Selfe+and+Wahlstrom.+Computers+and+Writing

= = =Selfe, Cynthia L. and Billie J. Wahlstrom."Computers and Writing: Casting a Broader Net with Theory and Research"= //Computers and the Humanities//. Vol. 22, No. 1 (1988), pp. 57-66. Web. 2011.

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**Abstract**
Today, teachers of English are faced with the problem of developing new vantage points from which to consider the use of computers in writing programs, writing classrooms, and individual writing processes. Until this time, the profession has subscribed to a limited view of computers and their effects on writing - a view circumscribed by the paradigms of other disciplines or by our own past experiences with teaching machines and paper-and-pencil composing. These visions are not capable of accommodating the larger and more radical changes wrought by the electronic medium we are now using. By subscribing to them, English teachers may, as Coleridge says, have created a "tacit compact" not to pass beyond a certain limit in speculating about computers. This paper suggests four overlapping areas of exploration, four points of departure that might help us spark creative re-formations of our thinking about computers and their relationship to writing: 1.) Computers and teaching writing, 2.) Computers and language theory, 3.) Computers and learning from the past, 4.) Computer research in other fields.

**Argument**
This article, written by Cynthia L. Selfe and J. Wahlstromis, is primarily a historical document because it was written before the invention of the internet. Selfe and Wahlstromis argue that, at the time the article was written, there was a significant amount of research that needed to be done in order to find out the effects that computers have on the processes of thinking and writing. They are opposed to the idea of computers just being a typing machine. They contemplate how computers affect these processes and whether they are affected in a positive or negative way. Selfe and Wahlstromis also contemplate if word processing programs impact composition and in what stages of the writing process the composition is affected. The authors also speculate about whether only certain word processing programs affect the writing process. Another angle that is looked at in this article is whether the location of the computer being used affects the writing process. Does writing in a public place affect the writing process more or less than writing in private? Age, gender, and educational needs are also topics the authors touch on. They speculate whether these qualities of the user affect the learning and writing processes when using computers. The large majority of this article is posing questions that need to be answered in order to aid this research. Selfe and Wahlstromis support the use of computers and technology; however, they also suggest that the research is necessary in order to more fully understand the effects of computers of the processes of writing and thinking.

**Key Passages**
"... none of the evidence collected thus far supports the perception that computers act merely as "intelligent" typewriters or "super" teaching machines. Even preliminary research suggests that computers have had a much more profound impact on writing, language, and thinking-that they have altered the very nature, the content, and the form of human communication (Hiltz and Turoff, 1978; Kling, 1980; Kiesler, et al., 1984)."

"One way to expand our vision of computers as they relate to writing programs is to define a broader range of basic questions for future research and theoretical projects-a range that will invite divergent perspectives on the nature of computer-assisted writing activities."

"To find out how, or if, the use of computerized word processors affects invention, recursiveness, planning, goal setting, arrangement, task constraints, reading and rescanning, drafting, revising, editing, or proofreading, we need to cast a wider net with our research efforts."

"We need to see whether wordprocessing applications affect writing processes, whether particular kinds of software have an impact on how people use the computers to compose. And we need to know how, or if, computers affect writing when they are used only at specific points during the composing process-- for first drafts, late drafts, or final products."

"Recent studies of computer-assisted instruction,f or example, indicate that the value of computers as learning aids may be determined by such factors as the age of the users (Kulik, et al., 1980, 1983, 1984), their gender (Kiesler, 1983), or their particular educational needs (Fisher, 1983)."

"A study by Selfe and Wahlstrom (1985), for example, implies that locating computers in college writing labs can increase the frequency of students' collaborative writing efforts and influence the content, form, and structure of collaborative exchanges."

"Current work in communication theory explores how information technologies are altering the social, psychological, and organizational dimensions of human interaction (Hiltz and Turoff, 1978; Kling, 1980; Kiesler, et al., 1984)."

"Recent research (Selfe and Wahlstrom, 1985) indicates that writers who use computers in more public settings like college writing laboratories may exhibit different patterns of collaborating on papers, sharing text, and exchanging information about writing projects than do writers who work in more traditional, isolated settings."

"Our increasing use of computers as composing tools may force us to debate, investigate, explore, and revise our ideas about, our information on, and even our definition of writing."

Selected Works Cited
Fisher, G. "Where CAI is Effective: A Summary of the Research." //Electronic Learning//, November/December 1983, 3, 82-84.

Kiefer, K. & Smith, C. R. "Improving Students' Revising and Editing: The Writer's Workbench System." //In The Computer in Composition Instruction: A Writer's Tool//. W. Wresch (ed.). Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1984, 65-82.

Kiesler, S., Sproull, L. Eccles, J." Second-class Citizen?" //Psychology Today//, 1982, 41-48.

Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., McGuire, T. "Social Psychological Aspects of Computer-mediated Communication." //American Psychologist//. 39(10), 1984, 1123-1134.

Selfe, C. "The Electronic Pen: Computers and the Composing Process. In Writing On-line: Using Computers in the Teaching of Writing." J. Collinsa nd E. Sommers( eds.) New York: Boynton-Cook, 1985, 55-66.

Selfe, C. and Wahlstrom. B. "An Emerging Rhetoric of Collaboration: Computers and the Composing Process." Paper presented at the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis MN, March, 1985.