So what does computers and composition sound like?

When I was reading through the first couple of chapters in Shaffer’s book, I keep getting stuck on the idea of school being a type of game. In Shaffer’s words, “much of schooling is about learning to access parts of this cultural record: learning to read, and write, and work with mathematical symbols” (63). Shaffer also states, while talking about microworlds and autoepressivity, that “[w]hatever you do, you do based on assumptions about how the world works.

So out of curiosity I downloaded the online version of Magic The Gathering (If you are unfamiliar with the game or my history with it, see my post from last week: http://www.digitalparlor.org/sp08/blackmon1/node/161). At first I was sucked into the new environment because I could navigate to a game room where other players were waiting to start up a game. But, after playing a few really engaging games with the other online guests, and going undefeated with a few last minute come from behind victories, I became very aware of the solitude I was experiencing.

Here is a link to my presentation for Tuesday, March 18, 2008:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~jbacha/gaming/index.htm

As I reflected on the readings from this week and the discussions we have been having in class about the role games can playing in learning, my mind immediately turned to Bill Hart-Davidson and Tim Peeples’ “Techniques, Technologies and the Deskilling of Rhetoric and Composition.” What came to mind was their comment that “[t]eachers pose challenging rhetorical problems to students to help them learn how to apply rhetorical strategies and techniques covered in class. And usually students are content to play along” (Hart-Davidson and Peeples 276).

What I really latched onto from this week’s readings was Stuart Blythe’s representation of agency in “Agencies, Ecologies, and the Mundand Artifacts in our Midst.” According to Blythe:

Here is a link to our group project.

One point that Banks makes that I found really interesting was the comment he included about BlackPlanet, specifically, a comment left in a forum called “Triflin Personal Pages” (76). According to Banks, the forum read “Okay, I have about had it with some of these pages that are about the equivalent of Mr. T’s gold chains. Too much mess!!

If you like funny computer related stories; I’ve got another one (my first story can be found under Pepper’s entry for this week).
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the, “I think I broke by coffee holder” story (if not, just push the open button on your CD-ROM drive and imagine the possibilities). But have you heard the, “My Printer’s Dead” story. If not, following the advice of Janet Carey Eldred, here is a wonderful story any IT person can relate to:

For my response this week I would like to address two points that seem to be overlooked so far in the discussions we are having here, specifically: Who should we be teaching what to? And where does writing fit into a web-based pedagogical philosophy.