1985
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Digital Trends
The Internet is a teenager (16 years old). Microsoft Windows 1.0 launches. The first .com domain name is registered. The Commodore 128 debuts, offering 128k of RAM. |
Scholarly Threads
Kate Kiefer and Cindy Selfe call for scholars to submit manuscripts to Computers and Composition, then 3 years old, on issues of computer-aided writing and reading instruction; software development; computer use in writing programs at various levels; legal, moral, and ethical issues connected with using computers in writing programs; and discussions of how computers affect the form and content of written discourse. Three articles in the first of two issues of Computers and Composition published in 1985 focus on the computer interface and students experiences within it. Another article reports on a study by Bruce Appleby and Steve Bernhardt about teachers using computers in their collaborative writing efforts. The final article in the first issue, by Deb Holdstein and Tim Redman, argues that some word-processing software may “actually hinder writing/rewriting processes. The second issue published in 1985 includes articles exploring writing-specific software and ways teachers could mark papers and keep records on their computers. Arthur Daigon publishes a poem titled “The passionate programmer to his love,” which reads, in part:
In a user-friendly, graphic mode If/then you read me, let me know. Use a modem (baud rate: Low). |
1995
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Digital Trends
The National Science Foundation (NSF) discontinues NSFnet and replaces it with a commercial Internet backbone. Iomega distributes high-capacity “Zip” drives. The web is 5 years old, and the dot com boom officially begins. Amazon was founded; eBay was founded. |
Scholarly Threads
Three issues of Computers and Composition are published this year, including 29 original research articles and a good selection of book reviews, announcements, and two poems Issue 2 in 1995 is a landmark publication—a special issue on computers in the writing center. Across all three issues published in 1995, there is rich evidence of a sustained and growing conversation about technology professional development, exploring issues of how college instructors can engage in the computer-mediated classroom and writing center, of how to engage high school students in collaborative writing via computers, of counteracting homophobia in the networked classrooms, of selecting among the best options and best practices in online writing labs or OWLs, and more. |
2005
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Digital Trends
Twitter launches. YouTube is born; the first video, “Me at the Zoo” is uploaded. USB drives replace any other physical storage media as the most popular way to save files. Google hires Vincent Cerf, DARPA veteran and Internet founder to help them move on their journey toward free and open information. |
Scholarly Threads
Four issues of Computers and Composition are published. Computers and Composition Online is 2 years old; Kairos is 8 years old. 2005 features ofComputers and Composition Online include pieces by Collin Brooke on blogging, with a response by Steve Krause. Angela Haas produces a recommendation piece on how to make online spaces more native to American Indians. Shawn Apostel and Moe Folk publish a webtext offering website evaluation criteria, and Sonya Borton produces a piece calling for multimodality in personal narrative composition. Print journal articles anchor our attention to multimodal composing, with pieces by Gunther Kress, Marilyn Cooper, Ron Fortune, Anne Frances Wysocki, and others. A special issue focuses on second language writers in digital contexts. Other articles explore e-portfolio systems and teaching writing online. Cindy Selfe and Gail Hawisher begin the project that eventually becomes the Computers and Composition Digital Press (CCDP), which publishes its first title in 2007. |
2015
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Digital Trends
The White House, fueled by President Obama who is committed to making his administration the “most open and participatory” in nature, hosts 93 active petitions on a range of issues, with the most popular at more than 319,000 signatures. Exploding Kittens—“a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats”—ends as the most popular KickStarter campaign to date, raising more than $8.78 million in one month. Facebook hosts more than 1.39 billion active users, 82% of whom are outside of the U.S., uploading more than 400 million photographs per day. WordPress users produce more than 61 million new posts and generate more than 56 million comments monthly. Writers craft more than 500 million tweets per day. |
Scholarly Threads
The first issue of the print journal published in 2015 (volume 35, number 1), includes John Gallagher's argument for web templates as rhetorical means, and Casey Boyle's work situating technical "glitches" as that which can render "*apparent* that which is *transparent* by design" (p. 13). Lavinia Hirsu presents a search engine study through which she argues that a search engine can function as "an important technology for writing and circulating new identity scripts and for changing cultural patterns" (p. 34). Other articles in the first issue of 2015 address computer-based writing assessment, text chat support for writing, a review of the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN), and Facebook use among first-year writing students. Computers and Composition Digital Press (CCDP) has published 10 projects and won five national awards for born-digital work. |