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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
UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" · UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" · Introduction to Journalism · Feature Writing · Science Writing Papers
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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)
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 Statement of Goals and Choices for "Shopping Happens"
"Shopping Happens" Blackboard Community Post
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 we were also peers in 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 a high priority email with a return 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 stronger grammarian, agrees to take my evaluation and weave both our findings into one meaningful text with a unified 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 learned that Naphtali never turned in an individual or a weaved narrative and never said to me he had not turned it. At this point, I 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 and this is just fine with 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. I designed the narrative to open nearly at the end of the story deliberately and flipped 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 follow the abrupt changes in the timeline. 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
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
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 a.m. rolls around, 10:00 a.m. 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 websites that instill confidence in the consumer and the shopping experience similar to 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 to use. 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 with Stephen other 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 and we are all there. We kick around some ideas and find that Naphtali and I do not shop much on the Internet. Our shopping patterns are quite mundane. Steven on the other hand has a good possibility of a shopping experience because he is constantly purchasing DVD's online. 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 this 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 the complexities. 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 Internet. 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 on radio. I am seriously thinking of letting Steven have the reins on this part and have him direct us to websites to evaluate for the presentation. I have done a number of presentations in and out of school 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 well ahead and anticipate problems. I may have to draw up a master 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
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 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
Wednesday, March 29, I have a thought about "this" 324 Presentation/Activity. It occurs to me the DVD search and purchase has a second technology problem. At first, we were considering the Internet, websites, Internet Service Providers, and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) 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 DVD's from other regions/countries 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 of communication sparingly. IM is really powerful especially when working remotely with other people on group projects, but I was using it to socialize. I wouldn’t sleep for days and communicated with people in practically every time zone, hence the cause of my 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 was pointless.
I reconsider this and looking at the calendar I notice that Passover is coming. This will be a problem for our Presentation/Activity group because Naphtali will be missing a few days because of religious observances of the holiday. At the same time that I email Devesh, I email Naphtali and Steven informing them of my IM screen name and suggest we begin 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 during the holiday. i know he's Orthodox and he may not be allowed to touch technology once the sun goes. I 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 and get the DVD based on "Why is "this" DVD 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 who chose "this" DVD? 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 (as the presenters) who selected what DVD, but we swing the floor to our peers 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 hard on this presentation/activity. 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 so 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 websites and I think this might be a good idea that way while in the computer lab we can concentrate on the engagement and entertainment portion of the presentation/activity. 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
After getting out of ENGL 407, I run over to the library because I have tons to do with the release of 407
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 the purpose of collaborating when we are both are online and we’re working toward the same goal. We can work in whatever programs we’re working in and make quick design decisions on the fly. IM is great for brief comments, questions, and pointing to various website research. Naphtali voices his concern that goals and choices will look too 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. We are going to have our own view of truth from our viewing position (Friedrich Nietzsche). 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 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 as 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 the blackout period. 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's 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 “Sock 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 ("'Sock Puppet Day'? What the Hell is 'Sock Puppet Day'?"). 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 “Sock Puppet Day” in ENGL 407, Naphtali and I get on the laptop and he is very excited about somehow working Jeopardy into this presentation/activity. 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 out the work). The problem we suddenly realize is what happen to the objective of evaluating the DVD websites? 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/activity. 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 and conferencing. 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 for the next semester 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 these games. I look at
Monday morning (actually Sunday night), I decided I had 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 shopping/purchase experience. Some of the things that happened to McCarthy may never occur in our shopping experience (Ha! Spoke WAY too soon...) 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 we unanimously agree that the “Online Shopping Experience” Blimp has broken its tether and is now adrift. 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 down 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 were beating your head against the wall, “It feels so good I can’t stop.” Okay it’s sick, but 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 in our attempt to be entertaining we have become ungrounded with the original articles by introducing the gaming activity. Shipka indicates we were on track at first, but working too hard (that might have been me, 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. I scribble down as much as I can while Steve and Naphtali concentrate on what is being said and formulate questions. It’s funny but we are nearly where we were back in the second meeting of February. We are now going to torture our peers with the task of googling 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 the creation of 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 comes to a grinding halt and alerts you immediately something has failed. 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
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. By having few rules to the game we set up an atmosphere of free market competition. You want to work alone, work alone. You want to collaborate, collaborate. What's funny here is a few weeks before, Skipka set up a similar game with us in ENGL 407 when we played 20 questions or
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/activity or the
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 now making split second decisions. At first, I think Naphtali has 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's a Mac lab. 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 are not really that different. If Naphtali can log on, Steve and I can watch over his shoulder and go around the lab to help others who have trouble. Naphtali and I are thinking the web browsers are not all that different.
Naphtali later suggests before leaving that all three of us go down into the Mac lab and perform a dry run to determine how to log on and bring up the web browser. This is 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 be 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 on 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/Activity "Blueprint." I know the others are not thinking about this so I take it upon myself to construct the whole thing. I mark out the places where I will expect Naphtali to insert/write speeches for us. Naphtali said he was good with speech writing and I know he attends Toastmasters so I’ll leave that task 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. The next person will be the game host while one person will act 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 my 407 Presentation/Activity is “I guess if all is ready to go, it's ready to go.” Unfortunately, for better or worse the
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 have liked. 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 Steven 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 this all 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 are meant to blend into the background and become invisible. We want the audience to focus on the gaming host and not on the help crew (fig. 33).
Friday April 21, I send out an email to Shipka and my partners Naphtali and Steven. The email is a "Heads-up" (required) for the presentation with a list of the search terms we have developed 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 creates more trouble than it's worth when connecting to the Internet. My problem is that I access the Internet at home through UMBC's 56k speed modems, so I cannot record genuine UMBC lab speeds (fractional T1 line 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 biased 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” has to be passed forward 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 completed early is we can 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 appeared 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 his speech and search terms arrive. 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 like bird conversations: “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 steeper 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 on Monday (fig. 36).
Monday morning, April 24, while 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 constantly communicating 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. I have to do this in between servicing clients. My three hours in the center become a busy day as I help three students over the course of 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 out the emails, the computer locks 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 in space that hasn’t already been said and as hard as we try to invent new sentences, they are hardly original. One reading or several readings “inspire” the creation of other texts (this was one of the main arguments of the
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 p.m. 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 I was wearing the day before.
Naphtali wakes me at about 9:20 a.m. and said he did not recognize me with the hat over my face. That's okay because at least he did wake me. As usual the meeting is unproductive. Steven printed the files I sent out and I notice for some reason the latest searches (Shipka’s and Naphtali’s) have not been added (fig. 40).
After getting a failure to print on two computers in the basement and two computers on the 1st floor, I jump out of my seat and run up to the 6th floor of the library 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 into 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 off the printer, pull out the flowchart, staple it, and pass it to Steven to submit. I want this piece of paper out of my hands and in before deadline, this way I know there are no mishaps.
As I am handing Steven the Blueprint, Naphtali asks me how the
After the ENGL 407 class lets out 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 to have.
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 information to my Goals and Choices document, plus add to the Process section of this document. I am hard at work taking care of last minute details (fig. 42).
To Be Done:
- Naphtali, where is the Blackboard post you drove me crazy for all month long?
- We need to do a rehearsal. When?
- We need to get together to learn how to log onto Mac. When?
- We STILL NEED SEARCHES more is better than less.
- I have an interview with Margaret deLauney for ENGL 407 at 11 a.m. Evidently for her history, she is interviewing all the presenters. She was supposed to interview me today but she arrived late only adding to my stress.
- Thursday, remind Shipka when she arrives I am standing at the door of FA018 redirecting stragglers to ENG 336/336A. At 11:30 a.m., I will bolt leaving a sign on the door redirecting late comers. I will also caulk the message on the board for those who don’t read the door sign.
- 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.
Remember: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.
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 of data and emailing, 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 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 places 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 myself, 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/activity. 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.
All the required pre-deliverables have been submitted. Now we're sweating over major points we have less control over. We find ourselves the day before the presentation checking out the Mac lab itself (fig. 46).
On Presentation day we all descend upon the Mac Lab practicing speeches and movements in the space. We also check the computers to determine to sort out the functional computers from the dysfunctional computers and tape "Out of Order" signs to the dysfunctional computers so people just avoid them and re-direct to functional computers. As we are doing last minute prep, a workman comes in with a ladder, goes up and looks at the projector. Another workman comes in. We find out that they are here to remove the the old projector in the ceiling: today, of all days (fig. 47).
And now for something completely different... are you ready to play... Shopping Happens! (fig. 48).
Last, but not least here is the academic meaning making of McCarthy's article An Online Shopping Experience compared to our presentation/activity Shopping Happens!
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