CCCC 2005: ReviewReview: Blogging the C's After ABC News named "bloggers" as People of the Year for 2004, it's no surprise that bloggers are truly everywhere, including the 2005 CCCC. Actually, bloggers have been at the conference for as long as blogs have existed, but it was during this most recent meeting in San Francisco that I began recognizing bloggers at ever turn. In 1999, I wrote about the conference in my first online journal, but since I composed entries under a pseudonym, I wrote in vague terms and ended up saying very little. Whenever I met another blogger, the encounter always felt somewhat clandestine; blogging was something we did in a back room and certainly not something we would talk about in mixed company. In 2005, however, bloggers kept their laptops open and wireless connections buzzing. Little was deemed unworthy of posting in cyberspace. John Lovas really put it best in his presentation during session C.27, "The New Collegiality." To paraphrase Lovas, blogs have become sites where new professional relationships can form. Veterans of the field can interact with those just entering it. Those teaching at remote campuses can combat their sense of isolation through online interactions with others in the same boat. Lovas's fellow panel participants and bloggers Dale Larson and Joanna Howard joined him in putting forth these claims. Through blogs, there's teaching, learning, and bonding. There was a lot of insightful talk about blogging during the conference, and I fully admit that I did not see everything or meet everyone. One session I did particularly enjoy started off the convention, session A.15, entitled "Public, Private, Political: Social Theories and Blogging Practices." Lanette Cadle, Daisy Pignetti, and Clancy Ratliff analyzed the increasing presence of blogs in our private and public lives. Daisy, in her presentation on the role that blogs played in the last presidential election, pointed out that blogs exert a force that must be recognized, a fact that political operatives no longer ignore. As she put it, "The 2008 election will hinge on technologies about which we know very little at the moment." Other sessions focused on the pedagogical uses of blogging, such as session B.26, "Evaluating Academic Weblogs: Using Empirical Data to Assess Pedagogy and Student Achievement." Bradley Bleck, Derek Mueller, Anne Jones, and Dennis Jerz.discussed topics such as required blogging in first-year composition courses and ways in which blogs encourage further writing and reflection on class topics. Of course, bloggers were not only talking about blogging, but doing it as well. Mike at Vitia posted extenisve comments about the sessions he attended, and Steven Krause posted comments with lots of links. But there was more to capture than what happened a the Moscone Center, and in true blogger fashion, bloggers recorded it all. I, myself, posted every day but the last, chronicling not only a day at Alcatraz and my own presentation (not on blogs) but also the ways in which conferences like this both fuel my insecurities and build desire to continue the work I do. And blogs revealed Clancy's food poisioning and Daisy catching up with old friends. Indeed, one did not have to attend the conference to blog about it, as we see with Cindy from Red Bird Rising. Like I said, bloggers were everywhere, and it's become impossible to meet every CCCC blogger. I missed the Blogging SIG after succumbing to conference exhaustion (though from what I read, it must have been a huge success), but I met or re-connected with several bloggers, and I am sure that they met other bloggers, and so on. After all, meeting bloggers is like reading blogs. You meet one, and then another, and then another. Click on any of the links in this review, and you will find even more links and be able to make more connections. I am sure, for the next few years at least, that blogs will provide us with much instaneous feedback about the CCCC, its location, its sessions, and its people. After all, that's what bloggers do. |
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