Kairos Reading Response

The years that I spent pursuing my undergraduate degree, in English, were mainly consumed with reading novels and essays. After looking back in retrospect, I am surprised that I was not exposed more to the world of academic journals. In fact, I cannot remember having been assigned any sort of reading that was directly from an academic journal. I don’t have the best memory in the world, but I am pretty sure that I would have remembered a personal interaction with an academic journal. Is this the norm for most academics? I think not. I would venture to guess that a lot of professors rely heavily on works from academic journals in their teaching practices. This semester is my first semester of graduate school, and during this time, I have become acquainted with many new forms of pedagogy, including the peer-reviewed online journal Kairos. I enjoyed this assignment thoroughly because it differed in comparison from past reading assignments. While I enjoyed reading the past four books, some more than others, I was glad to be able to interact more with Kairos as compared to just reading out of a book. I am also glad that the 10th Anniversary issue was the issue we were assigned to read because it seems to offer more of a broad overview of the history that brought life to this journal. I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical at first when I found out that the idea and concept of this journal was conceived on the way to a Hootie and the Blowfish concert. Even though I am not a fan of their music, I will give Becky Rickly credit for the fact that she definitely came up with this idea of Kairos at a very unique time and place. Who would have thought that an idea for an online journal that explores the intersections of rhetoric, technology, and pedagogy would have been conceived on the way to such an event? In all seriousness, I have found that some of the best ideas are spawned at the most random of times when one is not expecting it.



I took the advice of the Logging On column and I read Douglas Eyman’s “The Arrow and the Loom” webtext first and foremost. The history that Eyman illustrates for the reader gives a sense of how an idea, with the help of a few dedicated individuals, can turn into a reality. Eyman describes the name Kairos, a Greek word, as having the meaning of “the right moment” or “the opportune”. After gaining an understanding of the context of the name choice for the journal, I feel as though the name encompasses the nature of the journal in a very successful manner. With technological advances, our world is changing at such a rapid pace this day and age, and I feel that there is always a need to evolve with the times. Kairos, not being the first online journal of its kind, offers a communication medium for individual scholars who wish to engage the Computers and Writing field in a new and interactive manner. Eyman also touches on the issues of overall design for the journal in his webtext. While I love the interactivity that webtext has to offer, I must admit that I found some of the navigation in Kairos to be somewhat troubling. While navigating through the journal, I almost felt as if I was missing certain pieces in the webtexts. The utilization of hyperlinks in the writing, combined with the design of the journal itself, made for a disjointed and somewhat frustrating read. I am not saying that I didn’t enjoy the content of the reading, but I am saying that I was not completely satisfied with the navigation. Of course, the authors of the various webtexts have constructed their own mediums for conveying their ideas, and each webtext is unique in its own way. The fact that Kairos allows the author to choose their own environment for writing purposes opens up the possibility of varying navigation methods and features. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is what makes Kairos unique. With all this said, Eyman emphasizes the fact that as far as design goes, the Kairos staff will be working on the journal to promote new and improved methods of “higher readability” and “more reliable navigation.”

Tracy Bridgeford’s webtext “Kairotically Speaking: Kairos and the Power of Identity” brought about some very interesting thoughts when dealing with the world of tenure. My knowledge of the Computers and Writing field is growing as this semester goes by, but I am constantly becoming a witness to the uphill battle that scholars in the field are constantly dealing with. Kairos is a prime example of a scholarly publication that is seemingly questioned as such by those “entitled” to pass such judgment. I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be for those ambitious technorhetoricians that must deal with the faults of bureaucracy. The rigorous editorial process, outlined in this issue, that submissions made to Kairos go through should be clear cut evidence that this field is rightfully scholarly in all aspects. The standards of tenure have been in place for many years, but how can those seated in the upper echelon of academia not have a willingness to be more open-minded and optimistic when it comes to passing judgment. Technology is here to stay, period! Once people realize this, I believe that there will be some dramatic changes that will take place in academia. Kairos, and all related rhetoric, writing, and pedagogy will become more recognized as a valid foundation for tenure. Bridgeford states, “Technorhetoricians often spend a good portion of their time educating and convincing their colleagues about the value of digital scholarship.” However, with the work of online journals such as Kairos, I feel as though attitudes will begin to change, because forgive me for saying so, but people cannot be blind forever!

The Praxis section of the journal outlines some very intriguing implementations that the editorial staff is planning to put into place. I love the idea of having an open-access section of the journal, a wiki of sorts, which would help and give suggestions to those interested in using certain digital tools and settings for their scholarly writing. This section would serve as a great reference for anyone in need of guidance when dealing with foreign facets of technology. I am anxious to see how this all shapes out.

In conclusion, with the work Kairos is doing, I hope to see an increase in the number of people citing credible and scholarly electronic sources, especially peer-reviewed online journals like Kairos. The editors and contributors seem to be doing something right because, as Eyman points out, the reader numbers have increased over the years and branched out to include an international audience. The variety of contributors, whether they are graduate students or tenured professionals, offers a friendly world where outsiders are embraced. Jim Kalmbach writes about this friendly world in his webtext “Reading the Archives: Ten Years on Nonlinear (Kairos) History.” Kalmbach states, “Community has enabled Kairos to survive.” This 10th Anniversary issue gave me a better understanding of the practices and ideals that this journal lives by, and for that, I am grateful.