Enculturation Blogs

 Perhaps it's my new found love of the iPhone or my teaching writing in electronic environments this semester but this article was interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html. Also, a student gave a presentation yesterday on the changing role of cellphones and she touched on issues raised in the article.

The latest issue of College English contains a review by Laura Brady entitled "Retelling the Composition-Literature Story." While Brady raises some interesting points, (and I agree with her that the composition-literature story needs to be retold) her choice of books for review and the substance of her review itself perpetuate an old problem and ignore a great deal of potentially important scholarship. The old problem she perpetuates is the view--simplistic to the extreme--of English studies as a bifurcated field, split only between literature and composition.

 Well, I hope this doesn't turn into a "What I read in the NYTimes" blog, but this article on trolls was interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html. When I have students work online, inevitably we run into troll-like characters. Recently, a group working on Wikitravel ran into a fellow wikitraveler that, while maybe not a troll, gave students insight into many of the characteristics and activities mentioned in the article. 

From yesterday's NYTimes: "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?" This article seems to be the first in a series on "The Future of Reading." Perhaps "The Future of Writing" series will follow and readers can debate how IM, texting, email, etc. are changing writing. These types of investigations are, as the title indicates, always framed as "debates."

Regarding the Inside Higher Ed column I wrote about yesterday: Gerald Nelms posted an excellent (and devastating) critique of Major's argument on the IHE site yesterday. I would urge everyone to read it. I posted a response (on IHE) to the Major/Nelms debate this morning, and I'm re-posting it here, as follows:

There's an opinion piece over at the Inside Higher Ed website today (July 22) by William Major. Major claims to be arguing for a "reconsideration" of the teaching of composition. He offers a few refreshing and honest insights about the dynamics of English departments.