[Compiled from staff reports and MOO sessions]
LUBBOCK: The staff of Kairos: A Journal For Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments, sponsored by the Alliance for Computers and Writing, recently welcomed Douglas Eyman on board in the newly-created position of Coverweb Coordinator.
Eyman, now an independent scholar late of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, continues to pursue research in the field of computer- facilitated composition with a particular interest in hypertext and the possibilities it presents for making explicit a social-constructivist pedagogy. He has published three webs in the first two issues of Kairos, including the lead feature in the summer issue, "Hypertext And/As Collaboration."
According to Managing Editor Michael Salvo, who has coordinated the Coverwebs for the second and (in progress) third issues of Kairos, "the Coverweb represents, in my mind, one of the wonderful breakthrough opportunities of the new digital rhetorics. Coverweb writing allows many contributors to share in the creation of a single text -- and offers some limited means of textual interaction -- while presenting multiple perspectives on one specific issue of interest to the Kairos readership."
Editor Mick Doherty, who coordinated the inaugural Kairos Coverweb, adds "The Coverweb is an opportunity for multivocality in collaborative, linked scholarship which still 'looks' like traditional scholarship in such a way that it can be recognized. What directions it can and will go are limited only by the coordinator's imagination. Doug is precisely the kind of 'ideas guy' that will re-create the genre in ways none of us could guess at right now. Probably not even him!"
Salvo agrees, saying " Douglas is uniquely able to develop the Coverweb beyond its current form to new possibilities. He will enable collaboration in ways we haven't yet envisioned."
Eyman's responsibilities will include formulating, leading discussion about, and enacting themes for future coverwebs; recruiting and working with Guest Coverweb Coordinators (such as recent Guest Coordinators Michael Day and Anthony Rue); and working with Editorial Board members and contributing authors on deadlines and toward an overall cohesion of the coverweb. He has started to assist Salvo with the Fall 1996 issue, due out September 3rd, and will coordinate the Coverweb responsibilities for the Winter 1997 issue independently.
Eyman is ready to move: "Now I can really roll up my sleeves and get into the mix -- I'm ready to argue ... er, contribute! I've got some interesting ideas about incorporating peer-review into the process ... [and] am anxious to get started."
Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments.