rollins job talk
TRANSCRIPT
From Public Pedagogy to Critical Digital PraxisLearning/Writing as Reflective Action Matthew Vetter, Ph.D.Visiting Assistant Professor of EnglishOhio University ZanesvilleSection Editor, Kairos [email protected]
Campus Visit Job Talk – Rollins College – February 25, 2016
mattvetter.net/rollins-visit
The Arc of My Research
Wikis and Wikipedia for teaching writing theory A public and interactive pedagogy for teaching writing
The politics of the interface Representation and access in Wikipedia
Edit the gender gap: critical digital praxis in Wikipedia A case study
Future directions for critical digital praxis
Wikipedia and Writing Knowledge
Procedural knowledge – “History” pages Social knowledge – “Talk” pages Rhetorical Knowledge – “an understanding of a
rhetorical, constructivist model of knowledge production and the role of personal subjectivity in that process”
Rhetorical Knowledge
“I guess in some ways that’s what surprised me the most throughout this project: the revelation that I personally had contributed a legitimate article and added to the knowledge on Wikipedia. Also though, it did make me realize that many of the articles I had read and fully trusted over the years may have been put together by people that didn’t know what they were doing any more than I did at that moment. It was something to think about for sure.”
-student process log
Representation and Access in Wikipedia
The free encyclopedia anyone can edit has so far been mostly edited by Western males.
Problems of representation and access prevent the community from achieving its enlightenment goal of “gathering the sum of all human knowledge.”
The Gender Gap
The Gender Gap is caused primarily by the fact that 1/10 editors are women.
This translates into uneven representation of articles on topics that might matter more to women readers.
But it also means that women’s perspectives are missing from all kinds of content.
We’re not building a truly multicultural encyclopedia that represents diverse views if our editorship is so homogenous.
Edit the Gender GapCritical Digital Praxis in Wikipedia
A Case Study
How “critical digital praxis” became so important to me
A 3-course collaboration and how we engaged with Wikipedia and digital culture in general
Theoretical speculation on how Wikipedia’s epistemological practices make it susceptible to existing social hierarchies
Critical Digital Praxis
A model for making writing interventions in public digital cultures in order to both better understand the writing activities of those cultures and make meaningful impressions with/in them. Freire: “reflection and action directed at the structures to be
transformed”
In Wikipedia, this means tackling gaps in content and spreading awareness of systemic problems of representation
Initiate and participate in public conversations about why we need to intervene
About the CourseEnglish 3060j, Women Writing in Digital SpacesCourse Theme and Design | mattvetter.net/womenandwriting
“This course will explore the ways in which new media and digital geographies both open up new possibilities and create new challenges for women in digital spaces. “
Digital Humanities & Public Culture
Students become:“generative producers and critical consumers of cultural products” and can learn to make “meaningful interventions in the world and lasting connections between their humanist training and public engagement” (Melanie Kill).
Components and Process Proposal - details “gaps” or
omissions in coverage
Annotated Bibliography – source information and source material on targeted topic
Article draft for peer review and Content Expert Review– posted in Sandbox
Final article edits – Mainspace edits
Training Modules
Explore Wikiprojects
Sandbox set up / Practice
Workshop Proposals
Research
Annotated Bibliographies due
Draft articles in Sandbox
Peer & Wiki Ed Content Expert Review
Revise and Publish
Student Work Some examples of Wikipedia articles edited or created by students
What We Accomplished: In numbers
A three-course collaboration, 54 students edited 61 articles and created 12 new ones on a diversity of topics. Combined, students in these three courses made a total of 1,361 individual edits.
Building and Sustaining Relationships in Digital Rhetoric/Education Spaces
The Gender Gap and Wikipedia Epistemology Verifiability ensures that Wikipedia will typically
represent the dominant texts, sources, authorities in our culture Those that are mainstream, published and most readily
available If we accept that we live in a culture that already
marginalizes women and LGBTQ identities, we can also expect Wikipedia to reflect those social hierarchies.
Wikipedia as a mirror of existing social hierarchies This is a systemic rather than deliberate bias.
Academic Interventions
Collaborations like this demonstrate how we can address these biases. By working to enlarge representation and diversifying
editorial populations, Beginning conversations among academics, Wikipedia
communities, and the general public, And by giving students opportunities to engage in public
writing projects that effect change. This is praxis.
Future Questions and Directions
Articulating and defining a theory of critical digital praxis for rhetoric and composition
Locating a historical and disciplinary lineage for such a theory
Further application of critical digital praxis to other digital communities and new media interfaces
Additional study of the pedagogical benefits of praxis Encourage emphasis on writing as action
Appendices- Extra Material
Qualitative Research Methodology
“Classroom Studies” Descriptive in nature Multi-source collection
Surveys, reflective essays, process logs, article drafts
Situated in classroom practice Meant to follow and enrich writing practices and
assignments of students
Digital/Cultural Rhetoric
“The use of rhetorical methods for uncovering and interrogating ideologies and cultural formation in digital works” (Eyman, 2015)
Wiki Ed’s GoalsTo meet the goal of representing ‘the sum of all human knowledge,’ Wikipedia needs to grow. Wikipedia writing assignments can help…While we’ve seen great contributions to Wikipedia content tackling gaps in gender, race, and class, there’s still a lot of work to do to diversify Wikipedia. Wiki Ed is dedicated to improving and expanding Wikipedia through quality contributions that bridge content gaps. We believe student editors are a natural ally. (Salvaggio, “Introducing Wiki Ed”)
The Politics of the Interface
We begin the task of describing some of the political and ideological boundary lands associated with computer interfaces that we—and many other teachers of composition–-now use in our classrooms.
— Cynthia and Richard Selfe, 1994
Technology, like rhetoric, can both push and pull at us. Not only do 'artifacts have politics,' as Langdon Winner has claimed, they also have rhetorics. Technology pushes or manipulates us by requiring us to do certain things and in certain ways…. A technology pulls from us, or panders to us, by reconfirming and strengthening our inclinations and propensities.
— Carolyn Miller, 2013
Addressing the Gender Gap in Wikipedia
From the Assignment Sheet:
“In this project, you’re going to contribute to Wikipedia by performing research on a topic related to gender, women’s studies, women’s representation, or an LGBTQ issue, identifying a need for a new article or edits to an existing article, and then contributing content to the encyclopedia based on your research.”
Assignment Motivations
Theoretical questions: Why the gender gap manifests? What caused or causes
the gap? How does the gender gap influence content and
representation?
Practical work Let’s improve representation by working on content. Let’s diversify editor base by becoming editors (at least
for the course of the academic term).
Community-Engaged Learning
Civic or community engagement (Herzberg; Weisser) Moving beyond homogenous cultures of university
(Deans) Increased levels of motivation and responsibility (Adler-
Kassner, Crooks, and Watters; Feldman