CCR 760 Week 6

Privileging the Multitasker

So, I’m reading through Datacloud and thinking about what the implications are for my teaching (as usual) and communication in general. Throughout this course I have been faced with concepts and theories that force me to conjure my previous workplace experience and put them into conversation with my current work as an academic. When Johsnon-Eilola is describing the workspace of Brent Faber in chapter (59-60) I am reminded of my husband’s office when he had his own sign business. He was responsible for nearly every aspect of his business (with occasional assistance from me). He worked directly with every customer from initial sign concept (including logo creation to substrate choice) to completion (installation of sign(s) on client premises). His work process was far from linear too. However, he also had to maintain a somewhat “structured” process. In other words, I wonder how far towards fragmentation is too far?

This question brings me back to the beginning of chapter 2 of Datacloud. Johnson-Eilola recounts noticing how students will vacillate between face-to- face classroom discussion and IM. In this chapter he seems to outline why this behavior should not be considered problematic and instead merely an example of the shift that has taken place in how “we” work. In other words, he suggests that because technology is now ubiquitous and we tend to have several access points to information we are always “multitasking.” Essentially our attention is shared with several concepts at a time. He then takes this example and considers some of the positive effects of being productive in a “fragmented” datacloud environment.

I understand how Johnson-Eiola gets to his point by providing material examples (workplace physical space layout) and interface/platform examples (software capabilities and technologies). And I am in favor of recognizing the non-linear conceptions that are at the core of his theories. I am however, still leery of the potentially negative results from too much “multitasking.” I think again of my husband’s job, he, at some point, has to work in a linear fashion in order to get his “main task” completed. I wonder then if there is a danger in privileging the non-linear work model too much. Are we allowing for attention spans to shrink so much that it will become counter-productive (even to symbolic-analytic work)? I believe there have been studies that call into question the lack of memory capabilities by young adults due to overstimulation. I don’t want to “fight” progress and in no way dismiss all the benefits we reap from technology. I just believe there needs to be a healthy amount of skepticism mixed in and we must remember those that such technology leaves out.

For instance, in Johnson-Eiola’s “Coda” (ch. 8) he reveals that “the digital divide” is still prevalent in our society. On page 156 he states findings from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (2004), “The data reveal that the digital divide—the disparities in access to telephones, personal computers (PCs), and the Internet across certain demographic groups—still exists and , in many cases, has widened significantly. The gap for computers and Internet access has generally grown larger by categories of education, income, and race.” Obviously then this statement brings up concerns of access and opportunity to be a part of the symbolic analytic culture that is being developed and/or evolved. Perhaps, as usual, after reading I am left with more questions than answers.

AT ANT and the relevance of the University

AT ANT and the relevance of the University

For hopefully obvious reasons I could not stop thinking about my teaching practices and pedagogy while reading "Worlds Apart," by Patrick Dias, Aviva Freedman, Peter Medway, and Anthony Pare. My contemplation only deepened while revisiting Clay Spinuzzi's Network: Theorizing Knowledge Work in Telecommunications. I found it remarkably interesting to read these two pieces in tandem and through the lens of technical communication.

As what seems to be standard practice here at SU, I structure my classes around a theme of my own choice and then create writing tasks that allow me to teach students how to approach said task. However, while reading both pieces I couldn’t help but wonder if I would be more effective in the classroom by teaching genre theory, rhetoric, and composition studies. In other words, instead of developing a class around a theme that is not only interesting to me but also “hopefully” interesting to the students then providing opportunities for students to “practice” important rhetorical strategies, I am considering focusing on “writing” itself.

Although the authors of “Worlds Apart” focus on courses and workplaces that are not typically considered writing centered I felt it was very insightful. According to the authors, "As studies of nonacademic writing proliferate, it is possible to see the extent to which writers rely on situation-specific knowledge in the preparation of texts. This "local knowledge" (Geertz, 1983) concerns all aspects of the writing situation, from disciplinary and institutional regulations governing the form and substance of texts to relationships among writers and readers. Such a view of writing has been confirmed in the growing consideration of genre theory in theorizing about writing (Bazerman, 1988; Bazerman & ParadiS, 1991b;Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995; Cope & Kalantzis, 1993; Freedman & Medway, 1994a, 1994b: Swales, 1990)" (qtd in “Worlds Apart”).

After reading the excerpt above I was reminded of how often we talk about genre in class but how rarely we focus on the importance of such knowledge. Spinuzzi echoes this concern with genre when he explains, "Genres—which can be glossed as typified rhetorical responses to recurring social situations (Miller, 1984)—do much of the enacting that holds a network together. They do this work not by virtue of being simply text types or forms but because they are tools-in-use. That is, in this analysis, I stress genre as a behavioral descriptor rather than as a formal one (cf. Spinuzzi, 2003b; Voloshinov, 1973)" (qtd in Network).

In fact both the theories Spinuzzi invokes (activity theory and actor-network theory) are greatly contingent on genre. Because “Worlds Apart,” articulates the importance of understanding how to negotiate writing tasks within the workplace and Spinuzzi illustrates the significance of genre for networks to be effective, it seems imperative that genre be central to writing instruction.

To be clear I do not posit composition as a “service industry” but rather as a discipline that is deeply concerned with making transparent what is often opaque.