Data Sample: Technology

Because of the limitations of editing on the blog, it became clear that we needed an alternative place to start copying and pasting our drafting from the blog to an actual document that would be handed in. We had several options, including having one person responsible for pulling the information to the draft and then e-mailing it back and forth. However, this took away from our conception of this project as truly collaborative. The online document made it clear that neither one of us "owned" the document. It reinforced the idea that we were co-authors and both contributing and editing the document. It was a truly collaborative piece of writing, just like the blog. It served as an extension of the blog, and a complement to the blog. It did add an extra layer of technology to work with.

"I started a Google doc that we can share so we can start pulling some of our writing from the blog into an actual draft for Monday. I will work on this more tomorrow, and maybe we can get together at some point. You should be able to get to the google doc by going to http://docs.google.com and then logging in." (jessica)

Access to technology is another issue that we encounted when Jessica's computer crashed. It made us consider how students without home access to computers may feel in the collaborative writing process.

"Yesterday after class my computer crashed. As I was lamenting my dire situation and considering whether I should simply pack up my things and go home, I thought, "thank god for the blog." Because of the blog, most of the work for the research paper is intact. So, another benefit of the blog emerges. However, as I went back to my old method of handwriting my papers, I begin to think about all of the access issues in relation to computing. While of course we can expect our students to use campus resources to complete their work, the dynamic of blogging may be changed for students who must complete this blogging in such a narrow time frame. Because we want the blog to be a way to enhance the writing process, and not be a barrier, those access issues are something we must consider." (jessica)

[there are more posts to add to this]