Multimodal Assignment: OU/Athens/Southeast Ohio Place Blogging

ENG 792E
Amanda Hayes

Assignment Introduction

Several composition scholars have looked at the benefits of taking a place-centered approach to
composition instruction. Of note: In 2001, Derek Owens, in his book Composition and Sustainability,
advocated place-based writing as a means of allowing students to explore and critique their lived
worlds; in doing so, he saw the potential for decreasing environmental degradation, disconnection, and
classroom boredom. In 2004, Kenneth R. Wright called for a greater classroom emphasis on
community literacy, a literacy defined as “the ability to understand, be understood in, and to analyze for
clarification of misunderstandings the discourses tethered to one's communities” (160-161). In 2006,
Paula Mathieu et al published a textbook devoted to promoting place-based writing, entitled, fittingly,
Writing Places. All of these advocate a relevant role for place exploration in the composition
classroom, and all have had an influence on my own pedagogy.

However, perhaps the greatest impetus for this assignment comes most directly from Tim Lindgren's
article, “Place Blogging: Locating Pedagogy in the Whereness of Weblogs.” Lindgren explored the
ideology behind the concept of place blogging, and theorized the potential benefit for students as place-
bloggers, in that they could gain important skills in composition and citizenship. However, Lindgren
did not offer concrete suggestions for place-blog assignments in the composition classroom. The
specifics of my proposed assignment have been pasted together from what seemed to be relevant topics
in the place blog examples Lindgren cites in the article. As such, I propose that my students choose
blog topics under the following categories:

Blog 1: Local geography and history

Blog 2: Local language and culture
Blog 3: Contemporary social issues
Blog 4: Reflection

Students will be required to narrow a topic based on the respective category. I'm reluctant to specify a
specific definition of the “place” to be explored—I would prefer students to discover their own
interests when searching for topics. For instance, if students choose to blog on some aspect of local
history, I would leave relatively open their definition of “local” (so in other words, they could choose to
blog about the history of their dorm, the OU campus, the city of Athens, Athens county, etc.)

I am choosing the blog as a genre largely for the benefits noted by Lindgren (including that students
can have a wider audience and greater genre adaptability). Also, the nature of place writing lends it to
public participation, and blogging seems to be becoming one of the more common—and potentially
powerful—genres of public writing available. In addition, I would offer students to opportunity to work
in small groups for the blog projects, in order to combat individual anxiety and to give students the
chance to be part of a working mini-community. (In their final reflection, I would have students
consider the ways their blog group functioned, or didn't, as a successful community.)

This assignment would be time-consuming; each entry will require planning, research, drafting, and
peer review, as well as time for wider classmate response to the ideas raised in each entry. Therefore,
the assignment would have to run alongside other class projects, rather than before or after. Discussions
on blogging, multimodal composition, place-writing, and demonstrations of each could potentially
occur throughout the quarter, perhaps with the opportunity to revise the early entries later on.

OU/Athens/Southeast Ohio Place Blogging

Amanda Hayes
ENG 151

Introduction

“Knowledge of places comes not only through time spent in them but also through attention paid to
them. When we talk about attending to place, we refer to the meanings that we create in spaces
('place=space+meaning' is one common description of this dynamic) . . . Writing can help create a
sense of place because writing is a fundamental way of making meaning.” -Paula Mathieu, et al

For many students, beginning college means moving to a new and perhaps unfamiliar environment. As
first-year writers, it's likely you are still learning to make sense of Athens as a place. Finding the time
and means to get to know your new environment can be a daunting task. (Or perhaps you've fallen prey
to the mistaken notion that, if one can find his or her way around Court Street, there is nothing more to
know about Athens.) Part of what you will do in this class is begin to look around you, at campus, city,
and regional levels, in order to practice making meaning from and about your surroundings, and situate
yourself in your environment. While you will likely not become an Athens expert over the course of the
quarter (to say that is possible is to greatly oversimplify the place and cultural dynamics that make
Athens, and OU, what they are), you will hopefully gain some of the tools to make you a better writer,
reader, and citizen of your lived-in worlds.

Goals

This assignment has multiple goals. On one hand, this assignment will help you meet the first-year
rhetorical competencies (writing, reading, researching, and responding rhetorically). While doing so,
you will also be exploring local culture in order to hone a more critical sense of place and its
production. This will require you to explore and utilize blogging as a genre, which will require you to
utilize multimodal composition in order to communicate most effectively. (These modes may include
but are not limited to images, film, and sound in addition to alphabetic text.) To make these modal
choices, you will have to consistently analyze your compositional purposes, audiences, and adaptations
of genres. Your blogs should also serve as learning tools for others who want to learn about our area, as
well as inspiring others to form critical senses of place in their own areas. Additionally, you will have
the option of working in groups of no more than four, in order to more effectively explore both your
surroundings and the dynamics of successful community-based production.

Elements and Expectations

Your group will produce a total of 4 carefully crafted blog entries, each exploring some aspect of local
life or culture. The topics for these entries will be chosen from the following broad subject areas:

Blog 1: Local geography and history [Example topics: forest ecology, settlement patterns, economic
trends, Ohio University's founding, etc]

Blog 2: Local language and culture [Example topics: language communities, university culture(s),
 town-gown relations, a specific cultural event or festival, etc.]

Blog 3: Contemporary social issues (explore, explain, and/or argue a local issue)

Blog 4: Reflection

Each blog entry will include approximately 500 words of alphabetic text. Each entry should also take
advantage of additional modes of communication in order to make and convey meaning; these modes
should not be merely decorative. In some cases, you may be able to access the internet for materials
(for example, to describe the economic, social, or environment impact of the coal industry, you might
include a youtube video tour of a coal mine). However, you can also—and are encouraged to—include
original components, such as photos you have taken, audio from an interview you've conducted, etc.

Composing Process

1) Planning and Prewriting

-Have each member freewrite about the given subject area (questions to be explored might
include: what do you know about these subjects? What, specifically, would you like to learn? Why
might learning be important or useful? How can you best learn about the subject(s)?) Compare your
results and interests, and use these to narrow down a specific topic for your blog entry.
-Explore rhetorical purpose and potential audience for your entry.
-Choose method(s) of researching your topic; compose a tentative time-line and assign
responsibilities within the group.

2) Drafting and Compiling

-Compose the text of your entry, as well as the multimodal elements of your choosing.
(Remember to keep your purpose and audience in mind while making compositional decisions.)

3) Peer Reviewing
-Each entry will be peer reviewed at least twice. The first peer review session will be an internal
review (within the group); the second will be external (with each group's entry peer reviewed by
their classmates).

4) Posting and Commenting

Schedule of Due Dates

Week 1: Group formation and assignment overview

Week 2: Research and compose Blog 1

Week 3: Peer review, post Blog 1

Week 4: Research and compose Blog 2

Week 5: Peer review, post Blog 2

Week 6: Research and compose Blog 3

Week 7: Peer review, post Blog 3

Week 9: Peer review, post Blog 4

Explanatory Materials and Hints for Success

Related Class Readings:

“Place Blogging: Locating Pedagogy in the Whereness of Weblogs” by Tim Lindgren
Selections from Composition and Sustainability by Derek Owens
Selections from Annie Dillard, Barbara Kingsolver, Wendell Berry, Loyal Jones

Citations
Any material from third party sources utilized in your blog requires citation. We will discuss
citation and plagiarism issues throughout the quarter.

Links to Examples:
http://www.placeblogger.com/

This is a collective of place-based blogs. You may search for specific blogs based on date or
location. We will be reading entries from selected place blogs in order to explore different approaches
to place-blogging as well as to investigate the affordances of blogging as a means of place- and public-
writing.

http://www.whereproject.org/

This is Tim Lindgren's personal place blog. (We will also be reading Lindgren's article on place-
blogging; see above.) Lindgen's blog puts into practice many of the techniques and theories described
in the article.

Evaluation
The place blog project will count as 20% of your grade. The scores for each entry will consider
the following criteria:
-Participation at every stage of planning and drafting
-Evidence of thoughtful organization and integration of modes in the final entry
-Evidence of careful research and interest in the subject