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TAD Consortium August 2000 Information Update 3
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CONTENTS
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NEWS/TRENDS
--- 'Cyber-bludgers' Costing
Employers Millions
--- Traditional Media Survives Net
Revolution
--- Stephen
King's Readers Pay Up for His Latest E-Publishing Venture
--- Working Adults Like Online Education
ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS
--- Millennium Minds Conference 2000
ONLINE RESOURCES
--- An Update on the
Worldwide Impact of Philanthropy
--- The Journal of Mundane Behavior_
[.pdf]
--- Distance Learning -- About.com
--- AVEL - Australasian Virtual
Engineering Library
--- "Survival
Guide for New Teachers" [.pdf, 2000K]
--- Online Conversion
PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES
--- SAIDE Selected Abstracts no. 5 of 2000
ARTICLES
--- A Web Site Grows New Poems, Sometimes Right Before Readers' Eyes
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NEWS/TRENDS
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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: July 24th, 2000
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Yankelovich Partners Inc: 'Cyber-bludgers' Costing Employers Millions
Two new studies blame personal use of the Internet by employees in the workplace for serious productivity losses.
The first, a survey by US-based Yankelovich partners, found that 62 percent of workers go online at work for personal reasons at least once a day, while about 20 percent do so 10 or more times a day.
Apparently, employer monitoring practices do not deter employees, as 71 percent say it is "somewhat likely" that a supervisor knows they are using the Internet for personal reasons. Half of those polled by Yankelovich mistakenly believed their employer would not be held responsible for offensive materials distributed online by employees.
Australians have coined a new word for personal use of the Internet at work: 'cyber-bludging'. Research company Red Sheriff found that Australian workers spend about 3.6 hours a week, equivalent to 72 hours annually, using the Internet for personal reasons.
This wasted time costs Australian companies AUD312 million (USD182 million) an hour or AUD22.5 billion (USD13 billion) a year.
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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: July 24th, 2000
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Fairfield Research: Traditional Media Survives Net Revolution
The Internet is not cannibalising the audiences for other media in the US, according to a survey from Fairfield Research.
While use of television and radio dropped 9 percent this year, readership of books, trade and business magazines, and newspapers has increased since last year.
Consumers are spending 39 percent more time reading magazines, 37 percent more time reading books and 12 percent more time reading newspapers than they did in 1999. Time spent on computer applications, however, dropped significantly in the past year.
Time spent on the Internet by consumers actually decreased by less than 1 percent in the past year. Users now spend about an hour a day online, which is about the same as 1999.
Despite the drop in audience figures, television and radio continue to reign supreme, accounting for 41 percent of all media consumed in the US each day. Interactive media, including the Internet, software and video games, account for 26 percent of media use. Printed materials account for a further 19 percent, while pre-recorded media, such as music CDs, make up the final 14 percent.
Fairfield commented that consumer media consumption had not changed radically this year, indicating that Internet users now know what information they can find online and know how the Web complements other media.
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Stephen King's Readers Pay Up for His Latest E-Publishing Venture
By PJ Mark
Stephen King fans flocked to his Web site Monday, downloading 41,000 copies of the first installment of his epistolary novel, The Plant. Confirming the author's faith in the honor system, 32,000 people, or an amazing 78 percent, paid their dollar by credit card through Amazon.com.
King originally said he expected readers to work on the ''honor'' system and that all they needed to do was send him a dollar per installment. ''Pay and the story rolls,'' he wrote on his site, stephenking.com. ''Steal and the story folds.''
Perhaps because there was no need for encryption, the downloading experience was far smoother than it was when Amazon and other sites sold Riding the Bullet, King's previous e-novella.
Amazon originally approached King about co-publishing the book--a horror story with (darkly) comedic overtones set in the publishing industry—but executives at the online supermarket were offered a payment deal instead. For the first two installments of the book, Amazon is the only distributor; after that, King reserves the right to include others in the payment plans.If today's numbers are any indication, the book will probably continue to be written.
Amazon's One-Click makes the purchase of the book extremely easy, company spokeswoman Kathy Kinney says. Perhaps because there was no need for encryption, the downloading experience was far smoother than it was when Amazon and other sites sold Riding the Bullet, King's previous e-novella that was published in full last March. (That book was downloaded 400,000 times in its first 30 hours from an array of sites, according to its publisher, Simon & Schuster.) ''Customer service queries are really low,'' says Alan Caplan, vice president and general manager of product development at Amazon.com.
The payment plan was not offered to Barnesandnoble.com. Executives there had no comment about the book.
Whether Amazon would actually make money on the deal is unclear--as is how much it costs the online retailer to process each $1 credit card order--but the online retailer seems unconcerned about the financials in this instance. ''From our perspective we saw this as a very cool experiment that can only happen online,'' Caplan says. ''And we're using a payment system we already have in our marketplace.'' Amazon executives declined to divulge any details about the deal.
It was only two weeks ago that both Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com offered steep discounts and costly services--same day and overnight delivery, among them--to buyers of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Clearly the retailers see such services as investments in the goodwill of authors and audiences. ''We see this as testament to Amazon.com's capabilities with the market,'' Caplan says.
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Copyright (C) 2000 Powerful Media, Inc. -- www.inside.com
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Working Adults Like Online Education
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/education/article/0,,5951_423331.00.html
A survey of working adults conducted by Opinion Research Corp. revealed that 54 percent believe that college courses offered via the Internet are the future of higher education.
The telephone survey was commissioned by Capella University, an online institution of higher learning and was conducted among 667 working adults in February of 2000.
The study also found that while people see education as a top priority, busy schedules (42 percent) and family and travel commitments (10 percent) may keep people from continuing their education. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents said they are interested in continuing their education, but 48 percent said that a busy schedule is the biggest barrier to hitting the books, one-third cited high costs as an impediment.
Assuming the quality of education was the same, 32 percent of respondents said they would rather take courses through the Internet than go to a classroom. More than half (53 percent) of respondents said the biggest benefit of taking courses online was the ability to work from home, while 19 percent cited time saved from not having time to commute.
A substantial majority (63 percent) of respondents said nighttime was the right time for courses, including 22 percent who said late night was an ideal time. Another 12 percent said early morning before they went to work was a good time. Given the option of studying in exotic locations around the world, 34 percent of respondents opted to stay at home with their family, topping choices such as a cabin in the mountains, a tropical beach, and a world tour.
Respondents also said the idea of dressing casually for class. More than half (54 percent) said the greatest advantage of taking courses from home was the ability to attend call in their pajamas.
Looking 50 years down the road, more than three-quarters of adults said they believe the Internet will play a major role in higher education, including 39 percent who said the Internet would make classrooms obsolete. Only 2 percent believed higher education would not change.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS
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SchoolNet SA and the Gauteng Schools Network invite you to the Millennium Minds Conference 2000. Join us in this time of demonstrating how we can experience productive classrooms, using information and communication technologies (ICTs). The conference will be held from 27 - 29 September 2000, with a pre-conference introductory workshop for teachers new to the internet on Tuesday 26 September 2000. The conference will be held at Pretoria Boys' High School, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Full details available as you follow Millennium Minds link off www.school.za
ACTIVITIES
Millennium Minds 2000 will take the opportunity to demonstrate applications of information and communication technology that can make education more exciting and meaningful. We wish to promote education that is interactive, creative and rewarding for all teachers, learners and parents involved in the education process. Just another talk shop? NO! A time for classroom practioners and others involved in this area to share experience and insight in how to use ICTs effectively in the classroom. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity. Submit a paper for inclusion in the programme, or simply register to join the activities.
REGISTRATION DETAILS
The Conference is sponsored by Microsoft and Telkom (as primary sponsors), InfoSat, Sun Microsystems and the Internet Solution (IS) ensuring that the registration costs are kept as low as possible.
There are only 6 weeks left to register in this exciting conference. Early registration (until end of August 2000) will cost you R150-00 for all the activities including participation in the highly popular Pre-Conference Track that introduces teachers who have not had exposure to computers to the use of computers in education. Imagine using computers to teach biology or maths, or using the Internet to research topics in geography or history. You will never view teaching in the same way again!
Late registration (September 2000 registration) will cost you R180-00 to all activities ranging from how to use the variety of technology - radio, TV and other media to creating useful websites.
CONTACT DETAILS
To register for this eye-opening conference, please contact Ursula Herbst at:
Tel: 27-12-346-6682
Fax: 27-12-346-6682,
www.school.za
conf2000@school.za
EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS
In addition to the conference, there is a complementary exhibition of providers in the area of ICTs in education. For all schools looking at how to effectively implement computers in schools, this exhibition is a must! For companies and organisations engaged in this arena, there are still a few places for exhibitors available.
Sponsors assist in ensuring that costs are kept as low as possible for all participants, as well as completely subsidising the attendance of selected teachers.
For more information on sponsorship and exhibition possibilities, please contact:
Johann Guldenpfennig at:
Tel: 27-12-346-6682
Fax: 27-12-346-6682,
conf2000@school.za
For more details on the Millennium Minds 2000 Conference, read on.
CONFERENCE TRACKS
Pre-Conference Track - 26 September 2000
A full day hands-on workshop for over 100 teachers that have not yet entered the World of Computers and the Internet. The workshop will deal with an introduction to computers, Windows, word processing, the Internet and Email.
Convergence Technologies Track
Workshops and presentations for teachers that are using or want to use varied technologies in the classroom, including radio, television and other media. This track will also explore many new technologies that are bringing older technologies into the realm of newer technologies.
Curriculum Integration Track
"Curriculum Integration" is the process of using computers, the Internet, and other technologies as a tool in day-to-day learning activities (such as learning about other countries and cultures, or investigating graphs in Mathematics), rather than teaching technology (e.g. computers) as a distinct subject.
Information Skills Track
Information Skills is about learning how to use educational technology (the Internet, computer technology and broadcast technology) effectively as an information resource - how to use Internet Search Engines or catalogues such as Yahoo!, how to critically evaluate a website and decide whether the content is likely to be accurate and reliable, how to use and acknowledge material from websites in student work, and how to evaluate student work done using the Internet. Librarians and media teachers will be especially interested in this track.
Content Track
This features top local and international education resource sites such as Learning Channel, Cyberschool, ThinkQuest, Shoma, M-School with presentations from content developers, website creators and teachers experienced in using online resources in activities such as WebQuests (where students find information for a project or research topic using the Internet in a structured way).
Technology Track
On the more technical side, presentations aimed at teachers who run computer facilities and IT decision-makers will cover many of the issues around buying, managing and supporting hardware, software and Internet access. Topics this year will include using satellite for fast Internet and broadcast access, low-cost internet access, choosing the right server and workstation operating systems, thin clients and the role of free "Open Source Software" such as Linux. Stay up to date (or catch up) on your technical skills and knowledge.
Development Options Track (including policy level)
How can we make sure that "Educational Technology is for everyone", and close the gap between those with and those without technology? This track will look at development programmes, government policy, the role of NGOs, and approaches to providing universal access for learners and teachers to broadcasting, the Internet and computer facilities.
Presentations can be delivered in classrooms or seminar rooms, as well as in at least 4 computer labs, containing at least 25 computers each.
CALL FOR PAPERS
THEME : ICTs IN EDUCATION
The Millennium Minds Conference Committee, invites submissions of papers that will highlight issues relating to the use of computers and the internet in education for all schools in South and Southern Africa. Getting schools connected and how to empower the teachers and pupils is a primary concern for all educators. Your presentation at the conference can be in the form of a seminar, workshop, or computer-based workshop. Children cannot be effective in tomorrow's world if they do not have access to the technologies of tomorrow's world. Nor should teachers be denied the tools that other professionals take for granted. What benefits of the use of Information Communication Technologies can you share with other teachers?
All proposals must be sent to:
Zodwa Dlamini
Telephone:- 27-11-403-3952
Fax :- 27-11-403-1417
Email :- zodwa@schoolnet.org.za
1. Short papers based on practical experience are preferred.
2. Papers should include the following information:
A brief description of your proposed paper (+/- 300-500 words) - abstract to follow
3. Papers must be presented in English.
4. A selection committee will review the papers submitted. Individuals whose papers are accepted will be notified as soon as possible.
5. Proposed papers must be submitted in electronic format.
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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Taken from The ERICA Community Newsletter: Vol. IV
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An Update on the Worldwide Impact of Philanthropy: The John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, Phase II The Emerging Sector Revisited: A Summary
In virtually every part of the world, non-profit organizations are increasingly responsible for providing needed services and information, especially in areas where government-funded initiatives are deficient or non-existent. There are great organizations doing extraordinary work all over the world, and with the help of The Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies and a group of collaborators, there now exists one of the most comprehensive qualitative and quantitative studies on the impact of this "global" industry.
"The Emerging Sector Revisited" found that the global non-profit sector is responsible for $1.1 trillion dollars in expenditures, accounting for an average of 4.6 percent of GDP in 22 countries.
Close to 19 million people are employed by non-profit organizations. This makes up 5 percent of all nonagricultural employment, 10 percent of all service employment, and 27 percent of all public sector employment. Upon first look these numbers may not seem impressive, but put them into context: If the non-profit sectors of these 22 countries were to form a separate national economy, it would be the eight largest economy in the world larger than Brazil, Russia, Canada or Spain.
For the full report, written by Lester M. Salamon, Helmut K. Anheier and Associates, including more global non-profit employment statistics, visit http://www.jhu.edu/~cnp/execsumm.html
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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The Journal of Mundane Behavior_ [.pdf]
http://www.mundanebehavior.org/index2.htm
"The Journal of Mundane Behavior, hosted by the Department of Sociology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Fullerton, is a new scholarly journal devoted to the study of the 'unmarked,' i.e., those aspects of our everyday lives that typically go unnoticed by us, both as academics and as everyday individuals." The second issue, June 2000, is now available online and includes articles entitled "Whiteness, White Otherness and Jewish Identity," "Unpacking My Record Collection: The end of the Christal Methodists," and "The Mundane and the Limits of the Human: Thoughts on Hamlet, Roswell NM, and The Jerry Springer Show," among others. Articles may be read online in HTML format or downloaded in .pdf. [DC]
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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Distance Learning -- About.com
http://distancelearn.about.com/education/distancelearn/library/weekly/aa021400a.htm
About.com offers this directory of scholarly and practical resources and Websites in the field of distance education. Subject headings for annotated listings include all levels of mainstream education, the GED, vocational schooling, accreditation, discussion lists, financial aid, faculty resources, employment, intellectual rights, history, opinion, research, publications, conferences and calls for papers, Web tools, and more. A summary article directs users to frequently referenced items, including articles and studies addressing such topics as the debate over whether distance education falls short of face-to-face instruction, adult distance education, and digital access. [DC]
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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AVEL - Australasian Virtual Engineering Library
Launched on July 8 by a consortium of universities and professional groups, this metasite serves as a gateway for engineers and information technology professionals, with over 2,000 categorized and annotated links to Australasian resources. The database is searchable by keyword or browseable by seven major categories and numerous sub-categories. The site also features a search engine for full-text papers that displays abstracts as well as a link to the full text. Additional resources include job and conference notices, and a latest resources added section. [MD]
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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"Survival Guide for New Teachers" [.pdf, 2000K]
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/survivalguide/
Announced on July 25, this new 28-page guide from the US Department of Education is aimed at new teachers, "with a particular emphasis on the relationships they formed with their colleagues, university professors, and their students' parents." The guide is divided into sections that examine these relationships (Working With Parents, Working With Veteran Teachers, Working With Principals, and Working With College and University Education Professors) and also includes reflections from award-winning first-year teachers. Several select links of use to first-year teachers are also provided. [MD]
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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http://www.onlineconversion.com/
Need to convert joules to kilocalories? A rood to a square mile? 100 weight to stones? How about your age in dog years? You can do all of these conversions and over 8,000 more at Online Conversion. Conversions are organized by type (temperature, length, cooking, etc.), and each conversion page includes numerous options. Quick links to other conversions are also provided on each page so users don't have to return to the main page. Simply put, a very handy and easy-to-use site that belongs in the reference section of any user's bookmarks. [MD]
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PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES
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Taken from SAIDE Selected Abstracts no. 5 of 2000
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All resources reviewed below are available in the SAIDE resource centre, based in Johannesburg, South Africa (contact Jenny Louw on 011 403-2813)
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Distance Education
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Computer Literacy and Internet Usage within the Distance Education Association of Southern Africa (DEASA) by GF Netswera and PG West. In: South African Journal of Higher Education vol. 14, no.1, 2000 pp205-210.
During a meeting held by the Distance Education Association of Southern Africa (DEASA) in Lesotho in August 1996, the use of the Internet, e-mail facilities and other computer software was the subject of serious discussion. The DEASA community agreed that computer literacy and Internet connectivity has recently become extremely important in higher education for the delivery of good quality and timely service to learners. Technikon SA was requested to conduct a survey among DEASA members to determine the existing levels of computer and Internet literacy and to assess the training needs in the SADEC region, in which the DEASA community is located. Two studies were conducted. The first study investigated the facilities available to each DEASA member institution, the number of staff and the availability of training facilities and human resources. The second study which forms the subject of this article was conducted amongst the full-time staff members within the DEASA institutions to gain insight into their computer literacy, environmental reception to new technologies, computer training needs, the desire to learn and use new technologies and the use of the Internet. The report was based on the results of the analysis of questionnaires received from the ten institutions that responded.
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Education Policy
Standards Generating Body Manual : Fourth Draft May 2000. Pretoria : SAQA.
This SGB Manual is the first in a series of resources for SGBs. It is based on legislation : the South African Qualifications Act of 1995 and Regulations (Government Notice no. 52 of 28 March 1998). The Manual is intended as a practical guide, and as such focuses on the interpretation of legislation rather than merely repeating it. Where possible, there are forms and practical guidelines that are intended to inform practice. The Manual, apart from being a 'handbook' for SGBs, also forms part of the Training Pack for SGBs. Its intention is to provide SGB members with all the key documents and concepts in one book. The manual may be used as an orientation document for new SGB members and those persons attending on behalf of others (alternates). The manual places the SGB within its regulatory framework and contains the following information: SAQA vision, mission and structures; The respective roles of NSBs and SGBs; the SGB application process and criteria; Guidelines for the generation of unit standards; Criteria for critiquing qualifications and standards; Funding SGBs and Acts and Regulations
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Higher Education
Effective Governance: A Guide for Council Members of Universities and Technikons by Daniel J Ncayiyana and Fred M Hayward. Pretoria : CHET, 1999.
Trusteeship is an important component of the broader concept of effective governance, which in the new South Africa emphasises accountability, transparency, efficiency, and participation. Each of these concepts in turn, needs specification and clarification – both in the new South Africa and in higher education. The key purpose of the Council Capacity Development Project is to support and assist council members at higher education institutions. The project focuses on the relationship between councils and institutional leadership, addresses issues around financial controls, examines the effect of government legislation on institutions, and looks at the process of initiating and monitoring change within institutions.
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University in Post-Apartheid South Africa; New Ethos and New Divisions by John Gultig. In: South African Journal of Higher Education, vol.14, no.1, 2000 pp37-52.
Higher education in South Africa witnessed significant changes in the 1990s. Some of these changes are a consequence of post apartheid legislation; others the consequence of global and local changes in the economy. This article argues that many policy goals have not been achieved. This is particularly true of those related to redressing inequities. So, while South African higher education has de-racialised significantly, the less regulated "market" atmosphere of post apartheid South Africa has widened the divisions between historically privileged and historically black universities. This isn't surprising: institutions with cultural and economic capital will navigate change better than those who lack these. The interesting phenomenon is the fact that English and Afrikaans-language universities are developing in distinctly different directions. While all higher education institutions have, to some extent, been affected by the utilitarianism that currently pervades educational thinking, English universities have engaged with this warily while Afrikaans universities have embraced it. Consequently a new higher education configuration is emerging: English universities seem to be setting themselves up as slightly modernised versions of the old elite academy; Afrikaans universities and a rapidly growing private sector represent a new class of entrepreneurial universities, committed to professional qualifications and flexible forms of delivery; Black universities are increasingly invisible as educational institutions but far too visible as political trouble spots; at best the may play a "liberal arts college" role in the future but are more likely to be closed down.
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Skills Development
An Employer's Guide to the Skills Development Act by Getti and Carlo Mercorio. Johannesburg : SEIFSA, 2000.
From 1 April 2000, South African companies are required by the Skills Development Levies Act to pay a skills development levy to finance the education and training of the country's workforce. The levy amounts to 0,5 percent of a company's total remuneration costs and is paid monthly. The Skills Development Act is a strategic response to the challenge of globalisation and the need to increase skills and knowledge in the labour market. This book provides the information needed to use the new legislative framework effectively. This guide suggests an approach to enable employers both to comply and to meet business objectives and increase productivity, quality and profitability. There are close links between the skills development strategy and the Employment Equity Act. Education and training is a vital tool to ensure greater levels of equity within companies. Employers may claim grants of 50 percent of the levy paid in the first year. This guide explains the criteria of the grant system and suggests practical steps employers may take to prepare to claim. The guide further provides an understandable overview of the laws, including how they are linked, and suggests practical steps to devise a workplace skills plan at company level. It includes a description of the 12-step implementation process developed and agreed by employers and trade unions in the metal and engineering industries.
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Technology Enhanced LearningFrom Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World by Christine L Borgman. London : MIT Press, 2000.
This book takes a close look at questions of technology, behaviour and policy surround the emerging global information infrastructure (GII).
Topics covered include the design and use of digital libraries; the behavioural and institutional aspects of electronic publishing; the evolving role of libraries; the life cycle of creating, using and seeking information; and the adoption and adaptation of information technologies. The book takes a human-centred perspective, focusing on how well the GII fits into the daily lives of the people it is supposed to benefit. The book provides a holistic approach to information access, drawing on research and practice in computer science, communications, library and information science, information policy, business, economics, law, political science, sociology, history, education and archival and museum studies. It also explores both domestic and international issues.
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Staff Development in Information Technology for Special Needs : A New, Distance Learning Course at Keele University by John Hegarty, Stephen Bostock and Dave Collins. In: British Journal of Educational Technology, vol.31, no.3, 2000 pp199-212.
Whilst information technology has much to offer people with special needs, the availability of staff training in the use of special needs IT in the UK and Europe is sparse. Keele University has launched a new distance learning course to fill this gap. This article describes the course background, its structure, and feedback from the first cohort of students. Results suggest that the course strikes an effective balance between the need of distance learning students for face to face contact with peers and tutors, land the difficulties faced by students wishing to attend training whilst in full-time employment who are geographically distant. The course structure appears appropriate for a wide range fo special needs settings and the curriculum seems to have an appropriate mix of background theory and practical application. Difficulties faced with computer conferencing became apparent, which need to be addressed in future. The course could be a model for further staff development opportunities in IT for special needs professionals.
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Tutors & Tutoring
Do You Read This the Way I Read This? By Elisabeth Weedon. In: British Journal of Educational Technology, vol.31, no.3, 2000 pp185-197.
Two studies were carried out which investigated students' perceptions of, and reactions to, a tutor's comments on written assignments. The method used was based on the Kelly Construct Repertory Grid technique and is referred to as the Kelly Analysis. Study 1 involved the use of a facilitator who helped the students in carrying out the Kelly Analysis. Study 1 demonstrated that this technique was effective in eliciting both the students' and the tutor's perceptions of the comments, and that an examination of matches and mismatches between the two could be carried out. Study 2 focused on the development of a self-administered Kelly Analysis to remove the need for a facilitator. Students had few problems in using the self-administered Kelly Analysis and, again, an examination of matches and mismatches in perception of comments was feasible and useful. The potential value of open-ended questions in exploring students' perceptions was also investigated. it is suggested that the Kelly Analysis coupled with the use of open-ended questions could provide a valuable tool to tutors and students who wish to explore understanding of comments, and one that might aid in creating more reflective practitioners and students. Two relevant theoretical perspectives are also outlined: schema theory within cognitive psychology, and social constructivist theory especially the role of scaffolding learning.
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ARTICLES
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Copyright 2000 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i47/47a05301.htm
From the issue dated July 28, 2000
A Web Site Grows New Poems, Sometimes Right Before Readers' Eyes
By ZOE INGALLS
In "grain: a prairie poem," lowercase g's scatter across the computer screen like seeds on the wind. They plant themselves in a row along the bottom of the page, their tails growing like stalks of wheat, their oval heads filling with smaller g's like winged seeds that then burst into the air to begin the process again.
The poem, by Darren Wershler-Henry, is a new, digital incarnation of concrete poetry, a form of experimental verse popular in the 1950's and 60's. And that makes "Grain" a perfect candidate for the World Wide Web site on which it appears: the Electronic Poetry Center, created and maintained by scholars at the State University of New York at Buffalo (http://epc.buffalo.edu).
Dedicated to contemporary, innovative poetry -- a broad term that embraces a wide variety of avant-garde and experimental work -- the Electronic Poetry Center is designed to preserve, distribute, study, and, above all, promote connections -- between print and digital versions of concrete poetry, for example, or among communities of poets, scholars, and students around the world. The site logs 10 million visits a year from users in some 90 countries.
"We use the E.P.C. resources constantly this end of the world," says Michele Leggott, a senior lecturer in English at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. "Basically, the E.P.C. is a hub for the poetics we're interested in, and when we start teaching, students are immediately referred to it."
What her students find is a combination library (new, old, and hard-to-find works), scholarly forum, information clearing-house, and digital-poetry publisher. One of the first things many visitors seek out is the site's "Author" section, a collection of materials by and about more than 150 poets and critics.
The materials vary from author to author, but all follow a standard format, including, at the least, biographical material, a bibliography, scholarly criticism, and samples of the author's work. (In the case of living authors, the versions are approved by the author before they are posted.)
Some of the author pages go well beyond the minimum -- for example, those of Robert Creeley, a major figure in innovative poetry and a professor of poetry at Buffalo. Some of his most famous works have involved collaborations with painters and sculptors and are meant to be displayed in conjunction with that art, whether in exhibitions or in books. As a result, their availability to a wide readership is limited: The exhibitions close, and the books are generally limited-edition and prohibitively expensive, even if any could be located. Through the poetry center, though, many of the books and even some of the exhibition catalogs are available online.
There are other examples: The pages devoted to Frank O'Hara, a poet of the "New York School" of the 1950's and 60's, includes links to a magazine article that features "poem paintings" he made in collaboration with the artist Norman Bluhm and copies of the art reviews -- now in demand, but difficult to come by -- that he wrote for ArtNews between 1953 and 1955.
Jackson Mac Low's pages feature audio recordings of the poet reading from his own works, and a half-hour interview conducted under the auspices of LINEbreak, a radio program produced at Buffalo. (The poetry center has all of those programs in its archives.)
Juliana Spahr, an assistant professor of English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, uses the site in both her survey and her contemporary-poetry courses. "If I'm teaching Bernadette Mayer," she says by way of example, "I send students to her page to listen to the audio," which is available there. And "if I need to find a certain article by Marjorie Perloff," she adds, mentioning a major critic in the field, "I know it's there."
Ms. Perloff herself calls the Electronic Poetry Center "much the best poetry site," and says she uses it "all the time." She regularly checks the "New" section, which on a given day might include "new books about people I might not know of, a new press, a new magazine, a poet who's here from France, a video of Robert Creeley's lecture at Kelly Writers House in Philadelphia," she says, referring to a program run by the University of Pennsylvania. (A handful of other poetry sites are similar to the center, though varying in what they offer.
They include the Academy of American Poetry (http://www.poets.org/index.cfm), and Modern American Poetry, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps).
Among its many other resources, the poetry center also provides an alphabetized list of links to other important poetry sites; a list of poetry magazines, both digital and print; the full texts of the digital magazines; and a list of Web sites for presses that publish innovative poetry, from Alt-X to Zasterle Press.
The magazines and small presses are particularly important to innovative poetry, which, as a rule, is "not supported by university presses or major New York publishing houses," says Ms. Spahr. "So it's always been this thing that has survived through its own ingenuity, publishing itself."
Indeed, the Web is an important medium for poetry, which is "very sensitive to the cheapest means of distribution and production," says Charles Bernstein, a noted poet who is a professor of English at Buffalo and executive editor of the poetry center. He views the site as being "kind of like the mimeo and Xerox poetry magazines of the 50's and 60's.
"We are a central switchboard to provide archives of this material, information about it, and direct access to it."
One of the strengths of the poetry center is the meticulous attention paid to what goes into the site -- and what doesn't. Its lists and links are "hand curated" and edited constantly, says Loss Pequeno Glazier, the poetry center's director, who runs the center on a day-to-day basis. In that and other ways, the center reflects the interests and training of Mr. Glazier, a poet who worked as a curator of the American-literature collection at the University of Southern California and as a bibliographer of English and American literature in the libraries at Buffalo before earning a doctorate in poetics here.
For the poetry center, an additional strength lies in being university-based and in having the imprimatur of Buffalo's well-regarded Poetics Program, which gives it a scholarly heft and makes it "qualitatively different" from other poetry sites on the Web, says Al Filreis, a professor of English at Penn. Besides, he adds, "the E.P.C. happens to be particularly dedicated and has energetic leadership."
The Electronic Poetry Center is sponsored by the English department and the College of Arts and Sciences at Buffalo. The office of the college's dean pays $26,000, about half of Mr. Glazier's annual salary, although there is no formal budget line for the center. "It really operates through the good graces of various interested parties at U.B.," Mr. Glazier says. The center grew out of the Poetics Program, founded in 1991 by Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Creeley. Like the program, it was a natural evolution of a focus on avant-garde and experimental poetry at Buffalo that began in the 1960's with the arrival of Charles Olson and Mr. Creeley, two of the most influential members of the "Black Mountain" school of experimental poetry, which challenged the mainstream "academic" poetry of the 1950's and 60's.
Mr. Olson, who died in 1970, was here for only two years, but Mr. Creeley now occupies a named chair in poetry and the humanities. The university's emphasis on experimental poetry was further solidified in 1990 with the arrival of Mr. Bernstein, a major figure among the "language poets," who once characterized mainstream poetry as "militantly middle of the road."
"This is a community dedicated to a certain kind of poetry," says Mr. Filreis, who describes himself as a "user and a fan" of the poetry center. "This is not the place you would go for a discussion of Robert Frost. You're going to get [Gertrude] Stein, not Frost. You'll get Frank O'Hara but not Mark Strand."
Scholars interested in Stein, O'Hara, and any of the other hundreds of innovative poets find kindred spirits on one of the poetry center's most heavily used features, a discussion group via an electronic mailing list.
Although the group can "get out of hand," Ms. Perloff says, with people bickering or sniping at one another, Mr. Filreis views it as an important gathering place for the relatively small group of scholars devoted to this kind of poetry. The poetry center has established itself "as the place to go for discussion about this particular field," he says.
"People get incredibly involved in these arguments about contemporary poetry," he continues. "You get to see a discussion staged about things society at large is not interested in -- but these are real people with passion about these things."
Mr. Filreis, who teaches modern American poetry online to students around the world, uses the discussions as a window on what he calls "poetry as a live practice."
"Say we're discussing the work of Ron Silliman," he says, mentioning a well-regarded language poet. To students, "he's abstract. He might as well be Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He's someone who writes famous poems that the teacher says you should like."
"But I can read Ron Silliman on poetics, on writings, or on the political thinking of the day on E.P.C., and forward what he wrote to my group and give them access to Ron's voice as a live thing. It may be something he said or wrote only a few hours earlier.
"At the same time, I can write to Ron and ask him to participate in my discussions, which he has done. So you suddenly have access not only to this work, but to Ron himself."
In addition to making abstract poets more real to students, the poetry center provides an important forum for what Mr. Glazier calls "e-poetry," which, "by definition, can't exist on the printed page," he says. And there's a subcategory of e-poetry that exists only on the Web, where external links are an integral part of the poem's makeup.
The poetry center has a section devoted to e-poetry, highlighting "the most interesting and visionary" works in the new category, says Mr. Glazier. Electronic poets -- he calls them "poet programmers" -- can consider myriad possibilities that are simply unavailable in print: movement, sound, images, even programmable elements. Words, lines, or stanzas can change color or transmogrify into other images. Entire poems can move across the page, as occurs in "SeattleDrift," by Jim Andrews.
In Mr. Glazier's "White Bromeliads," words and phrases change places with one another every 10 seconds, offering 256 variations on the same poem. In Tammy McGovern's "TranceMissions," the user clicks on a black screen and words appear, accompanied by a voice that pronounces them. By moving the cursor, you can create a poem -- or a cacophony, depending on your mood. It's like an audio version of those magnetic words and phrases you stick on your refrigerator.
And in a programming tour de force, Aya Karpinska has created "ek-stasis," in which the poem appears to be three-dimensional, and the viewer can "walk around" inside it, viewing the words from different vantage points.
The roots of e-poetry can be found in the melding of words and images that was a common occurrence before the invention of the printing press, Mr. Glazier believes. "Once the printing press became widespread," he says, "it became too expensive to include many images, and the image and the word were separated -- tragically separated."
But with the computer, word and image are easily reunited after 500 years. "I just think it's a wonderful time to be alive and writing poetry," says Mr. Glazier. "That was a long drought."]
Copyright 2000 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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