in timbur's "multiliteracies, social futures, and writing centers" article, he brings up the use of different names to describe what a writing center does/seems like they do. "center for communication across the curriculum" was used as as example where the notion of "writing" is completely dropped from the name since, with the influx of technological uses and the like, it does not seem to encompass all of the possible things that people can really DO in a writing center. check for grammar? but that's so boring! people who work at the writing center want to help in ways that aren't just looking at a paper and checking verbs and antecedents, am i right?

i'm really excited to eventually tackle the upcoming projects. i have never made a podcast or done anything in imovie or comic life, and i have all of the programs on my computer (well, i've used garageband only a handful of times but i would never say that i'm "literate"... merely "familiar with"). most of my other classes are so monotonous in that they have routine homework and papers, but nothing comparable to anything that we've been doing in wra 395. i am hoping that these projects will help me become more familiar with - and eventually maybe even "literate" in - these technologies. 

it is interesting how the use of technology affects a class. before 5pm today we were talking about the use of Angel in our classes, as well as electronic paper submission. i have had a few professors who heavily rely on Angel, but more often than not i have come to encounter most of the ones who hate technology. to be honest, technology kind of freaks me out. i am mostly afraid of becoming dependent on technology, because i think it is important that machines don't overthrow humans (maybe i've just seen too many sci-fi movies...). but for real, i sincerely think that one day we will so heavily rely on technology to do things, that it might be a huge wake up call when the batteries stop working or whathaveyou. or even in fahrenheit 451 where they burn all of the books. although the idea is more metaphorical in the text, the concept of typed pages is beginning to slope off... so many people read things off of the internet or their iphones or whatever that it seems that print is becoming a waste. our society is going a faster pace by the minute, and i'm sure one day we will eventually be living in a world where billboards just flash things so that they're easier to read when going 95mph. people don't have time to do things, like sit and read a book. the film industry these days is heavily influenced by novel interpretations, and so many people would rather see the film than read the book because it is a) less time consuming, and b) easier to do. 

i seem to be getting off on a tangent... anyway, regardless of the fact that robots will walk the earth sooner than later, the fact that our writing center (alongside other writing whatevers or centers for communication across the curriculum) is making an effort to stay up to date is really cool. we don't want our services to one day be obsolete, do we? technology is good, but so is keeping a balance of tying in the old with the new. technological services are still in their trial run... the other day it was SO much faster and more efficient to have personal, face-to-face consultations than it was to do them through second life. even so, eventually people will probably be able to do things more effectively over the internet (but by then maybe we'll ALL just be living through SL and sitting in our living rooms...).