our papers

Who are these people?

Before diving deeper into the more nuanced elements of the discourse, it may be time to situate the participants. There were eleven enrolled students in the course, eight from Communication and three from English. (One of the English students eventually dropped.) Six of these students had taken a course with the same professor the previous spring. Another student from the previous springís course had a schedule conflict, but often came for the last half-hour of class and was active in the weblog. One of the professorís colleagues, another professor from the Communication Department with overlapping interests, occasionally sat in on the first half of our FTF class sessions. Finally, a graduate of the Communication Program (Dr.), also participated in the weblog and attended one class to present her ethnographic work on Town Meetings.

Nine of the members are women, six are men , including the professor. Two of the male students are from Eastern Europe (Hungary and Romania), the rest of the members are citizens of the U.S. The political standpoints represented ranged from the radical Left (the Green Party, progressives), through traditional liberal Democrats, to traditional ìclassicî conservatism, with some members leaning toward civil libertarianism. All members of the group are white, one is Jewish, and one self-identifies as lesbian. The age range is from the mid-twenties through the mid-fifties, with a concentration in the thirties. Four of the members are parents (and a fifth is soon to be). None of the members are disabled. Most are assumed not to attend regular religious services. All are pursuing doctoral degrees except one still working on his Masterís.