This quarter, as an extension of Bruce Burgett (UW) and Glenn Hendler’s (Fordham) Keywords for American Cultural Studies text, we will be participating in a “keyword collaboratory” on the word “service.” In fact, we are the first 121 class at the UW to do so. But what does a “collaboratory” entail, exactly?

Well, I would like to consider the collaboratory as a form of media activism. Some others might call it a Wiki. Regardless of how we describe it, what counts is what we do with the thing.

Through the collaboratory, we will be tracing the seemingly infinite valences and trajectories of the word “service,” with an emphasis on your service-learning experiences. Rather than settling upon a single definition or history of the word, the goal of the keyword project is to examine the cultural instantiations of “service” in different contexts, the debates that emerge from its use, and the modes through which it has been mobilized for particular purposes. A genealogy, if you will.

Next week, we’ll network “service” with some other texts in order to see what questions and problems might arise. In the meantime, let’s consider what this particular form of media activism has at stake:

• It will be an opportunity for you — as undergraduates — to publish your writing for a large audience.
• It will be read by the public, with students and university faculty as the target audience.
• It will serve as a representation of the University of Washington and, by proxy, the Expository Writing Program and the Carlson Center.
• It will be used, added to, and revised by future instantiations of English 121 (and possibly other service-learning courses at UW or elsewhere).
• It will be a space for you to work through the problematics of “service” (that is, not just the issues that emerge from the word, but why those issues matter in the first place).

To get started, as a class, let’s review the OED definition of “service” (the verb):

• How do the definitions vary?
• What discourses and contexts might they be associated with?
• How do they tie in with your blog today on service-learning?
• How might they intersect with your service-learning at Boys and Girls Clubs?

I’m really looking forward to this project, everyone. As we collaborate, I’ll help you write for an online, public forum, and it is my hope that this process — with all of its stakes — will be a productive learning experience for all of us.

Onward!