Computers and Composition Reading Response

After reading through various articles in the Computers and Composition journal, I am going to focus on the writings of Charles Moran in his article “What We Had Hoped For.” The title alone offers the reader an understanding of the technological world that Moran is trying to illustrate. I have noticed over the course of my first semester of graduate school that there seems to be quite a bit of ambivalent sentiments that surround the computers and writing field. Moran describes scholars in the field, especially those writing and working for the Computers and Composition journal, as being “upbeat, optimistic, enthusiastic, and forward-looking.” I would completely agree with this assessment, but it is painfully obvious that there are still many critics in the world who generate pessimistic outlooks toward the technological landscape.

I was intrigued with Moran’s ideas of eliminating the “drudgery” that comes along with the tasks of writing. Let us get something straight. The advents of word processing and computer-related features are highly advantageous for anyone who writes, but this so-called “drudgery” seems to be a byproduct of recent times. Would we even be having a discussion of eliminating “drudgery” thirty years ago? My fascination with writing spawned when I was very little, and has grown as I have matured and gone through various levels of the education hierarchy. I have never viewed writing as being troublesome or tedious. Otherwise, I better start to seriously consider my educational and career choices. When I look back and put things in perspective, I realize that for the longest time, I always used to write everything out by hand. I am only twenty-six years old, but I grew up in a house that didn’t have a computer. The truth is that even if my childhood home did have a computer, I am not completely certain that I would have utilized it back then. It was only in my first year of undergraduate studies that I started using computers for writing purposes. Sometimes I feel as though we are spoiled this day and age. I have so much respect for the writers who had to painstakingly write out everything by hand in the most meticulous of fashions. I view the ideas of eliminating “drudgery” with much apprehension, because in the end, there must always be a need for the writer to have control.


Writing students and teachers of writing, as Moran describes, are being faced with new technological advancements that in effect would replace the teacher with computer review software. Is technology taking too big of a hand in the world of pedagogy? My apprehension is only further solidified when I imagine a world where a computer grades and reviews my writing. No thank you. I do not care how advanced computer logic has become, I still and always will want a human mind to delve into and judge my writing. There are tasks that computers can assist with, but as far as rhetorical analysis, the human mind must be present. Technology, for all its advantages, has also created elements that threaten the very thing that writers hold so dear.

The idea that technology (i.e. word processing) makes better writers out of bad writers does not carry much validity with me. Moran quotes the work of Richard Collier and Clifford Werier, who both write, “Good writers are good writers, no matter how they write – their processes and their products are only minimally tied to the mode of text production, no matter what they say or feel about computers or writing by hand.” This statement resonated with me because I feel that it illustrates the notion of why technology is practical for writing purposes, but at the same time, I feel that it explains the reasoning behind why technology does not improve one’s writing. The “mode of text production” should not benefit the quality of writing because quality is something that is not achieved through technology. Aesthetic quality and convenience is achieved with technology, but rhetorical and analytical quality must reside in the human mind.

Moran’s article goes into detail about the history that surrounds the field and community of computers and writing. The advances that have been made through technology and the effects that they have had on pedagogy have been enormous. In fact, after a three year hiatus from higher education, I made the decision to return to college and further my education. The fact that I am in a technical communication master’s program has helped me to realize a great many things about how pedagogy has transformed over the years. I would have never envisioned myself working in a computer lab when I first started college, but now, I cannot really picture it any other way. The world, along with writers must learn to embrace technology, but it is the responsibility of the writers and teachers of writing to control the landscape of how technology is used for writing purposes.