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44 CHAPTER 2

student evaluations) suggest. Underlife messages also correspond
perfectly to Kress' understanding of the mundane text (1994)—these
posts carry the class' pulse and reflect how subcultures within a
community of writers respond to the everyday flow of information
in the writing course. Therefore, from an assessment perspective,
particularly from a programmatic assessment perspective, writing
specialists should consider these seemingly trivial messages as part
of the research needed to comprehend what exactly happens in the
networked writing class.
Although fascinating reading, and often representative of a series
of real moments when classroom authority undergoes decentraliza-
tion, underlife postings can be easily misinterpreted by outsiders as
students showing disinterest in the course or the writing process,
disrespect to their peers or instructor, or a display of general incivil-
ity in their discourse. Also, because of their polyvocality and their
context-dependency, these particular discussion threads may seem
confusing, vexing, or maundering to the external assessor or to any-
one outside of the immediate writing community.
Therefore, in assessment settings, underlife postings can support
the opposition's claim of loose grammar instruction or a lack of me-
chanics being taught in the classroom, because the e-mail subgenre
is rooted in vernacular rather than formal or professional language
use. Writing instructors who decide to include transcripts of under-
life postings in their assessment materials risk the skeptics' or oppo-
nents' scorn. Those who doubt the value of internetworked writing
in the composition classroom can and will point to these examples as
being illustrative of "poor quality control" (read grade inflation),
"poor academic placement" (read lower student ability levels for
course), or "weak instructional curricula" (read promising but mis-
guided idea for the classroom). One must tread lightly in his or her de-
cision to take heavily context-dependent materials and incorporate
them into an assessment portfolio or presentation without the con-
struction of some sort of framing mechanism from which external
readers can draw to render judgment. These comments about grade
inflation, weak student abilities, and misguided ideas for the class-
room point us toward the difficulties some writing instructors have
with assessing many e-texts. The boundaries of the students' writ-
ing processes are blurred; with techniques like cut and paste or tools
like scanners and laser printers and e-mail that make writing in/visi-
ble, who knows what is a first draft or a final draft? That is why it