Scott: In the early days of DMAC--not CIWIC, but DMAC, here at Ohio State--the final project used to be called "Making a Case." And we were using the idea of--we got into a lot of trouble with the metaphor, because it was a briefcase, but the idea was that-- There was a play on words here. Case was this container of assets that I might build, and then "making the case" was, "What if I have people who don't understand or people who are resistant? What can I put in my case, so that when I have to make the case, I'm better equipped to do so.

Cindy: Yeah.

Scott: And so it was a great approach, I think. People hated the metaphor of the case, and we also decided down the road that it was possible a little too narrow for the final project for DMAC, that people, might possibly, didn't have to make the case, and they wanted to work on something else. So we kind of dropped that assignment and stopped using the language. I have noticed this year that that phrase, "making the case," has popped up probably a hundred times. 

Cindy: Yeah.

Scott: And not necessarily in the container sense, but in the fact that people are still feeling like this is something they have to learn how to do. They're not really sure how to do it. The production experience they have is going to help them do that, but that they still feel like they have to go home and talk to teachers, students, administrators, community members--anybody who sees them doing something that doesn't appear to be traditional composition and traditional writing, that they still feel they have to make the case. And that language is still very much a part of DMAC.