CCCC 2008

I got back from CCCC not long ago. Good stuff:

• Our panel about journals was well-received. Derek’s talk, “How Archives Learn,” applied Steward Brand’s book How Buildings Learn to archives, especially the CCC Online Archive. Doug Eyman and Colleen Reilly presented “Research and Citation Practices for New Media Scholarship,” taking on specific questions about metadata standards and expectations for citation. I distributed my draft standard for the web presences of journals, and explained why I think we should adopt a WaSPy standards framework for bringing journals up to speed. Collin was unable to attend, but sent along a screencast of his talk, “Visualizing the Invisible Collage of Research.” We had about 40 attendees and good conversation afterward. This good work will continue.
• Many creatures of the sea met their demise for my benefit. Two highlights: first, Sid Dobrin and company hosted a fish fry, sharing redfish which had been swimming earlier that day. I ate about three pounds and piled on the grits too. My contribution: a bottle of Templeton Rye. Yum, yum, yum. Second, crawfish etouffee and jambalaya at the Acme Oyster House. The former was driven by a simply perfect roux; the latter by smoked fish and chicken.
• I participated in the CCCC-IP caucus meeting. Last year’s sense of the house motion for the consideration of open source is moving toward a full resolution; I hear it passed this morning. It will be interesting to hear what’s next.
• Very good conversations with the Composition Forum crew. We have an excellent plan to kick-start the journal; we’re going to take advantage of our online format to publish more things, more often. I’ll write about that soon.
• I shared a room with Derek, which provided a lot of time to talk about our panel topic and related geek stuff.
• Two friends picked up book awards: Thomas Rickert for Acts of Enjoyment, and Byron Hawk for A Counter History of Composition. Congratulations to both.
• I ran! Just 30 minutes on the treadmill, very slow, with some stretch breaks. But any run is better than no run. Swimming today; perhaps I’ll join the Road Runners Sunday….
• No travel hassles, though it rained like hell during both of my trips to and from the airport.

I love the food in New Orleans, and I’m happy to provide much-needed business to the area (to the extent that NCTE renting a convention center from a multinational corporation does that). But New Orleans doesn’t have much else for me. Lite beer, fruity drinks, and the Bourbon Street scene just don’t appeal.

Now, to the writing and grading I didn’t get done in the Big Easy. Oh, and thinking about next year’s conference….