I have been reading the Robert Samuels piece for quite some time now, and I have no idea how far I have gotten in the piece or how much farther I have to go. In fact, half the time I am not even reading the right piece, having been shuttled off to another article by Paul Trout on Anti-Intellectualism in undergraduate students, for example, bouncing from link to link (node to node?). I decided after reading the introduction to try and escape the linear essay, opting instead to brave the hypertext version, randomly choosing one of the several squares presented to the right of the screen and taking it from there, clicking on the links that seem interesting and trying to at least have the patience to finish the essays I begin.
To be honest, the process seems a strange combination of a case of ADD and a conversation of sorts, the information available to me if I can find it, or if I am willing to click on it. It’s frustrating – I like my essays to lead, my author playing the fearless leader, guiding through the explanation in a genre I can diagram it is so precise. On the other hand though, there seems to be so much room for something new to sprout from the rich texture of these works, which allow me to follow up on subjects that interest me. It just seems like it is virtually impossible for me to get all of the information Samuels is providing. Perhaps that is the point though – that I can format the text to suit my needs as a reader. Is this an indicator that the academy is getting lazy? And that we as readers are no longer willing (or capable?) to read through an entire essay? Or is it a symptom of the post-modern? A shifting in values from the static boundaried genres of the academy to a more fluid understanding of knowledge and communication? My hope is the latter, though after reading some of these essays I am keeping the door open…
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Great questions! Your articulation of the dilemma of reading a hypertext help me imagine the frustration my juniors are feeling (at the last minute last summer my department asked me to pick up a section of the junior writing course). What I want them to develop is the skill of getting past the frustration to recognizing “so much room for something new to sprout from the rich texture of these works, which allow [a reader] to follow up on subjects that interest” them.
The first-year students in ENG112 are not as upset (see their comments to my post, positioning students for written interaction: http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/positioning-students-for-written-interaction/).
I wonder, what is the difference between these two populations? Are the juniors already so jaded, or so indoctrinated, that they cannot break out of the linear mode? Does this forbode specific and concrete limits on their futures? Are the first-years only primed because they expect change in this, their first semester of college? I worry. :-/
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Exciting things are happening!!!!!!!
I commented back to you, http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/circulating-online-writing/
and, am working on a new post that consolidates the latest blog entries by the juniors (who I’m teaching in COM). The outline of an actual conversation is taking shape as I craft assignments back-and-forth between the first years (ENG112) and juniors (required junior writing in their discipline). If you want to wade through the whole convo:
http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/positioning-students-for-written-interaction/
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