Roger, thanks for your comments and thoughts. I'm intrigued that you
felt the need to edit before sending.
The number question is a funny one. If numbers at a conference are
down then people worry the community is losing its effectiveness. If
there are too many and there is a feeling that too much is being packed
in, then I think people also worry that the community is losing its
effectiveness.
Thanks for reminding me of the place of other communities like CATTW
and CSSR. I'm curious about what it might be that makes someone
identify with one community over the other.
Miriam
Quoting Roger C Graves <[log in to unmask]>:
> Miriam,
> In a total violation of Inkshedding conventions, I composed this off
> line in a word processing file so that I could not hit send without
> editing it first. My name is Roger and, while I have had students
> inkshed in the past, I have not done so recently.
>
> Is the community on the wane? Attendance was down in Gimli but good
> in Nova Scotia before that. London in May anyone? I guess we’ll see
> about that. It is hard to get contributions to the newsletter, but
> any of the editors over the years will tell you that. Hard to see a
> trendline there. Ask the right question to the list, though, and your
> inbox will fill up fast. Lots of people are on it and will dig deep
> and really give 110% to help someone find clichés, if that’s what
> they need.
>
> A tougher question is what does it mean to be part of this community.
> In some sense it means knowing people or knowing of people; another
> sense is feeling that you could email or even phone one of those
> people, which I have done. When I was first told about the Inkshed
> conference (1987), I was warned that it was a hard-nosed group of
> tough debaters—occasionally some things got broken in this Burkean
> parlour.
>
> The group was pretty small, necessarily, and I think while this group
> of “originals” remains a presence, the field of
> writing/composition/rhetoric in Canada has grown. There are more
> people who teach writing in Canada than there were in the early
> 1980s, but this group does not always identify with Inkshed (the
> conference). CATTW offers an alternative identity, and for people
> specifically in technical/professional writing, that name may have a
> greater claim on them. Some belong to CSSR, and the new writing
> centre group offers a greater recognition for those who work that end
> of the field. So Inkshed is now one of a set of identities
> individuals may have, and that gives it less of a claim, perhaps.
>
> I guess belonging to this community means reading the list postings,
> maybe the newsletter, maybe attending the conference, maybe
> recognizing who else in your geographical area does work like you do.
> I think it means you aren’t alone—others have had to justify
> class sizes, too, and they will help you find the resources to help
> you make your case. I guess it means you will help others and you
> feel you can also ask for help or ideas if you need them. At grad
> school at Ohio State there were a couple dozen people, literally, I
> could ask. Inkshed actually expanded this number by quite a bit—a
> gross or more!
>
> Roger Graves
>
> Dr. Roger Graves
> Director of Writing and Technical & Professional Communication
> University of Western Ontario
> London, ON N6A 3K7
> 519.661.2111x85785
>
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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