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TRANSFORMING TEXTS 43

know that what is made visible on the page requires numerous in-
visible actions, particularly when a writer attempts to coordinate
words with images, color, and sound. These unseen actions make a
huge difference in an e-text's clarity and coherence. It takes prac-
tice—sometimes much practice—for students to integrate multime-
dia sources in some type of proportion to the written content. If
writing teachers neglect visual rhetoric and concentrate solely on the
written word, then as Takayoshi (1996) suggested, networked writ-
ing instruction may become a technological version of current-tra-
ditional writing practices as instructors focus on the students' use of
form, surface errors, and mechanics.
A second result of the mundane text going online is the appearance
of multiple, distinct social positions emerging from the reading of the
e-text. We can call this action perspective. Perspective is what moti-
vates the establishment of connections, of determining what repre-
sentations writers and readers want to see each time an e-text is pulled
up on screen. This development is especially recognizable when view-
ing a body of electronic discussion threads from a networked class,
whether in e-mail or MOO form. Perspective unfolds as students jump
in for one, two, or three sentences, respond with emoticons or capital-
ized letters to particularly salient or repugnant points made by class-
mates, create secondary discussions, and use linguistic forms that
share qualities from formal written genres (e.g., salutations and
closings) as well as informal spoken language (e.g., slang, jargon, or
phonemics). If the instructor participates in online discussions, then
the students' developing perspective also depends on the instructor's
perspective as it relates to the shifting topics.
Over time, such as spanning an entire semester, writing teachers
discover the cultural and social patterns and histories that form the
teachable—and not so teachable—moments in the classroom. De-
pending on the instructor's perspective, a teachable or not so teach-
able moment might be those postings Joan Tornow called
"underlife," a term borrowed from sociologist Erving Goffman
(Tornow, 1997, pp. 96-106). Underlife postings provide an alterna-
tive cultural history for the class. Students tell us more in their emo-
tional reactions and extracurricular discussions of readings,
assignments, exchanges with each other, external events, and so on.
The study of students' underlife posts could offer another under-
standing of the syllabus, work load, and community building than
the official documents (i.e., filed syllabi, fixed assignment sheets, and