BE: Composing the Digital Self

Many of you have written to concerns related to the disaster and aftermath of hurricane Katrina. This NYTimes editorial from Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, is a provocative “triangle” of considerations relating governance in the city-state of Singapore to the response of the U.S. government to demands of its own citizens and formulating a position of convinction (#3 of the triangle) where Friedman’s own thinking on topic becomes pointedly clear.

Care to join the conversation?

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, Friedman, triangles

There are a number of “tracks” running now, and I thought it might be helpful if I reminded you of a couple of the possibilities currently open for your posting consideration:

· Begin your work on project one (Writing a Non-Profit) by exploring and developing a working definition of “non-profit.” Be sure to link to the most “reliable” sources of information not just the first site you find. This might be a good opportunity for exploring Wikipedia. If you can, avoid sites that come with pop-up windows attached.
· Generate a counter statement. Explore other blogs or read the news from one of your subscribed news services, and build a triangle! For example, work from something you’ve read in TWIF, locate another source discussing the same topic, and formulate a response to that connection/exchange/conversation that inserts the (real)ized YOU into the discussion.
· Finally, don’t forget that you have an edit to post – a re-write of Thursday’s in-class writing.

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, posting

Among the many benefits of learning to write the world wide web, one may be of particular interest to YOU – what an online presence can do to enhance your employment opportunities. You’ve begun to read about “globalization 3.0″ from Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat, about the possibilites open to individuals in today’s “wired” world for composing themselves as part of the increasingly global community.

See your Blogger blog (as well as your developing webpage) as a place to make a statement about yourself to that community: professors, future employers, public service organizations, interested friends.

To that end, spend some time today “dressing up” your Blogger site: upload an image to your profile and flesh out some of those information fields. By now you can begin to see that “privacy” issues may be less in your control than you thought. Good counter measure is to take the responsibility for proactively composing your “digital self.”

“Who are you?” is the one question for which there will always be more to the answer. Composing the digital self gives you a hand in constituting a point of view for those looking in on the becoming.

Update your blogs! Be sure to include a purposefully selected image in the profile and an email link on the front page. If you have not done so already, remove the empty “edit me” links that may still be there. If you need ideas, take a look around the read/write web for examples of how others are (present)ing themselves. Discuss your exploration in a post where you link to examples of “online identities” you believe solidly composed, and take that work as a model.

I’ll look in on your progress again soon.

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, composition

My records indicate that Gilwan and Diki have been “missed” on most of your blogrolls. Please subscribe to their blogs today:they’re doing some great writing that you won’t want to miss!

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

This link will take you to more information about “flagging” questionable blogs on Blogger. Give it a read, then give flagging a try. A follow up post that talks about the learning is always welcome. While you’re on the site, follow the link “The Wisdom of the Crowds” to a Wikipedia entry for another consideration of the value of many-to-many interaction on the read/write web.

On Blogger “dashboard” you’ll find a hotlink to “word verification.” Follow that link path to turn on a first resistance to “spam.” Then, from the “edit posts” page on your account, return to each of the posts where spam has been left, and remove it. Taking down the spam links deposited in comments helps make the read/write ecosphere about which we read for Thursday last a better place for us all.

In the spirit of Blog Day you are assigned to add 5 blogs to your Bloglines blogroll (the list you have collected on Bloglines) that speak in some manner to the work you’ll be doing on non-profits for project #1. A number of links to blog search engines were provided on the document you received for class on Monday. Think of this assignment as giving you a starting point, and expect your reading to expand, shift, and adjust as you encounter the networked conversation taking place on Planet Blog about your topic.

Now, having subscribed to your five new blogs, start here to generate the HTML code and find directions for working through the template adjustments (on Blogger) that will publish your blogroll on your English 106 class blog. Note: leave “folder” and “link target” blank.

Finally, referring as needed to your course text, make improvements to your Blogger blog site. I am most interested in finding a completed profile and a link (on the front page) that allows readers to email you directly from that location. Keep in mind that your work for this class throughout the semester is work to compose an online presence – a searchable (employable) presentation of yourself online. Online information is (more or less) permanent: keep that in mind as you compose yourself “for the record” and in anticipation of successful professional careers ahead.

Ok… three things: 1) five project-related sites 2) publish your blogroll to your blog on Blogger 3) enhance your Blogger blog – attending particularly to a completed profile and a link for email

When you’ve completed these tasks, email me the link to your blog so I can take a look. Please have completed this work by 9:00 p.m. Monday evening, September 5.

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, Blogging, Composition

It might be helpful for you to hear again the list of suggestions by which your online writing (blogging/posting) for English 106 should be guided. Blog posting may include addressing any/all of the following prompts and more as the course continues and we discover even more ways to engage our worlds of writing through online resources. The current list of writing prompts includes:

• response to class discussion
• response to class readings
• exploration/discovery re: non-profit (proj #1) or career analysis (proj #2)
• online “tools, tricks, treasures”
• response to current events (be guided by pertinence in a decision to post)
• vocabulary : address context, vary sources
• research, “connections,” unpacking ideas
• professional/civic development: interactions/exchanges relative to industry, journals, “experts,” trends, history, projections, innovations, or others working online in areas pertinent to the topic of your project study

technorati tags: PurdueEnglish106, WritingPrompts , composition

We have mentioned hurricane Katrina in class a number of time and speculated about the aftermath of the mobile disaster might on the coastal U.S. Here is streaming video for those who might be interested in taking a look at some of the scenes on the ground after the storm. The reporters covering the story in this clip repeatedly speak to the level of destruction as being beyond anything they had experienced before in their many years of storm coverage. Concerns circulating the blogs are making connections to the idea of an American “tsunami.” The images seems to support those connection. My thoughts are with the people along the coast tonight.

technorati tags: Katrina, Hurricane, PurdueEnglish106

I mentioned to a few friends online that our first-year composition class would be blogging here, and one of those folks, Kat at Keep the Coffee Coming, has passed along a few headlines she thought you all might enjoy. These bits of fun provide a meaningful prompt to “take a second look” at the use of language you believe to have been clearly composed. Thanks for the contribution, Kat.

THE YEAR’S BEST [actual] HEADLINES OF 2004:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
[no, really]?

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
[now that's taking things a bit far]!

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
[not if I wipe thoroughly]!

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
[what a guy]!

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
[see if that works any better than a fair trial]!

If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
[you think]?

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
[who would have thunk it]!

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
[you mean there's something stronger than duct tape]?

Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge
[he probably IS the battery charge]!

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
[Taste like chicken?]

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
[Boy, are they tall!]

And the winner is…. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Did I read that right?

In an office:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER…… PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

On a repair shop door:
WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN’T WORK)

technorati tags: ENGL106, KeepTheCoffeeComing, headlines