A Computer Writing Environment for Professional Writers and Students Learning to Write    

While some models of computer writing environments have emerged in the literature on writing, most of them are done with the purpose of helping writers in an academic context and very few, if any, with the aim of facilitating the work of professional writers or students in professional writing. We think, however, that we can learn from the previous models to build a multi-purpose computer writing environment that will take into account the needs of the professional writers as well as those of the students learning to write. We will begin by looking at some models of writing proposed by Hayes and Flower in 1980 and also at the model of White and Arndt. Afterwards, we will review the model of professional writers developed by Clerc and link it with the previous models. We will then have to look at some computer writing environments described in the literature and see how these environments take into account the process and tasks identified in writing. Finally, we will suggest our model.

Bisaillon, Jocelyne, Isabelle Clerc, and Jacques Ladouceur. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Education>Computers and Writing>Writing

Fluency, Fluidity, and Word Processing  

Despite the above maxim, numerous studies have been conducted over the past five years to determine whether student compositions improve significantly with the use of a computer. As Gail Hawisher (summarizing Seymour Papert) suggests, our field is so new that we seem lobe in a technoúcentric phase comparable to the egocentric phase through which Piaget’s children must pass on the way to maturity. We are searching for “THE effect” of the computer on the product (the text) rather than “the effects” of the computer both on the writer and on the context in which the product is produced. We have already passed judgment on what the computer should do (improve the product) rather than investigate what it does do. Thus, the results of the studies conducted to date appear contradictory.

Boiarsky, Carolyn. JAC (1991). Articles>Rhetoric>Computers and Writing

Informação: Computação e Comunicação

A 'Sociedade da Informação' que se configura neste fim de século decorre de uma revolução tecnológica cujas origens remontam ao final da Segunda Grande Guerra, e cujo complexo desenvolvimento transcorre durante toda a segunda metade do século, com potencial para modificar, a médio prazo, muitos aspectos da vida cotidiana. Segundo a National Science Foundation, a tecnologia eletrônica da informação alterará cada instituição da vida americana, com ``efeito transformador'', até 1998. Embora muitos elementos tenham contribuído para essa transformação, dois pontos focais aparecem como determinantes do seu crescimento: Computação e Comunicação, diretamente ligados a dois objetos tecnológicos que proporcionaram a esse crescimento uma velocidade nunca vista: Micro-computador e Rede Internet. O uso da rede aumenta dramaticamente o grau de cooperação entre parceiros, muitas vezes geograficamente distantes, e impõe novos paradigmas, novas possibilidades e novos problemas para muitas atividades.

Mandel, Arnaldo, Imre Simon and Jorge L. deLyra. Universidade de Sao Paulo (1997). (Portuguese) Articles>Writing>Computers and Writing

The New Frontier: Conquering the World Wild Web by Mule  

This article offers a close examination of the effects that teaching hypertext markup language (HTML) has on students’ perceptions of class goals in a networked composition classroom. A networked classroom that requires students to send documents using a file transfer protocol (FTP) by command line and view the World Wide Web with a textual browser shifts the emphasis of the class from writing to coding. Helping students to identify a balance between computer technology and writing goals becomes essential to a successful classroom.

Gresham, Morgan. Computers and Composition (2000). Articles>Education>Computers and Writing