citation Ball, Cheryl E., et al. (in progress). Talking back to teachers: Undergraduate research in multimodal composition. In Debra Journet, Cheryl E. Ball, and Ryan Trauman (Eds.) The new work of composing. Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press.
abstract This chapter is composed of 14 voices—12 undergraduates, 1 graduate student, and 1 faculty member (Cheryl E. Ball, contact author) from a multimodal composition class at Illinois State University. In a three-part chapter, we speak to the perceptions of undergraduate students’ technology use presented by scholarship, attendees at the Watson conference, and on our campus. The first section, presented as a video, reflects on conference attendees’ discussions of students who weren’t representative of the majority audience (professors and graduate students) at the conference. The second section, also presented as a video, asks how pedagogy needs to change to accommodate an increase in digital technology and what kind of cooperation is necessary between students and their teachers so both parties can effectively communicate to and learn from each other. The third section, presented as a MySpace page, argues that educators should incorporate social networks into their pedagogies because they offer a different way of composing. The sections will be presented together on the class blog, http://www.ceball.com/classes/239, where the index page will become a static Introduction to the chapter and each section will be presented as a page off the index. The benefit of hosting the site (for now) on the 239 class blog is so that readers can explore behind the scenes of our learning experience as we produced digital scholarship this semester.
status
12/08: proposal accepted for the collection
07/09: student projects revised
10/09: collection accepted by press
11/09: final chapter draft being readied for editors
citation
Walker, Janice; Ball, Cheryl E.; & Arola, Kristin. [Moderators]. (2006, February 14). Professionalization: Preparing for the job, getting the job, keeping the job. Computers & Writing 2006 Online Conference.
description For this online conference, the three presenters initiated and moderated a synchronous discussion with graduate students on issues of professionalization.
citation
Ball, Cheryl E. (2006, July). Multimodal composition practices: Overviews and impacts on tenure & promotion. Virtual Reality & Real Life (VR@RL) Conference [Online].
abstract In this online asynchronous session, I presented results and discussion from the CCCC Survey on multimodal practices, with particular emphasis on the section about tenure and promotion issues for scholars working in digital media.
citation
Selfe, Cynthia; Kemp, Fred; Inman, James, & Ball, Cheryl E. (2006, February 18). What defines computers and writing as a discipline? Computers & Writing Online Conference.
abstract In a roundtable keynote, presented in a synchronous MOO (multi-user, object-oriented chat/game platform), the four presenters address multi-layered questions: Is Computers & Writing truly a discipline? What distinguishes it from the related disciplines of Composition & Rhetoric or Technical Communication? What is the research and theory that inform its teaching and practice? The panelists take questions from the audience as well.
citation
McCorkle, Ben [Producer]. (2007, June 5). Visiting scholars in digital media: Cheryl Ball [Video]. Ohio State University. http://tinyurl.com/dmac-interview-ball
abstract
Short interview (12:29) with Cheryl Ball (Illinois State University), part of the ongoing series featuring Visiting Scholars in Digital Media and Composition at the OSU Department of English. Outline: I. On a digital tenure portfolio. II. Defining the terms in digital writing studies. III. Explaining this work to students. IV. Why I attend the DMAC institute. V. Advice for new multimedia teacher-scholars.
citation
by Doug Dangler. (2008, February). Digital media and digital scholarship [Podcast]. Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing: Ohio State University. http://cstw.osu.edu/podcasts/mp3/ball.mp3
description A 60-minute audio podcast interview by Doug Dangler (Associate Director for the Center of the Study of Teaching and Writing at OSU) about my work with digital media scholarship.
Screenshot from Inside Higher Education article where I am quoted
Interviewed for a news article about the Pew Internet and American Life report on “Writing, Technology, and Teens,” which includes statistics of student/teen use of social networking and texting as part of their writing lives.
citation
Interviewed by Fred Kemp & Rich Rice. (2008, September 5). What is multimodal composition? [Podcast]. Smarttcast. http://www.smarttcast.com/cheryl_ball.m4a
description This 60-minute audio interview, hosted by Drs. Fred Kemp and Rich Rice of Texas Tech University, contains a Q&A about multimodal composition.
description
Interviewed by renowned graphic designer and teacher, Ellen Lupton, on the role of design in first-year writing classes. Voice is the online newsletter of the professional association for design.
A partial screenshot of my tweet-based editorial column
This editorial column, written as a series of tweets (i.e., 140-character Twitter updates), describes the major discussion threads from the 2009 Computers & Writing conference at UC-Davis. One of the keynote speakers at C&W asked audience members to tweet her presentation, which started a large backchannel discussion, so the form of this column is in honor of that session. This column also lists the Kairos award winners presented at C&W (as well as that Kairos design staffers won another award for their redesign efforts), and introduces the webtexts in this issue.
description
This editorial column announces the journal’s win of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) Design Award, as well as discusses the current state of acceptance of digital (media) scholarship in the humanities, as evidenced by its (lack of) inclusion/understanding in organizations such as the Modern Language Association.
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!
Screenshot from Braun & Gilbert's (2008) manifesto, "This is Scholarship"
This editorial column (written for the special issue, co-guested-edited with Scott Lloyd DeWitt) introduces the reasons why we wanted to have an issue dedicated to manifestos, as cutting-edge ideas often not published in “scholarly” venues. It also introduces the 8 manifestos (including one collection that includes 9 individual manifestos) we accepted and details the peer-review criteria we used for the submissions.
Issue art taken from C&W 2007 catalog (designed by Jeff Rice?)
In this issue, the Topoi section of Kairos is pleased to showcase three webtexts originating from the 2007 Computers and Writing Conference (C&W) in Detroit: one focused on virtual case environments developed for CMS, the second focused on geoblogging as a way to present students with complex, place-contextualized writing scenarios, and the third focused on the consolations and constraints of words as writing, as speech, and as art.
In this issue, the Topoi section of Kairos is pleased to showcase two webtexts about digital scholarship, which connect to the Praxis section’s theme on tools for composing digital scholarship and the inaugural publication of the Inventio section, the aim of which is to highlight the intellectual labor of composing and reading scholarly webtexts. It’s a meta-theme on digital scholarship IN digital scholarship for this issue!
