Friday, July 13, 2007

Computers and writing: History, theory, philosophy

Here's the first draft reading list for my fall grad class. It's been an interesting challenge to divide these thematically and to cover different aspects of C&W, and in fact the optional reading list -- all books -- is almost as long as the required list.

Comments? Suggestions?

Reading List for E388m

Overview: History

Gerrard, L. (1995). The evolution of the Computers and Writing Conference. Computers and Composition, 12:279–292.

Gerrard, L. (2006). The evolution of the Computers and Writing Conference, the second decade. Computers and Composition, 23:211–227.

Moran, C. (2003). Computers and composition 1983-2002: What we have hoped for. Computers and Composition, 20:343–358.

Blair, K. L. and Monske, E. A. (2003). Cui bono? revisiting the promises and perils of online learning. Computers and Composition, 20:441–453.

The early years: Social constructionism and the networked classroom


[Barker and Kemp, 1990] Barker, T. and Kemp, F. (1990). Network theory: A postmodern pedagogy for the writing classroom. In Handa, C., editor, Computers and Community: Teaching Composition in the Twenty-First Century, pages 1–27. Boynton/Cook Publishers, New York.

Cooper, M. and Selfe, C. L. (1990). Computer conferences and learning: Authority, resistance, and internally persuasive discourse. College English, 52:847–869.

[Faigley, 1992] Faigley, L. (1992). Fragments of rationality: Postmodernity and the subject of composition. Pittsburgh series in composition, literacy, and culture. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh. (Ch.6)

Hawisher, G. E. and Selfe, C. L. (1991). The rhetoric of technology and the electronic writing class. College Composition and Communication, 42:55–65.

[Kemp, 1995] Kemp, F. (1995). Writing dialogically: Bold lessons from electronic text. In Petraglia, J., editor, Reconceiving writing, rethinking writing instruction, pages 179–194. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey.

The optimism wears off: Political-rhetorical critiques

Selfe, C. and Selfe, R. (1994). The politics of the interface: Power and its exercise in electronic contact zones. College Composition and Communication, 45(480-504).

Slatin, J. M. (2001). The art of alt: toward a more accessible web. Computers and Composition, 18(1):73–81.

[Johnson-Eilola, 1997] Johnson-Eilola, J. (1997). Wild technologies: Computer use and social possibility. In Selber, S. A., editor, Computers and technical communication: Pedagogical and programmatic perspectives, pages 97–128. Ablex, Greenwich, Connecticut.

Hypertext and databases; associational and constructivist theories


[Johnson-Eilola and Selber, 1996] Johnson-Eilola, J. and Selber, S. (1996). After automation: Hypertext and corporate structures. In Sullivan, P. and Daughtermann, J., editors, Electronic literacies in the workplace: Technologies of writing, pages 115–141. NCTE, Urbana, Il.

Johnson-Eilola, J. and Kimme Hea, A. (2003). After hypertext: Other ideas. Computers and Composition, 20:415–425.

[Mirel, 1996] Mirel, B. (1996). Writing and database technology: Extending the definition of writing in the workplace. In Sullivan, P. and Dautermann, J., editors, Electronic literacies in the workplace: Technologies of writing, pages 91–112. National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, Ill.

Haas, C. (1999). On the relationship between old and new technologies. Computers and Composition, 16(2):209–228.

Syverson, M. (1999). The wealth of reality: An ecology of composition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville.

Computers and writing at work I: Evaluating the impact of computers on workplace writing and thinking


Geisler, C., Bazerman, C., Doheny-Farina, S., Gurak, L., Haas, C., Johnson-Eilola, J., Kaufer, D. S., Lunsford, A., Miller, C. R., Winsor, D., and Yates, J. (2001). Itext: Further directions for research on the relationship between information technology and writing. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 15(3):269–308.

Johnson-Eilola, J. (2001). Datacloud: Expanding the roles and locations of information. In Proceedings of the 19th annual international conference on Computer documentation, pages 47–54. ACM Press.

Wolfe, J. (2002). Annotation technologies: A software and research review. Computers and Composition, (19):471–497.

Back to the classroom: LCMS, games and simulations

Fisher, D. (2007). Cms-based simulations in the writing classroom: Evoking genre through game play. Computers and Composition, 24(2):179–197.

Matteo, A. (2007, in press). Rhetorical peaks, a next generation case study for teaching writing and argument. In SIGDOC ’07: Proceedings of the 25th annual international conference on Design of communication.

Sherlock, L. (2007, in press). When social networking meets online games: The activity system of grouping in World of Warcraft. In SIGDOC ’07: Proceedings of the 25th annual international conference on Design of communication.

Zachry, M. (2000). The ecology of an online education site in professional communication. In Proceedings of IEEE professional communication society international professional communication conference and Proceedings of the 18th annual ACM international conference on Computer documentation, pages 433–442. IEEE Educational Activities Department.

Computers, communities, and cultures

Grabill, J. T. (2003). Community computing and citizen productivity. Computers and Composition, (20):131–150.

Pennell, M. (2007). Fraternities and ITexts: Composing in the post-industrial age. Computers and Composition, 24(1):74–91.

Sun, H. (2006). The triumph of users: Achieving cultural usability goals. Technical Communication Quarterly, 15(4):483–504.

Zappen, J. P., Adali, S., and Harrison, T. M. (2006). Developing a youth-services information system for city and county government: experiments in user-designer collaboration. In dg.o ’06: Proceedings of the 2006 international conference on Digital government research, pages 259–264, New York, NY, USA. ACM Press.

Computers and writing at work II: Computers, writing, and postindustrialism

Hart-Davidson, W., Spinuzzi, C., and Zachry, M. (2006). Visualizing writing activity as knowledge work: Challenges & opportunities. In SIGDOC ’06: Proceedings of the 24th annual international conference on Design of communication, pages 70–77, New York, NY, USA. ACM Press.

Slattery, S. (2007). Undistributing work through writing: How technical writers manage texts in complex information environments. Technical Communication Quarterly, 16(3).

Swarts, J. (2007). Mobility and composition: The architecture of coherence in non-places. Technical Communication Quarterly, 16(3).


Optional readings: Influential books in computers and writing

[Bolter, 1991] Bolter, J. D. (1991). Writing space: The computer, hypertext, and the history of writing. L. Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.

[Haas, 1996] Haas, C. (1996). Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy. L. Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

[Haynes and Holmevik, 2001] Haynes, C. A. and Holmevik, J. R. (2001). High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational Moos. University of Michigan Press.

[Holmevik and Haynes, 2000] Holmevik, J. R. and Haynes, C. (2000). MOOniversity: a student’s guide to online learning environments. Allyn and Bacon.

[Johnson, 1998] Johnson, R. R. (1998). User-centered technology: A rhetorical theory for computers and other mundane artifacts. SUNY Press, New York.

[Johnson-Eilola, 2005] Johnson-Eilola, J. (2005). Datacloud: Toward a new theory of online work. Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.

[Landow, 1992] Landow, G. P. (1992). Hypertext: The convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology. Parallax. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

[Landow, 1994] Landow, G. P., editor (1994). Hyper/text/theory. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.

[Landow and Delany, 1993] Landow, G. P. and Delany, P., editors (1993). The digital word: Text-based computing in the humanities. Technical communication and information systems. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[Lanham, 1993] Lanham, R. A. (1993). The electronic word: Democracy, technology, and the arts. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

[Mirel, 2004] Mirel, B. (2004). Interaction design for complex problem solving: Developing usable and useful software. Morgan Kauffman, San Francisco.

[Selber, 2004] Selber, S. A. (2004). Multiliteracies for a digital age. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.

[Selfe and Hawisher, 2004] Selfe, C. L. and Hawisher, G. E. (2004). Literate lives in the information age: Narratives of literacy from the United States. Hampton Press, Mahwah, NJ.

[Spinuzzi, 2003] Spinuzzi, C. (2003). Tracing genres through organizations: A sociocultural approach to information design. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[Sullivan and Porter, 1997] Sullivan, P. and Porter, J. E. (1997). Opening spaces: Writing technologies and critical research practices. New directions in computers and composition studies. Ablex Pub. Corp., Greenwich, CT.

[Ulmer, 2003] Ulmer, G. L. (2003). Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy. Longman.

Using the Internet as the steering wheel for the overall campaign

Patrick Ruffini argues that whereas direct mail is a tactical communications medium, online media are (or can be) strategic media:

If you view the Internet as a shiny new toy, or worse, a new coat of paint on the old jalopy, you're missing the point. Increasingly, it's becoming the platform from which campaign strategy itself is executed. That's why stuff like body language towards the medium at the candidate level matters (Fred's blogging, Barack's dinners, Hillary's Sopranoing). Tactics without strategy will get you nowhere.

techPresident – Message vs. Tactics Online

Blogged with Flock

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Obama: the first female president?

In the same metaphorical sense that Bill Clinton was described as the first Black president.

Hillary is from Mars, Obama is from Venus | Salon News

Blogged with Flock

Whole Foods' CEO caught anonymously posting about his company and rivals

John Mackey, iconoclastic CEO of Whole Foods, posted freely on Yahoo Finance stock forums from 1999 to 2006 "under an alias ["Rahodeb"] to avoid having his comments associated with the Company and to avoid others placing too much emphasis on his remarks," according to a company statement. The WSJ continues:
Mr. Mackey declined to be interviewed. But he soon posted on the company Web site, saying that the FTC was quoting Rahodeb "to embarrass both me and Whole Foods." He also said: "I posted on Yahoo! under a pseudonym because I had fun doing it. Many people post on bulletin boards using pseudonyms." He said that "I never intended any of those postings to be identified with me."
Whole Foods Is Hot, Wild Oats a Dud -- So Said 'Rahodeb' - WSJ.com

Blogged with Flock

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Austin named "Startup Hub" by Fast Company

No surprise there. But this stands out:
Among the city's characteristics that landed Austin on the list are the high number of Wi-Fi hot spots per capita and its relatively young population, according to the magazine.
Yes, I remember a few years ago passing a Dairy Queen and seeing this on the marquee: "FREE WIFI INTERNET." Now that's what I call wireless market penetration.

Austin named "Startup Hub" by Fast Company - Austin Business Journal:

Blogged with Flock

Flock upgrade

Steve O'Hear has a nice comprehensive overview. I've been using Flock for a while now, and really miss it when I have to go back to Firefox.

» Flock: social browser gets significant update | The Social Web | ZDNet.com

Blogged with Flock

Versionate -- a better competitor to GDocs?

TechCrunch notes that Y Combinator, the incubator that brought us Scribd, has unveiled wiki product Versionate. Michael Arrington thinks it's going to be a strong competitor to GDocs, particularly since you can upload Office documents (Word and Excel), OpenOffice docs, images, etc. Versionate's comparison chart doesn't include GDocs, but it does give you a good idea of what it can do -- including group-level permissions, something that is sorely lacking in GDocs.

It has a free version, so maybe I'll try it out soon.

Versionate’s Wiki End Run Around Google Docs

Blogged with Flock

Faux Spinuzzis

Now spambots are opening blog accounts in my name.

http://spinuzzi.16jmtt.org/Buy-North-Florida-Dodge-Home.html
http://spinuzzi.01vldy.org/Travel-Tripod-Fluid-Head.html
http://spinuzzi.58qvazkq.org/Wedding-Day-Poems-For-Sister.html

Surreal.

Slow week; computers and writing

I haven't been on the blog much lately due to several commitments -- most notably SIGDOC, which looks like it's going to be very good this year.

However, I'm now turning to my next project, assembling a reading list for my fall grad course: "Computers and writing: History, Theory, Philosophy." Any suggestions? Feel free to email me directly or just post your suggestions in the comments. If there's enough interest, I'll post my completed list.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Monday, July 02, 2007

Pownce -- trying it out

Thanks to Trish Harris for sending me an invite to Pownce. You can see my Pownce stream at http://pownce.com/spinuzzi. As I say over there, I am intrigued by the incremental improvements, but the lack of mobile integration means I won't use it much.

Citizen journalism takes another big step

Jeff Jarvis thinks the online coverage of the iPhone buyers' lines is a big deal:

Two months ago, after the video of the Virginia Tech shooting went up online — more than an hour after the news occurred — I speculated that someday soon, we’d see that same video from a news event being fed live, directly to us on the internet.

Well, that didn’t take long.

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » iPhone and the future of news

technorati tags:,

Blogged with Flock

Pownce

I've seen several posts like this one on Pownce, which is being billed as a "Twitter killer." It does more than Twitter, they say, but it lacks the mobile component. Isn't that like inventing a better car but forgetting to put on the wheels?

Pownce, the Twitter Killer

technorati tags:, , ,

Blogged with Flock

Friday, June 29, 2007

More on Facebook and collaboration

The lightbulb comes on at lifehack.org. Guys, you should be reading my blog!

An Unlikely FREE Collaboration Management App - lifehack.org

technorati tags:, ,

Blogged with Flock

Powerset out from under wraps

We've been hearing a lot about search startup Powerset from TechCrunch and others, even though they don't have a public product yet. Powerset promises natural language searches:

Powerset is using natural language technology from Xerox Parc and focusing its efforts on the indexing. It’s building a search destination site and a platform that leverages the wisdom of the crowds for development.

Interesting article, including some speculation on how they can catch Google via committed community development.

» Powerset: The natural language search mashup platform | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

technorati tags:, , ,

Blogged with Flock

Accessibility matters

London 2012 Olympics branding film causes epileptic seizures | 456 Berea Street

technorati tags:, , ,

Blogged with Flock

Evolution in action ...

... in the lab.

Fast-Reproducing Microbes Provide a Window on Natural Selection - New York Times

technorati tags:

Blogged with Flock

More on how the presidential campaigns are using technology

This election cycle is seeing a lot of interesting technology use. TechPresident has a good roundup of these, with a special focus on which technologies are the sizzle and which are the steak.

techPresident – Are MittTV and HillaryHub Innovative?

technorati tags:, ,

Blogged with Flock

How will Facebook's open architecture affect education?

I posed a question like this a few days ago, positing that Facebook could provide a substitute for Blackboard and other LCMS. Well, here's what I found this morning when cruising the Facebook "Education" apps:screenshot of Facebook apps, including two for sharing and selling homework

That's right, now you can share or buy your term papers on Facebook. Talk about an army of Davids.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Net Work, the book

I'm happy to announce that my second book, tentatively titled Net Work, is under contract at Cambridge University Press. This project began with a research study in 2000 and has undergone many phases, and I'm just thrilled that it will finally see print.