In response to some rather difficult times lately, I’ve started a new project. It’s going to be a series of video self-portraits. Just me, thinking, silently for four minutes. Different days, different attitudes. The idea is to try to get outside the construct of a dialogue in my head, which of course goes exactly the way I want it to because I am actually both of those actors. Not useful. Counter-productive, I’m finding. So the idea with this video self-portrait project is to create another, separate self that I have to deal with (and get to observe) without have immediate control over. This is just an experiment. I’m not sure if it’s going to work, or what, exactly, I’m gonna find. We’ll see.
What you see posted here is the introduction to and explanation of the project. Just my talking head, really. The actual self-portraits with begin with tomorrow’s entry, and then maybe weekly after that. Because this project is going to be a bit more personal than what I’m used to, I’m going to be posting the actual self-portraits on my personal blog (www.MyselfAsAnother.com).
I’m posting this introduction to the project here on my Rhet/Comp blog for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, because this is the only part of the project where I try to think through the composing process for the project. Why have I structured it in this way? What do I hope to accomplish? Who’s the audience? Questions like these, I think, are relevant to this blog.
The other reason, in all honesty, is to see if I might generate some cross-traffic between my two blogs. In all honesty, though, I’m not so sure about it. I can’t imagine that the same readers who tune in to read about digital composition in Rhet/Comp might also be interested in my personal demons, recollections of North Dakota, or how to make basil-banana-pepper jam. I guess we’ll see. For now, though, here’s the introduction to the project. If you’d like to see the actual portraits, please visit my personal blog linked above.
If you’ve got any reactions, ideas, or know of any related projects, please feel free to post them in the comments section. I’ll respond as quickly as I can. Thanks. T.
Posted 4 days, 21 hours ago at 10:13 am. Add a comment
I mentioned in my last entry that I would make available the exported, portable, and navigable (no, not citable, though) of my presentation from this last week. It’s not all that user-friendly, actually, because readers have to use the scroll bars to move around the map, but I do like the layout, interactivity, and general polish possible with this software. It’s also totally customizable. You can use your own fills for map backgrounds and for top backgrounds. You can customize fills, manipulate fonts and sizes, adjust layout patterns, or borrow-modify-save existing templates. Here’s the file. It should open just fine in Acrobat Reader. Please let me know if you can’t open it.
Just for good measure, I wanted to see what it would look like if I exported as a PowerPoint. Although it’s incredibly boring in this exported state, it would l probably be a good place to start as you could manipulate each slide as you see fit for a more engaging presentation. Here’s that file, too.
I’m gonna decompress tomorrow, after a truly exhausting three weeks at DMAC and C&W. Sorta nest a little bit here in Louisville. I get to see my dog, Rilke, again. I get to mow the lawn (a jungle after three weeks). And I’ll probably be on the slaughtered end of a softball match tomorrow night. Regardless, the night will end with a drink with friends-not-seen for a while. And I’ll wake up fresh, ready to get back to work on the dissertation and other projects.
I’d love any feedback about your own experiences with different presentation software, or even MindManager. I’ll reply ASAP. Best…
Several people commented yesterday (via twitter) about the presentation software I was using at Computers and Writing 2009. So weird. First time I’ve really made the twitter boards. So I wanted to post some info about the software and give it my tempered recommendation.
The software is called MindManager. Essentially it visually lays out a set of ideas contained in connected, flat bubbles. The interface can be customized in a ton of different ways, but I tend to keep mine pretty simple. You can create templates, format text, embed links, and export maps into all sorts of different formats (Acrobat, Word, Flash, PowerPoint, a portable interactive version, etc.).
There are really two ways that I think about and like this software. First, I love it as a composition tool. I compose almost exclusively in it now. I wrote my PhD exams, my prospectus, and several seminar papers with it. It’s fast and easy to understand. The real kicker is that it almost completely matches the way that I understand my own composition practice. I’m the sort of guy who picks up ideas and processes them as relatively discrete objects. The better I begin to understand an idea, the better I see how it fits into a network of other ideas. But for me, and maybe I never polished up on my Aristotle enough, arguments have never really been linear. That If A and B, then C, and therefore D, sort of stuff. I mean, I can do that, but it’s never really matched the way I understand learning. So MindManager allows me to work (materially) with ideas as a “field” rather than a progression or proof. I’ve come to enjoy the process much more with this sort of interface.
But there are other less-expensive and free versions of this sort of software out there (search: mind mapping software). TheBrain, VUE, FreeMind, etc. But none of them (as far as I know) allow a writer to compose the bubbles as paragraphs. All of the others either have character limits, don’t allow for carriage returns, or are incredibly cumbersome to format text with line breaks. So, I’m stuck paying for this expensive version. (It’s $149, academic pricing.) I have to say that I like it enough that if it ever goes away, I would seriously consider learning javascript just so I could write my own.
The other way that I like to use the software is as a mode of presentation. I’m still working out the kinks (as people who attended our session can attest), but I think it has great potential. Any map I write can be exported as a read-only presentation version, which is exacly the same as the editable version, but without the editing interface taking up screen-real estate. The bubbles expand and contract as I click on them, and there are other presentation functions available that I haven’t yet explored.
As presentation software, the thing I like most about MindManager is the ability to see the way the whole map fits together. I can zoom-in or -out as I’d like. And I can determine with parts of the map will show at different points in the presentation. The interface isn’t beautiful, but it could be, if I worked at it a little bit.
So yesterday, I made some pretty serious mistakes. I was nevervous (more than usual for some reason), I think because I feel so commited to this idea. I had some problems getting the projector to mirror my desktop, too. I only seem to have trouble with that when I present at conferences. Never at home. Never in my classroom. Never in my office. Go figure. And because of the monitor snag, I forgot to start my own timer, which meant that I had to ask our moderator (a couple of times) for my time-left. Ugh. I’m a perfectionist, and that didn’t feel like it went well. But several people (whom I trust) told me they didn’t notice much of any of that stuff. Okay, so I’m satisfied, but it could have been much, much better. So I’ll get something really polished and snazzy ready for CCCC if I get in. If not, then maybe next year at Purdue.
I’m going to fix a couple of errors, then post the presentation in an interactive version here on the blog in a few days. I’ll tweet the notice.
So that’s it. Try out a free-version of MindManager. (It is available for Mac, too.) It could really do you some good. Or try out some of those other programs I mentioned. PowerPoint has its places, sure, but lits get some variation, no? (And I’ve got to check out Prezi!)
Please feel free to post any other presentation or composing software that you like. Better yet, write a reply to this entry, post it to your own blog, and link back to it from the comments section below. I’d love to send people to your blog from here. Looking forward to it. Best…
Several people commented yesterday (via twitter) about the presentation software I was using at Computers and Writing 2009. So weird. First time I’ve really made the twitter boards. So I wanted to post some info about the software and give it my tempered recommendation.