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Current Computers and Composition Editors: Cindy Selfe, Michigan Technological University, and Gail Hawisher, University of Illinois, Urbana "Some Reflections on Computers and Composition"
When we look at a list of people who have published their work in the journal and at those who have served on C&C's editorial board, it is also a list of people who have helped make up the field: among just a few of them, Kris Blair, Pam Takayoshi, Michael Spooner, James Inman, Keith Dorwick, Ron Fortune, Susan Romano, Janice Walker, Ellen Barton, Susan Lang, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Stuart Selber, Laura Gurak, Mary Sheridan-Rabideau, Pat Sullivan, Sean Williams, Joyce Walker, Danielle DeVoss, Cynthia Haynes, Mike Palmquist, Jeff Grabill, Patricia Webb, Christine Hult, Laura Sullivan, Donna LeCourt, Anne Wysocki, Randy Woodland, Fred Kemp, Doug Hesse, Elizabeth Sommers, Jan Holmevik, Lester Faigley, Ilana Snyder, Stuart Blythe, Mary Hocks, Trent Batson, Gian Pagnucci, Nick Mauriello, Hugh Burns, Jeff Galin, Joan Latchaw, Jim Porter, John Logie, Dean Barclay, David Kaufer, Chris Neuwirth, Helen Schwartz, Sibylle Gruber, Nancy Barron, Janet Eldred, John Scenters-Zapico, Locke Carter, Stephen Knadler, Kip Strasma, Harun Karim Thomas, Geoff Sirc, Nancy Kaplan, Dickie Selfe, Karla Kitalong, John Barber, Dene Grigar, Barbara Monroe, Michael Joyce, Amy Kimme Hea, Carolyn Handa, Wayne Butler, Nancy Allen, Stuart Moulthrop, Peg Syverson, Dawn Rodrigues, Sarah Sloane, Chris Haas, Kathi Yancey, Albert Rouzie, Marcia Peoples Halio, Ilana Snyder, Becky Rickly, Mike Sharples, Jane Yellowlees Douglas, Alison Regan, John Zuern, Susanmarie Herrington, Lisa Gerrard, Mike Salvo, Christyne Berzsenyi, Cheryl Ball, Tracy Bridgeford, Marcy Bauman, Mike Markel, Madeline Sorapure, Elaine Whitaker, Betty Hart, Nancy Grimm, Diana George, Heidi McKee, Will Hochman, Jonathon Alexander, Joanna Castner, Joanne Buckley, Laura Sullivan, Bernie Susser, Art Young, Donna Reiss, Bernadette Longo, Charlie Moran and the list goes on. Clearly, the list is far too long and too full of outstanding teachers and scholars to be complete--we can only give a small indication of its scope and distinction in this space. Computers and Composition has also attempted over the years to inform the field of emerging patterns and trends--both in the classroom and in scholarly projects--through the thematically-focused special issues that we have published: among them "Power and the Web (2002, 19.3) edited by Sibylle Gruber; "Distance Education: Promises and Perils of Teaching and Learning Online" (2001, 18.4), edited by Patricia Webb and Wilhelmina Savenye; "Digital Rhetoric, Digital Literacy, Computers and Composition, I & II" (2001, 18.1 and 18.2) edited by Carolyn Handa; the special issue on Tenure (2000, 17.1), edited by Susan Lang, Janice Walker, and Keith Dorwick; the special issue "From Codex to Code: Programming and the Composition Classroom" (1999, 16.3), co-edited by Ron Fortune and Jim Kalmbach; the special issue "Computers, Composition, and Gender" (1999, 16.1) edited by Lisa Gerrard; the special issue "Intellectual Property" (1998, 15.2) edited by Laura Gurak and Johndan Johnson-Eilola; "Technical Communication Studies" (1997, 14.3), edited by Stuart Selber; and "Diversity" (1997, 14.2), edited by Margaret Barber, Janice Walker, and Laura Sullivan. There have been many more, of course, and there are several more special issues in the planning stages: among them "Sexuality and Gender" by Jonathon Alexander and Will Banks, (2004, 21.3), and "Sounds in New Media Spaces" by Cheryl Ball and Byron Hawk (2007, 24.1). And then there are the talented Computers and Composition staff members with whom we have had the opportunity to work--especially the editors in Houghton, Urbana and Bowling Green: among them Jim Purdy, Mary Sheridan-Rabideau, Cheryl Ball, Margaret Faler Sweeney, Danielle DeVoss, Patricia Webb, Deb Schueller, Lanette Cadle, Bill Williamson, Tracy Bridgeford, Fenobia Dallas, Joyce Walker, Sibylle Gruber, Johndan Johnson Eilola, Maura Taaffe, Liz Monske, Edith Green, Alicia Haley, Richard Colby, Cheryl Hoy, Rebekah Schultz, Amie Bauer-Wolf, and Christopher Harris. These people, quite simply, have made Computers and Composition happen—juggling the deadlines of the journal with the demands of their own graduate courses, their families, their job searches, their grading, their scholarship, their own careers. We are profoundly grateful to them and their ongoing generosity. We
are proudest, in other words, not of the accomplishments of the journal
itself—although
Computers and Composition is a mighty fine piece of work in
our humble opinions—but,
rather, of the people with whom we have been able to form personal
and scholarly relationships. Their accomplishments, their intellectual
projects, their teaching, their work on behalf of the profession are
accomplishments that shape the journal and make it a tracing of our
community. And that is something of which we can all be proud!
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When
the editors of C&C Online invited us to contribute our
comments, we were genuinely delighted. It was not so long ago, we
reflected, that we had been in the business of developing a new journal
and deciding exactly what we wanted to achieve with the publication
and how we might go about it. And, yet, even as we contemplated our
response, we realized that we were kidding ourselves—that
it was indeed 20 years ago when Cindy and Kate Kiefer founded Computers
and Composition and 15 years ago since Gail took over from Kate.
The editors of C&C Online wanted us to reflect on these
years and to write about what we see as the journal's most notable
accomplishments over the last two decades. We are happy to do so.
Personally, we are proudest of the fact that Computers and Composition
has provided so many graduate students and faculty a venue for their
scholarly and pedagogical work. There was a time, not so long ago,
when such venues were rare. Even 15 years ago, for instance, people
working in this area had to struggle to get a hearing for their fine
work, and few editors were willing to publish more than one piece
on computer use in a year. Computers and Composition—along
with more recent online journals like Kairos—have
changed this situation dramatically.