Rice.+Networks+and+New+Media

=Rice, Jeff. "Networks and New Media."= //College English// 69.2 (2006): 127-33. //JSTOR//. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

Abstract
No abstract.

Argument
Jeff Rice argues that, "College English should be new media" (127). He claims that writing should focus on networks rather than static truths, and that many of these networks exist on the web including websites like Facebook, Amazon, and Ebay. Rice expounds that these networks form significant connections, and that new media is a series of networks. Rice expounds that college English should be considered a network since English and writing include and overlap with a myriad of other disciplines. Moreover, these associates generate knowledge. Rice also highlights Jay David Bolter's argument that media should be included in the humanities. Rice elucidates, "Critics may understand the rise of the network as further extending a globalized economy at the expense of equality" (129). However, Rice argues that since networks are present everywhere, networking should not be dismissed as, "capitalist marketing and branding," as some have claimed. Rice explains that the difference between traditional writing and the way in which networking forces one to write is that traditional writing focuses on a fixed point of view, while networking encourages multiple points of view. Rice quotes William Burroughs in his explanation of the law of association, which contends, "Any object, feeling, odor, word, image in juxtaposition with any other object, feeling, word or image will be associated with it" (130). Rice explicates that although English is often viewed as unchanging and static, the network of English is continually growing and expanding, and through this growth, the network creates and expands knowledge and information.

Key Passages
Rice explains, "Associations, combinations, and juxtapositions contribute to a methodology of connectivity" (130).

Rice articulates, "What should college English be? The network" (133).

Selected Works Cited
Bolter, Jay David. "Theory and Practice in New Media Studies." //Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovations in Digital Domains.// Ed. Gunnar Liestol, Andrew Morrison, Terje Rasmussen. Cambridge: 2004. 15-33. Print. Burroughs, William. //Nova Express//. 1964. Grove: New York, 1992. Print.