CW98 Virtual Town Hall

[becky.rickly@umich.edu (Becky Rickly)]

Apologies for the cross postings!

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* Come one, come all              *
*       to the Virtual Town Hall! *
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In order to understand who we are and where we're headed, we must examine
the past of computers and writing, both the conference and the subfield,
and in to help facilitate this examination of the past and questioning of
the future, we (Dene Grigar, John Barber, and Becky Rickly) have set up a
series of three Town Hall conversations as part of Computers and Writing
'98.  In our effort to ponder the future of the community and *what we will
have become* in our next history, we will include both visionaries and new
talent in our field in an ongoing conversation with the computers and
writing community in a Virtual Town Hall meeting, starting Thursday, and in
two keynote Town Hall meetings to take place Friday and Saturday during the
conference.

What we hope to achieve with these meetings is a beginning dialogue about
the future of computers and writing--that is, what we will have become in
the future histories of our field.

Join us, then, on the e-mail discussion list Rhetnet-L as we kick off the
Virtual Town Hall meeting on Thursday, May  14th with our first invited
guest speaker, Eric Crump.  (NOTE:  Don't miss Eric at the C-Fest on
Wednesday on LinguaMOO, too!)

To participate, you'll need to subscribe to the Rhetnet-L list. To
subscribe, send email to listproc@lists.missouri.edu, leave the subject
line blank, and in the first line of the note, put: subscribe rhetnet-l
yourfirstname yourlastname  (NOTE:  Eric, is this correct?)

MOO sessions will be held at Lingua MOO, unless otherwise noted in an
announcement.  Directions from the C-Fest announcements are at the bottom
of this message.  Here's a tentative schedule for the online town hall:

WEEK ONE:  Where's the proof?  And What should we be doing with
                computers and writing?

Invited speakers on the rhetnet email list:  Eric Crump (May 14-17),
                Paul LeBlanc (May 18-20)

MOO sessions:  Wed, May 13, Eric Crump and literacy (a response
                to Cindy's keynote address at CCCC) at a pre-scheduled
                C-Fest
                Monday, May 18 Paul LeBlanc and the transitional
                phase in which we live


WEEK TWO:  Preparing for the conference:  is there a rhetoric to computers
and writing?  Who decides what it will be?  What is writing (academic or
otherwise) becoming?

Invited speakers on the rhetnet email list:  Lisa Gerrard (May 20-24),
                Karen Schwalm (May 25-28)

MOO sessions:  Wednesday, May 20, Lisa Gerrard and who we have/are
                becoming in our field
                Monday, May 25, Karen Schwalm and who decides (tentative)

WEEK THREE (postconference):  What we will become

Invited Speakers on Rhetnet:  Steve Krause (May 31-June 3),
                the Computers and Writing Community

MOO session:  Wednesday, June 3, Steve Krause and Everyone:
                what the future holds:  the "electronic metamorphosis
                of the academy"

You can find more information about the Virtual Town Hall meetings at the
Town Hall web site at  www.nsula.edu/~jfbarber/townhall.html


                          ********************
                To get to the C-FEST Forum at LINGUA MOO

                  [telnet to: lingua.utdallas.edu 8888]
                                   or
                    [WWW: http://lingua.utdallas.edu]
                 (Instructions for logging on are below)
Here's how to get to Lingua MOO:

1.  Telnet to:  Lingua.utdallas.edu 8888
2.  Log on as a guest if you do not have a character at Lingua.
        (at Lingua welcome screen type: connect guest firstname)
3.  Type '@go C-FEST' to get to the forum room.
4.  Read the instructions in the room description about where to sit and
        how to talk.
5.  To quit the MOO, type @quit.

Thanks, everyone!

--Becky