Invention, Collaboration, & Project Management Strategies

1. Invention, Collaboration, & Project Management Strategies

2. Writing Processes

3. Inventing Inventing

4. Invention Strategies Engagement Playing the Believing Game • Trusting the Generative Process of Writing Networking Research • Social Bookmarking • OneNote • Bibliography Tools Group Brainstorming Online Conversations Dictating Freewriting Ask Questions (Heuristics) Using Visuals Develop a Writer's Journal

5. Engagement Even the most energetic and original mind, in order to reorganize or extend human insight in any valuable way, must have attained more than ordinary mastery of the field in which it is to act, a strong sense of what needs to be done, and skill in the appropriate means of expression. It seems certain that no significant expansion of insight can be produced otherwise, whether the activity is thought of as work or not. —Brewster Ghiselin

7. Grasp the Big Picture

8. Identify Publishable, Academic Projects After reviewing the contents of major journals conferences, What important new research trends can you identify? Seek New Patterns, Research Methodologies, Metaphors, and Connections Across Disciplines

9. Say What? Based on current journals and books, websites and conferences, e-lists and blogs, what important new research trends can you identify? What new research methodologies are being employed?

10. Researching > Scholarship as a Conversation • Scholarship as a Conversation • Research Databases • Conferences • E-Lists • Papers Invited • Community of Science • The Open Web • Berkley US Library Database • NDLTD Union Catalog

14. Forget About It! (Your Plan, I mean)

15. Invention > Freewriting The positive force is the surprise of discovery. Writers are born at the moment they write what they do not expect. . . . They are hooked because the act of writing that, in the past, had revealed their ignorance, now reveals that they know more than they had thought they knew. -- Donald Murray.

16. Looping • Freewrite a draft. • Re-read the draft and attempt to identify the "center of gravity"--the place where your content is most original.  Identify effective metaphors, images, sentences.  Circle the language that you find to be of value. • Begin a second freewrite after rewriting the "center of gravity" at the top of the page.  As you draft again, repeat the language you find helpful from the first draft, using these passages as a creative point of departure.   • Repeat the "looping" process as necessary.

17. Inventing • Reading, Researching, and the Creative Process • Group Brainstorming, Online Conversations, and Dictating • Freewriting and Looping • Outlining and Listing • Modeling/Theory Maps • Examples of Maps

18. Inventing & The Writing Process • They [creative people] work tirelessly on their projects. • They have periods where they let their projects "incubate."  Psychologists have theorized that during these periods of rest our subconscious continues to work on the problem while our attention is diverted. • They experience a "Eureka" moment--an exciting rush of inspiration which frequently occurs while they are contemplating an unrelated matter. • Following an exciting insight, they return to working hard on their project while exploring the implications of the insight.  They then attempt to repeat the process, again enriching their work with periods of  incubation, Eureka insights, and project development. • Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process

19. Inventing • Asking Questions (Heuristics) • Journalistic Questions (Who, What, Where, Why, When, How Often?) • The Common Topoi and Tagmemic Questions • The Dramatistic Pentad • Modeling/Theory Maps • Examples of Maps

20. Common Topi • What is it? • What is it like and unlike? • What caused it? • What can come of it? • What has been said about it?

21. Burke’s Pentad • What are people doing "in thought or deed"? • Where does the act take place? • What person or kind of person performed the act? • What “means or instruments” did the person use? • What is the purpose of the act? • Action: What? • Actor: Who? • Setting: When and Where? • Motive: Why? • Method: How?

22. Heuristic Questions • What is My Topic?  Using sensory details, what does your subject look, taste, sound, feel like?  What are the causes and effects of the topic?  What is your personal involvement with the topic? • What are the important features or parts of your topic?  How do these features or parts interact with one another? • What are the distinguishing features between your topic and other topics--the features that do not change over time?  To what extend does your topic stay the same or change over time?  How do the physical characteristics of your topic change over time?  To what extent is your subject a process?  How does your personal involvement change over time? • How is your topic similar to or different from other topics?  What relationships exist between your topic and other topics? • What is the context for your topic?  On whose shoulders does this work stand?  On a personal level, how does this topic relate to you? 

23. Heuristic • List at least two questions that your work addresses…In other words, why will readers review your work?

24. Inventing • Using Visuals • Clustering/Spider Maps • Systems Concept Maps • Time Line/Flowchart Maps • Hierarchy Concept Maps • Modeling/Theory Maps • Examples of Maps • http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/networks/

25. Spider Maps

26. Spider Maps

27. Systems Maps

28. Systems Maps

31. Online Animation Examples • Chemistry • Music (audio) • English

32. What would a map of your project look like? • Draw a map or picture of your work. Your map can be a theoretical model of how something works or a diagram of your argument

33. Advice on Finding Collaborators • What unique talents does the person bring to the team? • Do I like the prospective colleague? Do I want to spend time with this person or group?  Can I learn from being a part of this team?  • Can the colleague and I establish an equitable work schedule? Are we going to divide the work into equal units or will one author assume the senior position? How will this judgment determine who is first, second, or third author?

34. Advice on Finding Collaborators • Does the colleague use the same toolset as I do?  For example, can he or she save documents in Macintosh or work a Wiki space? •  If the colleague is senior in rank to me, will he or she perceive his or her role as a boss? • How will gender roles affect work assignments? Will male authors expect female authors to take orders and do the typing and secretarial work? • Can I trust the coauthor to complete his or her tasks on time?  • Will ego taint the collaborative process? Is the colleague flexible or rigid in perceiving how the work should be completed?  • Does the coauthor pay close attention to detail? Does the coauthor share a similar theoretical perspective?  • Does the coauthor possess skills that I don't have that are necessary to do the research?

35. Collaborating > Tools • Microsoft Word > Track Changes, Commenting, Roundtripping • Word and the Writing Process • SharePointTeamServices • Wikis • Interactive Blogs • Web Sites > Email, Discussion Forums, Databases

36. Collaborating Share drafts early in the process

37. Collaborating

40. Managing • Scheduling • Using Software Tools • Outlook

41. Archiving and Citing Sources • Manage Files • Save on Networks • Use Document Security • Develop an E Portfolio • Use a Bibliography Tool • Endnote

42. Collaborate • Share your document planner with your colleagues. • Write a revision of your document planner

43. Invention Exercises • Freewrite about important emerging trends and patterns in your discipline.  What are the important research questions being raised in the journals, books, and websites that were published within the last six months? • Heuristics:  What are the primary questions that your research project must answer? • Visuals:  Draw a concept/theory map of your research project. • Challenge Yourself: How can you use a writing tool or submit a proposal for a conference, paper, or book that breaks new ground?

44. Freewrite: Write about important emerging trends and patterns within your discipline