CWWG Meeting Minutes: May 18, 2000

In Attendance:
Bradley Dilger
Brian Doan
Emily Garcia
Erica Pittman
Craig Rhinne
Jeff Rice
Brendan Riley
John Ronan
Stephanie Tripp

Agenda:
1) IMAGE Lab 
2) Fall Colloquium
3) IT Concerns
4) Summer Agenda
5) PERL Class (Summer B)

(Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 6th, Rolfs 105, 5pm)

1) IMAGE Lab is now open.  Either Jeff or Stephanie should be their during 
the working week (M-F) to help or answer questions, and there will be one 
other machine free for people to work on Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc.  
Stephanie is currently loading information and gathering input. There was 
discussion about how access to the lab should be organized, given the 
thievability of many of the lab's items: one possibility was some sort of
key checkout system (to possibly be discussed with Jack Sabin), to be
monitored by Michael and Leigh, who would give out keys to instructors;
the other possibility was leaving the room open like other classrooms in
Rolfs.  
    There was discussion about various additions and possible upgrades to
the lab, such as Flash, Shockwave and ImageReady (Stephanie is working on
a letter to Jack Sabin).   
    Finally, there was discussion of establishing a magazine rack in the
lab, with various periodicals related to computers, software, etc., that
students and faculty might be able to check out on a lending system.

2) Fall Colloquium: Jeff plans to take the various 
suggestions/additions/corrections to the initial post on the email list
and write another draft outlining the group's plans for the fall colloquium.
It was generally agreed upon, given group interests, to have colloquia on
both rhet/comp and media/arts-related speakers and issues in the fall, and more 
specifically rhet/comp speakers in the spring.  

Comp speakers:
Vitanza
Spooner/Yancy
Michael Joyce

Media/Arts:
Martha Wilson
Shelley Jackson
Francesca da Rimini

There was a great deal of discussion as to what form(s) the colloquia
would take, and how we might approach the speakers. It was agreed that we wanted
to avoid the "cookie cutter" approach to speakers, trying to get them out of 
speaking in terms of set notes or generalities, and make the experience 
relevant and worthwhile for speaker and group alike. It was generally felt 
that some sort of pretext (an article, sections of a book, etc) would
allow for a common, specific starting point, as might forwarded questions from
the group. It was definitely felt that interaction between speaker and group
was preferable to a "lecture" format (particularly online). Jeff would
coordinate the efforts, and individuals from the group would volunteer to act as
"host" for each speaker, working that week to introduce them and begin
conversation. It was felt that some sort of letter outlining the general
goals and program of the colloquia would be sent (either by email or regular mail) to
potential speakers, as well as follow-up phone calls.  Jeff agreed to draft a
letter, which would be posted for comments to the list.

3) IT: Jack Sabin sent Bradley a letter (which Bradley forwarded to the
CLAS list) on the consolidation/reformation of IT on the UF campus.  It was
felt this was a place where CWWG could make their voice heard, specifically in 
regards to grad student concerns about access, provision of resources,
etc. Jeff and Stephanie agreed to write a draft outlining concerns;
Bradley said he would "poll" for responses and add those concerns to the draft. It was 
agreed that this would be the group's first order of business following
the Computers and Writing conference, and that a draft might be completed
within the next two weeks or so.

4) Summer agenda: Stephanie noted this week's successful Photoshop 5.5 
workshop, and offered to do more workshops (with various software-- 
Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.) depending on people's interests.  Brendan is 
also willing to do Moo workshops with interested parties. The IMAGE Lab is 
working to get ImageReady available and installed.  

5) PERL course: Bradley will be teaching a PERL course Summer B. It is not
a course one must register for, and one does not need prior programming 
experience to attend.  Days and times are tentative, but it will begin the 
first week of Summer B, and will probably be held on Tuesdays and
Thursdays in the late afternoon.  The course is designed to help people at various 
levels learn the basics of PERL. More details (book, course expectations, 
etc) have been posted to the CWWG email list.