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Graham's forthright rejection of nostalgia for the "old Inkshed days" is actually very much in the spirit of the meeting we had in Ottawa-not that a certain amount of nostalgia wasn't expressed there, but it quickly yielded to more pragmatic considerations.  Taking up Roger's call (or challenge?) to elaborate on his summary, here's my sense of the main points of our deliberations, which I hope will be helpful:

We talked quite a bit about the fact that the Canadian conferencing landscape has changed since the old Inkshed days.  CATTW has morphed into CASDW and now seems to meet the conferencing needs of a wider membership, with a wider range of research and teaching interests, than it used to; the formation of the Canadian Writing Centres Association (CWCA) has given that constituency a separate conference of its own.  The current strength of these other conferences means that Inkshed needs to redefine its niche-it needs to offer something compelling and distinctive, if it is to continue.

We all agreed that Inkshed's greatest strength was always its character as a kind of anti-conference, different from the standard ninety-minute-panel, twenty-minutes-per-talk, ten-minutes-of-questions model.  However, we noted that Inkshed has actually drifted towards that standard talking-heads model in recent years, simply to accommodate the number of participants who wanted to present.  This trend has meant less and less time for both inkshedding and discussion, both of which, we all agreed, were important elements of the conference.

A side issue, but nevertheless a very important consideration: we agreed that Inkshed as a kind of retreat experience (three days isolated in a resort somewhere, all participants present the whole time) is no longer tenable.  The cost factor puts participation out of reach for grad students and the underemployed, and it makes attending increasingly difficult even for well-established members.

So, we asked ourselves, with all these things in mind, is there a need and a purpose for Inkshed now, and if so in what form?  Do we in fact want something different, an anti-conference (for lack of a better term) that offers a kind of experience that CASDW and CWCA don't?  Obviously, all of us who were at the Ottawa meeting agreed that we do, but this is the first question that everyone else in CASLL now needs to ponder, it seems to me, before we start thinking about the planning questions Roger has raised.

In Ottawa we did go so far as to speculate that this reconfigured or reborn Inkshed might not have conventional papers at all, that it could be some kind of "working conference" (as indeed Inkshed was in some of its early years), its details, focus, process, etc to be determined later.  We also came up with the schedule Roger has outlined, Inkshed following CASDW but away from the Congress site, so that it would be clearly distinct from the latter (I don't recall that we agreed that Talent Night would be on the first evening, though, Roger-I don't think it will work except at the end, considering how much of the fun is usually based on the conference itself).  However, as I said, the detailed planning should really come a bit later; to Inkshed, or not to Inkshed-at all!--that's the first question.

Brock



On 01/06/09 3:00 PM, "Graham Smart" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Well, OK, hoping to get a conversation started, here goes:  For me the decision about whether to stay in Montreal an extra day to attend Inkshed would depend entirely on what was planned for the Tuesday.  The question for me would be, will what's planned for the day contribute to my research and/or teaching in some way?  To be brutally honest, feelings of nostalgia for the 'old Inkshed days' wouldn't enter the picture in any real way.

Having just come back from Hong Kong, mainland China, and Vietnam, where people seem to have a much greater and wonderfully gracious sense of community, beyond the self, I realize how individualistic and self-centred this sounds, but if I'm honest, this is what I would be thinking about in making a decision.

Graham

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Graves <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, June 1, 2009 12:27 pm
Subject: Re: Inkshed 2010
To: [log in to unmask]

> I am writing to share the results of a meeting of people
> interested in
> attending an Inkshed conference next year who also happened to
> be
> attending the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse
> and
> Writing meeting in Ottawa May 24-26.
>
>
>
> About 18 people talked about the possibility of organizing an
> Inkshed
> conference next year. The group decided that there was interest
> in
> holding a conference. This group, composed of people attending
> the
> CASDW, felt that holding Inkshed immediately after the
> CASDW
> conference was a workable plan. A proposal was floated to devote
> the
> evening after the third day of CASDW (Monday May 31 2010) and
> all day
> the next day (Tuesday June 1 2010). The Monday meeting would be
> held
> in the McGill Graduate Student centre and consist of the AGM
> and
> "talent" night, and the Tuesday would the program of the
> conference.
> The Tuesday meeting would be held in a meeting room at one of
> the
> Congress hotels, and would include lunch. Inkshedders would
> be
> responsible for their own accommodations, breakfast, and dinner.
> Costs
> for the conference would likely be limited to the lunch and the
> costs
> of renting the meeting room.
>
>
>
> The format and nature of the program is yet to be determined; I
> am
> seeking descriptions proposing what that program might look like
> to
> include in the next issue of the Newsletter.  Please send
> these to
> Heather Graves ([log in to unmask]) or
> [log in to unmask]
> before July 31.
>
>
>
> Does this seem like a plan for next year that people who were
> not at
> the CASDW meeting would find attractive? This seems like the
> kind of
> thing this list should discuss, and I hope I've given enough of
> a
> sense of the meeting in Ottawa to get the discussion going. If
> you
> were at the meeting, feel free-or even compelled-to elaborate on
> my
> description of what was discussed. If you were not at the
> meeting and
> are interested in attending an Inkshed conference next year,
> what do
> you think of this plan?
>
>
> Roger Graves
>
> Roger Graves
> Director, WAC and Acting Director, Centre for Writers
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~graves1/index.html
>
> On Jun 1, 2009, at 9:44 AM, Roger Graves wrote:
>
> > Just testing to see if the list works--if it does, I'll send
> out a
> > longer message with an update on planing for next year's conference.
> >
> > Roger Graves
> > Director, WAC and Acting Director, Centre for Writers
> > [log in to unmask]
> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~graves1/index.html
> >
> >               -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > 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/
> >                -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> >
>
>
>                 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>   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/
>                  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-------------------------------
Graham Smart
Associate Professor
Carleton University
School of Linguistics &
   Language Studies
215 Paterson Hall
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1S 5B6
------------------------------


                -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  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/
                 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


*********************************************************
W. Brock MacDonald
Director, Academic Writing Centre
Woodsworth College, University of Toronto
119 St. George Street
Toronto, ON   M5S-1A9
Phone: (416) 978-0246
Fax: (416) 978-6111
*********************************************************


                -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  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/
                 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-