Announcing:The Association of Teachers of Technical Writing10th Annual Conference Conference date: Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 8:00 a.m.In conjunction with the 2007 CCCC Annual Convention, March 21-24, New York City, New York pw.english.purdue.edu/ATTW Resilience: Rebuilding (in) New YorkWe take the City of New York as our example and model for re-building and re-imagining the University as a site of resilient action. As we make pilgrimage to Ground Zero, we see a city renewed, its citizens united and defiant, economy and culture both booming and blooming. Families are moving into the city center. Neighborhoods thrive. And New York is a shining example of resilience in the face of challenge.                        Following 9/11, the city was wounded, and significant economic change rippled across the nation, challenging our sense of purpose as the economy shifted to accommodate both business adjustment and physical assault. This year in New York, we gather to consider the progress and purpose of a city triumphantly renewed with purpose and vigor, to consider the University as a city of knowledge challenged by political, economic, and cultural forces. The Association of Teachers of Technical Writing invites you to register and attend the 10th Annual Conference in New York.  Some sample titles of panels, papers, and posters include:

Please distribute this electronic CFP widely as appropriate.  Distribute
attached PDF in print.

CALL FOR PAPERS & POSTERS
ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF TECHNICAL WRITING
10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

200 word proposals due: October 15, 2006.  Conference date: Wednesday,
March 21, 2007, 8:30 a.m.
In conjunction with the 2007 CCCC Annual Convention, March 21-24, New
York City, New York

RESILIENCE: REBUILDING (IN) NEW YORK
We take the City of New York as our example and model for re-building
and re-imagining the University as a site of resilient action. As we
make pilgrimage to Ground Zero, we see a city renewed, its citizens
united and defiant, economy and culture both booming and blooming.
Families are moving into the city center. Neighborhoods thrive. And New
York is a shining example of resilience in the face of challenge.
       
Following 9/11, the city was wounded, and significant economic change
rippled across the nation, challenging our sense of purpose as the
economy shifted to accommodate both business adjustment and physical
assault. This year in New York, we gather to consider the progress and
purpose of a city triumphantly renewed with purpose and vigor, to
consider the University as a city of knowledge challenged by political,
economic, and cultural forces. Therefore the Association of Teachers of
Technical Writing issues this Call for Papers and Posters for its 10th
annual conference to be held March 21, 2007 in New York City, New York.
The ATTW seeks 15-minute individual papers, 3-person panels, and posters
that report new research, theory and pedagogy that address:

* Emerging opportunities for technical communication in its most broad
definition: Nanotechnology, informatics, biotechnology, new media, and
other promising partners for research, teaching and pedagogy.

* Emplacement of technical writing in the University:  On the 10th
anniversary of the publication of Readings' The University in Ruins, how
have programs and departments prepared to rebuild, renew, and reimagine
institutional roles?  How do we articulate strengths and focus limited
resources?

* Discourses for knowledge building:  What discourses-ecology,
architecture, community, rhetoric, policy, design, metaphors, etc.-frame
our discussion of technical communication? How can we take New York,
Gotham, as inspiration for rethinking programs, diversity, and
engagement? Can New Yorkers offer us an example of unity of purpose and
perseverance in moments of crisis?

* Diversity and diversification: How can the field expand, improve, and
maintain effective relationships with traditional institutional partners
in computer science, business, medicine, and engineering as these fields
find themselves challenged by globalization and a culture actively
questioning science?  How do we participate, support, and lead change
among our established partners as we seek to innovate?

* How do urban centers interact with agricultural, sub- and ex- urban
areas? How can rural and urban Universities collaborate?  Consider
issues of insourcing, outsourcing, and globalization. Articulate our
participation in rebuilding and re-envisioning local and global
communities and economies.  These roles redefine technical communication
and technical rhetors as partners in resilient, innovative communities.

* What historical lessons inform our current attempts to engage and
overcome the challenges we face? Is this current moment without
precedent, or are there examples, histories, narratives, and experiences
that effectively inform, contextualize, and help us analyze current
questions? What precedents exist within rhetorical and related field(s)
of research for engaging and participating in our communities?

* Building and rebuilding technical communication as a research
discipline: Empirical research supports resilient inquiry: describe
research projects using new and proven methods to make knowledge.

200 word proposals are due October 15, 2006.  Proposals can be made in
one of three formats: (1) Individual, 15 minute paper presentation; (2)
Three-person, 45-minute panel proposal, or (3) Poster presentation,
day-long publicly displayed.  Submit proposals via the ATTW website [
www.attw.org ].  Information and updates will be posted to [ ATTW-L ]
email discussion forum. For additional information, contact Michael J.
Salvo at Purdue University [ salvo@purdue.edu ] or Carol Johnson at The
New Jersey Institute of Technology [ cjohnson@ADM.NJIT.EDU ].  New
teachers of technical and professional writing are particularly invited
to attend the conference, as are CCCC attendees interested in technical
writing. 

http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i27/27a00601.htm

I thought this community might be interested to see how the Chronicle represents what's going on in Lubbock.

Michael

I'm forwarding this call for papers on behalf of Brent Faber, the 2006 conference chair.
Call for Papers, Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, 9th Annual Conference

Proposals due: October 28, 2005

Wednesday, March 22, 2005, 8:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
In conjunction with the 2005 CCCC Annual Convention (March 22-25) Chicago, Illinois

Texts/Technology
Conference theme: Technology as Text
This year's conference will explore our field's unique relationships with technology. We will explore and examine new research, teaching methods, workplace practices, and administrative activities that inform and teach us about new, current, and past technologies.

Interesting on many levels, the intensity of the blog-based criticism of the new Los Alamos director and his potential removal seems pertinent to this community in many ways. The New York Times story describes the events as digital democracy, or at least as popular dissent and resistance, while the LANL blog itself presents an example of collective digital rheorical action and resistance. Any similar examples folks can offer? I'd love to know of similar events...

While I'm no friend of Gates & Co, Thomas Friedman makes an interesting point in today's column reporting that Bill Gates thinks American High Schools fail to prepare kids for the digital future. No surprise there. But I can't help thinking that good experiments continue to be overlooked ... and then repeated in a vaccuum ... without being recorded and scrutinized. With no possibility of being reflectively reproduced or tested. Perhaps half this mesage is also in response to Richard Haswell's article in Written Communication April 2005, "NCTE/CCCC's Recent War on Scholarship." This is a link to the abstract, and you can download the article if your library is subscribed.

http://tinyurl.com/3w6gm

I double-checked, and the date on this story is April 4, so this is probably not an April Fools' joke, although I appreciate the 4/1 postings. Google's sports drink beta test was my favorite spoof this year. [http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=1728]

Anyway, looks like Negroponte and a few other MIT folks are thinking of atoms as well as bits in designing super-cheap (>100-USD) laptop computers for use worldwide. From the story:

"When the kids bring them home and open them up, it's the brightest light source in the home," said Negroponte. "Parents love it."

I thought for sure there would be a discussion of this news item going already ... or perhaps the story is too tame.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/07/w.h.blogger.ap/index.html

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- With an official credential hanging from his neck, a young man stepped into the White House briefing room Monday as perhaps the first blogger to cover the daily press briefings.

He found the surroundings to be dilapidated and cramped and concluded that his morning at the White House was "remarkably uneventful.""

-M

This SlashDot article states that the Department of the Interior has been forced offline again due to vague security concerns, cutting digital access to federal information. The Bush administration seems determined to reduce access to legitimate content: first ordering times and locations of public meetings removed from websites, then restricting access to information architecture materials through the DoE, and now the DoI is offline.

http://tinyurl.com/3ftbc

Posted by michael on Tuesday March 16, @04:43PM
from the is-there-a-sysadmin-in-the-house? dept.
IO ERROR writes "The U.S. District Court ordered the Department of Interior to take all its systems offline for the third time, saying that its systems were too insecure to be left open.