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Doug, Thanks for your professional/personal encouragement, and your interpretation of the list silences. I think it's even more meaningful to me that you posted it on the listserv. This ethnography I'm doing is certainly relevant to the Inkshed list as a strange rhetorical event... and people can observe it in process and participate to some degree by tuning in to the listserv. About this ethnog. being a group biography, I actually have a dream that that would happen (that I could mind-meld with "so great a cloud of witnesses") but I really doubt it will because of everyone being too busy in their own worlds. It just so happens that I chose to write it up, that it's convenient for the grad course I am taking and it's part of my own education and interests, so it will end up be me writing it, mainly. I don't believe objectivity is possible, even to an outsider, so I am just going to write it as I see it, without doing _too_ much of the postmodern navel-gazing which would make it more about the author than the group studied. It sure is handy to have a lot of Inkshedder-authored stuff to mine from the listserv, website, and the Inksheds "published" during the conference. That way I have a lot of voices that are not mine. I still frame them and select them, but they are authentic sheddings of "others." I am actually writing parts of the first draft tonight, and we are giving each other feedback during next day's class. Tania -----Original Message----- From: Doug Brent <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tuesday, May 25, 1999 3:53 PM Subject: Re: so suddenly silent... >"As your enthnographer..." I really like that. SOunds like, "As your >bartender, here's what I think..." > >Seriously, I wouldn't worry if this list goes dark from time to time. >Historically it's always been prone to long flurries of postings sparked >by somebody who asks a particularly interesting question, followed by >silences as people try to catch up on their marking. I really don't >think it's you. > >As for your specific request for information -- I suspect that the >chattier of us have already answered that request the first time around, >leaving only the less chatty (or maybe the ones who are feeling even >more pressured) to respond to the latest round. I think I thought of >your request as same-again and didn't respond, but reading it again I >see that it is not just about the list as your previous one was, but >about larger issues within Inkshed. I'll try to respond to these larger >issues in another post. (Could you repost your original request--it >seems to have gone done the gravity well of my e-mail file.) > >My impression from anyone I've talked with about this over a beer is >that most people are quite interested in your project, willing to help, >and interesting in seeing ourselves as others see us. Speaking for >myself, I'm quite resigned to the fact that nobody is likely to paint a >picture that exactly matches my own representation. I appreciate the >opportunity you've extended to correct any errors of basic fact, but as >for the exact shade and hue ofthe representation -- well, that's up for >grabs. > >You've put yourself in an awkward position of being insider/outsider, >with enough personal investment to make so-called "objective" >ethnography really difgficult. I admire your courage in doing so. >Don't let it get to you or dull your ethnographer's edge too much. >We're by and large a friendly lot, quick to forget even our own >appointment schedules, let alone an imagined slight by an ethnographer. >If you make your results available I'll be as quick as anyone to say, >"That's not how _I_ remember it!" but you'll just have to take that as >the price of doing business in the world of ethnography. I for one >promise not to take it personally and am impressed with the painstaking >care you have taken to get it as right as you can. Any more care would >gut the ethnography and make it a group autobiography. > >Write us up, Tanya!