“Different technologies make different kinds of human interaction easier or harder to perform. All other things being equal, things that are easier to do are more likely to be done, and things that are harder to do are less likely to be done. All other things are never equal.”

-- Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, 17.

 

Teachers of writing at the college level are confused, as never before, about what they should be teaching their writers. Most of the confusion results from the impact of information technology, and more specifically, the Internet, on the lives of their students.


These teachers do not need another book on hypertext or new media theory. What they do need is an overview of which particular aspects of the ever-evolving information technology field have the greatest potential to impact the lives of their students as writers.

There can be little doubt that wikis are already a part of their students’ writing experience. Writing teachers know they are training students to write in a landscape which, if the last decade serves as any indicator, will probably be radically transformed by as yet unforeseen aspects of electronic literacy.

And, counter to what might be expected, such an overview need not be immediately obsolete due to the fluid details of technology:  if guidance for composition teachers can stay focused on how emergent technology shapes writing practices and environments, rather than on the nuances of the technology itself, a great deal of information can be summarized in some useful ways.

This document does just that by identifying a larger, cultural shift in the way people work, known as Commons Based Peer Production. CBPP has only recently come to light through the projects of Open Source Software, as well as specific writing environments such as the wiki, and its most famous iteration, Wikipedia.

Examining the ways in which CBPP affects writing environments and writers’ motivations for composing will lead teachers of writing to the most concise and relevant key for translating rapid technological developments.