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Computers and Writing 2003 Site Application

Background Information

1. Date Application Posted
   
   November 1, 2001

2. Name of Applicant
   
   David Blakesley
   Director of Professional Writing and Associate Professor of English

3. Institution
   
   Purdue University

4. Postal and Email Address
   
   Department of English
   1356 Heavilon Hall
   Purdue University
   West Lafayette, IN 47907
   
   blakesle@purdue.edu
   

5. Phone
   
   765.494.3730 (Professional Writing office)
   765.494.3772 (Blakesley's office)
   765.746.0175 (Blakesley's home)

6. Year to host Conference
   
   2003

7. Proposed Date for Conference Weekend

   Thursday, May 22  —  Sunday, May 25

Conference Funding

1. Source of funding
   
   a) Professional Writing Program; b) conference registration; c) exhibitor fees

   While written commitment from other constituents has not been secured, it is virtually certain that the Department of English and the School of Liberal Arts will also provide support in some fashion. For past (and similar conferences), the Dept. has provided TA funds, and the School has provided registration assistance for graduate students.
   
   
2. Amount of funding
   
   a) $2,000; b) $57,500* 3) $1,500
   
   * Based upon 250 faculty registrations (@ $150) and 200 student registrations (@ $100)
   
3. How will you allocate funding? (Please attach detailed preliminary budget)

This breakdown is based upon a budget estimate prepared by Purdue's Division of Conference Services, which will manage registration, catering, room setup, and other events. For the actual working budget sheet, please see the PDF document, CWbudget.pdf (22k).

Salaries & Fringe $100.00
Signs & Posters $100.00
Data entry - 500 @ $2.75 $1,375.00
Name badges $100.00
Keynote Speakers $3,000.00
Travel $1,500.00
Lodging $500.00
Fri/Sat am liquid only breaks for 500 x 2 days $3,500.00
Fri/Sat Lunch 400 @ $11 each x 2 days $8,800.00
Thursday Reception for 300 @ $13 each $4,000.00
Friday Banquet for 400 @ $18 each $7,200.00
Saturday Picnic for 400 @ $20 each $8,000.00
Sunday Brunch 300 @ $10 each $3,000.00
Credit Card Fees $1,155.00
AV & Room Rental $4,000.00
Promotion $2,000.00
Awards & Entertainment $2,000.00
CD-ROM - Post Conference publication $500.00
Conference Division $9,732.00

1. Approximately what will you charge for registration? What will additional events (e.g., special tours or trips) costs?
   
   We anticipate that conference fees will breakdown as follows, with adjustment downward possible as we make decisions regarding meals:
   
   Full Conference: $150.00 (General); $100.00 (Student/Adjunct Faculty)
   Teachers/Administrator's Day (Saturday): $75
   Late Registration: $175.00 (General); $125.00 (Student/Adjunct Faculty)
   
   As indicated in the preliminary budget, conference fees will cover refreshments throughout the conference, lunch on Friday and Saturday, the Friday banquet and entertainment, Saturday picnic, and Sunday brunch. Special events (tour) will be inexpensive (e.g., $8 for Wolf Park tour). While these fees are more than what they were at Ball State, they are similar to what has been charged in previous years. Most meals will be provided and housing will be inexpensive (especially at the residence halls). Up to twenty graduate students from Purdue have attended C & W conferences in past years in any given year, so they won't have housing costs (many may be willing to provide accomodations for graduate students traveling in). As mentioned above, the School of Liberal Arts has in the past covered a certain number of registrations for local graduate students as well. We expect that will happen again.
   
   We also plan to apply for some grants from outside agencies. The greater Lafayette community's generosity and Purdue's large alumni base (especially in rhetoric and composition) make it likely that graduate student costs, and even costs to all attendees, may be offset somewhat. David Blakesley is also on a strategic planning committee responsible for leveraging funds to bring scholars and leaders from high-technology fields to campus for lectures, so that may help us offset funds needed for remuneration of guest speakers.
   

Conference Facilities

1. In the past, up to 400 people have registered for the Conference on Computers and Writing. Please list hotel(s) and number of rooms to be set aside for attendees.
   
   We are projecting 450 registrants.
   
   Main facility providing accommodations: Purdue Union Club Hotel. This facility has been completely renovated, with high-speed Internet connections in each room. It is immediately adjacent to the Stewart Conference Center, where the main conference program will be held.
   
   Number of rooms reserved: 200
   
   Additional Hotels: University Residence Halls will be available for low-cost lodging and are just a short walk from Stewart Center. Rooms have high-speed Internet connections available. Average cost per room per night is $30.00. We also have overflow availability in the Holiday Inn Express, opening in August 2002 and a 10-minute walk to campus.
   
   Number of rooms reserved: 200
   

2. What will you do to provide a location and adequate exposure for exhibitors? How will you guard against uneven placement and ensure traffic for the exhibits?
   
   Most conference events will be held in Stewart Center, which is a state-of-the-art conference facility. We have reserved an entire floor for the conference, with ballroom-sized rooms for exhibitions, keynote addresses, and banquets, so everything will be in close proximity, including the ongoing exhibit. One portion of the exhibitor area will include equipment for poster displays and laptops for use by attendees throughout the conference. We have also reserved a large, theater-style facility (Loeb Playhouse) for evening special events.
   
   Links: Purdue Memorial Union, Stewart Center, Purdue Conference Division
   

3. What will be the cost of hotel or university accommodations for attendees?
   
   Average cost per room in the Purdue Memorial Union is about $80.00 per night. In the Residence Halls, average cost per room per night is $30.00
   

4. Why are you a good site for the conference in terms of excellence of faculty planners, computer/conference facilities, accommodations, and travel? How far is the conference site from a major airport? Identify any potential travel agency connection.
   
   Purdue is home to well-established programs in rhetoric and composition, professional writing, and linguistics, with a proud history of sponsoring important conferences, such as the 1999 WPA Workshop and Conference. Because of the range and scope of our programs and academic specialties, faculty planners can generate interest for the conference among many constituencies, including (of course) people working in computers and writing, but also those working in writing program administration, technical and professional communication, rhetorical and visual studies, academic publishing, writing center theory and administration, second language writing, and more. Purdue is also home to important publications in the field, each of which will play an important role in disseminating information about the conference and in post-conference discussion and publication, including The Writing Instructor, Writing Lab Newsletter, Journal of Second Language Writing, and WPA: Writing Program Administration. We have a large contingent of graduate students who have been mainstays at Computers and Writing conferences in past years, so interest in the field is high.
   
   The Professional Writing Program houses its own servers, as does Purdue's OWL. Technology Coordinator and OWL Webmaster, Erin Karper, will be a key person on the planning team. We have immediate access to and control over the technologies that will support the conference, the conference registration and proposal submission, and pre- and post-conference publications. Purdue's ProNoun MOO is well-established. The Professional Writing Program hires its own technical consultant. Shawn Carroll, also on the planning committee, serves the Department of English as technology liaison with the School of Liberal Arts.
   
   One member of our planning committee and recent Purdue Alumni, Melinda Turnley, has broached the subject of hosting the online conference with support and sponsorship from the Computers and Writing Research Lab (CWRL) at the University of Texas at Austin. CWRL at UT Austin, where Dr. Turnley is an assistant professor, is eager to host the online conference and in working with the planning committee at Purdue to so that both events complement each other well.
   
   Specifically, the following faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and alumni will participate in the planning and conduct of the conference at Purdue:
   
   Kate Agena, Janet Alsup, Allyson Barr, Linda Bergmann, Samantha Blackmon, David Blakesley (Chair), Nicole Brown, Shawn Carroll, Tracy Clark, Kevin Eric DePew, Teddi Fishman, Mary Gitzen, Amy Kimme Hea, Jessie Kapper, Mike Kapper, Erin Karper, Mike Pennell, Thomas Rickert, Julia Romberger, Shirley Rose, Bridget Fahey Ruetenik, Tony Silva, Pat Sullivan, Melinda Turnley, Meredith Weisberg, Irwin Weiser, and Julie Woodford
   
   Finally, West Lafayette is conveniently located, 60 miles north of Indianapolis International Airport, with convenient shuttle service via Lafayette Limo for a round-trip cost of $35. We are also a two-hour's drive south of Chicago, with convenient Interstate access. Irvine Travel will be the conference travel agency and has substantial experience coordinating travel to events at Purdue. Stewart Center, which will host most program events and is within 100-feet of the main conference hotel, offers first-class accommodations for conferences. The Purdue Memorial Union houses newsstands, restaurants, a copy center, and more.
   

5. What computer support can you provide for attendees drafting papers, printing documents, checking email, and so forth?  Are labs available on campus? What kind of local dial-up access will be available?
   
   We will provide a computing center near the exhibitor area where people can check email, prepare presentations, and more on high-end Dell laptops. The English Department's Multimedia Instructional Preparation Lab (MIPL) will be open for use as well and offers 4 machines equipped with all the software and peripherals needed for advanced multimedia authoring and digital video production. Purdue University Computing Centers will also be available across campus, some open 24 hours. There is a copy center in the main hotel and within 100 feet of the main conference center.
   
   High-speed Internet connections will be available in all hotel rooms.

6. The ideal site will be in a location that offers a safe environment for conference attendees regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and cultural background. To your knowledge, are there any legal, social, or cultural reasons that your site may pose a problem?
   
   No.
   

7. The ideal site will also have facilities that are accessible to the disabled. How does your site ensure accessibility?
   
   The conference center and hotels are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
   

Conference Program and Events

1. Past conferences have sponsored as many as 55 one-hour-15-minute sessions over a two- or three-day period. These are concurrent sessions with approximately four speakers for each session. Conferences have commonly begun with workshops, registration, and keynote on Thursday, held concurrent sessions all day Friday and Saturday and on Sunday morning and ended with a brunch or lunch and final speaker on Sunday. Briefly describe your plans for the conference program--its structure and focus.
   
   At present, we do not plan on altering the basic structure of the conference. We will have workshops, registration, and a keynote address on Thursday, then concurrent sessions, poster sessions, meals, and keynotes on Friday and Saturday. The conference would conclude with a Sunday morning brunch, Town Hall meeting, and closing speaker.
   
   We would like to alter the circumstances of the keynote addresses somewhat, perhaps by moving the Friday keynote to the late afternoon instead of having it during the banquet, when people are more interested in socializing. We will also include opportunities for entertainment later in the evening.
   
   One other component will include more opportunities for attendees to interact with various technologies on site, probably through scripted and ongoing poster sessions in high traffic areas. People will be able to propose poster sessions as an alternative to panel or individual presentations. We would like to have these 90-minute sessions, with as many as 10 poster sessions running simultaneously, on both Friday and Saturday. Poster sessions would be scheduled so that they wouldn't conflict with panel presentations.
   

2. Who will you ask to review proposals to ensure high quality?
   
   We plan to involve a substantial number of people in the review of proposals, including specialists in the field who already serve on the editorial board of The Writing Instructor, many of whom have regularly attended Computers and Writing Conferences. CW 2003 Chair (Blakesley) has substantial experience facilitating peer review, as both an editor and a conference planner (2002 Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society) and a program planner (1999 Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society).
   
   Our aim is to involve a sizable team of reviewers from a variety of institutional settings, nationally and internationally.
   
   Conference planners may also serve as reviewers:
   Kate Agena, Janet Alsup, Allyson Barr, Linda Bergmann, Samantha Blackmon, David Blakesley (Chair), Nicole Brown, Shawn Carroll, Tracy Clark, Kevin Eric DePew, Teddi Fishman, Mary Gitzen, Amy Kimme Hea, Jessie Kapper, Mike Kapper, Erin Karper, Mike Pennell, Julia Romberger, Shirley Rose, Thomas Rickert, Bridget Fahey Ruetenik, Tony Silva, Pat Sullivan, Melinda Turnley, Meredith Weisberg, Irwin Weiser, and Julie Woodford
   

3. Are you planning on sponsoring other events (dinners, tours) that attendees might participate in? If so, please list, with cost above in the Funding section
   
   In addition to the regularly scheduled meals and Saturday picnic (probably to take place at Purdue's Birk Boilermaker Golf Complex or Happy Hollow Park), we will organize a tour of Wolf Park, which is home to a behavioral research center for the study of the wolf's reproductive and inter-pack social behavior and offers visitors up-close observation opportunities on "Howl Nights."
   

4. What specific features are you planning to make your meeting unique or to improve or enhance the Computers and Writing Conference?
   
   We're excited about the venue in Stewart Center because exhibitors, panel sessions, and meals will all be close together, allowing for ongoing interaction. We plan to push hard to bring publishers and high-tech companies to the conference to allow attendees to interact with editors (journal editors and book publishers) and with new technologies.
   
   We would like to focus special attention on the future of electronic and digital publication, in scholarly, creative, and classroom contexts. Purdue University Press is an e-book publisher. The Writing Instructor, Writing Lab Newsletter, and Journal of Second Language Writing can play an important role in facilitating these discussions, perhaps joining Kairos in the effort to draw attention to what's new and what's said in the field and at the conference.
   
   We would also like to see some attention to developing linkages across the fields of computers and writing and technical (or scientific) communication, with the hope that we can through this conference interanimate two sub-disciplines that have much in common. We will work to facilitate that dialectic.
   
   Finally, we like the idea of trying to facilitate ongoing special-topics seminars, which would have a team leader and then groups of ten (or so) meeting throughout the conference to focus on a theme of interest, similar to what has been successful at previous Burke conferences. (Read a description of such seminars at the Burke conference site.)

Conference Management and Staff

1. What kind of help or advice from past organizers would you find most useful?
   
   Naturally, we're interested in learning what feedback has been received regarding events at previous conferences. We're also eager to find out effective strategies for encouraging post-conference networking, which is perhaps one of the most valuable consequences of a good conference.
   
   We also will want to discuss the proposal submission process with past organizers. We're very impressed by how the submission process has been set-up for CW 2002, especially allowing people to develop and update their proposals, both before the proposal deadline and prior to the conference itself.
   
   We have practical questions about the number of people who typically attend certain functions, which have to be carefully budgeted.
   
   We are presuming that Purdue would ultimately be liable should there be some disaster preventing the conference from taking place or seriously affecting attendance. What, then, happens should the conference come under budget as well?
   

2. Would you be willing to serve on the CCCC's Committee on Computers and Composition for the year preceding and following your sponsoring the conference, to receive and then provide counsel about sponsoring the conference?
   
   Yes, absolutely. The Chair and several others on the planning committee have already expressed interest in longterm involvement with the 7Cs.
   

3. Which previous Computers and Writing Conferences have you and/or your Co-Chairs attended?
   
   Blakesley has attended two C & W conferences (2001 and 1999). Blackmon, Clark, Karper, Kimme Hea, Fahey Ruetenik, Turnley, Woodford, and Weisberg have attended numerous C & W conferences as well.
   

4. Please add any other comments you might have regarding plans for the Conference on Computers and Writing.
   
   We're very excited about the prospect of hosting C & W 2003 and of making our contribution to the ongoing discussion in parlors virtual and real. We should note also that we are amenable to suggestions and changes in this proposal/plan, which we consider a work-in-progress. Finally, we would also like to thank Rich Rice for his helpful advice and for the ample materials he has shared with us.
   

— Respectfully Submitted,
David Blakesley

Last Updated: 11.18.01--DB
Page URL: http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu/~blakesle/cw2003/cwpurdue.html