What I had in mind there was to use Cindy Selfe's CCCC chair's address (http://www.ncte.org/forums/selfe/) as a catalyst to discuss literacy and technology, going from there in two directions: global contexts & local contexts and what roles we might play in each. 

These are Big Subjects, of course, and as Joel rightly pointed out, we don't know a helluva a lot about the first. We toss off the 'global village' terms pretty easily now that we're confident the Internet has infiltrated every continent, if not thoroughly, at least infectiously. It's only a matter of time & all. 

But we Amer'cans have a long tradition of glazed eyes whenever the subject of the Rest of the World comes up. If we're not bombing them or about to be bombed by them, they don't easily grab our attentions. A few C&W folks have made forays into the wider world. Bill Wresch. Leland McCleary. There are a few people (names have escaped me) in Asia. But we don't seem to have much in the way of regular interaction with them or with our international colleagues. I think Gail Hawisher and Cindy Selfe attended the European computers & writing conference once (if memory serves) and Russ Hunt & Marcy Bauman did, too. A few people from the Rest of the World find their way to the US C&W conference every year. But for the most part, our interactions are sporadic, low-key. 

In a global society, a global economy, we don't really have that luxury any longer. 

But since Joel's right (whadda we know?), I figure we have our work cut out for us and at the *least* we need to get heads out of sand and start *paying attention* to the world around us, try to make connections with folks in other lands, try to listen to them, learn from them, see how we can help each other. 

John Perry Barlow's voyage to Africa was a good kind of first step. And I recommend reading it (even if you have trouble stomaching his persistent optimistic hype). But it's definitely a white, affluent, digeratial view of the connectivity situation there. Barlow found what he was looking for (maybe that's not a big surprise ;) but I there's so much more to see and learn. 

How do we proceed?