Redefining “Context” in Research on Writing

Interest in the social aspects of composing has led writing researchers to examine more closely the contexts in which writing takes place. However, there is little agreement about what constitutes context as a theoretical construct. Because of this lack of agreement, writing researchers have not been able to delineate as fully as possible the interactions between context and composing. This article examines ways in which context has been defined and suggests a reconceptualization of this construct. The argument depends upon analyses of data gathered during a year-long ethnographic study of graduate journalism education. Specifically, results from the analyses of these data suggest that contexts for composing need to take into account individual writers' personal and social histories as they interact with the economic and political circumstances in which writers compose.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68627/2/10.1177_0741088394011004002.pd

and Writing

Most people who use information technology (IT) every day use IT in text-centered interactions. In e-mail, we compose and read texts. On the Web, we read (and often compose) texts. And when we create and refer to the appointments and notes in our personal digital assistants, we use texts. Texts are deeply embedded in cultural, cognitive, and material arrangements that go back thousands of years. Information technologies with texts at their core are, by contrast, a relatively recent development. To participate with other information researchers in shaping the evolution of these ITexts, researchers and scholars must build on a knowledge base and articulate issues, a task undertaken in this article. The authors begin by reviewing the existing foundations for a research program in IText and then scope out issues for research over the next five to seven years. They direct particular attention to the evolving character of ITexts and to their impact on society. By undertaking this research, the authors urge the continuing evolution of technologies of text. ITex