Welcome to Ed’s English Blog
This web log was started as part of a graduate course on the theory and pedagogy of English instruction at the secondary level. It is my hope that this blog will enable me to better understand the nature of blogging and the possibility of using web logs as part of the secondary English curriculum. I also hope that this bog will allow for an interesting and lively discussion of issues related to teaching English and literature. My background is in philosophy and I am especially interested in American philosophers such as John Dewey and William James. I believe that the notion of web logs challenges many of our tradition presuppositions about literature and opens the possibility for interesting theoretical discussion. For example, blogging raises questions about what exactly constitutes a text and authorship. Where does a text start and stop, and does a text require a beginning and ending? Furthermore, when can we consider ourselves the author of a text, and when should we note the contributions of collaborators, mentors, and other sources of insight? Hopefully, my background in philosophy will prove helpful in addressing these weighty issues. Feel free to join in the discussion, but please be mindful of the thoughts and feelings of other participants.
September 9th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Ed- I find your questions about the nature of “text” really thought-provoking. Indeed, the expansion of webspaces has really changed the face of intellectual property law.
I love the web because of its immediacy, but I certainly understand the concerns about ownership and the issues with crediting your inspirations and jumping off sources. I look forward to hearing more of your ideas, and reading this site as you develop your personal philosophies.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
I think that it might be helpful for us in our discussions about technology first to define it for ourselves. My conception of technology is broader than the traditional view that often posits it merely as a tool– a machine. More importantly, I view technology as a matter of literacy. Your questions about the changing nature of text itself in the blogging environment suggest to me the broader type of understanding of technology that I was trying to describe above. Is that right?