Talking Their Eyes Off

Associate Dean of Humanities Rodrigo Lazo has recently pointed out the work being done by UC Irvine literary journalism students in a collective class project, the UCI Budget blog. It's an interesting example of teaching in a digital rhetoric context, where students are posting transcripts of interviews with different stakeholders in the current campus financial crisis, from English professor and spending advocate Arlene Keizer to bean-counter Richard Lynch, the Associate Vice Chancellor of the Budget Office. By showcasing a range of perspectives that include financial aid officers, protest organizers, transfer students, and anxious pre-meds. It's rare to see a faculty member willing to showcase student writing in progress in this way, but I suspect that writing for public audiences greatly increases the care that students take in composing their questions and framing the interviews. Instructor Amy DePaul has placed the emphasis on posting primary sources rather than finished pieces, but the pedagogical premises behind the blog project seem to be solid for the students, as well as of use to the general public.

The silver gelatin photo is by Jason Davis, who also has posted content to the blog.