Working Web 2.0: User Generated Content and Global Writing

ByCasey R. McArdle

Ball State University

StudentsProgram Goals

Web 2.0

Core curriculum goals of the university: “primary emphasisis preparation for roles people share as human beings andas members of family and community groups” that requirestudents, upon graduation, to work “with others to solvelife’s common problems” (Ball State University).

What is our job?

It is more than just readingand writing – it is a way ofthinking.

Begin with familiar writingassignments, then move intoenvironments our studentsare already well-immersed.

Multiliteracies for a Digital Age by Stuart Selber (2004)

FunctionalCriticalRhetorical

(multiliteracies for any age)

functionality of Web 2.0 (how does it work?) critical thinkers (why does it work the way it does?)rhetorical contributors (how can I add my voice to the discussion?)

Kenneth Bruffee emphasizesthe social nature of publicwriting, something commonin nonacademic settings. Heargues for students to gopublic with their writing toreceive feedback becausepublic writing in classroomsdeemphasizes teacherauthority and urges studentsto see themselves asresponsible writers and toview writing as a socialactivity.

Perhaps most important, seen historically this 21st century writingmarks the beginning of a new era in literacy, a period we mightcall the Age of Composition, a period where composers becomecomposers not through direct and formal instruction alone (if atall), but rather through what we might call an extracurricularsocial co-apprenticeship. (Yancey)

Uniting Jürgen Habermas & Web 2.0...in civil society private persons congregatewho are not acting in any official capacitywhen they gather, who do not know eachother intimately, and who meet primarily totalk and exchange opinions... we muststrive to fully reintegrate the discourses ofmodern science, art, and politics with theeveryday perspectives of a life-world inwhich people strive to secure a decentexistence for themselves and their lovedones. (Leitch 1743-1744)

Student: “I’ll never doubt the power of my blog!”

Me: “Never doubt the power of your voice.”

This is the most important class you will ever take.

Works Cited

Ball State University. University Core Curriculum. 25 September 2010. Web.

Bruffee, Kenneth. “Collaborative learning and the conversation of mankind.” College English 46.7 (1984): 635-52.

Leitch, Vincent B. Ed. et al. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.

Selber, Stuart A. Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Illinois: NCTE, 2004.

Yancey, Kathleen. “Writing in the 21st Century: A Report from the National Council Teachers of English.” NCTE.org Feb. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.

Figures Cited

1.http://wallpapers.free-review.net/23__Egyptian_writing_digital_photography_wallpaper.htm2.http://htmlhelp.com/~liam/Ontario/NiagaraFalls/RainbowBridge/RainbowBridge.jpg3.http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31V0G1JZB2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg4.http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/facebook-2.jpg5.http://www.eblogtemplates.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/aspire-blogger.jpg6.http://images.worldofapple.com/2010/09/itunes10_ping.jpg7.http://www.almostsmart.com/wallpaper/Weasel/earthlights.jpg8.http://ycorpblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/babycomputer.jpg9.http://static2.unlike.net/system/photos/0051/7792/artfutura1.jpg?1255955420http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jya85bJnpng/TBv9WQck3OI/AAAAAAAAAd8/kNDVHIWTFf4/s1600/Habermas+in+Frankfurt.jpg10.http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/070508-ga3.jpg11.http://heyjude.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/digitalliteracy.jpg