Introduction
We will be using a number of technologies in this class. Many of these are seamlessly integrated into various course management tools such as Blackboard or WebCT, but we will be using them individually instead because we will also be examining them as tools and technologies, an examination that would be obscured by seamlessness.

For much the same reason, I am foregoing tutorials on how to use the various tools and howto set up accounts with services like LiveJournal. This lack of immediate support is due to neither my carelessness nor my sadism. Instead, I want us to remember the experience of first using these tools--for good and for bad, for whom the toolsimagine as their users and for whom they exclude, for what they make possible and impossible, for what logics they embody and defy.

I won't be adandoning you. If you need help signing up for the forum, I'm here. But, at the same time, I want you all to record somewhere in the backs of your minds any frustrations (and, optimistically, any joys) so that we can discuss the entire experience later this semester.

Moreover, we will spend time at the start of the next three classes discussing these tools.

Which Technologies for What
Our focus this semester will be on four technological tools for teaching: the website, the mailing list, the forum, and the blog. Each of these tools will serve a particular function in the course:

• Class homepage: information resource
• Mailing List: announcements, questions, answers
• Forum: discussion, information sharing
• Blog: reflection

Each of these tools is what we might call robust and flexible; that is, a mailing list could just as easily be used for discussion, a forum could be used for reflection, a blog could be used for announcements, and so on. But I have focused these tools on particular tasks, tasks they seem especially suited for, so that we can evaluate them at their best, so to speak.

Online Readings
[Enter the online readings area here. ]

The full selection of online readings is available on this site. I would have preferred using the library's electronic reserve, but there wasn't enough time for me to arrange that since we're starting so early. So I will be hosting all online readings here on the class homepage instead.

In order to access the online readings, you must login with the user name and password distributed to the class via the class mailing list at the start of the semester.

Class Mailing List
Mailing lists use a central email address to distribute emails to a group of people; when you send an email to the list address it sent in turn to all people subscribed to the list.

Mailing lists are often used for discussion. The WPA-L mailing list, for example, is an incredibly successful discussion list for compositionists and writing program administrators. However, our mailing list will instead be focused on questions, answers, and announcements. That's because, increasingly, people have come to resent emails filling up their inboxes; there are already too many emails and too much spam in there.

If I have an announcement, I will send it to you all via the mailing list. If you have a question, send it to the mailing list as well. I'd rather answer it once on the list than ten times in ten emails.

To subscribe to the list, visit http://barclaybarrios.com/mailman/listinfo/6700_barclaybarrios.com (Note that you can also use this address to unsubscribe from the list.)

To post to the list, send an email to 6700@barclaybarrios.com.

Class Forum
Forums or bulletin boards are asynchronous discussion spaces. People start "threads" which evolve into a conversation across time. This is "pull" technology: while mailing lists "push" content onto people by delivering it into an inbox, forums ask people to visit and "pull" the content off. This is one of the reasons that this is a non-annoying tool for discussion.

You are required to make a minimum of 6 forum postings over the course of the semester. I encourage you to make more. I will, for now, refrain from assigning specific prompts, since I'd like discussion in the forum to be, in some sense, self-organizing. You can post in response to a reading, in response to (or to continue) class discussion, or in relation to current events as they relate to the issues of this course.

Don't post questions; send them to the mailing list. Don't post reflections on your teaching; blog about them.

Go to the forum at http://barclaybarrios.com/forum/ and register. Once you are registered, go to the 6700 forum, read the thread "Say Howdy," and post a reply.

Blogs / journals
Blogging is growing exponentially. Blogs, short for "weblogs" are a kind of online journal. But while they're often used to record personal events in individual lives, they've also found a place in the writing classroom. We'll examine just what that place is later in the semester. For now, though, I need you to make a blog.

Normally, I recommend Blogger as a blogging system, but we're going to use LiveJournal instead, and for one very important reason. LiveJournal makes it easy to protect individual entries, which means that you can talk frankly about your class or your teaching or even particular students while maintaining your privacy.

You are required to make a minimum of 6 entries and 6 comments in your LiveJournal over the course of the semester. I encourage you, however, to blog regularly, since it can be remarkably therapeutic and since the community of readers we'll be forming can be incredibly supportive. There are no specific prompts here, either. However, you should use this journal only to reflect on your experience teaching (and not, for example, to discuss your trip to the grocery store).

Next week, we'll learn how to protect entries and add friends. I'll also cover more on why we're blogging in this class in particular. For today, make your journal. Go to LiveJournal, make an account, and create your journal.