A Literature Review by Elizabeth Brownlow 02/10/2014

1. “The Politics of the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones”- Cynthia L. Selfe &Richard J. Selfe Jr. A Literature Review by Elizabeth Brownlow 02/10/2014

2. Historical Perspective vs

3. Ellen W. Nold“Fear and Trembling: The Humanist Approaches the Computer” (1975) • Acknowledges instructors’ fears of using technology in the classroom • Argues that this is unnecessary because computers are helpful in the classroom • Believes that it is the responsibility of instructors to utilize technological instruction to their maximum potential • Need for creation of computer programs that are helpful, non-threatening, and interesting to students • Examples: - “Discovery & Surprise” Mode - “Probe & Modify” Mode - as opposed to typical “Drill and Practice” techniques “As important as the idea that the computer can provide a unique learning experience is the idea that teachers can be fully in control of that experience for their students, just as they pick the books they read.” (Sullivan, p. 272)

4. 1980’s • Theoretical/ Cognitive Learning Theory • Practical/ Computer Program Engineering • Tensions between two • Focus on User

5. John M. Carroll • Cognitive Psychology approach for usability and Learning of Word-Processing Programs • “Learning to Use a Word Processor: By Doing, By Thinking, and By Knowing” (with Robert L. Mack,1983) - Argues that learning to use a word processor provides psychologists with a more accurate view of “active learning” , as opposed to stimulus-response and cognitive learning theories • “Minimalist Training” (1984) - Word-processing training model focused on minimal, basic instruction - Suggests that too much instruction actually inhibits learning • IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (17 years) • Founding manager of the IBM User Interface Institute • 1994 Virginia Tech department head of computer science + College of Arts and Science Professorship. • 2003 Penn State Chair Professor of Information Sciences and Technology. • Virginia Tech and Penn State founding director Center for Human-Computer Interaction.

6. Patricia Sullivan “Human-Computer Interaction Perspectives on Word-Processing Issues” (1989) • Overview of past decade in human-computer interaction studies & primary goals: - improving training - understanding learning (of programs) - improving user interface design - evaluating/ developing new products • Suggests a critical view of computer programs and features • Points out the need for researchers in human-computer interaction to possess a deeper understanding and application of writing processes for quality evaluations • Argues that there is no one “best” type of program for everyone, particularly in user interface design Kick-starts the Age of Interface studies in Composition Research

7. 1990’s

8. Cynthia Selfe • 1980s: Founded the peer-reviewed journal Computers and Composition: An International Journal with Gail Hawisher ** published Sullivan’s 1989 article in this periodical • Humanities Professor in the Department of English at The Ohio State University • Socio-cultural aspects of technology • Effects of technology on literacy • Broadening understanding of “the text”

9. Richard Selfe • Ohio State University Professor • Specializes in Digital Media and Rhetoric & Composition • Recent research focused on digital rhetoric and the use of computers in composition

10. Blending of 3 major concepts: • Socio-cultural issues in technology -Gomez • Interface studies - Hawisher & Selfe • Mapping - Wood

11. Mary Louise Gomez “The Equitable Teaching of Composition with Computers: A Case for Change” (1991) • Reasons: -funding sources - differentiated opportunities • Call for teachers as “makers of opportunity” to be more concerned with issues of equity as they relate to computer access and usage • Published in Hawisher & Selfe’s book “Evolving Perspectives on Computers and Composition Studies” (1991) • Supports Selfe & Selfe’s arguments socio-cultural equitability • Argues that access to and use of computers is “inequitably differentiated by students’ race, social class, language, background, and gender.” (p. 318)

12. Hawisher & Selfe • “Voices in College Classrooms: The Dynamics of Electronic Discussion” (1992) • Study of undergraduate students in a 10-week conferencing network (5 weeks with name, 5 weeks under pseudonym) • From one of each author’s own course • Found that power and authority structures of teachers were still prevalent in electronic networks (even when instructor not present • “The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Classroom” (1991) • Questions power structures of electronic learning • Argues for a critical approach in order to utilize electronic teaching in ways that question and shift power structures • Used by Selfe & Selfe to support arguments about interface design and power structures

13. Denis Wood “The Power of Maps” (1992) • Used by Selfe & Selfe to support a more critical view of interface mapping • Supports Selfe & Selfe’s argument that interface maps (as real maps) are products of culture and reflects “the landscape we have created and that, in turn, creates us and the students in our classes.” (Selfe & Selfe, 1994, p. 69) • Argues that maps select and naturalize what we know about the world • Believes that we should focus less on what maps depict and more on why they depict it • Deconstructs the idea of maps as facts and invites the reader to recognize the system that “injects the map into its culture” (Wood, 1992, p. 142)

14. References The Ohio State University Department of English. (n.d.) People: Selfe. Retrieved from https://english.osu.edu/people/selfe-0 Camerini, J.R. (1994) “The power of maps” by Denis Wood; John Fels. Isis,85 (1), 129-130 Carroll, J.M. (n.d.) John M. Carroll. Retrieved from http://jcarroll.ist.psu.edu/ Carroll, J.M. (1984) Minimalist Training. Datamation, 30 (18), 125-136. Retrieved February 8, 2014 from Business and Company Resource Center database. Carroll, J.M., & Mack, R.L. (1984) Learning to use a word processor: By doing, by thinking, and by knowing. In Thomas, J.C, & Schneider, M.L. (Eds.), Human factors in computer systems, (pp. 13-51). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Digital Rhetoric Collaborative. (2014, January 20) Selfe, Cynthia. Retrieved from http://webservices.itcs.umich.edu/mediawiki/DigitalRhetoricCollaborative/index.php/Selfe,_Cynthia Gomez, M.L. (1991) The equitable teaching of composition. In Hawisher G.E. & Selfe, C.L. (Eds.), Evolving perspectives on computers and composition studies, (pp. 318-335). Urbana, IL: NCTE/Computers and Composition. Hawisher, G. E., & Selfe, C. L. (1992). Voices in college classrooms: The dynamics of electronic discussion. The Quarterly, 14(3), 24-32. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from the NWP database.

15. References Hawisher, G.E., & Selfe, C.L. (2008) The rhetoric of technology and the electronic writing class. In Sidler, M., Morris, R., & Smith, E.O. (Eds.), Computers in the composition classroom: A critical sourcebook, (pp. 35-45). Boston, MA: Bedford/ St Martins. Nold, E. (1975). Fear and trembling: The humanist approaches the computer. College Composition and Communication, 26(3), 269-273. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from the JSTOR database. Reider, D. M. (2013). From GUI to NUI: Microsoft's Kinect and the politics of the (body as) Interface.Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society, 3(1), 1-10. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://www.presenttensejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Rieder.pdf Sullivan, P. (1989). Human- computer interaction perspectives on word-processing issues. Computers and Composition, 6(3), 11-33. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://computersandcomposition.candcblog.org/archives/v6/6_3_html/6_3_1_Sullivan.html Selfe, C.L., & Selfe, R.J. (2008) The Politics of Interface: Power and its exercise in electronic contact zones. In Sidler, M., Morris, R., & Smith, E.O. (Eds.), Computers in the composition classroom: A critical sourcebook, (pp. 64-85). Boston, MA: Bedford/St Martins. Wood, D., & Fels, J. (1992) The power of maps. New York: Guilford Press.