Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Better for beta
As we mentioned a couple of posts back, we have got a manuscript of the new edition of New Literacies -- New Literacies 2.0 -- away to the publishers this week.
We thought it would be a good idea, however, for anyone who happens to stumble on this post to be able to take a look at some of the thinking in the new version if they want to. Feedback is welcome. We will post links to individual chapters at intervals while we are in the process of working the book through to publication.
Since Chapter 1 is almost the same as the version in the first book we will post it here in conjunction with Chapter 2 for starters.
We are sure the mss will be all the better for beta readings, so if anyone wants to weigh in with feedback please do.
Photo opportunities for aging white males
It was a big day for Dubya. On one hand, he responded to fears expressed yesterday that the poor performance of his Administration in current polls could cost the Republicans their majority in both houses in November's upcoming elections by appointing Fox News Radio host Tony Snow as White House Press Secretary.
It's hard to say from the flick how he feels about that. On the other hand, it make the link between Murdoch and US politics just a little more transparent in case we needed that.
On the other hand his flunkies had to go into battle with the Rolling Stones over the right to occupy some a temporary basis. 'Dubya' and Mick Jagger are both scheduled to be in Vienna at the same time and both want 'the luxurious Royal suite at the ritzy Imperial Hotel'. The problem is that Mick was first to make the booking. Moreover, Mick has refused to budge.
According to AOL Canada's Entertainment page, The Rolling Stones' frontman showed no 'sympathy for the devil' when Dubya's lackeys tried to get the desired rooms. Jagger, who has spoken out against Bush's involvement in Iraq, refused to give up the $6,300 per night suite viewed as one of the top 100 hotel rooms in the world. "White House officials had wanted to reserve the suite and all the other rooms on the first floor," a source told the UK's Sun. "But Mick and The Stones had already booked every one of the be under the impression that they would just hand over the suites but there was no way Mick was going to do that."
Jagger lashed out at Bush on The Stones' 'A Bigger Bang' album singing, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite. You call yourself a patriot, well I think you are full of [expletive deleted]."
Amen, Mick.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Finished and sent, but will it run?
Whew. We finally got the mss for the new edition of New Literacies sent off to the publishers today. It's a bit on the long side -- 100,000 words. And bits of it, which we like to think of as the 'theoretical bits', are a bit long and slow. But overall we reckon it is stronger than the original edition. We're trying to get away with New Literacies 2.0 as the main title. Shameless, to be sure. But the Web 2.0 concept lies very much at the heart of our acoount of 'new' literacies, albeit encased within a larger concept of 'participation in an ascending mindset'.
It is good to have the job done and out of the way for now. Mind you, it assumed a much larger than 'book alone' life during its gestation. It was occupational therapy for the dude with two broken vertebrae, and it provided a much-needed focus through that 'lying on the back day in and day out' period. Hopefully, however, reading it won't be as painful as much of the writing of it was.
Time'll tell.
So, now it's time to shake some other projects along. The New Literacies Research Handbook, the Digital Literacy Primer, and the New Literacies Sampler. Something to be said for having an expansive range, no?
Other big events on the recent calendar have included Michele seeing a knock out concert by Great Big Sea in New York on Saturday night. She reckons it gave her such a buzz she'll get through the next week of assignment marking with a big smile on her face and joy in her heart. Some band, that Great Big Sea. The evening before the Great Big Sea I had caught Johnny Winter in Montreal. He managed an hour, more or less. But what an hour. The man can still play up to his standing as "Muddy waters' son". How someone could look so frail and perform so strongly is, frankly, impressive. Roll over, Keith. Yer the same age as Johnny but look like an ad for a health spa by comparison.
Long may you both run.
Oh yes, Johnny finished with Dylan's "Highway 61". It brought home to me just how fantastic a songwriter Dylan was around that time. If ever an album merited an association with twin cylinder Triumphs of the classic era it was that one.
How all that coheres with new literacies is anyone's guess.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Off to do our paper
Just a quick line from San Francisco, where we have been attending the annual meeting of the AERA (American Educational Research Association). After a couple of sessions as discussants it's now time to actually present our own paper called "Blogging as Participation: The Active Sociality of a New Literacy". It is part of a session based on Kate Pahl and Jennifer Rowsell's edited book, Travelnotes. Our paper draws on material from the new edition of our New Literacies book due out later this year. We have just finished the draft of the book and are hoping to have the mss ready to go into production by the end of the month.
