On Wed, 17 May 2000 skrause@online.emich.edu wrote:
> Also, I'm not 100% convinced about what I think you are implying about the
> innovative nature of doing something as a hypertext or online or as a
> multimedia presentation. Form in and of itself is not an innovation,
> ultimately. It's what folks do with it, and we're all aware of examples
> of hypertext and such that are hardly innovative, that probably would have
> worked better as traditional print.
Well, I neither stated nor implied that innovation == hypertext or
multimedia. [I've never been confused about the value of form that is
empty of content or unsuited to its content, despite (hm, despite?) my
lack of a terminal degree.] Rather, I was assuming that Jude has subject
matter that would be best presented in a hypertext format, and I object to
anyone encouraging her to force her subject into a flat text format
because that's what a dissertation is.
> And I am also not willing to dismiss the exercise and process part of
> writing a dissertation as something not of value in and of itself. We've
> spent a lot of time in fy comp trying to get away from a product centered
> pedagogy, to one where we value the *process* of writing for what it can
> teach our students for a long time. (Process has a lot of different
> implications and meanings here, but I think you get the idea).
I am not the "we" in the "we value" statements here, but I sure am the
"you" in "you get the idea."
> I saw far too many of the best minds of my generation
> (so to speak) not able to finish because they viewed their diss in more
> creative and even transformative terms.
You know, when I said "you pays yer money and you takes yer choice," I
wasn't referring to these creative people. I was referring to the
institutions whose choose devotion to to their traditions even when it
means letting brilliant and creative people get away. The creative people
have lots of choices; they don't *have* to persevere through the
dissertation to get somewhere where they can make use of their talents. I
don't, for example, see Eric Crump dying in a ditch.
Tari
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