abstract
This application is for a course re-assignment to co-edit and publish the first digital, new media book in the humanities, The New Work of Composing. Publishing books is considered the “gold standard” for tenure in the humanities, but the economic crisis in publishing pushes scholars toward digital publications. This is problematic because, according to a recent MLA survey, over half of humanities department chairs have no experience evaluating digital work for tenure. This is not surprising since there are currently no examples of digital, multimedia work. This project would fill that gap. Computers and Composition Digital Press, the first online-only academic press in the humanities, has requested our prospectus. My goals for the project are (1) to study how digital-media books and articles are composed/designed, peer-reviewed (by editors and tenure stakeholders), and revised for publication; and (2) to relate this research experience to my teaching and English department needs by proposing a class in digital scholarship. The course release will allow me time to collaborate on designing the collection’s interface, completing 2–3 sample chapters, and co-writing the introduction as well as to draft the course proposal. Research about editing the collection will be disseminated locally through seminars and brown-bags, as well as through national conferences and, after the book is published, via the press’s free, open-access website.

accompanying materials

• application/proposal

description
The CELJ is an international affiliate of the Modern Language Association. On behalf of Kairos‘s design team (Karl Stolley, Douglas Eyman, and Kathie Gossett), I submitted the 2008 redesign of Kairos for this award.

accompanying materials

• link to CELJ’s website with award winners
• application cover letter
• 1-page design description

description
The nationally recognized Digital Media and Composition (DMAC) institute (held at Ohio State University) is a hands-on, professional development workshop focused on multimedia and new media theory and production within English Studies. During the workshop, participants engaged in learning about the effective use of digital media in humanities classrooms. I was a staff member for the institute, which afforded me the opportunity to engage in helping others professionally develop while also adding to my own professional development, as outlined in the components and outcomes in the attached proposal and report.

accompanying materials

• application/proposal
• outcomes report

description
The Kairos Best Webtext Awards are presented annually at the Computers and Writing conference for the best academic webtext published in the previous academic year (the webtext does not have to be published in Kairos). (Note: Since 2006, when an earlier webtext of mine was nominated for this award while I was editor, the Communications Editors of Kairos have managed the entire awards process, to ensure fairness in judging, which is done by editorial board members and guest judges from the field of digital writing studies.)

accompanying materials

• link to announcement on Kairos site

see also

• “A Conversation: From ‘They Call Me Doctor?!’ to Tenure” (under Peer-Reviewed Articles)

description

Screenshot from new design issue

Readers will already have noticed our biggest announcement for this issue: the redesign! Years in the brainstorming phase, the redesign team of three staffers—Kathie Gossett, Karl Stolley, and Doug Eyman—made it all happen over the last year. They report on design features, including value-added components that have readers in mind, in a separate note in this issue. We thank and congratulate them for a difficult undertaking that was accomplished with little resources and next-to-no time. Wonderful job, folks!

accompanying materials

• column

see also

• CELJ 2008 Design Award, based on this issue (under Awards)