Computers and writing is a sub-field of college English studies about how computers and digital technologies affect literacy and the writing process. The range of inquiry in this field is broad including discussions on ethics when using computers in writing programs, how discourse can be produced through technologies, software development, and computer-aided literacy instruction. Some topics include hypertext theory, visual rhetoric, multimedia authoring, distance learning, digital rhetoric, usability studies, the patterns of online communities, how various media change reading and writing practices, textual conventions, and genres. Other topics examine social or critical issues in computer technology and literacy, such as the issues of the "digital divide", equitable access to computer-writing resources, and critical technological literacies. Many study by scientist such have shown that writing on computer is better than writing in a book
"Computers and Writing" is also the name of an academic conference (see below).
The Field
This interdisciplinary field has grown out of rhetoric and composition studies. Members do scholarly work and teach in allied and diverse areas as technical and professional communication, linguistics, sociology, and law. Important journals supporting this field are Computers & Composition, Computers & Composition Online, and Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. The professional organization Conference on College Composition and Communication has a committee, known as the 7Cs committee (CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication), that selects onsite and online hosts for the Computers & Writing conference and coordinates the "Technology Innovator Award" presented at that annual conference.
Conference and Conference History
The conference "Computers and Writing" was established in 1982 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Donald Ross and Lillian Bridwell. The conference was informal at first, but has grown from a grassroots organized conference to an established, mainstream conference that examines the ways in which computers change writing practice and pedagogy. In earlier conferences, the scholarship presented often explored how computers influenced individual writers, but during the late 1980s and 1990s, scholarship shifted to hypertext and hypermedia, and the social nature of computer mediated writing. The conference initially presented original or "homemade" software design associated with word processing and editing, but eventually switched to commercial software as commercial software became more common for both individual students and educational institutions.
The conference has a history of technological optimism, and the scholarship presented is optimistic regarding technology's influence on writing. The conference also examines and voices fears and concerns related to computer technology. Some of these fears are related to institutional policies and control as well as the fear of being overwhelmed by the constant march of technological innovation. The conference has also explored how computer-mediated writing can be used in socially responsible ways, as is evident by the feminist roots of the conference and subfield. The conference's feminist roots are evident in its support of minority scholars and scholarship. Awards such as the Hawisher and Selfe Caring for the Future Scholarship provide opportunities for new presenters in Computers and Writing related fields to attend the conference. This scholarship is preferably awarded to minority scholars who are involved in the field.
While the conference was originally more focused on software and hardware decisions and use, the conference has become more concerned with the theoretical application of computers in writing pedagogy and practice. This attention to theory mirrors a shift to embrace multimodal compositions as texts and interdisciplinary growth as the conference became more mainstream and established in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The conference has been held annually since 1988, which is the year that the CCCC Committee on Computers established a subcommittee to support the Computers and Writing Conference. While the journal Computers and Composition, founded by Cynthia Selfe and Kate Kiefer in 1983, is not officially connected to the Computers and Writing Conference, both began around the same time and explore the subfield within the larger fields of composition studies and rhetoric.