Writing is in motion as never before: students text one another on the go and around the clock; colleagues and friends use wikis to brainstorm and to co-author important documents; choreographers and filmmakers use motion-capture technology to “write down” movement and gesture; and poets invent new multimedia poetic forms. The places we write, and the features of the writing we value, are today more varied – and often more contested – than ever before.
One especially prominent dimension of these changes is a reconfiguration of public and private space. A single ordinary writing activity today may traverse any number of borders. Classrooms connect with non-academic audiences via public electronic portfolios and blogs; private companies partner with public universities to digitize library holdings; personal emails and business memos are archived in the NCTE National Gallery of Writing; faculty share course materials with students on other continents.
The Sweetland Center for Writing is pleased to host Computers & Writing 2011, focused on the theme of Writing in Motion: Traversing Public/Private Spaces, which will bring to Ann Arbor over 500 composition teachers and scholars, and those in related fields, who work with digital technology. At C&W 2011 you will be able to attend sessions on emerging digital presses, listening to robotic voices, creating comics, teaching with iPads, and peersourcing. The program includes 133 concurrent sessions, 16 new media poster/installation presenters, 3 Town Hall Meetings, 3 pairs of performers, and 3 terrific keynoters: Tim Wu, Gail Hawisher, and Kate Hayles.
Online Presentation Materials
Presenters are asked to share their papers, presentations, and support materials as a way of facilitating access to the scholarship discussed at Computers & Writing 2011. Just log in to our conference website (www.sweetlandcandw2011.com) and click on the “Presentation Materials” tab, and you’ll be able to view others’ materials as well as upload your own.
ArtPick Project
The Computers and Writing ArtPick project aims to traverse the borders between text and image — as much contemporary digital writing and art do — in order to consider how writing is put in motion. Choose a work of art from a selection of works in the UM Museum of Art’s collection, from the ancient to the modern and contemporary. The art you choose will be printed on your C&W 2011 conference name badge and be on display during our opening reception and throughout the conference. Join us in engaging and enjoying works of art that enact the conference theme of “Writing in Motion: Traversing Public/Private Spaces”! Choose your work of art at this link: http://candw2011.lsa.umich.edu/
