Comments on: Self Analysis http://braindrainblog.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/ Just another Kim's Sites site Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:09:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: kmiddleton http://braindrainblog.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-102 kmiddleton Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:08:43 +0000 http://atticfox.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-102 Round 2: blog goals. Well, yes, exactly. It's clear that you have no problem with this form: in fact, one might say you've taken to it like a duck to water. So, you might group your current goals under a larger heading: moving a class blog into a literary/cultural blog. It's no mistake that there are some pretty phenomenal scholars out there who use this form to popularize their ideas (Michael Berube was the gold standard for awhile, but he archived his and went to work for Crooked Timber; Scott Eric Kaufman is another). The parts that you're talking about working on (visuals, humor, a bit more enjoyment on the writing end) are all of the things that lit bloggers manage to balance for themselves, for their audiences, and arguably for the development of the field. So, is there a way to conceive of your work here for a larger audience? And what are the ways that you would begin to hook into those communities? (Linking is always good; tagging too; if you're super-brave commenting will do it in a heartbeat.) You might also think about anticipating the RSS structure: it's only your first paragraph---and sometimes only the first few lines---that get aggregated. Can you shape those to hook potential readers? This might ease your need to "push beyond" class discussion as well. Is there any topic that we ever exhaust in 75 minutes? (Okay, maybe neural nets, but that's about it...) I'd encourage you to let us remain your audience, but also to think about a larger audience that isn't necessarily in on the conversation. It will change your writing for sure. Round 2: blog goals. Well, yes, exactly. It’s clear that you have no problem with this form: in fact, one might say you’ve taken to it like a duck to water. So, you might group your current goals under a larger heading: moving a class blog into a literary/cultural blog. It’s no mistake that there are some pretty phenomenal scholars out there who use this form to popularize their ideas (Michael Berube was the gold standard for awhile, but he archived his and went to work for Crooked Timber; Scott Eric Kaufman is another). The parts that you’re talking about working on (visuals, humor, a bit more enjoyment on the writing end) are all of the things that lit bloggers manage to balance for themselves, for their audiences, and arguably for the development of the field.

So, is there a way to conceive of your work here for a larger audience? And what are the ways that you would begin to hook into those communities? (Linking is always good; tagging too; if you’re super-brave commenting will do it in a heartbeat.) You might also think about anticipating the RSS structure: it’s only your first paragraph—and sometimes only the first few lines—that get aggregated. Can you shape those to hook potential readers?

This might ease your need to “push beyond” class discussion as well. Is there any topic that we ever exhaust in 75 minutes? (Okay, maybe neural nets, but that’s about it…) I’d encourage you to let us remain your audience, but also to think about a larger audience that isn’t necessarily in on the conversation. It will change your writing for sure.

]]> By: kmiddleton http://braindrainblog.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-104 kmiddleton Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:08:43 +0000 http://atticfox.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-104 Round 2: blog goals. Well, yes, exactly. It's clear that you have no problem with this form: in fact, one might say you've taken to it like a duck to water. So, you might group your current goals under a larger heading: moving a class blog into a literary/cultural blog. It's no mistake that there are some pretty phenomenal scholars out there who use this form to popularize their ideas (Michael Berube was the gold standard for awhile, but he archived his and went to work for Crooked Timber; Scott Eric Kaufman is another). The parts that you're talking about working on (visuals, humor, a bit more enjoyment on the writing end) are all of the things that lit bloggers manage to balance for themselves, for their audiences, and arguably for the development of the field. So, is there a way to conceive of your work here for a larger audience? And what are the ways that you would begin to hook into those communities? (Linking is always good; tagging too; if you're super-brave commenting will do it in a heartbeat.) You might also think about anticipating the RSS structure: it's only your first paragraph---and sometimes only the first few lines---that get aggregated. Can you shape those to hook potential readers? This might ease your need to "push beyond" class discussion as well. Is there any topic that we ever exhaust in 75 minutes? (Okay, maybe neural nets, but that's about it...) I'd encourage you to let us remain your audience, but also to think about a larger audience that isn't necessarily in on the conversation. It will change your writing for sure. Round 2: blog goals. Well, yes, exactly. It’s clear that you have no problem with this form: in fact, one might say you’ve taken to it like a duck to water. So, you might group your current goals under a larger heading: moving a class blog into a literary/cultural blog. It’s no mistake that there are some pretty phenomenal scholars out there who use this form to popularize their ideas (Michael Berube was the gold standard for awhile, but he archived his and went to work for Crooked Timber; Scott Eric Kaufman is another). The parts that you’re talking about working on (visuals, humor, a bit more enjoyment on the writing end) are all of the things that lit bloggers manage to balance for themselves, for their audiences, and arguably for the development of the field.

So, is there a way to conceive of your work here for a larger audience? And what are the ways that you would begin to hook into those communities? (Linking is always good; tagging too; if you’re super-brave commenting will do it in a heartbeat.) You might also think about anticipating the RSS structure: it’s only your first paragraph—and sometimes only the first few lines—that get aggregated. Can you shape those to hook potential readers?

This might ease your need to “push beyond” class discussion as well. Is there any topic that we ever exhaust in 75 minutes? (Okay, maybe neural nets, but that’s about it…) I’d encourage you to let us remain your audience, but also to think about a larger audience that isn’t necessarily in on the conversation. It will change your writing for sure.

]]> By: kmiddleton http://braindrainblog.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-103 kmiddleton Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:00:53 +0000 http://atticfox.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/self-analysis/#comment-103 Okay, get comfortable. This might take awhile. For the sake of readability, I'm going to break the responses here into two different comments--this one on postmodernism and future work, the second on blogging and commenting. Ready? So, What becomes immediately clear is that you're lengthy and thoughtful posts are driving a complex grasp of the connections between postmodern theory and texts. What's also developing, as you note above, are some significant overriding themes: historiographic metafiction, self-reflexivity, limitations. Since The Last King of Scotland keeps coming back as a touchstone, you might really think about using it for your research paper. As you've noted above, there are at least three different strands that need to be addressed: the ideological implications of this kind of historiography (what are its effects?); its impact on different audiences (different effects on different audiences, and implications of these); the role of capitalism in this (films are marketed for audiences, right? So what's the relationship between the first two strands and the market forces that are driving the distribution of the film? How does it operate as a commodity? What does a historiographic metafictive commodity look like?) Working through these would give you an object lesson with which to make some larger statements about the circulation of h.m. texts in a capitalist society, and also to anticipate the shift from postmodernism to cultural studies. Here too, you might happen upon your fascination with limits---and it seems like you've begun this above. What are the limits of the potential for h.m.? This is one idea of many, but it's one that is already evident in nascent form throughout your work. Other ideas? Okay, get comfortable. This might take awhile. For the sake of readability, I’m going to break the responses here into two different comments–this one on postmodernism and future work, the second on blogging and commenting. Ready?

So, What becomes immediately clear is that you’re lengthy and thoughtful posts are driving a complex grasp of the connections between postmodern theory and texts. What’s also developing, as you note above, are some significant overriding themes: historiographic metafiction, self-reflexivity, limitations. Since The Last King of Scotland keeps coming back as a touchstone, you might really think about using it for your research paper. As you’ve noted above, there are at least three different strands that need to be addressed: the ideological implications of this kind of historiography (what are its effects?); its impact on different audiences (different effects on different audiences, and implications of these); the role of capitalism in this (films are marketed for audiences, right? So what’s the relationship between the first two strands and the market forces that are driving the distribution of the film? How does it operate as a commodity? What does a historiographic metafictive commodity look like?) Working through these would give you an object lesson with which to make some larger statements about the circulation of h.m. texts in a capitalist society, and also to anticipate the shift from postmodernism to cultural studies. Here too, you might happen upon your fascination with limits—and it seems like you’ve begun this above. What are the limits of the potential for h.m.?

This is one idea of many, but it’s one that is already evident in nascent form throughout your work. Other ideas?

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