Perhaps the one thing I like most about Ohio State is that I’ve rarely had to physically stay in a library while here. I’ve been able to search for and reserve books online. I simply dart into the science and engineering library, grab the book I’ve digitally reserved, and dart out. Very little interpersonal interaction involved.

Libraries, at least at the educational institutions I’ve attended, have always involved lots of people and lots of distractions. And though reading rooms tend to be quieter than cafes or street corners, the silences are overwhelmed with noise — pages turning, clocks ticking, coughs languishing, air circulating — and the visual stillness is overwhelmed with eyes and other unreadable body parts.

Nonverbals abound in libraries. Nonverbals and I don’t always get along.

Upon learning that 1) the library was open today and 2) hardly anyone was there, I ventured out. I managed to stay for nearly three hours, probably a record of some sort for me. I went there to work on my dissertation prospectus, which is ending up a multimedia project. Instead of sifting through book-like things, I had aimed to record photos, video, and ambient noises. Eventually, I located a suitably lonely table, turned around, and found myself parked in front of several rows of the Journal of Mental Deficiency Research. (Which was right near Autism, the journal.)

I defaced some scholarly journals with post-it notes.

Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, with a post-it that says 'pathology (to the max)'

In one of the "enlightening" Autism articles from 2003, an author mused about an autistic child's "entry into the domain of symbols" (a.k.a. so-called normal speech, you know, the only kind of symbolic thing that's worthy of anyone's attention). I went notecard-happy on several cognitive studies/psychology periodicals, including the Journal of Traumatic Stress. DX that, symbol arbiters.

This collection was in dire need of some pathologically ineffectual charity. And I had no shortage of pity-laden bandaids.

Recycling that tired idea of there being one "true language." Because goodness knows that what autistic people use isn't language, isn't even symbolic.

Try harder: Advice for researchers everywhere, myself included.

Consequently, in my state of upset-ness, I attempted to parody an Autism Speaks YouTube video: I took an interview with Suzanne Wright (founder of Autism Speaks) and replaced a CNN dude’s questions with my own. It’s not great quality or anything, but producing this has kept me from fulfilling my head-banging desires, so it’s served at least one fruitful purpose. Using Vixy, I captured video of the CNN interview. I then extracted the sound using iMovie and recorded my own voice using Audacity. (I interspersed my “interview” questions with Suzanne’s Wright’s answers from the original video.) I also took a screen shot of the original video and modified it in GIMP to fit the neurotypicality disorder parody.

Original video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GuyTJ…

[cross-posted to the Asperger Syndrome Livejournal Community]

I just finished reading the collection Teaching Writing with Computers (edited by Takayoshi and Huot). In many respects, I really wish I’d come across some of the articles within before I became a red-pen-handler-of-doom. (OK, actually, in all honesty, I usually swap between pencil and Word’s “Track Changes” when I grade. And I’ve generally set “track changes” to blue when I leave comments. But I digress.) While some of the material in the various essays is outdated, much of the content deals with broad, general suggestions for integrating technology, and not so much specific tool-based ideas. Nevertheless, despite the conglomeration of really cool ideas (e.g., having an outside speaker/specialist “speak” with your class via chat room or discussion board), many were really, really commonsensical. However, especially since I come from an AS perspective, I *do* realize that “common sense” ain’t exactly a universal since it’s constructed. I’m a bit hesitant to say that any of these ideas are “no-brainers.”

Consequently, I continually had to re-analyze my starting points here, especially since I do consider myself to be technologically/digitally literate. And, I’m sure most FYW instructors haven’t had the benefit of learning Flash or C++. So, I decided to try my hand at sarcasm (and the color pink) in creating an e-Teaching how-to manual.

I’m kind of wondering: who would indeed claim the below items to be true? Non-writing instructors? Writing instructors who haven’t read the TWWC essay collection? My mom? The only slightly agreeable one, it seems, is my very first image (behind the cut). Are these images blatantly sarcastic? (Translation: how utterly obvious is it that writing instructors should do the opposite of what these images command? And, if it is obvious, why?)