Literacy and Computers : The Complications of Teaching and Learning with Technology

Computers, this new collection of essays suggests, are transforming texts, language, and literacy itself. In easy-to-understand language, Literacy and Computers discusses computer-related issues within several larger contexts: the politics, social implications, and economics of literacy education; the roles of authors and readers; the nature of interpretation and subjectivity; and the ways in which human beings construct meaning. The first three parts of the volume examine
-- how computers have become part of the classroom
-- how electronic networks function as tools for reading, writing, and interpreting texts
-- how hypertext, a specialized genre of computer programs, relates to traditional notions of textThe fourth part pulls together the multiple voices of the previous contributions and urges readers to venture beyond early studies of computers in composition classrooms. Addressed to novice and expert computer users alike, Literacy and Computers describes the possibilities -- and the difficulties -- posed by the new technologies.

Cynthia L. Selfe is a professor of composition and communication at Michigan Technological University. She is the coeditor (with Gail E. Hawisher) of "Literacy, Technology, and Society: Confronting the Issues."