the discomfort wakes me up so I go over to Lecture Hall 5 and sleep in there until the cleaning woman throws me out at 6 a.m. I am glad I thought of this the night before. I called Steven before leaving work Monday night at 10:30. I gave him instructions to wake me up at 9 a.m. as I will be sleeping in a chair in the Atrium. If I went home I would never make in time for a 9 a.m. meeting. I figured do not even bother going home. It made sense. The guys come in but do not recognize the lump in the chair. I do not know how they do not recognize me as I am wearing the same clothes.

         Naphtali wakes me at about 9:20 a.m. and said he did not recognize me with the hat over my face. That is okay because at least he did wake me. As usual the meeting is unproductive. Steven printed the files I sent out and I notice from some reason the latest searches (Shipka’s and Naphtali’s) have not been added (fig. 40).

         I jump out of my seat, go up to the 6th floor of the library after trying two computers in the basement and two computers on the ground floor because they refused to print. I went up to the 6th floor because it is now 10:10 a.m. I have to meet with Shipka at 10:30 a.m. and I know the computers on the 6th floor print correctly and will accept my USB flash drive to read my files. I quickly merge all the files to one, again, copy them into the “Blueprint” document, add the fourth game rule of no eBay-ing or any other auction sites, save the file, print, and run downstairs. I get the copy out of the printer, pullout the flowchart, staple it, and pass it to Steven to submit. I want this piece of paper out of my hands and in before the deadline, this way I know there are no mishaps.

         As I am handing Steven the blueprint, Naphtali asks me how the 324 second communicative objective (CO) is going. I tell him it is stalled. I am trying to get this presentation out of our hands. Naphtali chirps, “Mine’s done.” No small wonder! You took care of yourself first at 10% and screwed the group at 20%. I keep it to myself because I could easily strangle him at this point (fig. 41).

         After ENGL 407 at 2:30 p.m., I go back up to the 6th floor of the library and merge the files I never had a chance to merge correctly. I check everything. I do three new searches and add them. Next, I email out the new file so everyone has a copy. Duplicate files are always a good thing.

         When I finally get home at 1 a.m. I have tons of email to take care of, files to modify, Megan Purcell needs information for her history, and I have to add to goals and choices plus the process section of this document. I am hard at work taking care of last minute details (fig. 42).

To Be Done:

1. Naphtali, where is the Blackboard post you drove me crazy for an entire month?
2. We need to do a rehearsal. When?
3. We need to get together to learn how to long onto Mac. When?
4. We STILL NEED SEARCHES more is better than less.
5. I have an interview with Margaret for ENGL407 @11a. Evidently her history is interviewing all the presenters. She was supposed to interview me today but she arrived late only adding to my stress.
6. Thursday, remind Shipka when she arrives I am standing at the door of FA018 redirecting stragglers to ENG 336/336A. At 11:30, I will bolt leaving a sing on the door redirecting late comers. I will also caulk the message on the board for those who don’t read the door sign.
7. Steven, my advice to you as a presenter with a specific task is to take the Excel spreadsheet and tape it to your presenting position.

Reasons:
a. This way you know what you are asking (obvious)
Not Obvious:
b. You have a record of required search times. If a search begins to run way over you know something is wrong. On this note, as the game show host its your call.
c. Last, anticipate if they don’t solve the search or if it takes too long, we will be asked our strategy which we will have to reveal.

Remember:
Don’t Re-act, Pro-act. Always think ahead and anticipate for unforeseen problems. Call it damage control.
Have a back-up plan.
And don’t let them you see them sweat. If you make a mistake, keep moving, they will never recognize the difference.
End Email.

         Tuesday night/Wednesday morning while doing all this merging and email my home computer crashes. Looking back on this document now which re-articulates the process of “Shopping Happens” I realize that I was so focused on results of the end product that I was not paying attention to all the warnings of a possible technical glitch. This presentation/activity was in need of a back-up plan in case of a computer crash (fig. 43).

         Wednesday morning April 26, at 11:10 a.m. I received the general idea of what Naphtali wants our peers to focus their attention on after the presentation and share with each other what may not necessarily come out during the presentation. The language is quite raw and not even complete sentences but I understand the meaning he is conveying and spend a few minutes finessing the paragraph into academic language. I swing the paragraph back to him for approval. Naphtali is pleased with the outcome and so am I. My mind is focused in so many different areas at the same time I was not clear where to point our peers to look. Naphtali knows where he wants our peers to look but like me, his mind is fragmented between so many tasks his writing talents are breaking down. In essence each author makes a contribution forming a collaborative paragraph (fig. 44).

         At 12 noon I make my way down to the Writing Center and I know this will not be fun. I am the only writing tutor for the next three hours. Usually there are three of us on per hour but everyone scheduled from 12 to 3 needed to take care of other obligations. No one has said they could pinch hit so this could be interesting. After my first tutoring session I notice that I am surrounded by Naphtali, Steven, and Matt all pinch hitting for missing tutors. As I reflect upon this now I find this quite strange but care not to speculate as to why these three men have come down to pinch hit. The best part for us is that things quiet down and we can run through some last minute touches on the presentation. The thumbs up between Naphtali and I has to do with Naphtali deciding to take the initiative to go down and figure out how to log on and start the web browser on the Mac. Naphtali is also going to write up directions on how to do this which is excellent. We not only can recite to our peers how to log on we can write it on the board for the visual learners (fig. 45). For the purpose of removing redundancy the process narrative will end here and continue under the heading “Making sense of the McCarthy article ‘An Online Shopping Experience’ compared to our re-representation of the article through our shopping game presentation/activity, ‘Shopping Happens’” The reason for this change is the process narrative from this point on becomes a series of steps leading to the Mac network crash, which correlates more closely with McCarthy’s online shopping experience.

Acknowledgements
First I must thank my colleagues Naphtali Barsky and Steven Norfolk for every effort they made along the way in making sacrifices such as meeting at 9 a.m. in the morning which is my worst hour and also theirs. We all had our own obstacles pulling together this presentation such as Naphtali’s observances of the Passover holiday and Steven’s inability to access the Internet at home, working with a computer further back in the Stone Age than my own. We worked as a team with one vision: making the best presentation possible while also taking a boring topic and making the presentation entertaining. Thanks to both of you.

         Second, I would like to thank my parrot Ryoko who once again put up with a great many late night sessions without being allowed out to socialize.

         A warm hearted thanks goes to Shipka and her inspiration and support in kicking this project up to the fun level.

         Last, a special thanks goes out to our peers who participated and supported Naphtali, Steven, and I as presentations are never easy except with a cooperative audience. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible or necessary.

The Integral Worm • Christopher Paul • Independent Senior Technical Writer/Editor

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