I’ve been working today on starting to draw together my paper for Computers and Writing 2004, titled “‘Who Computes?’ Now: Class and the Wired Writing Classroom in the Global Information Economy”. I’m presenting at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, along with Joan Latchaw and Matthew Bunce, and I’m pretty excited about it. My presentation will basically be a draft of the first chapter of my dissertation, where I lay out my economic angle on computers and composition. Today, I’ve been going through various Internet studies — U.S. Department of Commerce, Pew, UCLA — and trying to connect some statistics to my theorizing about class, economics, and computers; tomorrow, I’ll go back through the weblog archives by category and see what I can synthesize. I was thinking about trying to do a dash through Shapiro and Varian’s Information Rules and Dyer-Witheford’s Cyber-Marx (PDF chapters), but I don’t think time will permit, unfortunately.
I’m also moderating one of the very first panels, at 9:30 on Friday, so jet lag is gonna be kicking my ass. Still, it looks super-interesting, with Christopher Carter and Teddi Fishman presenting on “Rhetoric, Ethics, and Surveillance”, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Did I mention it’s in Hawaii? I’ll be taking along my sandals, and the new straw Stetson I picked up in Austin (yes, I’m very fair-skinned), and lightweight linen and cotton. And, well, OK, I’ll admit it: I’ve never been to Hawaii, and I haven’t been to the sea in years and years, so I got me a tiny, cheap little cottage by a quiet beach for a few extra days. If blogging gets scarce next week, you’ll know I’m lying in a hammock with some alcoholic tropical concoction in one hand, dragging my toe in the sand.
Man, that sounds lovely. I’ve never been either.
Have you posted your presentation anywhere? I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say.
Here you go, Joanna. By the way, I was briefly a student at MC, at the Takoma Park campus.