ABSTRACT
In the cyborg era, scholars in the computers and writing community often struggle for acceptance of their work in institutional and organizational contexts, and it has been this way since the beginning. These struggles have been documented and explored in any number of forums, from journals like Computers and Composition, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and the Journal of Electronic Publishing, to professional organizations like the Alliance for Computers and Writing (ACW) and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). In general, the conditions have stayed constant: Those in the computers and writing community write often from the margins of their institutions as part-time faculty, nontenure-line faculty, or graduate students, and those more senior and/or in more powerful institutional positions often have limited respect for the depth, breadth, and rigor of these community members’ work. Consider the following excerpt from Cynthia L. Selfe’s keynote address at the 1998 convention of the CCCC, in which she talks about the way scholarly discussion about computers often draws uninterested reactions from those not invested in the computers and writing community:
Put simply, time has proven that scholars outside of the computers and writing community may be unwilling to pay attention to its scholars’ work, a problematic reality that means the struggle for acceptance will likely continue into the future.
