Cs Report, Part 5

One of the most exciting parts of CCCC to me, even more exciting than delivering my own presentation with Peter Elbow sitting next to me, was Clancy's talk in which I heard my own name. Ha!

Clancy offered an excellent example of how peer-to-peer reviewing happens in the blogosphere with a breakdown of a blog-to-blog discussion last year in which Collin responded to an article in Inside Higher Ed, and I responded to Collin, and well, check out Clancy's slide to see who all else got involved and how the debate bounced back and forth from blog to blog and how consensus was reached.

This was my first time to attend the Cs, and the reason I wanted to go was because of the energy I saw on the blogs when people returned last year. I was glad to be part of that energy this year. I was also glad, for the first time ever, to see myself quoted on anything at all in a presentation. Ha!

Clancy asked if this same kind of exchange might have happened on a listserv. Maybe, maybe not. I can say that I probably wouldn't have gotten involved had it not been for the blogs.

When I first started doing this, I didn't know that people could check their referrals and go read things that had linked to their blogs. I wrote my response to Collin, thinking that maybe only Tammy and Jeanne in the building across campus might read it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been bold enough to take issue with him to his face.

I'm not sure what it is, but there is something about blogs, that has freed me to jump in and be part of a larger academic community in a way I was not before. I am going to put some thought into this, and if I come up with more to say on it, I'll share.

Thanks, Clancy. You did a wonderful job, and I got a big kick out of seeing my own name mentioned.