Communication On (The) Line

South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Communication On(the)line Author(s): Tom Lavazzi Source: South Atlantic Review, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Winter, 2001), pp. 126-144 Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3202032 . Accessed: 12/11/2013 04:18
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Communication On(the)line
TOM LAVAZZI
HAVING BEEN AN ASSOCIATEPROFESSOROF ENGLISH AT A HISTORI-
of theCity of New York,I'm particularly environment University students thatminority the sense of by empowerment intrigued research computer-based experiencein learningand practicing methodsand compositionstrategies-taken broadlyto include the and web techno-territory page design.Though hypermedia colorinterface sentried is,on thesur-face, bythetypical computer in of terms versionof reality coded-"an interested represented Selfeaptly andRichard andimage," as Cynthia bothlanguage phrase and up"whitemiddlethestereotypically it (487)-by mastering and of world minority technology, computer (Selfe486) per-class" a commonground can find and professors students non-minority can also experion whichto testracialand gender they ideologies; with communication mentwithwaysto temper global electronic modalities(hip-hop,rap, various"personal" and/or ethno-tech and chat soundand imagesynthesis, roomsand e-mail, digitalized the so forth).Electronic communicationsmedia, specifically classroomby the traditional is a means of (re)staging Internet, and selfcomprecultural for a expanded opening dialogicspace web sitescan becomethebasisforan interactive hension;selected theimmethe"machine"through back from eventreverberating diateaudience/participants. sessions of thisessayconsistsof interactive field The material coursesat SavannahStateUniin myadvancedwriting conducted of issues suchas the in terms thesesessionsare revealing versity; into an on the Net (as it luresstudents value of popularculture
the functionof the networkedclassroom electronicenvironment),
in themulticultural and currently blackuniversity, cally teaching
of the lab session),and the virtualenvironment (or interactive
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Net itselfas a "contactzone" (a termoftendeployedby Mary Louise Pratt). I am especially in whattakesplace during interested a "cruising" session(moretypically termed "surfing"-mychoice of termsis explainedbelow) and how such pedagogic"happenof discourseamong students and ings" can build communities teachers.' The comments and theoretical reflections arebased thatfollow on analysis of student exercise responsesto theInternet (below), data gathered and myown obinterviews, my"tag-along" during servations of sites(manynew to me) to whichthe cruisers lead implications forteaching of me;2 the responseshave significant thewriting modes process, employing peergroupand collaborative of instruction, and incorporating anti-hierarchal student-teacher within conventional I hope some relationships pedagogical settings. of the resultsof thisone-day, in-classactivity will be usefulto teachersacross disciplines as a means of getting to know more who their students are-and whothey are,as "sigclearly (teachers) nificant others"in pedagogicalrelationships-and in breaking downboundaries the"ice") of student-teacher (breaking through communications.
CRUISING AND CRITIQUING THE NET
Choose a search engine and enter your subject choice (don't forgetto place quotation marks around the subject phrase; forHotbot.com choose "exact phrase" and "advanced search" to add limitingterms) "Cruise" the Net (about one hour). "Bookmark" interesting sites. Take notes on your Net travels,and at the end of your hour voyage,writea detailed narrativeabout yourexperience: Was it interesting, a combination? frustrating,
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Tom Lavazzi to use? How is the difficult did you findthecomputer fromothermedia you are familiar different computer in which from otheractivities with? How is it different social,recre(scholastic, occupational, you participate Is it more it "involve" Does ational)? you differently? in a different or interactive interactive, way?Whatis the of the "multimedia" aspectsof the comsignificance "craze" for the do account How you computer puter? in our culture? What impactdo you think computers and proon have have/will yourpersonal,scholastic, life? Do you feelin anyway"empowered" fessional by whatinterestto use thecomputer? Finally, yourability make did "discoveries" data duringyourNet you ing cruise?
addressthesequestions: Also specifically sites?Can Whydid youchoose to "Bookmark"certain of thesesitesbe considered thecontent "authoritative," or whatseems to be the"agenda" of siteauthors/deweb sites at The signers?(Review tips for evaluating the designand about What Virtual Library--vlib.org); of the sites appeals to as well as the content, layout, in you?Whatdo suchsites-and othersitesyouvisited yourcruising-suggestabout theinterests/concerns/ as How do specific of our culture? sites, needs/desires and the Net of the as well computer process searching issues(how,for to raceand gender relate use ingeneral, example, does a site's presentation of "African own sense with Americanness" your compare/contrast Do you note anyrace Americanidentity)? of African Web"? "World-Wide of the in the world bias or gender does the or thought Whatkindof "thinking," rhythm, in the links various"hypermedia" movement through "Web" initiate?
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The assignment establishes theboundaries of a critically-attuned the purpose.The pointof the assignment-thegoal underlying of to adopt a types questionsasked-is to predisposestudents stancetowardelectronic media,to questionits critical/analytical to putthemedia,and their relation to presentational assumptions, it-in personaland publicdomains-"in process/ontrial"(Julia Kristeva's first phrase).This is a fundamental step in achieving variousacademic and nonacademic self-empowerment vis-a-vis materializations of ideology-in thiscase, thecultural encodings and information of cyberspace. The Net is at once configurations one of the most rigorously structured, (binarily) yet diverse, culture has to openended,and fluidsemioticfieldspostmodern offer. structure Hypermedia (thebasis of theWorldWideWeb) is arborescent on nesting and recursion) simultaneously (depending and syntagmatically in all directions), rhizomatic (spreading poable to bring an infinite of data clusters tentially variety together in moments of imaginative awareness.3 But even thelooselydelimited form of the"cluster" is a reductive image,sinceitimplies an entitativeness or at least integrity of groupings-it's perhaps better to think of Net-work as an always ongoingprocessof clusrather thanthestructuration of defined tering, (however looselyor I clusters. in there tentatively) because, practice, say"potentially" are onlya set numberof (pre)scripted links. Yet usersexploring theselinkscan generate and (re)generate such a wide variety of "texts"on topicsand issuesas to givea sense-a (self)image-of and maneuverability variousdiscourseterritomastery through ries. Whichbrings us backagainto theassignment above presented and theconcrete situation-theacademicclassroom-in whichit is administered. Thinkof thetypical class essayascomposition based aroundselections from a listof preworded signment, (prescribed)topicswith(moreor less explicit) presentational (formal and structural) requirements. Though a student maybe asked to come up withher/hisown thesis,enough has been pre-established-as wellas excluded-as to effectively contain anddischarge thesenseof empowerment that shouldcomewith theactof build-
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can freewrite, Students ing one's "own" conceptualstructure(s). on us-an "us" that and cluster, butthey aredependent loop,list, is really the Us of the textbook discoursethatswallowsus (the to all-for the rules and what, exactly, academic community) freewrite toward. at once gives I suggestabove thatthetypical essayassignment to too much and not enough.A writing instructor, attempting their can maximum freedom over students inscriptions, say, give sense butthisdoesn'talter their "Write aboutwhatever youwant," thrown of the configuration of the academic power structure; feel will back on their own resources, they frequently inadequate to the (moreor less specifically conceived, presumedor explicit) demandsof thediscoursetheyfeelcompelledto enter. as a in theformof theInternet, Entertheelectronic "library" within which and multiple discourses body both of information own terms. and can settheir students become "field"researchers mediawill be more productive A student's workwithelectronic in a way toward if she/heis oriented and empowering it,initially, and than itsrhizomatic thatexploits arborescent) (rather potential thinking. encouragescritical warnsthatthejargonassociIn Interface Culture, StevenJohnson a falseimageof atedwithInternet use can be misleading, creating evokestheaimThus "surfing" of Web searching. theexperience of whereasin acTV world channel less,bored,passive hopping, because she'sinterested....The on a link clicks "a Web surfer tuality not of association, arelinks links thatjoin..,. variousdestinations of instead of choice randomness" "surfing" "cruising" (109). My was into connotethepsycho-social impactof Web exploration with the monotonous to do stinctive. driving "Cruising"has less aroundin circlespast the local hamburger joint,and more with withan unknown of pleasure(of a sensualencounter) theseeking observacareful node of a circuit otheras one potential involving one passes through. of the territory "Cruise,"in tion (scanning) in English,is closer to its Dutch thanits formation its current to cross (and recross)a and Frenchsigning: Spanish,Portuguese, fora parwithout fro... "to and fluid making body (i.e.,thesea)
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ticular port or landingplace," but to be "on the look out" for othershipsforprofit or pleasure(OED). (Those "otherships," of can be theconcurrent discoveries of other classmates course, dur"wake" of previous cruisers, inga Web sessionand theelectronic as well as one's own sit[sight]ings.) To cruiseis an act of wary to be alert and for what comes and to experience traversal, ready an energizingjouissance in therapidcrossing and commingling of discourse territories and siftings thewealthof data-the through to and froa turnto productive loss of direction. Once students were comfortable withthe purpose of the aswith what it meant to "cruise" theNet; once I emphasignment, sized that, as theassignment thiswould be an "interacsuggests, a classtive"-not passive-event, we became,in thenetworked on a advenroom,critically-primed co-voyagers global (WWW) ture.Though Net cruising is ideallyworld-information tourism withoutclass advantage(or, at least,in an open admissions, affordable institution of higher education likeSavannahStateUnior CUNY-Kingsborough, withminimum class advantage), versity are not elidedin race,economicclass,and genderdifferentiation theexcitement of sharing ourNet findings, butbecometheground fortheflux-field of diversity we co-create on our60 minute, timeless voyage.In "ElectronicLiteracy, Critical and ColPedagogy, CarolWinkelmann the"radicaldemocralaboration," emphasizes tization and multivocality" collaborative instruc(432) that writing in productionproduces;shegroundsherclassroomexperiences in cyborg texts which ingcollaborative (or "corporate") feminism, she definesas a "fusionof contradictions, and differences, deof a multipolar setof combinations" pendencies... a celebration that"guarantees our dynamism and interdependence as human in affinity and community" Our encounbeings (434). unexpected terswhilecruising data fields have a similar efsocio-pedagogical fect.Speakingfrom social-historical particular positions, through the cultural and especially material on the Net, we popcultural discoursecommunity--a temporarily convergeas a multivoiced confluence of voices.
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of such experiences, The effect of then,outlaststheduration the classroomor laboratory exercise. Though the techniqueof Net cruising is simpleand "userfriendly" (a comment manystudentsmade),ithelpsstudents feelconnectedto therealmof high technology-technologically enabled--and hence to a globallymarket. based,academicand socio-cultural Writing knowledge up theirresponsesto our cruising feltthat session,some students as a Net cruiser--and comfortable withcomcompetency feeling ingeneral-allowsthem to "excelintellectually andsocially." puters that she felt her"mindexpand"simply One commented by"clickor "feels button another that to it research intellectual a two"; ing on theNet." Otherstudents them observedthattheNet provides of more"in-depth" coverage eventsthantheclosestcomparable conventional discussedtheimpactof the media,TV. One student Net on herpersonalsense of beingin theworld:cruising gives her"a chance to relaxand escape [her]dailyroutines" whilealso the "most [her]involved"socio-politically "getting by providing on people and events."She also confesseda recentinformation Net use overothers"because that feeling givesher"an advantage thatis availableonlyto users."Finally, she is "getting something to be psychologianother student (a Kenyan)foundNet cruising she muses, "One can hidehisor herownidentity," callyliberating: nature of comto theuse of aliasesand thedisembodied referring on theNet. "I am moreopen and free." munication to many of theabove underside a dystopian Thereis,of course, is available that comments."Gettingsomething only to users" of the Net is somewhatillusory; means thatthe egalitarianism Access Denied (in red)is cyberworld fencing. Anonymity security but also encouragedeon the Net can enhanceself-confidence, tachmentand self-evasion.In "What's all This Hype About of Net workthedownsides discusses Smith Hypertext,"Jonathan timeor inexof first limited access,thefrustrations ing,including structure aspectsof hypertext periencedusers,the dissimulative constrained and choice is delimited freedom of which by (in and the falseconsciousnessof,in Richard webmasters' designs), Crusin'swords,the "technologicalfallacy"(470); paraphrasing
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as "the ascription of agency, Crusin,Smithdefinesthis fallacy to technology itself" (127). Valorizaespecially politicalagency, tion of the Net as an information cornucopiacan also be selfthequality of material on theNet and thebreadth and deceptive: of in-depth accuracy vary coverage greatly. of the above students' However,the comprehensiveness perto feelings of self-empowerceptionsis not so crucial,relative as the factof theperception itself. The students' sense of ment, who they thecultural metanarratives-the social-acaare,vis-a-vis alters as they inthem, demic-political structures-encompassing teract withtheNet: Manycommented thatthey felt"in control" of the flowof information and knowledge (i.e.,able to manipulate it),contrasting witha morepassiveperception of their relato via conventional media and traditionship knowledge acquired lecture-oriented instructional environments. Note especially tional, thatin the case of one of the femalestudents above, even the of leisure becomes empowering, practice leadingto a heightened awareness: relaxation is synonymous with"getting social/political involved"in theglobal fluxof knowledge. Inhibitions also oftendrop awayon the electronic cruise,alof uncensored and un(pre)conceived lowingfora duration exploration. Some usersinvestigate discourse territories andbroachsubinto otherwise, jectsin a chatthat ironically, might onlybe entered withthemostintimate one black male student acquaintances-as "Thereis no questionthatcan'tbe asked."Thoughthe explained: above student's commentresonateswithpatriarchal prerogative as his"real"worldselfengagesthevirtual flux of voicesand idenof thereal"(to quote poetWallaceStevens) "contingencies tities,5 andperceived restrictions or inequalities of race,class,and gender arerevisioned on theweb:one can encounter "otherness"-sexual or racial-while minimizing theriskof a debilitating sense of inonce the she/hegets passed adequacy (at least, "politicsof the interface"-see Selfeand Selfe)resulting froma self-consciousness of being"different." is an (inter)active exCruising learning of interlinked and synchronicity, rather than perience differentiation a passively received "orderof things," handed-down taxonomies
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and/or historicizations of knowledge and difference.One can "learn things about different cultures on the Internet,"a (white student it. male) simplyput One of the effectsof Net cruising,then, most significantto
and empowering and writer, is the thestudent thinker motivating thanpassively it.Shortof beingswallowed by"chiasmic receiving dub as Peter Havholm and Stewart it,in which Larry hypertext," from textto text, becomeslost" (111), students "a reader, clicking withtheir misa wealthof discourseterritories, through trekking sheet the as exercise above) beclearly (literally, sion/assignment are wellpositionedto establish concrete forethem, relationships and conceptual links among sometimesdisparatedata fields. thecomaccentuates statesthat"electronic Winklemann literacy as Smithcauand writing" of reading (445); even though, plexity "unrelated" tions,buildinganalytical bridgesamong apparently learners that sitesrequires (trained many "cognitive sophistication" lack to moreconventional, pedagogies) product-oriented according in critical worth the is well the effort lesson; thinking, larger (125), becomes an engagedpraxis. thevirtual field, is evidencedin the formof of involvement The excitement theesof thetraveler; student/user writings-thequickjottings as leftbehind,or written through, saymode mustbe temporally the shufto form a the traveler rapid adequate adopts linguistic sessionsimulates The interactive databases. cruising through fling the brainstormof the mindshuttling the vitalurgency through process;thisvirdiscovery stageof thewriting ing,information shouldbe can resoof whatprewriting or taste, tualexperience, theirnextnonmomentto inform nate beyondthe immediate has praised ThomasT. Barker session. virtual keyboardprewriting in behavior into us to peer for"allowing composing ingprograms theinsideout" (qtd. from as if we wereseeingwriting a newway,
awareness of being involved with a body of information,rather
a cruiser's "Bookmarks" or "Favorin Holdstein 16). Similarly, ites" and her/his "GO...History," along with his/her Net notes, earlystages of theNet rider/writer's preservea traceof the restless, and curiosities,a valuable conference record thought processes for both student and teacher.
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The initial andperformedsetupof theevent-how itis staged can suspendthemutual, evasions(authority/subteacher/student of a conventional while classroom, jectof authority masquerades) us a lot about who our students are-as writers and human telling The nature of theassignment, and theinstructor's actions beings. the in relation to during session-her/his ideologicalpositioning the student/other-cansharpenthe studentcruiser'ssense of themin thepedagogicalsituation in beingon theinside, involving an unselfconscious, way. self-revealing To be pedagogically the termsof the assignment productive, itselfshouldbe fairly liberal-studentsshouldbe allowedto pursue any subjectthatinterests themand investigate any site that in presenting theassignment, instructors can attention; getstheir to or territoencourage(re)searchers exploreunusual, "foreign" intothediscourseof selectsites(via e-mailand ries,and to enter for or bystitching intodiscussion messageboards, example, group threads). The sitesvisited our brainstorm/cruise sessionprovide during a windowonto some of theconcerns of theundergraduate populationat SavannahStateUniversity-limn, if not a completeoutline of a "mind-set," at least a partialprofile of what'son their minds. Some visited utilitarian concerned with informational, sites, their careers-the Electronic Law Library Reference prospective Room and variousjob searchsites;some lookedoversorority and homepages,suchas sorority othfraternity AlphaKappa Alpha's; ersreviewed sitesconcerned withpolitics and specifically African American-related issues-Black Voices; some perused pop cultureand entertainment-oriented television shows pages focusing such as "Days of Our Lives" (on theMedia Mania page), and on music and sportssuperstars likeMadonna, ErykahBadu, Duke New YorkEllington, TigerWoods,and Zooyork(a multicultural, based skateboard team);and somedelvedinto"taboo" sexualmaterial-Male Strippers, the Strippers'Network,Hardcore Gay Males. Studentsoftenvisitedmore than one typeof site--one moved from a home page about rapperMasterP to a Kappa Althe pha Psi siteto performerJerry Springer's page and finally Janet
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web site;formost,theweb exercise Jackson stagedan encounter, to saytheleast.A self-portrait of a student bodybeginsto emerge withconcernsabout careerand social status-how, exactly, they fit into society; witha self-consciousness about race and identity of racialissues,withan interest in politicsand the globalization in theirideologicalplace, who speak or perform public figures andwitha curiosity material aboutrepressed (many psycho-sexual of thestudents at Savannah StateUniversity liveand/orhavebeen households. in seriously-sometimes raised restrictively-religious It is stillrisky to use four-letter words in class discussionsand some students, when quotinga passage out loud thatcontains will simply censor or paraphrase the unallowabledicprofanity, a controllable the Net tion); provides non-threatening, space in desires.One stuunreadable whichto playupon/with otherwise on theMale Pordentquitematter-of-factly phrasedherfindings with and 2. "1. actual site Seeinga female nography Seeing penises a penis.I had no idea theInternet had thosekindsof topicson it." of web browsingdialogizes the self. This specularfunction or crucial identity through aspectsof their Displacing dispersing and test,to play to confront theelectronic otherallows students their some of their waysof seeingtheworld assumptions, through and of knowing who theyare within it,in a "public" yetnonhome.Such"playa click awayfrom arena-"virtually" threatening active become cruisers evaluators, aligning ing through"helps While several to "text" and its production. themselves critically of sitesthatappealedto werea number there students agreedthat also notedhow the forexample, American African interests, they designand layoutof some pages,whichoftenincludedads, apas a vehicleforcommodity content hustling-theNet's propriated comas one student moneytrap," becoming"anotherpotential on virtual sensaalso notedtheemphasis plained.Some students GIFs and bold colorcontrasts-in animated tionalism-startling homepage,forexample), AKA Makaveli's some sites(hip-hopper of black and how thistendsto bolstera stereotyped figuration sites that more commented students of the female A few desire. American menthanwomen-again, African toward wereoriented
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thebroad ranging of theobservation is not so crucialas accuracy thefact that itunderlines a stereotype of patriarchal dominance in blackculture and the students' concernabout their own position as blackwomenin relation to it.One of theolder,returning students(whohad had moreextensive Internet criticized experience) that"pertinent such as education are not topics" given"serious attention" on a site where theyprobablyshould be, like Black a garbledimpression of how that"voice" actually Voices,giving sounds. Alertedbytheabove student's observations to a possible false in thesite'sdesign, consciousness I was compelledto takea closer look at Black Voices: whatwas the site telling her about herself thatshe didn't like(i.e.,wheredid itsconceptaboutwho she was as a cultural veer fromher self-concept)? What image of entity African Americanness does the sitepresent? The versionof the BlackVoices homepage shevisited a dark Letters deploys palette. of the title, in different sizes and two tones of deep blue, are crowdedtogether in pseudo jazz rhythm on a blackbackground, a The content force. of links, suggestingpotent, slightly dangerous focuseson entertainment, and potential dilemhowever, health, mas associatedwithappearance("AreYour Dreads Acceptableat thisparticular issue of thepage, I note that Work?").Surveying thevisually dominant linksare related to (in thefollowing order) entertainment McMillan's film How Got Her Groove (Terry Stella Back highlighted in largeopen scriptbeneaththe site'shandle), health("The HealthGap"), and self-presentation (a photo of the "Member of the day" linking to a personal ad for down <SmooveBLK@AOL.com>, theimaged member). Scrolling thepage,there are fourmorelinksto entertainment information a large-font ad forMusic Boulevard, an onlinemusic (including store,just under the "Member" photo), anotherto "health"actually appearance("Get Your FreeHealthHair Care Booklet"), twolinks to job and financial one to travel and (true sites, material, to the student's two links to articles foobservation, above) only cus on education (pertaining to young parentswith primarily The bottomof thepage features a screenschool-agechildren).
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ad forthe action film Blade(balancingyet wide, boldly-colored the full-width, ad at the top of the undercutting blandly-colored a for career page chat). beFollowingthe Pagemaster's compositional path,however, forecomingto the personalphoto,"Blackwall"strikes the eye, letters in darkblue,blood red,andgreen, individual withtheclamof "BlackVoices."The signlinksto a messageboard oringeffect further linksto sitesconcernedwithsex,money, nesting appearance, teen issues ("Teen Talk": "fashion,""music," "hobbies, school"), family history("Roots"-a genealogy-oriented site), current life and world to "release events, job problems("Rant": the stress"), and gayand lesbianissues.Though thelinksembedded in thismessageboard add some resonanceto blackvoices,it takessome digging to getpast surface one has to go stereotypes: fourlevels down, forexample,to log onto the "Black Women fora new "lesbianmagazine," or a Chat,"or the announcement bulletin board for"Black and Gay" issues.A quickimpression of theBlack Voices home page (whichis whatmanyuncritically-attunedcruisers willcome awaywith), withitsvisualemphasison and looking entertainment, health, good, tendsto maskmoresuba cursory and blackissues. At stantial social then, glance, personal ness, fromthe point of view of Black Voices, equals coolness, and poses a vague slickself-presentation (self-commodification), content the siteis notconthe of threat to thestatus quo, though levels(itmaybe goingtoo far leastat thesurface frontational-at to claim thatthe framedivisionof the page into "separatebut backtoleft), blackandwhite with, (right equal" halves respectively a racist with political tropesand is thereby complicitous grounds, ideology). in our As the studentcommentsabove suggest,the cruisers is notso muchabout that theweb journey sessionsoon discovered a critical stance(as theinitial as about taking asoneself, finding the the semiotic toward itinerary, observing encourages) signment and deinterests, imageone's physicality, wayvarioussiteclusters in a fun house a as mirror, distorted, sires,perhaps returning, versionof theself. (avant)popped
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Barker claimsthat authoritative modconventional, pedagogical els emphasizeproduct overprocess, viewtheaudience/teacher as evaluator rather thansomeone seeking and cast the information, as authority teacher thepotential "rangeof relafigure, delimiting and teacher between student and Selfe tionships" (qtd.inHoldstein Interactive Internet cre14). methodologies utilizing technology ate a morevital, thandisabling) environ(rather enabling learning mentand mobilizeparticipant to the relationships, contributing of "socialconnectedness" condition to Kenthat, larger according nethGergen,hightechnology fosters (Gergen21). As students make to in discoveries the electronic world,thecomputerbegin ized classroomheatsup, energized excitement: theneed by their to share to talk, their in theimmediate withothers findings social/ educationalcontextof the classroom.Roles reverse, or become as theteaching-learning is decentralized; conventional fluid, system taxonomies "teacher" and as "student")collapse each mem(i.e., ber of thecruisegroupbecomes a participant/node in an ongoa consumerof ing process-at certainpointsin the continuum and at other a of and inknowledge, points conveyor knowledge notrolling itbackto itsimmediate sourceof dispensaformation, tion(as on a conventional but or passingon,new test), presenting, information to other herstudents' efforts participants. Observing to employInternet to generatea collaborative text, technology Winklemann remarks that"they acted out their literacy" (440); our virtual Net-driven research was thesceneof a similar community dynamic. individual work stationswhere students had located Visiting orunusual was often "how sites, interesting myimmediate response did yougetthere?" I became thelearner as myguidesshowedme theropes.I learnedabout hot blackmodelslikeTysonBeckford, got insideinfoon thelatestrap and hip-hopstars-my student/ teachers would oftensupplement information foundon theweb with what knew. One woman,onlinewiththe page theyalready AfricaForum chat,read me portionsof a correspondence she was conducting in Swahili; we (myself and the students immediaround were with her and the ately her) impressed fluidity lilting,
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musicalquality of thelanguage. Another readme a poem she had foundon her sorority home page and justwritten down on the back of the cruiseassignment sheet-I hadn'tknownabout her interest in poetry beforethisclass meeting-whichled to a brief discussionabout therolechanceplaysin creativity. One groupof cruisers had waded into the home pages of some area colleges, of variousinstitutions leadingus to a discussionand comparison of higher education in thestate; we allwereamazed,forexample, at the estimatedcost of a one year'sstudyat Macon College: and thebalance forcost of living; $28,000-$17, 000 fortuition but thisis "Macon," we chimed, or evenAtlanta. not Cambridge Someone else in the class, overhearing the name of her homein shouted mock across theroom,"Whatabout town, indignation Macon?" I shareda fewquieter, more reflective momentswith anotherstudent, a movie about Internet hackersthat discussing had to called he that the mind; myassignment explained plotcenteredaround Internetterrorists who defysocial/racial boundaries-I got out mynote pad. I felt lifted, by theattransported our Net workhad initiated; our class mosphereof collaboration had,almostimperceptibly, slippedover/through-transcendedFish'sdialogic "discourse boundaries, Stanley pedagogical enacting A headymomentforanyinstructor. community." critical during guidedcruises (following thinking maps Implicitly, suchas theone presented at theoutsetof thisessay), participants
version as anongoing, text inits alsoexperience postmodern open-
rather thana decentered, ended,authorially activity, agglutinative stable,bounded, and completedproduct;at large in a fieldof momentsof discourse(es),students experiencetextas arrested structure. self-sufficient rather thanas an immobile, structuration, and Donald Bruce call foralteredattiBoth Carol Winklemann in the electronic of literacy tudes towardtextsand the teaching In hypertext-oriented to environments. "communities," according and text "users"/readers Winklemann, experience comprehend as "non-hierarchical, malleable, anti-linear, nonlinear, manipulable, re-centerable, multi-centerable, de-centerable, multivocalic, dyreticulate ... and multivocal"; democratized, namic, fragmentary,
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as teachers, ourcriteria for and evaluating critical thinkdeveloping skills "mustcapture theradical the ingand literacy intertextuality, of this textual condition seeminganarchy" postmodern (435). Donald Bruce arguesthatgetting the most (greatest use value) out of computers as pedagogicaltools "involvesa rethinking of the notion of text,a displacement of linearity by discontinuity and a multi-dimensional of methodologimodel,and thecreation cal linkswhich bind theoryto practice" (359). TheoreticallyNet surfing sessionsgenerating grounded, specific writerly performances outlined strand (as thecruiseexercise above) area first in spinning suchtechno-attuned, pedagogicalwebologies. the"community observes, Though,as Winkelmann dynamics" modeledby a Net working classroomare somewhat "unrealand this is so much to over into the utopian," just inspiration carry next (extra?)academic world: "Pedagogy should enhance social and enable solidarity utopiandreaming"(445). During an open form Net cruisesession,all participants arecaught in a up equally of exchange, rather thantheclosed circuit spiralling, open circuit of the conventional the pedagogicalarc; knowledgebase is devia parployedoverthelearner/navigator/user field, personalized ticular an array of databases.In suchexhypertext pathsthrough the Net, if "used wisely," as one of our groupput it, periments, can temporally alterthe conventional pedagogicalarchitecture: a within the strucopen space overarching social/political/cultural turesto put oneself, one's social-economic-cultural positionality and theideologiesdefining thispositionality, as wellas theinstituon trial, alterwithin, tionsone functions momentarily suggesting native form. pedagogiesthatare justnow at thismomentseeking Savannah StateUniversity andCity ofNewYorkUniversity Kingsborough College Community
APPENDIX
In orderto collectdata forthe article, I asked mystudents to the exercise lab setting. For complete (see above) in an informal thepurposesof thisfieldstudy, I used an upperdivision creative
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TomLavazzi
writingclass (poetry), containing 7 students,and a sophomoreclass (both classes had had at level, 12 member expositorywriting least threequartersof basic writing instruction).Of the combined groups, 10 students were African American, one native African (fromKenya), and one white.Two of the 19 were older, returning were traditional, students (both black females),while the majority college-age students in their late teens and early 20s. Seventeen were black females, and all came from low-middle to middle income households. Separate sessions were conducted for each small size of each cruise group made it easier group; the relatively for a single instructorto ride along (however briefly)with indiOf the students who participated vidual participants. in theInternet had had some with most sessions, computers (primaexperience system'slibrarydarilyword processing, searchingthe university tabases, or playing games), and most said they felt comfortable using computers, though not many had been widely exposed to high technology.The results of a questionnaire I distributedthe period before the Internet sessions revealed that only approximately 21% of the students had made more than occasional use of the Internet.Though, as indicated above, most had used the computer as a word-processing tool, none of the students had extensiveexperience with Internet-basedresearch;at the time this emphasis had been placed studywas conducted, littleinstitutional on the use of computers as vehicles for research in the humanipriorto the cruise ties.6In additionto the questionnairedistributed sessions and the writtenresponses to the exercise itself,as I rode with the studentsduring the cruises, I casually interviewedthem, takingnotes. NOTES
design (cited above) SSelfeand Selfe'sperceptiveanalysisof computerinterface betweenusers of color and programpackaging; on the relationship focuses primarily as studentsclick on this "interestedand partialmap of our culture"to entervirtual contactzone thatrevealspowerdifferentials" (495). worlds,theyalso enter"a linguistic a broaderpedagogical context:I am interIn thisessay,I read Pratt'sconcept through affects theimmediate and how thisactivity withNet content, ested in userinteractions instructional milieu,the Net-working "scene." 2 See the appendix forinformation about thepractical aspects of themethodology.
South Review Atlantic
143
3 Gilles Deleuze and FelixGuattari betweenarborescent and rhizomatic distinguish and controlsystems. The former are hierarchial charstructures, ideological/command acterized by branchingsfroma centraltrunk(as, for example, the Pentagon as the centerof U.S. strategic structures are decentralizedand nomadic, planning);the latter as in guerillamilitia, characterizedby "lines of flight"(ratherthan settled"places") as necessary, into positional stances.The loss of concentrated knotting temporarily, is compensated forby motility, and elusiveness, power in rhizomaticsystems fluidity, As forthe concernsof the presentpaper,the rhizomatic unpredictability. potentialof the Web encourages a more open-ended attitudetowarddata searches,a suspension of closureand development of multi-tasking analytical skills--beingable to hold more, in mind at once. For a further discussion of including more complex structures, rhizomaticand arborescentthoughtsystems, see Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus: andSchizophrenia (U of Minnesota P, 1987). Capitalism 4 Not that Net-working replaces the inevitable(at least for the moment) thesis but the contactwith/accessto materialsand sources is (perhaps ironiessay format, less cumbersome,and more cally,given theirdigitalreproduction)more immediate, tailorableto the rhythm of a student'sinterests-the immersionin the conveniently "stuff" of the projectis more dynamic-than in a researchprocess thatdoesn't emphasize Net scholarship. s As Mark Olsen puts it, summarizing a main concern of feminist criticism over thepast 30 years, "unconscious structuring of meaningis theprimary means bywhich encoded and perpetuated"(312). genderpower relationsare linguistically 6 It should be noted thatusing the Net as a vehicle to practicecriticalthinking is not inherently "better"thanusingthe library or othermedia. From the standpointof this essay,the particularmedium or means of researchis less importantthan the questions one poses about the mediumand its contents.
WORKS CITED
of Text and Discourse Theoryin ComBruce,Donald. "Towards theImplementation Textual Analysis."Computers and the Humanities 27.5-6 (1993): 357puter-Assisted
64.
Crusin, Richard. "What's an Electronic Author?Theory and the Technological Fal2 (1994): 469-83. lacy."Configurations Curtis,Marcia,and Elizabeth Klem. "The VirtualContext:Ethnography in the ComClassroom." Hawisher& LeBlanc, 155-73. puter-EquippedWriting Gergen, KennethJ."Social Saturationand the Populated Self." TheSaturated Self Dilemmas in Contemporary of Identity Life.New York: Basic Books, 1991. 48-80. Rpt. in Hawisher and Selfe,12-37. Havholm, Peter,and LarryStewart."Computer Modeling and CriticalTheory."Comand theHumanities 30.2 (1996): 207-15. puters Hawisher,Gail E., and CynthiaL. Selfe.Literacy, and Society. Technology, Upper Saddle River,NJ.:PrenticeHall, 1997. Hawisher,Gail E., and Paul LeBlanc. Re-imaging and Composition: and Computers Teaching Research in theVirtualAge. NH: Heinemann,1992. Portsmouth, Holdstein,Deborah, and CynthiaL. Selfe.Computers and Writing: PracResearch, Theory, tice. New York: MLA, 1990. Culture: How New Technology theWayWe Create Johnson,Steven.Interface and Transforms Communicate. New York: HarperCollins,1997.
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andDiscourses: for A NewDirection Olsen,Mark. "Signs, Symbols Computer-Aided of theInterface: and Richard Powerand Its "The Politics Selfe, Cynthia, J.Selfe, Jr. (1994):480-504. with AllThisHypeAboutHypertext?: Literature "What's Smith, Teaching Jonathan. 121-29. A and Collaboration: Critical CarolL. "Electronic Winklemann, Literacy, Pedagogy, Humanities 29.6 (1995):431-48. Case forCyborg andthe Writing." Computers
30.2 (1996): and theHumanities George P. Landow's The DickensWeb."Computers and Communicalion 45.4 Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones." College Composition Literature Studies." Computers and the 27.5-6 (1997): 309-14. Humanities
FURTHER READING
PromClassrooms: Bertram eds.Network-Based andTrent Batson, C.,Joy Kreeft, Bruce, ises andRealities. UP, 1993. Cambridge: Cambridge
Pittsand the Lester.Fragments Subject of Composition of Rationaly: Faigley, Postmodernity New York: SeaburyP, 1973. Freire,Paulo. Education forCritical Consciousness.
Race and Class in Media Thousand Oaks: Dines, Gail, and Jean M. Humez. Gender,
Sage,1995.
U of Pittsburgh P, 1992. burgh:
1995. ed. TheCyborg Handbook. New York:Routledge, Chris Hables, Gray, 1996. Erlbaum Lawrence Associates, 1991. MA: Addison-Wesley, as Theatre. Branda. Laurel, Computers Reading,
on theMateriality Studies Mahwah, NJ: Haas, Christina.Writing Technology: of L'teracy. Culture About Internet VirtualClothes: The Naked Truth Moore, Dinty. The Emperor's
1995. ChapelHill:Algonquin, and Control." Room:Authority "The Computer Charles. Computers Moran, Writing 1995. New York:Knopf, Nicholas. Being Negroponte, Digital. andSuggestions." Comments andTextual "Critical Olsen,Mark. Computing: Theory
27 (1993): 395-400. Humanities and the Computers Parallel in Massively and Traffic Termites, Resnick, Mitchel. Turtles, ]ams: Explorations 1994. MIT Cambridge: P, Microworlds. 7.2 (1990): 60-69. and Composition
theOld: Women's from New Networks Pamela."Building Experiences Takayoshi, 11 (1994):21-35. andComposition Communications." Electronic with Computers
New York: Simon & Internet in the Screen: Identity Age of the Lifeon the Turkle,Sherry. and Tools. and Writing: Norwood, Noel, and PatrikHolt, eds. Computers Williams, Models
1995. Schuster,
1989. NJ:AblexPublishing,

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