1. Log in to Odeo and select “Record Audio” under the “Create” menu

2. Record your audio and select “Save Audio” when you are satisfied with the recording

3. From here you must return to the main screen in order to proceed (select your user name at the top right)

4. Under “Manage” select “Recordings”

5. From the list of displayed recordings, select your most recent work

6. The displayed player will allow you to select “HTML,” from which you can copy HTML code to insert into your post

technorati tags: Purdue English 106, podcast, Odeo

We discussed equipment and online system for reservations available through the DLC – though we (I) did learn that it took a phone call to reserve a laptop.  I’ll mention again that the DLC is the place to go for hardware and software concerns as they relate to coursework on campus.  We spent a few minutes discussing Online Caroline¸ an experience with new media literature and the conflation of character through which the story its plot line.  A handout to the class guided students through the possibility of enhancing WORD documents with applications internal to the program: hyperlinking (linking inside and outside the document), inserting borders, highlighting, commenting, and watermarking.  Finally, we spent time again visiting selections of writing to edit for many of the items about which we’ve learned in the first weeks of class.  

I’d like to highlight the use of the dash here.  From C. Edward Good’s Who’s Whose Grammar Is It, Anyway? (386), “the dash is one of the most effective punctuation marks of all.” Good describes the dash as the biggest of punctuation’s pauses, able to demand attention of the reader in a variety of situations:

1. as an explanatory or defining phase: “Of the three punctuation marks producing a pause – the comma, the dash, the parentheses – the dash produces the most abrupt pause of all.”
2. as a parenthetical insertion:  “The dash can halt readers in their tracks – it makes them pay attention – as they read through your words of wisdom.”
3. as an introductory explanation: “Em dashes, parentheses, and commas – these are the major punctuation marks used to create a pause.”
4. as appositive phrases: “Pauses in sentences – explanatory phrases, defining phrases, parenthetical material, and introductory defining phrases – prompt many writers to use the dash.”
5. as a sudden break in thought: “The committee’s expansive logic – it went far beyond any previous decision – increased the available remedies rather dramatically.”

The last of these explanations seem closest to the sense of use we discussed in class.

A wrangling with the understanding of the use of “which” and “that” may have left us more confused than when we started, and the discussion sent me back to the books to get a better handle on the topic.  I’ll talk more about this in class on Monday.

As a reminder: you need to have a wireless laptop in class on Thursday. The assignment for the day directs you to the DLC (The Digital Learning Collaboratory) in Hicks Undergraduate Library to check out a laptop. If you already have a laptop, you are certainly welcome to use your own; in that case, however, please go through the checkout process for one of the other pieces of equipment available. My effort here is to familiarize you with the amazing hardware, software, and academic support available to you at the DLC. While you’re there, see what else you can find. The printing service, and the fact that you can map a route to the color printer at the DLC is a particularly exciting feature. We’ll talk more in class on Thursday.

technorati tags: Purdue English 106, DLC

technorati tags: Purdue English 106, URLs

• the “double life” of documents as both the creation of meaning and the creation of a community – often a reinforcement of the meaning by which it was, to begin, created
• documents as both structuring information and structuring the social space (2) “Seeing documents as the means to make and maintain social groups, not just the means to deliver information, makes it easier to understand the utility and success of new forms of documents.”
• new forms of documents allow for new forms of community – Strauss’s notion of “social worlds” (3)
• thoughts about what “authorizes” a document (4)
• an understanding for Anderson’s notion of “the imagined community” (5/6)
• “communities of interpretation” (8)
• an understanding of “intertexuality” and the writing act as provocation for more writing – the conversation in and between communities (9) How does hypertextuality and links speak to this point?
• an understanding of what Brown and Duguid call “intercommunal” and “intracommunal” documents – differences and examples (12)
• the importance of audience and “the economy of attention” (12)
• the mobility of documents – the issues of boundaries, the work of negotiation between formed communities, and the idea of “translation” (12-14)
• connections between the flow of information and “freedom” (responsibility) (15)
• the implications of form – what changes when the medium of information shifts? what becomes of the notions of “permanence,” “ownership,” and/or “producer/consumer”? (15-17)
• an understanding of the terms “ecology” and “economy” and how documents can be seen as a mediating force between the needs/drives represented by each (18-19)

These bullet points should guide those of you still reading to a better understanding of the material. For students striving to improve their writing, the challenge is to translate these ideas to an understanding of composition as a negotiation between multiple layers of meaning: information, social representation, permanent record, and, not the least, a statement – (real)ization – of SELF in the world.

In the ACT of word(ing), image(ing), and voice(ing) you are writing yourself and your world: in(form)agination – do your part well.

technorati tags: Purdue English 106, The Social Life of Documents

Remember, every composition is a writing about you – who you are, how you see the world, and what you see yourself becoming. Your web page can serve as a “front page” to the overall composition and a great place to begin when presenting yourself to others.

For Thursday: “The Social Life of Documents” is one of the most important reads of the semester in helping us to see the double action of documents. Watch for an understanding of this idea (and others) to unfold as you read, and be reminded that annotating a document can go a long way in helping a reader work through the information. Think of annotation as an abbreviated re-write in the margins of a page that both clarifies what was read in the force of summary and marks the text for an easy return for citation. Text are consumable, and critical thinking often think along these lines.

Just for the fun of it…

technorati tags: Purdue English 106, Dreamweaver

Note, too, that the email sent last Friday included an assignment for updating your Blogger writing space by thoroughly completing your profile do as to include an image, compose an intentionally written “about me” section, and edit links in such a way as to include an “email me” link on the front page as well as replacing/removing links that currently read “Google news” or “edit me.”   Many have overlooked Friday’s email; I encourage a return for another read and attention given there. 

My English 106 course sequence at Purdue has basically one standing assignment: improve your writing skills.  You’ll have many opportunities each week to address yourself to that work; my expectation is to see you do so at least three or four times a week.  Let one of those times this week be a response to last Thursday’s writing.  I’ll check again for that by 9:00 p.m. on Monday night.

In the meantime, any response to the discussion about a use of color in composition?  

Over at Technorati Dave Sifley is joining in on the celebration, basking in the flood of affirmation it is to have Google finally come on board in acknowledging (as this move certainly does) that blogs are future of internet. Sifley posts in cautionary notes, however, and the links he provides give you a handle on what “Beta” on Google’s new blog search move is all about. Enjoy the Google celebration – the more the better when it comes to shining a light on the many-to-many network, but for keeping a finger on the pulse of the blogosphere, turn to Technorati.

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, BlogSearching

Care to join the conversation?

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, Friedman, triangles

THEN … go here and follow the instructions to add your Bloglines blogroll to your Blogger location. I’ll take a look at your blogs (again) on Sunday evening – anyone finding my ISP from your stats counter?

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, blogroll