Logging On

Cheryl E. Ball and Beth L. Hewett, Co-Editors

  • In this issue, the Topoi section of Kairos is pleased to showcase three webtexts originating from the 2007 Computers and Writing Conference (C&W) in Detroit.
  • Kairos Awards, Workshops & Other Announcements: We invite people to submit nominations for the Kairos Awards, given annually at the Computers and Writing Conference. Kairos gives awards for best webtext (which does not have to be a Kairos-based webtext), best academic weblog, and three awards (co-sponsored by Bedford/St.Martin's Press) which recognize outstanding service, teaching, and scholarship among graduate students and adjuncts.

Saying farewell to the Computers & Writing special issues

This is the last issue that will be devoted to the proceedings of the C&W conference. This decision, which marks the end of over a decade of proceedings, has its basis primarily in time. Five years ago, we put into place a new production schedule that has forced C&W conference presenters to design, write, and submit their webtexts within weeks of the conference itself. This schedule is untenable for scholars in that they are challenged to remediate the conference presentations into a full-length webtexts too quickly. Additionally, it also has meant that we have had to turn down many webtexts that we would have liked to publish had authors had more time to revise before our publication deadline. Therefore, rather than rush to publication, we have decided to have two open issues a year rather than one. We still encourage and hope for many of the C&W conference presenters to submit webtexts to Kairos, but we will accept those texts for review at any time before or after the conference date for future issues. We welcome queries [kairosed@technorhetoric.net] and accept submissions on a rolling basis.

Encouraging other special issues
As some readers may know, Kairos has started publishing special issues for your summer/May reading. Previous summer issues included themes such as "Electronic Publishing," "Classical Rhetoric and Digital Communication," and (coming out this May) "Manifestos!" Until now, these issues have been spearheaded by current editors, but we would like to hand the baton to guest editors. We welcome special issue proposals by guest editors with scholarly ideas that will resonate with our readership in the intersections of rhetoric, technology, and pedagogy. Please visit our archives to familiarize yourself with other themed issues and, if you are interested in being a guest editor, please consult our Guest Editor Manual for instructions on how to propose a special issue. Direct any questions to Beth Hewett and Cheryl Ball, co-editors, at kairosed@technorhetoric.net. Our next available special issue will be published in May 2009.