ABSTRACT
The Writing Place, as the university writing center was called, had several positions for “community consultants”—individuals who were unaffiliated with the university, but who were qualified to engage in peer tutoring with student writers. Most of the other community consultants were high school teachers or retired teachers and technical writers, but the author's experience working in the writing center and his willingness to begin as an unpaid volunteer allowed him to secure a position there. He explored the Web the way he explored the computer-game labyrinths of his youth. The author had subscribed to newsgroups and mailing lists. These groups were clearly communities that existed not in physical locations, but online; they were using the computer to engage in written conversations. This chapter provides some key points that serve as useful projects for anyone who finds challenged, frustrated, or disheartened by institutional resistance to technology projects in English studies.
