editorships: Kairos
position
(2006–present). Co-Editor. Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy. http://kairos.technorhetoric.net
description/scope
I was promoted to co-editor of Kairos (from a section editor position) in February 2006. At that time, my co-editor (Beth Hewett) and I restructured the journal so that it would run more smoothly and on time in all sections. We stopped publishing the themed CoverWeb section, which we had edited up until that point, in favor of making the Features section more robust. (Until the section merger, Features often included 1–2 webtexts per issue compared to the CoverWeb’s 4–6 texts.) We also added a section to the journal, Inventio, that showcases experimental webtexts, thus continuing the non-traditional scholarly mission of Kairos.
Beth and I continue similar hands-on editing responsibilities that we performed as CoverWeb Co-Editors with the added responsibilities of overseeing journal operations in all sections (Reviews, Interviews, Praxis, Inventio, and Topoi, which is the new name of the merged Features/CoverWeb section). All of the editorial changes Beth and I implemented can be considered original, critical editorial work that contributes to digital, writing-studies scholarship.
journal stats
- Our acceptance rate has dropped to 25% this year.
- Readership is at an average of 44,500 unique visitors/readers every month, many of whom originate from outside the US.
- Kairos is an open-access journal providing free scholarly content.
accompanying materials
- to come: discussion and email exchange of an in-progress edited webtext to show my original critical work in the scholarship of editing
- Kairos website
textbook materials: Picturing Texts website
citation
Ball, Cheryl E. (2004). Picturing Texts website. New York: W.W. Norton. Available: http://www.picturingtexts.com.
abstract [from site]
Redefining composition to include conscious attention to images and design, Picturing Texts is a writing textbook that teaches how to compose visual texts as well as how to read them. This Web site is a repository of useful materials for working with the book. It includes online readings, with suggested focus and respond sections [coordinating with the structure of the print book]; guidelines for writing for the Web; links to resources on the Web that will help students do the kind of work invited by Picturing Texts; and more.
purpose: This website accompanies the writing/composition textbook Picturing Texts (Selfe, Cynthia; Faigley, Lester, George, Diana; & Palchik, Anna; W.W. Norton, 2004).
contribution
- content for 7 interactive chapters
- content for 3 sections of ancillary materials
accompanying materials
website
book project/edited collection
citation
Ball, Cheryl E., & Kalmbach, James (Eds.). RAW: Reading and writing new media. (in progress)
RAW (Reading & Writing) New Media is an edited collection of 22 chapters and includes four sections: Reading New Media, Writing New Media, Situating New Media, and Teaching New Media. This collection contains chapters by a range of new media/writing studies scholars, from graduate students to full professors, many of whom are well-recognized in the field.
status
Prospectus and four chapters go to MIT Press in November 2006, for consideration. 18 chapters are in final editing stages.
co-editor/contribution:
- James Kalmbach is Professor of English at Illinois State University.
- My contribution = 50% editorial work on 22 chapters + 40% authoring on book introduction.
accompanying materials
- prospectus [draft]
- annotated table of contents [draft]
Professional Writing Capstone (Eng 5430)
This course, targeted at graduating seniors in the Professional Writing major, uses a common syllabus designed to have students gain an understanding of the technical writing job market as well as to produce materials they can use in job interviews (such as a résumé, cover letter, and print and web portfolios).
Spring 2006 semester summary
This was the first time I taught Capstone, and I adapted a weekly schedule based on the common syllabus that USU professional writing faculty members Kelli Cargile Cook, Charlotte Thralls, and Mark Zachry produced several years ago.
- sections taught in department this term: 1
- number of students enrolled: 13
- numeric evaluations
teaching innovations
I made one major change to the standard syllabus for this class, and that was to assign the capstone students to work two hours in the departmental computer lab. I instituted this pilot program to see whether those in their final year of school—who knew the lab and its software best—would make ideal lab consultants. However, the students misinterpreted my reasons for wanting them to work in the lab and assumed that it was so that the lab didn’t have to pay consultants. (I was Acting Lab Director at the time, so this class assignment was received as my trying to get the students to work for free.) Thus, the majority of the students complained that the experience was a waste of their time. Sadly, they didn’t take advantage of the many professional development opportunities I knew this work would provide for them, and my suggestions on how they might make the situation more useful for themselves remained unused. I’m still considering what I might learn from this situation that will be of use to the next set of capstone students.
narrative evaluations
- The interview process was fun and very helpful. Cheryl gave some good stories and examples from her life that helped us see what the real world is like.
- I have two great portfolios now! I’m ready to get a job, or at least apply for one, and I wasn’t before this class.
- Cheryl was interested in what the students want to do with their future. She has good networking and interviewing examples to share.
- Dr. Ball is a talented designer and she has enthusiasm for design and online teaching. She has contemporary insights into the job market and the skills required to get hired and be a competitive tech writer. Dr. Ball is great at what she does.
- I liked the immediacy of our concerns, the reality and importance of everything we’ve been learning at university. Cheryl’s attitude of professionalism without too much idealism/stuffiness was nice.
- She has a weird idea of what a good design is and those that didn’t use pink flamingos had a poor design even if it refleted us. We should be able to choose what works for us, otherwise she needs to design portfolios for each student so that we do exactly what she wants.
- Good things: Cheryl was happy. She has energy. She fed us poundcake. Once. We got the recipe. We built portfolios. This is good.
accompanying materials
- Spring 2006 syllabus [PDF]
- PhD student observation of one class (assigned by another teacher)
Publication Production (Eng 5420)
The purpose of this course is to introduce professional/technical writing majors to pre-press and printing processes for large-scale print documents. We cover printing terminology, color types, production management techniques, image manipulation for print documents, and pre-press guidelines. Editing and working with clients as well as establishing baseline differences between print and web publications is also part of the course goals.
Spring 2005 semester summary
The majority of this class was spent designing the campus literary magazine, Scribendi, a project that provided many collaborative opportunities for students, which I describe in detail below.
- sections taught in department this term: 1
- number of students enrolled: 19
- numeric evaluations
teaching innovations
This class was a new prep for me at Utah State. I implemented an idea I used for a similar class at previous schools—having students re/design the campus literary magazine. The purpose of this assignment is to give students a real-world example of preparing a large-scale document for a printing press (including real-world deadlines, budgets, and clients). The past editors of Scribendi, the literary magazine at USU, were thrilled to have students work on updating the design. (Past editors were volunteer English department staff and faculty members assigned to oversee the creative writing contest, winners of which were published in the magazine.)
In class, the students worked in small groups to complete the redesign:
- four groups worked on the main content and design (after a collaborative effort on making a template). Each group consisted of a book designer, a graphic designer, and an editor, and the three members worked collectively on one signature (16-page spread) of the magazine;
- a fifth group was responsible for the design template that every group used, the cover, table of contents, and other front- and backmatter;
- a sixth group was the marketing and budget team. They were responsible for raising money (which they elected to do rather than stick with the current budget, even though I informed them that it was not a part of the class) and for writing promotional materials.
The students worked with several clients including the new creative writing contest director, Anne Shifrer, to collect the winning entries; choose how many would fit in the pages we had the budget for; edit the entries and insert them into the template in an appropriate sequence based on thematic issues; collected graphics from artists on campus and matched the graphics to specific texts; and prepared the entire publication for printing. In addition, they raised a significant amount of money (nearly $1,500 in a month) so that they could publish 1,000 copies on a professional press instead of photocopying 100 for departmental use, as had been done in past years.
Because students had a limited budget for printing, which meant a limited number of pages they could print, they decided (with my guidance) to excerpt several large stories and place all winners in their entirety on an accompanying website. Thus, students also had the chance to design the publication for a second medium. The website is linked at the bottom of this post.
Finally, students presented fresh-off-the-press copies of Scribendi to the campus at the annual Student Showcase for undergraduate research. They created a poster to outline their hands-on research activities and distributed nearly 700 copies that week to stakeholders and students around the campus and the community. (The rest of the copies were kept to include in the students’ portfolios and for departmental recruiting efforts.)
narrative evaluations
- “Cheryl has an incredible knack for helping students take charge of their learning. She has such a personable nature that students feel elevated to her level. Cheryl is a great professor, and a mentor that keeps me striving to impress! 10 out of 10.”
- “I thought that the objectives were very clear and we always knew what was expected of us. I also thought the expectations of us were high, which helped us to learn more. I am glad that I had the opportunity to take this class from Cheryl Ball. I thought she was a very good teacher.”
- “Cheryl Rocks! She really pushes for quality and her attitude is positive. She doesn’t take b.s. from anyone and she’s extremely knowledgable about technology that we’re suposed to learn. I appreciate that…. She goes the extra mile.”
- “I felt that the literary magazine redesign was a very good teaching process for publication production. I enjoyed learning the process of publishing an actual magazine. Cheryl, I appreciate the knowledge that you shared with us. I am glad to have a professor that has such a great knowledge of what we are doing, particularly about making a publication as a student [refering to my experiences making litmags when I was a student]. Thank you, Cheryl. You rock! And we learned a lot about responsibility.”
- “I never knew publication production could be so exciting.”
accompanying materials
teaching | Comment (0)
- Spring 2005 syllabus [PDF]
- PDF copy of Spring 2005 syllabus
- Scribendi website