Page 33 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of New Media On

2 CHAPTER 1

and for classes, and construct web pages for friends, clients, or orga-
nizations, it seems that the computer quite clearly converts the pro-
cess of writing into the process of communication. In turn, students
see how words carry certain historical contexts of use and meaning
as well as how words can retain particular ideological references that
reflect larger struggles.
Unfortunately, often writing and communication are two sepa-
rate processes in composition courses. Perhaps this division arises
from Composition's connections to belles lettres and English de-
partments, in which students write to express their feelings and lit-
tle else. In these situations, writing does not necessarily have to be
produced for a reader's understanding. Many times, especially in
first-year composition, writing can be a private exercise. And it is
true that for most of us, writing is a private exercise. One only has
to look at the personal notes he or she takes at a meeting or in a lec-
ture, or at the journal entries written for a class or personal expres-
sion, or at certain affected academic or fictive styles in scholarship
and literature that are studied in the classroom to realize that writ-
ing is not always meant to be understood. However, when writing
communicates, ideas must be presented to others and acted upon
by granting a response. Writing as communication demands public
acknowledgment. Without a response, there is no communication.
If there is no communication happening, then there is no under-
standing as to whether one's words make meaning or fall silent.
Consequently, the act of communicating depends on writers tar-
geting those ideas, elements, and languages that frequently run
counter to academic prose.
Online writing makes for a perfect example of writing as a com-
municative act, because it entails that a reply should come from oth-
ers. Some forms of online writing, like blogs, MOOs, or e-mails,
demand replies from others. Without a return acknowledgment of
some sort, a posting carries little meaning for a community. As a
communicative act, then, online writing makes material Paulo
Freire's observation:

Only through communication can human life hold meaning. The
teacher's thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the stu-
dents' thinking. The teacher cannot think for his students nor can he
impose his thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is con-
cerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but
only in communication. (1993, p. 58)