Anyone up for New Delhi?

Yesterday the first call for proposals for this conference came out. As the venue information suggests, New Delhi is a place that should be seriously considered for "must-do" visits in 2013. Apart from being an interesting city New Delhi is a stepping point to Agra and the beautiful Taj Mahal. I am thinking of proposing a symposium which would be something to do with children and digital technology. Last year I presented at a symposium for the same conference (in Manchester). I like the idea of some kind of cohesive presentation and also the challenge that getting up the proposal would entail. Last night I finished the paper on Ethnomethodology and literacy research. I made the deadline (which I like to do) for submission of final draft and will now wait to see if it goes forward. Hope so! Today I'm going to return to the disputes chapter. I received an email yesterday alerting me to a couple of missing reference details and the need to provide a bio for the publication. I PROMISED that I would do that as soon as I finished the article (due yesterday). Things roll on as always ...

on rejection

I don't I write about rejection much ... Today I had one. I'd sent off a book proposal on transcription to a publisher. I'd not heard back in over a month so that delay was a harbinger (love that expression from Douglas Macbeth) of the bad news to come. It was in my work email box this morning. I kind of wish I hadn't opened it today as I have quite a lot of work to do and rejection doesn't really engender the rallying of a lot of energy (smile). However, and the point of the post, if I can't handle the rejection and do something with it then I might as well not be in the game. The editor's feedback - brief - was that the focus (transcription in education research) was too narrow a focus to market. He probably wouldn't think that if he took a look at some of the weird and unsystematic transcripts that are produced in education research. Still, I take the point. I will think now about widening the focus to transcription in qualitative research (something that I toyed with constantly anyhow when putting together the proposal). The final thing I want to say about rejection, before getting on with my life, is that it is hard to handle when a lot of work and thinking has been injected into the writing (be it a book proposal or journal article). It seems like an awful waste and represents, for me, a lack of progress. I don't want to say a waste of research time, however, if I don't turn around the rejection of the proposal in some way then it will have been a waste of time.

the end

Today I finished making the changes to the chapter. I hadn't really envisaged that the revisions would take as long as they did. The thing for me about revisions is that if not handled carefully, parts of the article (chapter) can get out of alignment. It is a delicate matter and a process that I decided today to simply stop. Enough is enough.

I will now move onto the revisions for the article on ethnomethodology and literacy research. I am really really happy that the draft was accepted and have agreed to meet the editors' deadline of 4 May for the (very tiny) revisions that I need to make. Long term, this article will really lead me into a co-authored publication with a new PhD student who will also employ ethnomethodology/converation analysis to focus on early digital literacy/literacies.

Revising children's disputes chapter

Today I begin my revisions for the book chapter. I have nine days to complete it and will probably need all of that time to do justice to the chapter and feedback. One of the requirements is to address more of the gaming literature and I've started on that this morning. I've found some very very interesting work this morning. In particular, Pål Aarsand and Karin Aronsson have co-authored and written individual papers which will be useful for me. I'm spending this morning reading several or those including:
Aarsand, P. (2010). Young boys playing digital games. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 5(1), 38-55.
Aarsand, P., & Aronsson, K. (2009). Response cries and other gaming moves. Toward an intersubjectivity of gaming. Journal of Pragmatics, 41,1555-1575.

Electra

Electra, a photo by angie cat on Flickr.

The purchase of a bike has been a great thing this weekend. It has enabled me to remember riding and to take a few short trips around Central Wagga Wagga. I'm looking forward to lots of fun with Electra.

On the work front, I have just received feedback on a book chapter that will be published a little later in the year. The editors are
Mayanne Theobold and Susan Danby from QUT. It is a marvellous opportunity for me to publish with a group of researchers all writing about children's disputes. I imagine that this edited collection will become a very useful resource for other researchers writing in the area.

shiva

shiva, a photo by angie cat on Flickr.

I have promised myself that I will start addressing some of my technology "weaknesses". This image represents my first attempt at getting better. For some time, I have been unable to post from my Flickr account because the images were too large and would fill the entire blog screen (that is both the post and the sidebar information). I'm not sure why this problem developed. Anyhow, I couldn't seem to fix it and so I just stopped posting images. That was a pity because the blog became very print oriented.

So, this evening I decided to see if I could learn to make images smaller on Flickr so that I would be able to post images again. As you can, I was able to do it. The image I've posted is one that I took this afternoon after a trip to Bunnings hardware shop to purchase some things for the garden. I saw the statue which is not made of stone but looks as if it is. It is about (my) knee height and is very light. I think it looks neat.

Literacy and ethnomethodology

I try to keep my eye on special issues of journals that are coming up. I had been watching this one for a little while and decided to put up an abstract for consideration. My thinking was that if it got accepted I would have another publication for 2012. So, I wrote this in late November and sent it off to the editors:

Ethnomethodology and literacy research: A methodological ‘road less travelled’
This article examines ethnomethodology in order to consider its particular yet under-used perspective within literacy research. Initially, the article outlines ethnomethodology, including its theoretical position and central concepts such as indexicality and reflexivity. Then, selected studies are used to illustrate the application of the methodology and related research methods to the examination of literacy and literacy instruction. This section delineates a number of constraints on the application of the methodology. Constraints include respecification of topic as practical accomplishment, bracketing by researchers of a priori interests and background information to produce unmotivated looking, and meticulous analytic attention to locally produced social phenomenon often only made visible in minute details of transcripts. Ethnomethodology’s contribution is discussed then in light of criticisms concerning the overly restricted nature of the methodology, or some versions of it. It is concluded that despite ongoing critique, the application of ethnomethodology to literacy research may: reveal taken-for-granted ways that literacy lessons are accomplished, lead to the description and explication of social actions that constitute literacy instruction, and enhance existing theoretical models of literacy learning and teaching.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation to complete the full article for possible inclusion in the special issue. I'm especially chuffed because it gives me an opportunity to start thinking more about literacy research and ethnomethodology in preparation for supervision of two new doctoral research students who will begin with me this year.

Another reason for feeling happy about this is that the timeline for the article is short. It will be published in May so only six months from my conception of the idea to publication in the journal. I recommend this strategy to all those early career researchers who are painstakingly trying to shape up their publications profile (at a time when publishing timelines seem to be longer than ever).