We are still bemused by the three hundred years of Newtonian simplification that made "rhetoric" a dirty word, but we are beginning to outgrow it. Digital expression, in such a context, becomes not a revolutionary technology but a conservative one It attempts to reclaim, and rethink, the basic Western wisdom about words. Its perils prove to be the great but familiar perils that have always lurked in the divided, unstable, protean Western self .-- Richard A. Lanham The Electronic Word (51)
The Computers & Writing field is a burgeoning cross-disciplinarian community of educators, working with computer-mediated communication technologies, in a collaborative effort to scrutinize the intersections and boundaries of composition, rhetoric and technology. This hypertextual thesis, submitted as a graduate project, likewise seeks to explore, define, and theorize online education, focusing on a small area of the field: the use of multi-user, Object Oriented environments called MOOs. While it is possible to do this in print form, hypertext offers a closer resemblance to the real-time capabilities of MOOs. It is hoped that this project will welcome and help guide interested individuals new to the online community or new to MOO. This hypertext will continue to develop and change, pointing to ongoing projects, encouraging active participation by all, practicing the theory and theorizing the practice.
The distinction that Eyman makes between "exploratory" and "constructive" hypertexts is an important one:
...constructive hypertexts are left open; that is, readers may connect to what is already written and comment upon it, whereas strictly exploratory hypertexts close off all avenues but the ones already inscribed. I advocate constructive hypertexts in the writing class because they make possible a wider range of collaborative and dialogue-facilitating writing activities, and it is constructive hypertexts which best illustrate the contemporary poststructuralist literary theories promoted by theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Chap 2Like Eyman, I too advocate "constructive" hypertext as a means of engaging reader and writer in an ongoing dialogue, where the construction of meaning arises ever anew from context to context. As Kenneth Burke notes in The Philosophy of Literary Form, "Yet when one starts to say, "This is where I come in" one is quickly admonished to add, "but with a difference" (vii). So to the mix of asynchronous hypertext I add synchronous MOO space. Stated simply, I would like to extend the conversation from reader/writer and literary/composition to reader/writer/context and literary/composition/rhetorical.
In this process, I include not only the "authorized" canonical scholars, but also emerging scholars, graduate students, my colleagues, my neighbors, undergraduates, the world and the kitchen sink. It is my belief that learning takes place locally, yet the local community is now global, depending on what MOO one logs onto. As I work online with individuals ranging in age from 11 to 60+, as I plan help guides and teaching strategies with people who might live down the block or across the world, it becomes apparent to me that our future is now. Online learning is a reality; whether or not academia and theory can catch up is the question I will address in this work. So the question for me is not so much what we will do in the future; the question is what we do now that the future is here, as we are becoming...
I Introduction: all introductory materials and help files
II Praxis: A Tale of Some Teachers
III Projects: MOO && Theory
IV Reflection: Reflections Onna MOO
V Theory: Conversation Foothills
VI Places to Go, People to See: bibliography, works cited/sited and other reference material
The first and last on the list, the introduction and bibliographic sections are what the readers of books might expect, corresponding roughly to these sections of a linear book. However, the four middle sections so co-mingle and intertwine as to be impossible to separate. Theory informs practice as practice informs theory. Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 reflect *only* the Unix penchant for alphabetizing directories. The projects listed are ongoing, and combine both theory and practice.
Each section loops around in different ways, depending on the material presented. To make movement within each section easier, I have tried to provide obvious exits at logical intersections. One can, at any point, return to the "cvr.html" for that particular section. I have tried to make sure there are as few "orphans" as possible. Each room should lead to another room, and eventually, back to the main room of each section. Notes, glossary links, links out to the Internet, and citations are an exception; since many of the links are interspersed throughout the document, it is impossible to provide a return link. In these cases, simply returning to a previous document page on your browser, or selecting a document from the history menu should get you back where you want to be. All conversations have links contained in the speaker's "mood" title: for instance, Burke (flowerishing). Clicking on the "mood" will link the reader to the citation. In most cases these citations are the actual works cited page in the Works directory. In some cases it was necessary to provide a separate note document.
Each reader will come to this hypertext with varying degrees of "cluefullness." A brief overview and some suggestions for "starting points" are offered, in the spirit of a friendly tour guide perhaps, as navigational aids for the readers. The choice of where to start, and how to proceed, is up to the reader
If you are new to MOO, please take the time to read the help files provided. If you get lost on RoxMOO, you can always return to the welcome room or any other centrally located room.
RoxMOO's Seuss Booth
You arrive, somewhat out of breath (they didn't tell you about the steep Seuss hill you had to climb to get here). After you catch your breath and look around you understand the name of this hub room. You hear the clack and clatter of many voices from some strange looking huts just down the path and into the foothills, yet the sounds of a fountain vie for your attention from a window overlooking the gardens. A door to your right seems to lead to some work rooms, and strains of Vivaldi whisper from the study door to your left, where a directory acts as a door stop. Since you have already read the help files and presumably know your Seuss, you are ready to light out in search of other places and other people. Read the directory Places to Go, People to See at your own peril.
Obvious exits: escape (to the Welcome Room), study (to A Tale of Some Teachers), work rooms (to MOO && Theory), garden (To Reflections Onna MOO), hill path (Conversation Foothills).
Choose @quit to leave RoxMOO.
Seuss Booth is the main hub of RoxMOO. From here you may branch out to whatever direction takes your fancy.
Obvious exits: back (to Seuss Booth), workrooms (to MOO && Theory), garden (To Reflections Onna MOO), path (to Conversation Foothills).
Choose @quit to leave RoxMOO. Return to the Table of Contents
This section concentrates on some of the classes taught on MOOtiny and DaMOO. Zeb's class was a small class of deaf students, taking two succesive semesters of develpomental English Composition. Zeb was completely unfamiliar with MOO and brought her students onMOO to respond to a crisis in her classroom. Dread was familiar with MOO and brought on his upper division speech communications class toward the end of the spring 96 semester to discuss readings about the internet. Kiwi and Vivian, both seasoned MOOers, used MOOtiny and DeltaMOO for their fyc (freshman composition class) students. Vivian also brought her writing consultants online to explore the possibilites for online cafe meetings of peer consultants and online tutoring itself. Kiwi's students used the MOOs to collaborate on building WWW home pages as part of their fyc class. Kiwi is presently teaching a technical writing class, and her students are building a financial district at DaMOO.
This section discusses the main MOO projects of this thesis.
Choose @quit to leave RoxMOO.
Provides guidelines for planning and setting up a MOO. Also provides help guides for faculty who wish to acquire the needed skills to use MOOs for teaching
You stumble down Seuss hill and grapple your way up the next rise. Things look decidedly strange here. Dimensions seem more than a bit distorted as horizons cantilever precariously out of balance with one's ordinary expectations of physical properties. You see a small sign here. But it weaves in and out of focus. It *might* say, rEaD mE, but you aren't sure. Weird. Theoretical fulcrums whirr and clank from all directions, rather like the harrumphing and grumbling of a rather large Rube Goldberg machine. You might be better off reading the signs which litter the path. Just be careful where they might take you.
This section contains many "ongoing conversations." In many senses, this is the central "hub" of the thesis. You will find many signposts and "obvious exits" along the way. You will overhear many conversation and have the opportunity to add your comments. The notes, bulletin boards, notepads and other objects you find in the rooms will offer some theoretical background on the conversation being enacted in the room. Some points of interest in the: