Elisabeth Joyce, co-editor of ebr3, Writing (Post) Feminism, entered the discussion on the new interface after the initiating posts by ebr design editor Anne Burdick, publisher Mark Amerika, editor Joseph Tabbi, and barker Rob Wittig. Joyce's post drew our very first gloss - by ebr contributing editor Steve Tomasula.
Joe has sent me a skein of threads on the discussion about the new configuration of ebr, and I've been thinking about it from the standpoint of writing and style. First off, I'm truly impressed by the innovations that you guys are coming up with and how this moment in ebr in specific, but in the visual and verbal aspects of the web in general, is exploding conventions of seeing and reading.
Here's what I'm wondering, though (and I'm having trouble coming up with ways to talk about this without sounding critical, which I really don't feel). You are proposing that questions will be posted that aren't too restrictive and that will stimulate response by anyone, right? How will these responses differ from a listserv (other than that they will be more permanent and will interlace with one another through the warp and woof of the linkages)? Will all writing on the web become the expression of a moment rather than the production of contemplation inspired by the desire to speak about something? Is writing about to become writing for its own sake, everyone's effort a work of art (and here I betray my eternal longing to talk about art rather than to be an artist - do I have to become one to speak?)?
All these questions. Will Joe become the quality master? I guess he is already.
Lisa