Charles Lowe

Education

Ph. D. in Rhetoric and Composition, Department of English, Florida State University, Summer 2006. Dissertation: 'The Future Is Open' for Composition Studies: A New Intellectual Property Model in the Digital Age.

M. A. English, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 1998.

B. A. Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1994.

Publications

Databases and Collaborative Spaces for Composition (with Matt Barton). Computers and Composition Online (Spring 2006).

Moving to the Public: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom (with Terra Williams). In Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs (June 2004).

Copyright, Access and Digital Texts. Across the Disciplines (9 December 2003).

Bookmarks for Instructors: An Instructor's Resource Manual. New York: Longman, 2003 (revised original edition for 2nd edition of primary text).

"The Internet Can Be A Wonderful Place, But . . ." In The Subject is Research: Processes and Practices, W. Bishop and P. Zemliansky (eds). Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2001. 129-141.

A Brief History of Open Source: Working to Make Knowledge Free. Kairos (Fall 2001).

Speech Recognition: Sci-Fi or Composition. Currents in Electronic Literacy (Spring 2001).

Presentations

"Databases and Collaborative Spaces for First Year Composition" (with Joseph Moxley and Matt Barton). Computers and Writing 2005, Stanford University, 18 June 2005.

It's about the Community Plumbing: The Social Aspects of Content Management Systems (with Dries Buytaert). Computers and Writing Online 2005, 30 May 2005.

Open Source/Open Access as Social Constructionist Epistemology. Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, 18 March 2005.

"Documentation for the People: Open Source, Purdue's OSDDP, and the Public Sphere" (with Suzanne Black and Xiaoye You). Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, San Francisco, 16 March 2005.

Teaching Writing, Collaboration, and Engagement in Global Contexts: The Drupal Alternative to Proprietary Courseware (with Samantha Blackmon and David Blakesley). Teaching and Learning with Technology, Purdue University, 16 February 2005.

"The Many Faces of Drupal: A Content Management System for Education." Computers and Writing 2004, University of Hawaii, 11 June 2004

Weblogs as a Personal Knowledge Publishing Tool for Scholars and Practitioners. Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Antonio, 26 March 2004.

"Introducing Drupal as a course management system: classroom applications of the tool that drives Kairosnews.org" (with Jeff White). 2004 NCTE/CCCC Mobile Technology Center Computer Connection Presentations. Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Antonio, 25 March 2004.

"The Drupal Content Management System." netLawyers' Tool A Day Seminar Online, January 15, 2004. Invited Speaker.

"Open Source Weblog Content Management Systems: An Alternative to Blackboard." Computers and Writing 2003, Purdue University, May 23, 2003.

"Kairosnews: A Weblog for the Computers and Writing Community." Computers and Writing 2003, Purdue University, May 24, 2003.

"Fighting for Fair Use: Winning the Battle Could Still Lose the War." Computers and Writing 2003, Purdue University, May 24, 2003.

"Reducing Problems with Production Factors for Basic Writers: Composing Via Voice." Conference on College Composition and Communication, New York, March 20, 2003.

"Bringing Speech Recognition to Basic Writers in First Year Writing." Computers and Writing 2002, Illinois State University, May 19.

"Can We Publish Essays the Way Open Source Programmers Publish Code." Computers and Writing 2002, Illinois State University, May 17.

"'Hey Ma, Look, No Hands': Speech Recognition and Basic Writers." Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, March 21, 2002.

"Open Source: A Model for Resisting Notions of Copyright." Computers and Writing 2001, Ball State University, May 19.

"Researching the Science in Science Fiction: Bridging the Gap Across the Disciplines." Conference on College Composition and Communication, Denver, March 15, 2001.

"Continuous Speech Recognition: Not Just a New Technology." Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis, April 14, 2000.

Professional Affiliations and Activities

Conference on College Composition and Communication Blogging Special Interest Group

• Member. Spring 2004-Present.
• Co-Chair. Spring 2004-Spring 2005.

The Intellectual Property Caucus of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC-IP)

• Member. Spring 2003-Present.

Kairosnews: A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy

• Editor, Co-Founder. Spring 2002-Present.

Drupal Open Source Development Community

• Documentation Coordinator. Summer 2005-Present.
• Documentation Contributor and End-User Support. Summer 2003-present.

Computers and Writing Online 2005 Conference

• Conference Organizer.

Introductory Composition at Purdue, Committee

• Member, Fall 2005-Spring 2006.

National Council of Teachers of English

• Member, Spring 1999-Present.

Modern Language Association

• Member, Spring 1999-Spring 2001.

Rhetoric and Composition Discussion Group

• Member, Florida State University, Fall 1999-Fall 2002.

The Writing Instructor

• Contributing Editor. Fall 2001-Spring 2002.

First-Year-Writing Committee, Florida State University

• Member, Spring 1999-Fall 1999 & Fall 2000-Fall 2003.

Awards

Marion Bashinski Award for Excellence in Teaching First Year Writing, Florida State University, Spring 2002.

Workshops

Using Drupal to Create Virtual Classroom Communities. Computers and Writing 2005, Standford University, June 16.

"Weblogs and Content Management Systems." Colby College, October 10, 2004. Invited.

"No Installation Required: Introduction to the Linux Desktop." Computers and Writing 2003, Purdue University, May 24.

Teaching Experience

Continuing Lecturer, Purdue University, Fall 2004-Present

• ENGL 420S: Business Writing (distance ed), Summer 2006.
• ENGL 505M Professional Writing Practicum, Spring 2006.
• ENGL 420S: Business Writing (distance ed), Spring 2006.
• ENGL 421: Technical Writing, Spring 2006.
• ENGL 420S: Business Writing (distance ed), Fall 2005.
• ENGL 421: Technical Writing, 2 sections, Fall 2005.
• ENGL 505A: Technical Mentoring, Fall 2005.
• ENGL 420: Business Writing, Spring 2005.
• ENGL 421: Technical Writing, 2 sections, Spring 2005.
• ENGL 505B: Technical Mentoring, Spring 2005.
• ENGL 420: Business Writing, 2 sections, Fall 2004.
• ENGL 421: Technical Writing, Fall 2004.
• ENGL 505A: Technical Mentoring, Fall 2004.

Teaching Assistant, Florida State University, Fall 1998-Fall 2003

• ENC 1101: Writing for Discovery, 2 sections, Fall 2003.
• ENC 1101: Writing for Discovery, Summer 2003.
• ENC 1102 Online: Writing, Researching and Reading the World Wide Web, Spring 2003.
• ENC 1102: Writing, Researching and Reading the World Wide Web, Spring 2003.
• ENC 1145: Writing about Digital Discourse, 2 Sections, Fall 2002.
• ENC 1142: Writing Short Stories, Spring 2002.
• ENC 1102, Researching to Write, Spring 2001.
• ENC 1905, Writing for Ourselves and Others, Summer 2001 & Fall 2001.
• ENC 1101: Writers Writing, Section B7, Fall 2000.
• Reading and Writing Center Tutor, Summer 2000.
• ENC1145, Writing About Star Trek the Original Series, 2 Sections, Spring 2000.
• LIT 2020, The Short Story: An Examination and Comparison of Four 20th Century American Authors, Fall 1999.
• ENC 1101: Writing for Personal Discovery: Reflection, Description, and Analysis, Summer 1999.
• ENC 1102: Research, Reading and Writing, 2 Sections, Spring 1999.
• Reading and Writing Center Tutor, Fall 1998.
• ENC 1101, Writing for Personal Discovery: Reflection, Description, and Analysis, 2 Sections, Fall 1998.

Related Work Experience

Professional Writing Technology Mentor, Purdue University, Fall 2004-Present

• Consult with individual teachers about integrating technology into their professional writing classes.
• Setup, configure, and maintain Drupal classroom sites for professional writing teachers.
• Provide technical and pedagogical support to professional writing teachers for Drupal classroom sites.
• Co-developed the Open Source Development and Documentation Project.
• Co-developed the pilot course for a distance education business writing class.

Introductory Composition Technical Mentor. Purdue University, Fall 2004-Present.

• Consult with individual teachers about integrating technology into their first year composition classes.
• Conduct frequent technical mentoring sessions with new teachers as part of their teaching assistantship training.
• Setup, configure, and maintain Drupal classroom sites for introductory composition teachers.
• Provide technical and pedagogical support to introductory composition teachers for Drupal classroom sites.

Assistant to the Director of the Computer Writing Classrooms. Florida State University, Summer 2000-Spring 2002.

• Worked with Dr. Ormond Loomis on overseeing two computer-networked classrooms, training teachers to use technology, maintaining writing.fsu.edu, and training teachers to develop elearning strategies.
• Worked with the English Department's system administrator to maintain the web server used for teaching assistants and their students in First Year Writing classes.

Acting Director of the Computer Writing Classrooms, Department of English. Florida State University, Fall 2000-Spring 2001.

• Responsible for overseeing two computer-networked classrooms, training teachers to use technology, and working with teachers to develop elearning strategies.
• Created an initiative to use Blackboard in First Year Writing classes.
• Organized the development of the first distance education versions of First Year Writing.
• Worked with the English Department's system administrator to provide webspace for teaching assistants and their students for online writing projects.

Research Assistant to Dr. Anne Rowe, Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences. Florida State University, Fall 1999-Spring 2000.

First Year Writing Program Mentor for New TA's, Fall 1999.

Library Assistant to Dr. Joseph McElrath. Florida State University, Fall 1996-Spring 1997 & Fall 1997-Winter 1998.

Course Work

Graduate Work at Florida State University in Rhetoric and Composition Studies with an Emphasis on Computers and Writing:

• Research in Composition, Fall 2000.
• Theories of Composition, Spring 2000.
• Rhetoric of Fiction, Fall 1999.
• Directed Independent Study in Cyberliteracy, Summer 1999.
• Seminar in English--Cyberliteracy, Spring 1999.
• Advanced Studies in English, Spring 1999.
• Teaching English in College, Summer 1998.
• Teaching English Guided Study, Summer 1998.

Undergraduate coursework, Computer Science, at Cornell University, in database design and structures, artificial intelligence, theories of computation, and analysis of algorithms.

Interests

Advocacy of open source software usage and open content publishing in education.

Application of social software—particularly weblogs—within education and the workplace.

Distributed collaboration and electronic communication for document construction.

Usability and information architecture in website design.

Additional Skills

Use of multiple platforms for learning management for both face-to-face and distance education courses.

Evaluation of content management systems design and information architecture potential for facilitating content management, project workflow, and community interaction.

Design of both static and database-driven dynamic websites. Examples:

• Kairosnews
• cyberdash
• Digital WPA
• CCCC-IP

Fluency with Windows operating system and many Windows-based applications, as well as PC hardware platform design, building and troubleshooting.

Familiarity with RedHat Linux as a server platform.