The idea for my final video project developed from our week four materials, through which we studied memes and social media. From those readings, I am citing Dana Michele Boyd and Elspeth Reeve in reference to online identity, also Ryan Milner in relation to Poe’s Law. In response to a week four blog prompt, I chose to watch and blog about the movie We Are Legion: The Story of the…

When I came to Stony Brook in the early 1990s, my first writing class was EGL 202, in which we read and discussed articles on current events. These ranged from a newspaper column arguing how disrespectful it was for students to wear baseball caps to class (we laughed because every student who was late for this discussion drifted in wearing a baseball cap), to an article on abortion, which was…

This week I’m presenting on “Making as Learning: Mozilla and Curriculum Design.” I had grand ideas of using Mozilla Webmaker, which the authors feature in their experiential learning case study.  However, I’m a proud owner of an IPhone, and I discovered that Webmaker only works on Andriods.  Instead, I checked out Mozilla’s Thimble, which turns out to have helpful tools for teachers and students regarding experience architecture in digital rhetorics.…

GamerGate/trolls and cyberfeminism seem to be direct opposites as far as their goals and methods. While the former aims to destroy its target, the latter in its most balanced form desires to encourage, support, and enable all people. One of this week’s readings, Zachary Jason’s “Game of Fear,” details challenges faced by Zoe Quinn, who was targeted by multiple groups and individuals, and argues that Quinn, “like many women in the…

  WATCH: Gucci bewitches crowd with heads and snakes at Milan’s Fashion Week https://t.co/SMdNO4UvwF pic.twitter.com/OIoaOH9VS9 — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 22, 2018 Two days ago, Gucci’s creative director staged a visual interpretation of Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto.” As I looked at the weird and wonderful designs making their way down the runway, I thought of Haraway’s metaphorical cyborg, which is at the same time, “a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of…

How might the use of technology contribute to students’ and educators’ understanding of the extent to which personal and cultural identity is woven through “literate” practices? How might educators use this knowledge to develop practices which benefit international students? These questions are explored in Transnational Literate Lives in Digital Times, in which Patrick W. Berry,  Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe, seek a broader understanding of the impact of digital literacies…

The rise of Anonymous is chronicled by the movie, We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012), in which self-described nerds become a force for change whilst living in in their parents’ basements. This loosely-bound movement emerged in a way which is contrary to the social media included in this week’s readings. For instance, Dana Michele Boyd’s article discusses the idea that “to exist in mediated contexts, people must engage in explicit…

Michael Crichton’s Prey incorporates concepts of computer programming, nano technology and genetic engineering to effectively send a warning about the dangers of emergent group behavior: a process which can develop from individually-programmed “agents.” I was reminded of this book as I read Katherine Hayles’ Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, in which she includes her interpretation of the development of cybernetics. When explaining third wave cybernetics, a quality that Hayles highlights…

As a result of accepting a vacation offer to visit South Carolina a few months ago, my husband, Charlie, and I ended up sitting through a timeshare presentation. In effect, the entire sales pitch was designed to convince clients that it was in their best interests to invest thousands of dollars to acquire one week’s stay annually in one of this particular company’s vacation spots. Once we entered the sales…

I currently work as a writing tutor, interacting primarily with international students.  These students bring a rich variety of cultural backgrounds and educational traditions to American universities, which often contribute to, and are expressed through, the rhetorical influences which shape their writing. In this context, I am considering the role of the writing center in supporting and encouraging international students through intercultural conversations between tutors and their clients. International students’…