Acknowledgements

While bringing any book to press typically involves a community of people lending their guidance, encouragement, and hard work, this is particularly true with a multimodal project such as ours, with its array of media types, technical widgets, and other moving parts. We are incredibly fortunate to have had the help and support of so many people during the development of this book, and we wish to thank them here.

First and foremost in this list would be our intrepid editor and beacon of reliability in an uncertain world, Sara Cohen. Thanks as well to Flannery Wise for timely assistance in preparing our work for publication, and to Jon McGlone for conducting a thorough and highly useful accessibility audit. We are also grateful to Naomi Silver for encouraging us to submit this project to DRC and supporting us throughout its development. We’d also like to thank all the DRC staff and board members for helpful feedback and support. Finally, we’d like to thank Shelley Rodrigo and an anonymous reviewer for their detailed, helpful, and encouraging feedback.

Well before we thought of this project as a book, we found ourselves buoyed by the generosity of the people along the way who helped give shape to our vision. We’d like to thank all the audience members in attendance—as well as all the conference organizers—when we presented portions of this work at Computers and Writing (Frostburg 2013; Rochester 2016, Findlay 2017; George Mason 2018), at CCCC (Indianapolis 2014), at the 21st Century Englishes Conference (Bowling Green 2013), at York College of Pennsylvania (2014), at the Digital Media and Composition Institute (Columbus 2018), and at the Conference on the Teaching of Writing (Hartford 2018). We’d also like to give a shout to co-panelists Ben Miller and Kevin Rutherford for their generative feedback on our work.

We first began to think of this project as possibly a book when we co-facilitated an RSA Institute workshop, “Crafting Multimodal Rhetorics,” in Madison, Wisconsin in 2015. In fact, the first shitty draft of our book trailer was created there (as a model for participants to create multimodal pitches for their own projects). We’d like to thank all the participants in that workshop for their thoughtful feedback on our work in progress: Cydney Alexis, Amy Anderson, Maha Baddar, Alan Benson, Will Kurlinkus, Jasmine Lee, Lilian Mina, Dustin Morris, Kristin Prins, Kristin Ravel, Vanessa Rouillon, Patricia Wilde, Kateland Wolfe, and Melissa Yang.

This book includes adapted and expanded versions of previously published material, and so we owe a debt of gratitude to the people who helped bring those pieces into the world. The segment “English via the Airwaves” included in the chapter “Listening to Audio Pedagogies” originally appeared in Soundwriting Pedagogies, an online edited collection assembled by the dynamic editorial team of Kyle Stedman, Courtney Danforth, and Michael Faris, as well as the collection’s other contributors. The chapter “Visualizing the Archive” grew out of the Kairos article “A Distant View of English Journal, 1912 –2012.” That article was made possible by the generous guidance of a team of editors and reviewers, including Stephanie Vie, Kathy Fitch, Michael Faris, John Gallagher, Erin Karper, Colleen Reilly, and Dave Sheridan.

Kairos is the online journal that has inspired us the most as multimodal scholars, and we thank all those involved in editing and publishing in it over the years for the labor of building a space for born-digital, multimodal scholarship in the field. Likewise, we also owe a huge debt to the founders and editors of Computers and Composition Digital Press—Cynthia Selfe, Gail Hawisher, Tim Lockridge, Patrick Berry, and M. Remi Yergeau—whose visionary work making space for digital multimodal books in the field was crucial to our imagining this project as a possibility.

The two of us would specifically like to highlight everyone involved with the inaugural KairosCamp in 2017, something of a spiritual retreat that allowed us the time, space, and intellectual motivation to push through the slog. We are grateful for the input of camp organizers and attendees alike, including: Cheryl Ball, Doug Eyman, David Reider, Karl Stolley, Derek Mueller, Madeleine Sorapure, Talea Anderson, Erin Kathleen Bahl, Chen Chen, Sherri Craig, Patricia Fancher, David Hochfelder, Jen Justice, Will Penman, Julie Velasquez Runk, Katrina Powell, Mary P. Sheridan, Wendi Sierra, and Sarah Welsh. We also thank all the WVU staff and graduate students whose labor made our work possible (as well as the staff of Mutt’s Lounge, a.k.a. the Raccoon Bar).

We are also grateful to our shared mentors who have helped us lay the groundwork for this project, and who continued to offer feedback and support throughout its development. Nan Johnson inspired us both with a passion for archival work, and her early support of this research meant so much to us. Cynthia Selfe, Scott DeWitt, Dickie Selfe, Brenda Brueggemann, and Beverly Moss all taught us the value of playful, accessible approaches to multimodal pedagogy, and also offered us encouraging early feedback that boosted our spirits. We are grateful to all of them.

Our book would not have been possible without the work of our many talented amateur voice actors—generous colleagues who graciously volunteered to inhabit the voices of the teachers in the English Journal archive. Our audio and video case studies were greatly improved by the incredible performances of: cris cheek, Katie Johnson, Jonathan Bradshaw, Catherine Tetz, Katy Shay, Morgan Leckie, John Silvestro, Ashley Miller, Erin Brock Carlson, Abby Dubisar, Ellen Cecil Lemkin, Chris Maggio, Patrick Murphy, Danica Schieber, Roxanne Farwick Owens, Nicole Pizarro, Jessie Male, Gavin Johnson, and Ben Jolliff.

We are indebted to the Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society for providing us with a digitized copy of the student film Spinning Spokes, and for granting us permission to include an excerpt of it in this book. We’d also like to think the many producers of creative commons imagery and music whose work has greatly enlivened this book—see the appendix of this book for credits.

Lastly, both we and the publisher gratefully acknowledge the support of the Sweetland Center for Writing in making this book possible.

Ben Would Like to Thank . . .

I would first like to thank Ohio State Marion for granting me a research leave to support the production of this book. Additionally, my Marion campus English colleagues (not to mention my Marion faculty colleagues outside of English) have helped created a truly collegial culture that has helped keep my batteries charged throughout this process: Katie Braun, Sara Crosby, Kate Denton, Pete Dully, Stuart Lishan, Mike Lohre, Sue Oakes, Amy Tibbals, and Nathan Wallace.

Also, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation for my departmental colleagues in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies who have also shown interest in and encouraged this project along the way. In addition to colleagues we have already named, I’d like to include in that list: Jonathan Buehl, Jim Fredal, Kay Halasek, John Jones, Dan Keller, Susan Lang, Margaret Price, Carolyn Skinner, Lauren Squires, Christa Teston, Elizabeth Weiser, and Kelly Whitney, as well as the recently retired Roger Cherry, Susan Delagrange, and H. Lewis Ulman. All of you have been an absolute joy to work with.

Both on the Marion and Columbus campuses of OSU, I have benefitted from the technical support and assistance of a number of people that deserve recognition, including the IT department at Marion (thanks, Bryan Sickmiller and Travis Elkins!), former Digital Media Project director Amy Spears and her crack team of workers, and everyone over at the Denney Hall location of the Digital Union studio. Thanks to all of your help, our bacon was saved on more than a few occasions.

I suppose it’s inevitable that a project like this would have us reflect on the influential English teachers in our lives, the ones who at various stages of our education served as the kind of role models we can only hope to emulate in our professional lives. In my case, those figures would include Miss Kathy Mogish (Thomson High School), as well as Professors Nancy Sutherland and Paul Sladky (Augusta College, now Augusta University). For better or worse, their influence has put me on this path I walk today (it’s for the better, I’m pretty sure).

Finally, I would like to thank my family for everything they’ve done, especially beyond the scope of this book. In particular, I would like to take a moment to appreciate all of the hard work that my mother, Vickey McCorkle, put into encouraging me to invest a lot more time and energy into my learning than what was expected of me by the McDuffie County school system—she helped foster an intellectual curiosity about the world around me that still persists today. Unfortunately, she lost her life in late 2019 to late-stage breast cancer, and so I personally dedicate this book to her memory.

Jason Would Like to Thank . . .

I would like to acknowledge Miami University for providing a semester’s research leave that supported the writing of this book. My leave would also have not been possible without the labor of Tony Cimasko, who served as interim composition program director during that time. I am also grateful for the great work of Sara Webb-Sunderhaus who began directing our writing program in Fall 2018, allowing me a respite from administrative labor that was crucial in finishing this project. I also would like to acknowledge all the amazing graduate assistant directors of composition with whom I’ve co-taught, co-learned, and shared labor during the early stages of this project. Thank you forever and always to: Hua Zhu, Caleb Pendygraft, Bridget Gelms, Beth Saur, Annika Vorhes, Jonathan Silvestro, Renea Frey, Leigh Gruwell, and Jonathan Bradshaw. Thanks as well to the faculty and staff in the English department’s west wing who have supported me in so many ways: LuMing Mao, Madelyn Detloff, Mary Jean Corbett, Debbie Morner, Jerry Rosenberg, Sarah Broome, Rachel Treadway, Katrina Potter, and Denise Roell. Many thanks as well to all the graduate teaching assistants at Miami University, who have inspired me every day by collaboratively sharing and developing their accessible, playful, multimodal approaches to teaching writing alongside me.

I would like to say a special thanks to Eric Johnson of Miami University’s Center for Digital Scholarship for patiently helping me learn how to code interactive graphs in D3. I’d also like to say a huge thanks to my colleague, Tim Lockridge, for his wonderfully helpful advice on the process of composing and publishing a digital book. Many thanks as well to all my colleagues in rhetoric and writing at Miami University who make this such a generative place to be a digital writing scholar, especially Michele Simmons, Liz Wardle, Tim Lockridge, Sara Webb-Sunderhaus, Heidi McKee, Emily Legg, Adam Strantz, and John Mauk.

My passion for learning with and from K-12 teachers has been nurtured by my work with the Ohio Writing Project (OWP). I’d like to thank all the amazing teachers and staff involved in OWP for sharing their insights with me, with special shout outs to Beth Rimer, Angela Faulhaber, Mary Fuller, Helane Adrone, Karen Long, Monica Fisher, and Sara Austin. My passion for multimodal K-12 writing pedagogy has also been inspired by my work with pre-service teachers in my English 304 classes; there are too many of you to name, but I am grateful for all the joyful learning I’ve experienced with you.

My writing has also been powered by numerous coffeeshops in Cincinnati: many thanks to the wonderful staff at 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab, Collective Espresso, Mom ‘N ‘Em Coffee, and (my secret shame) the Panera on Winton Road. Beyond the realm of writing, my life has been enriched by the supportive presence of dear friends who sustain me with our mutual adventures in eating, dancing, trivia-playing, miscellaneous silliness, and collective cat care. For all this and so much more, many thanks to Anita Mannur, Theresa Kulbaga, Gaile Polhaus, Madelyn Detloff, Jen Cohen, Mary Jean Corbett, Elaine Miller, Erin Edwards, cris cheek, Rebecca Dingo, and Abby Dubisar (among others). I also am grateful to my feline companion, General Tso (a.k.a. The General), who has kindly allowed me space and time to work on this project. I also would like to acknowledge my dearly departed feline companion, The Chicken, for her support as well.

I would not be an English professor today if it were not for the early encouraging guidance of my own teachers. I am especially grateful to the mentorship of Mrs. Eve Taylor (Seminole High School) and Dr. Miriam Williams (New College of Florida). I try every day to live up to the inspiring examples they set. I also am eternally grateful to my dear friend and mentor, Kate Ronald, for all her support, wit, and guidance; all the best advice I have to offer about teaching and writing results from my directly quoting and riffing on Kate's pithy wisdom.

Finally, I’d like to give a shout out to my family for their love and support: Marcia Rossiter Palmeri, Rick Palmeri, Laura Palmeri Connor, Sean Connor, Brian Connor, Sammy Connor, David Rossiter, and Valerie Mangual. I’d like to say a special thanks to my sister, Laura, for conversations about elementary teaching; to my mother, Marcia, for nurturing my love of literacy; and to my father, Rick, for inspiring much of the goofy sense of humor on display here.

100 YEARS OF NEW MEDIA PEDAGOGY