Overview

Graduate student professionalization may seem an odd topic for a tenth-anniversary issue of a peer-reviewed journal. But not Kairos. In fact, it is an especially fitting topic for this issue. Kairos was founded by graduate students and has been an active vehicle for graduate student professionalization throughout its ten years. In this webtext, I explore my own meandering path toward professionalization and Kairos's history as part of that path.

You will use two constellations to navigate this webtext: Auriga and Taurus. They are special for at least two reasons. First, they share a star, Beta. Second, astronomers have found (and have been tracking) nebulae in both Auriga and Taurus, marking both as cradles of new stars and new solar systems. Constellations, in general, can be misleading. Though the stars seem close (from our distant gaze) and though they often are related, they also are greatly distant from one another. To me, these constellations are very kairotic. The staff of Kairos works together across vast distances. Kairos has cradled new stars since its inception. And Beta, coincidentally, has long been a term used for test versions of new and often innovative software, a term that is also shared by computers-and-writing studies and technical communication, among other related fields.

For this webtext, I have interviewed some of the professionals involved in Kairos over the years. Their responses to my questions (along with the respondent's name and Kairos affiliation) appear in notes attached to this text — as they intersect or parallel my story — their comments are available in tandem to this text as pop-up windows. Click a linked text and a pop-up window will appear with the interviewee's comments inserted. As a combination of my personal and professional experiences, this webtext seeks to convey the range of voices we all use as we make our way through the many discourse communities to which we belong.

References