When I write a paper, I have a clear sense of where I want to go; however, I usually find that how I get there is different from what I envisioned originally. Sometimes the difference is significant and, I hope, means an improvement. Sometimes the difference is minor and I don’t know if it made any difference that I did it one way versus another.
When I created this project, research in the rhetoric of new media (RrNm), I envisioned a coordinated research project in which I read in large blocks of related materials.
Since theory is usually a bugaboo for me, I actually structured this project to begin with theorists and theories. These ranged from Burke; Bahktin; and Olbrechts-Tyteca to narrative theory; theories of identity, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity; authorship and agency; compositions studies; and design studies.
Originally I made a list of 23 books and articles that the project would include, but not necessarily be limited to. Some of these were grouped by topic and some by ownership (i.e., I already owned them).
When I started reading, though, I didn’t follow a systematic schedule and –of course– I didn’t start with the theorists. I read whatever caught my interest and connected to the next thing I wanted to know. While that was not a coherent plan, it was a coherent study… It organized around the things I was most interested in, which kept me moving through the project.
I am going to be posting some notes on the blog–quotes from sources and my responses to them. Perhaps even a discussion of where those have evolved to or from.
I will also be posting annotated bibliographic entries, composed as I assign my fyc students to write:
summary
evaluation
reflection on its usefulness/usability
(maybe) quotes (either separately or within the body of the annotation)
All of the RrNm entries will be marked RrNm Ann Bib (even the ones that are not annotated bibs but notes) at the end, which would allow a search to find all the notes and annotations. I will also be using an icon found on DeviantArt by yereverluvinuncleber. His work is also on Pinterest.
This will not be a systematic study, but it will be very focused–sometimes on a single idea and sometimes on a series of related notions. All of them, I believe, impinge on new media and relate to the rhetoric of new media. Some of them are more easily recognized as that than others.
I invite you to follow this journey of discovery that I have decided needs a more public venue than my bookshelf and a more permanent home than the hard drive of my computer.