Behind the Scenes

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In "They Became What They Beheld: The Futility of Resistance in the Space of Electronic Writing," Moulthrop and Kaplan believe that hypertext’s transformative power is that it “thoroughly negates [traditional views of the single author of the complete text] and its strategy of containment, insisting instead on plurality and participation” (222). This refers to potential, though we sometimes make it seem like an inherent trait of the new medium.

To be honest, I haven't offered the New Essay option as an assignment for a couple of quarters now. If you're expecting some confession here or a dark secret about what I experienced, forget it. What I'm implying is that some teachers might be a little reticent to assign something like this because of concerns about grading. Likewise, the opportunities a New Essay assignment offers could create other problems. For example, an entire class could submit one paper for the final. The thought had crossed my mind. A student asked about that once. But no one ever played with the potential offered because, I think, the single-author voice has been so ground into our psyches...and institutionally via grading. To be honest, I've neglected teaching the new essay in my class because it is so challenging