Head to Head

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Communication with the virtual body versus communicating with the physical body - how much do we really know about the difference? Do we assume that successful communication with the virtual body will look successful in the same ways that such communication would look between physical bodies? Doesn’t the kind of writing that we teach and read in composition classes already imply a kind of virtual body? Perhaps oral presentations are most closely aligned with the physical body and all written words moves toward various degrees of the virtual body.

In that sense do we want/expect electronic documents to look like paper documents? How far have we learned to judge an electronic document differently than a paper document? How far have we learned to create an electronic document differently than a paper document? When exploring in this territory with students how important is it to maintain a teacherly sense of expert knowledge?

The student responses seem to link successful collaboration with corporeality. We can work together if we can work together. From a teacher, researcher, professional standpoint, this seems counter intuitive. We all know (from committees) that we can't get anything done together. The most useful collaborative academic and professional spaces I've seen have been wikis. The professional, administrative attitude regarding "avoiding actual contact" is interesting to me. Actual contact is prized over virtual contact, but in reality all written collaboration is virtual contact - no? Contact that takes place on the page irrespective of our physical bodies hovering over the page or screen.