Introduction to "Composition is a Community Happening"

introductions, syllabus, wiki,  q&a

Homework: drafts due Wednesday night. Then, we will look at these in class on Thursday, and finish these exercises by Friday at midnight, EST.

STEP ONE: LOG IN (CREATE AN ACCOUNT). Then, you be able to edit and create pages. Then: read...write...and read again!

1. Who are you?

Introduction to narrative. Follow the link, but feel feel free to free-form or use another template besides the Who's "Who are You?", ok? No matter how you decide to introduce yourself, please elaborate on your interests and share information in connection to a particular community.

2. Writing on the Web: License Arguments

Intellectual property/creative commons: what's at stake? Follow the steps of this assignment prompt and at the creative commons web site, and select a license. If you get stuck, post your questions to the help page in the SideBar that appears on each page on this wiki.

3. Sharing Resources and Ideas: "Link Pile"

During each phase (segmented by unit assignments) of our semester, we will share resources connected to a common topic, theme, issue, case, text, and whatever is currently most important/challenging/exciting about our writing processes. Our first common talking point, just to get things started, will be "the Happenings." Please read Allan Kaprow's Some Recent Happenings (linked here, but also available on ubuweb, where you will also find other articles, movies, and sound files by and and about Fluxus artists (this link harbors 37 films) and other participants in the Happenings movement), the wikipedia page on Happenings, and browse An Anthology of Chance Operations. While immersed in the wikipedia page, think associatively, make connections to your own experiences and interests, follow links, and share the 3 most interested web pages you found (these can feature images, written text, sounds, or any combination of these modalities) on your wiki page and on our collective Link Pile page. From Kaprow's article, select one Happening and describe what you think a performance of this Happening could like like today, here on our campus. From the "Anthology," select text from one piece or one essay, and analyze/respond. All told, this blog should approximate 300 words. Who knows where we can go from here?

4. Writing to Explore

Read the Writing to Explore chapter in the McGraw-Hill Guide (MHG). Our goal in the first segment of the semester will be to explore the critical needs of Pinellas County and the nonprofit agencies working to respond to these needs. But let's start by simply reading the Writing to Explore chapter and generating conversation by forging connections between our wiki posts and the MHG text. As you read, watch the  Recent Changes page on our wiki. After reading and reflecting, select some writing--a paragraph, a sentence, or even a phrase--from a peer's wiki space that resonates with something you read or that came to mind while reading these chapters in MHG, and paste it to your page. Explain the connection, and then create a link back to your peer's page.