Tentative Project Proposal

My proposed assignment asks students to compose multimodal blog entries on a variety of locally-based topics, in order to allow them opportunities for exploring the rhetorical nature of the places they inhabit. They would also be gaining skills and experience in the construction of place-based knowledge and identities, skills Lindgren proposes are necessary for healthy citizenship in a given environment.

As it currently stands, the proposed assignment requires 4 separate blog entries, each one with a topic to be chosen from a specific category:

Blog 1, due week 3: Local geography and history

Blog 2, due week 5: Local language and culture

Blog 3, due week 7: Contemporary social issues (explore, explain, and/or argue a local issue)

Blog 4, due week 9: Reflection

For the final project, I would like to follow through with my proposed place-blogging assignment, completing each aspect from the point of view of a potential student. In doing so, I hope to explore each aspect's feasibility as well as to provide students with a specific example of the kinds of composing I would like them to do for such an assignment.

Specifically, I would be required to do the following:

-freewrite/plan in order to narrow a workable blog topic to fall within each proposed category, consider a rhetorical purpose and target audience for each entry, and decide on methods of research for each entry

-compose and post a multimodal blog entry for each proposed category

My thinking at this point is that for each of the 4 blog categories, I would post two entries. The first would show my prewriting/planning for that topic, along with extended research in the area of blogs and blogging pedagogy. The second would be the polished entry regarding the topic.

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Sample Prewrite

Category 1: Local geography and history

I already know a good bit about the geography of Athens County, in part because they're so similar to the rest of southeastern Ohio and share connections with conditions throughout Appalachia. I know less about the specific history of Athens County, such as local settlement patterns, university history, local legends and myths, etc. These are things I would like to learn, and that I think are valuable to feeling like a citizen of Athens County. (I went to a talk Craig Meyer gave about his research on the Civil War experiences of Springfield, Illinois; he claimed that after all the research he felt like Springfield was his hometown, even though it wasn't, simply because he'd learned so much about it. That seems like a very powerful statement about the influence of place knowledge and our interpretations of what it means to feel at home in a place.)

In thinking about the historical conditions of Athens County, I'm realizing that, unlike my home county, I don't really know the story behind the county's naming. I'm assuming that it was named after Athens, Greece, as several locations in this area reflect classical names (Troy, Carthage, and Rome townships come to mind). Is it solely due to the influence of Ohio University? Whose idea was it? Why Athens and not another famous seat of learning (such as Miami University's town of Oxford)? What can we learn about the early county residents from this name choice?

I think it would be worth knowing this information for its own sake, but also in order to understand the rhetorical power behind such a name. Living and attending a university in a town and county named for one of the great centers of learning was intended to mean something. It's a responsibility as well as a name. My target audience for this blog entry would therefore likely be a local one, of university and county residents. However, I would like to convey something about the power of naming that could have an effect for readers in multiple locations. Place names are (usually) chosen thoughtfully and with a purpose. Maybe knowing what this purpose is can teach us something about ways to live there.

Modality: In the blog entry, I could include links to any relevant information found online. In order to better illustrate the connection between Athens, Ohio and Athens, Greece, (again, assuming this is the origin of the name), I could include images of the county's founders, the early campus, ancient Greek ruins or famous Athenian intellectuals. If a personal interview becomes necessary in order to ascertain information, I could record and post it on the blog (assuming, again, that I could accomplish this).

Research Plan: My first source would probably be an internet scan, as most counties have a webpage, visitor's bureau, and a historical society that could give me more information about county origins. Beyond that, the reading room at Alden Library's rare book collection has copies of Ohio county histories which would likely prove useful. Failing this, direct contact with staff at the historical society might provide needed information about the county's formation and naming.