Editing Computers and writing (section)

==Writing in the age of communication technology==
In the age of communication technology, amateurs and experts collaborate to create, sustain and develop virtual communities based on what James Paul Gee and Elisabeth Hayes have called "passionate [[affinity spaces]]", or communities organized around "a shared endeavor, interest, or passion".<ref name="Gee & Hayes2">{{cite book|last1=Gee|first1=James Paul|title=Language and Learning in the Digital Age|last2=Hayes|first2=Elisabeth R.|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0-415-60277-8|location=London; New York|pages=69–71}}</ref> Technology, specifically blogs, can be a way to build learning communities and help students learn to write authentically for and respond to various audiences by making their writing public. On the virtual playing field, knowledge and talent matter more than degrees and professional memberships, so these spaces offer students a new learning environment and space to collaborate on the production and distribution of knowledge.<ref name="Gee & Hayes2" /> Online platforms can reshape traditional pedagogies by encouraging flexibility and personal creativity. <ref> {{cite journal | last=Peterson | first=P. W. | title=The debate about online learning: Key issues for writing teachers | journal=Computers and Composition | volume=18 | pages=359–370 | year=2001 | issue=4 | doi=10.1016/S8755-4615(01)00068-8 }} </ref> Also, digital tools improve educational quality by promoting a collaborative environment that stimulates critical thinking, preparing students for the pedagogical shifts in writing education. <ref> {{cite book | last1=Peterson | first1=P. W. | last2=McCallum | first2=L. | last3=Rauf | first3=M. | title=Learning what works in improving writing: A meta-analysis of technology-oriented studies across Saudi universities | editor1-last=Anthony | editor1-first=L. M. | editor2-last=Lomicka | editor2-first=K. M. | pages=393–427 | year=2020 | publisher=Publisher Name }} </ref>

Aligning with the notion of "affinity space", composition scholars have coined the term "[[cultural ecology]]" to examine the complex social and cultural contexts that shape the development of [[technological literacy]]. Drawing from the literacy narratives of two participants, Hawisher, Selfe, Moraski, and Pearson theorized five themes emergent from the cultural ecology of literacy, namely the "cultural, material, educational, and familial contexts" that shape and are shaped by literacy development.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hawisher|first1=Gail|last2=Selfe|first2=Cynthia|last3=Moraski|first3=Brittney|last4=Pearson|first4=Melissa|date=2004|title=Becoming Literate in the Information Age: Cultural Ecologies and the Literacies of Technology|journal= College Composition and Communication|volume=55|issue=4|pages=642–692|doi=10.2307/4140666|jstor=4140666|s2cid=142563906}}</ref> The five themes of cultural ecology emphasize that technological literacy goes through life spans, that literacy provides the medium for people to exert their agency, that literacy occurs and develops both within and outside of school contexts, that the conditions of access influence people's literacy development, and that literacy practices and values transmit via family units. Kristine Blair pointed to the positive impacts of cultural conflicts in constructing online discourses and political discussions, while at the same time warning that students may not transform exposure to the conflicts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Blair|first=Kristine|date=1998|title=Literacy, dialogue, and difference in the 'electronic contact zone'|journal=Computers and Composition|volume=15|issue=3|pages=317–329|doi=10.1016/S8755-4615(98)90004-4}}</ref> Also looming behind the issue of culture in computer and writing is the [[digital divide]]. Cynthia Selfe showed that unequal access to technological literacy is situated in unequal social, cultural, economic, and political situations.<ref name=":52">{{Cite journal|last=Selfe|first=Cynthia|date=1999|title=Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention|journal= College Composition and Communication|volume=50|issue=3|pages=411–436|doi=10.2307/358859|jstor=358859}}</ref> As Selfe wrote, "computers continue to be distributed along the related axes of race and socioeconomic status and this distribution continues to ongoing patterns of racism and to the continuation of poverty." To address the digital divide, Selfe called upon educators and compositionists to rethink computer literacy as a political act that requires paying critical attention to inequality issues and acting politically in specific disciplinary contexts.<ref name=":52" />