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February 24, 2005
project(ile) over(board)
(x-posted to 611... but it's evidence i'm here, anyway...)
the grand scheme, refocused: color me returning to the land of the lit review for this project, whose broadest goal is to better acquaint me with the theoretical frames & practical applications that have characterized collaborative writing in composition during the 1980s and 1990s. i am keenly interested in the archival work i initially proposed to undertake, but realized i was going about this out of order: before making cogent sense of the artifacts i hope to study, i need a better sense of what's happened, and what kinds of sense have been made of it already.
concrete objects: there are two piles of books concerned with issues of collaboration, writing as a social activity, and intellectual property on my desk, 3 from 1987-90 (Ede & Lunsford, Gere, and LeFevre), 3 from 1994-2000 (Buranen & Roy, Leonard, et al, and Spigelman). there is a 1978 reading theory book (Rosenblatt) on my recliner-chair. College English is accessibly archived online & available through the SU library website & JSTOR from as early as 1939; my version of Adobe is current & working just fine.
not exactly distillation:
Bruffee, Kenneth A. "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind.'" College English 46.7 (November 1984): 635-52.
Buranen, Lise and Alice M. Roy, eds. Perspectives on Plagiarism and Intellectual Property in a Postmodern World. Albany: SU of New York P, 1999.
*primarily articles from sections 1-3 (definitions)*
Gere, Anne Ruggles. Writing Groups: History, Theory, and Implications. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.
LeFevre, Karen Burke. Invention as a Social Act. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.
Leonard, James S., Laura Brady, and Robert Murray. "Collaborative Writing: A Browser's Bibliography." Author-ity and Textuality: Current Views of Collaborative Writing. Ed. James S. Leonard, Christine E. Wharton, Robert Murray Davis, and Jeanette Harris. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill P, 1994. 229-250.
Ede, Lisa and Andrea A. Lunsford. Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1990.
Rosenblatt, Louise. The Reader, The Text, The Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1978.
Spigelman, Candace. Across Property Lines: Textual Ownership in Writing Groups. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2000.
what i want to know: what does "collaborative writing" variously mean to different experts? (i.e. co-writing, peer editing, collaborative drafting with one person having final editorial "say" over the product, writing that takes place in a conversational milieu, some or all of the above?) where are the sites of collaboration in these writers' conceptions? (i.e. between people sitting side-by-side with a text in front of them, between writers and readers, between writers and other people not present in the space/time of the writing event?) what is the relationship, for these authors, between the traditionally individualistic conceptualization of the solitary writer and the definitions & purposes of collaboration as they define it? how do the writers who deal with the development of collaborative work in the field describe its history? how do their accounts differ? how do their accounts and projections correspond with my experiences in writing classes during the decades in question?
the clock is ticking: tasks = 1) download .pdf & read it, because it's the oldest thing on my list, & 2) skim these books, or the sections thereof that seem most relevant, in something approximating chronological order, & 3) take better notes than i've taken for white & connors. 4) post abbreviated versions of those notes as an annotated bibliography by march 10th (i.e. before spring break, because becky is crazy). 5) take books to CCCCs, & do the reading on the plane & while i'm there that i've faked in order to rush out annotations. 6) create a relatively chronologically-organized draft of what i've found by april 7th, & solicit feedback specifically geared towards arrangement & presentation: chronology's easy, but what's the bigger picture here (if there is one), & how can/should i arrange these bits to say something? 7) offer brilliant & insightful feedback to my compatriots by april 14th. 8) revise the stuff into a more coherent, focus-driven account in time to post on april 28th. 9) take everybody to chuck's for hot cookies (we'll call ahead to remind them to make some!) to celebrate finishing projects. 10) provide more brilliant & insightful feedback, with chocolate-chip fingerprints, by may 6th.
Posted by ttobryan at February 24, 2005 07:29 AM